How Flexible Financing Can Differentiate Your Health and Wellness Practice

It's a changing world — and marketplace — for health and wellness providers. Mergers and acquisitions mean private equity firms are gaining an increasing share of the marketplace.¹ And more and more nontraditional providers — retailers, insurance companies and advanced primary care providers — are entering the market.²

Your practice or business can thrive in this new marketplace, but the changes mean it's time to differentiate yourself. An important way to do that is by offering your patients or clients simple and convenient payment solutions.

Here are some ways flexible financing options can help you set your practice apart in a competitive marketplace.

Offer Greater Financial Flexibility for Patients

Patients have their own financial challenges in the health and wellness marketplace, and they are looking for providers who can understand and help them deal with those challenges.

Health insurance costs are increasing, even for people with employer-sponsored health insurance. The average annual premium for an employer plan in 2024 was $8,951 for single coverage and $25,572 for family coverage, according to KFF’s 2024 Employer Health Benefits Survey. That was an increase of 25% since 2019 for single coverage and an increase of 24% since 2019 for family coverage.³

Those premium increases are happening while a growing number of people are enrolled in high-deductible insurance coverage.⁴ And higher premiums and higher deductibles — along with higher out-of-pocket maximums — can mean that some adults in the United States may find it difficult to afford their health and wellness care.

In fact, 70% of providers in a recent CareCredit survey said they believed cost was a barrier to patients scheduling care.⁵ Synchrony's Lifetime of Healthcare Costs report shows that 28% of patients said they delayed a medical procedure because of cost; 46% of those who delayed or ignored the procedure said doing so caused additional medical issues.⁶

Providers who offer flexible financial arrangements can help patients or clients with these challenging issues and may be able to help patients find an easier way to move forward with care recommendations. When providers accept payment through the CareCredit credit card, for example, they can offer patients a way to manage costs over time — while still receiving payment in full within two business days.

Provide a Better Overall Patient Experience

In today's health and wellness marketplace, people want their providers to make their entire experience as easy as possible, and they're increasingly willing to switch providers when that doesn't happen.

Younger people — Generation Z and millennials — are six times more likely to switch providers than older people. In considering their satisfaction with their healthcare provider, younger people especially value things like convenience, customer service and trust — even over price.⁷

Across all age groups, 78% of people who switched providers did so because of their navigation experience with the provider’s practice — meaning difficulties in doing business and bad experiences with the practice’s administrative staff.⁷

From the opposite perspective, people who find their providers very easy to work with are nine times more likely to stay with them than those who find their providers difficult to work with.⁷

Make Financing and Payments Seamless

Studies that looked at people's willingness to switch providers have found that inadequate digital tools from the provider's practice are often among the reasons they switch.⁷ Flexible patient financing solutions utilize advanced digital tools that are easy to use and help make the entire financing and payment process seamless.

Many solutions, like the CareCredit credit card, offer mobile-friendly features such as contactless payment, QR code access and simple online applications, helping patients get started quickly from their smartphones. These tools not only streamline the experience but also demonstrate that your practice embraces modern, patient-centered technology, which can build trust with patients and clients.

Provide Payment Options — and Show You Care

The health and wellness marketplace can be extremely challenging for patients and clients — especially financially. Even beyond the financial challenges, patients are increasingly willing to change providers when working with the provider seems difficult.

Offering flexible payment options is one way to show that your practice is different and that you care about your patients and the challenges they face. Depending on the financing company, patients or clients may be able to take advantage of special financing terms. These may include no interest if the bill is paid in full within a certain period or reduced annual percentage rates with fixed monthly payments.

Offer Flexible Financing at Your Practice

If you are looking for a way to connect your patients or clients with flexible financing that empowers them to pay for the care they want and need, consider offering CareCredit as a financing solution. CareCredit allows cardholders to pay for out-of-pocket health and wellness expenses over time while helping enhance the payments process for your practice or business.

When you accept CareCredit, patients or clients can see if they prequalify with no impact to their credit score, and those who apply, if approved, can take advantage of special financing on qualifying purchases.* Additionally, you will be paid directly within two business days.

Learn more about the CareCredit credit card as a financing solution or start the provider enrollment process by filling out this form.

Author Bio

Todd Murphy is a professional writer and editor with more than 30 years of experience including two decades as a newspaper and magazine journalist. He has worked with hospitals, academic health centers, universities and other institutions to create content for various audiences, with a focus on providers, patients, prospective patients and the general public.

Healthcare payment and financing solution

The CareCredit health and wellness credit card helps improve the payment experience for patients and clients, and your financial performance.

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