For more than 30 years, Practice Plan has provided practice branded dental membership plans to thousands of practices across the UK. However, although that’s a factual statement, it falls far short of describing what Practice Plan has really done for its clients over the past three decades.
Efficient collection of monthly direct debits and plan administration can be taken as read. That’s the bare minimum you’d expect from a plan provider. However, providing simply the bare minimum is not what we’re about.
Partner as well as provider
When a practice owner chooses Practice Plan, they enter into a partnership with us whose aim is to do more than merely provide them with a predictable monthly income. We want our practices to thrive and so we support this goal by offering a range of things designed to give business owners the help and guidance they need.
During their time at dental school, dentists are trained on the clinical side of their future role. However, unless they work in a hospital setting, their working environment post-qualification is likely to be in a small business. None of what they’ve been taught at dental school equips them to be a business person. If they’re happy to remain as associates in someone else’s practice, then that may not be too much of a problem. However, if they want to acquire their own practice, then there is a lot to learn about running a business.
We understand that, which is why we offer as much support as we do. If you’re a practice owner considering making a move away from NHS dentistry, you’ll be assigned one of our Regional Support Managers (RSMs) who will do a full, drains up review of your business to see whether it’s the right thing for your business. If, after we’ve assessed things, the time isn’t right, we’ll tell you. We never advise going ahead if it’s not good for your business.
If it is, they’ll take you through the whole process and be with you every step of the way. Including being there on the day you go live (often with lunch or biscuits for the team) as an extra member of staff to sign up patients and deal with queries.
Although we’re the NHS to Private experts, it doesn’t have to be all or nothing. If you just want to introduce a plan alongside your NHS contract, or you want to switch to us from another provider via bulk transfer, we’ll support you to go about that in the right way. Whichever option you choose, we’ll stick around well after the dust of the introduction of the contract has settled.
As a Practice Plan customer, your RSM will be there to support you for the long term. With more than 300 years of experience of dentistry in our field team, whatever your query, it’s likely they’ve come across it before. In addition, there’s a team of head office-based Relationship Support Advisors (RSAs) who work with the RSMs to help practices with queries. So, help is only ever a phone call away.
Events
As well as the support you can expect from your RSM or RSA, we also have a full programme of events to help boost your business knowledge and expertise. From regional face to face events to breakfast clubs and our highly popular annual Workshop Tour, we offer opportunities to attend sessions delivered by industry leading presenters on topics including employment law, marketing, HR and team motivation. In some cases, you can even gain CPD credit for attending.
These events are supplemented by regular exclusive webinars. If you can’t log on when it’s live, then they’re available later on-demand. If there’s a specific topic you need help with that isn’t covered by our current programme, then we can put you in touch with one of our list of highly respected dental business consultants.
Resources and technology
We also have online resources covered too. If you’d rather just spend a few minutes reading about a topic, we have a huge library of blogs available that cover a vast array of business and wellbeing subjects. If you enjoy listening to podcasts, then you can tune into one of our many Bodcasts (Business of Dentistry podcast) or listen to an ‘In the Loupe’ where our Director, Nigel Jones, chats to people in and around dentistry about the groundbreaking and interesting work they’re doing.
As a Practice Plan customer, you’ll be able to use Supportal, our online plan management system. Through Supportal you can gain access to real-time patient data, download statements, sign up new patients and update patient information, making managing your plan easy. Your patients will also be given access to MyPlan which allows them to make basic changes to their details online at a time that’s convenient to them.
That’s not all…
Image is everything these days. So, whether you want a simple refresh of your literature or go the whole hog and have a total rebrand our Practice Marketing and Design teams will be able to help you achieve your aim. Our highly creative teams can guide you through the whole process from concept through to delivery without a hint of generic AI content in sight!
When you become a Practice Plan practice, you’re welcomed into a relationship with a business that, although large (we’re the leading provider of practice branded membership plans) has the feel of a small business. Our RSMs build longstanding relationships with their clients that, in many cases are friendships because for them, helping your business thrive is personal.
So, do you want a provider that will look after collecting your direct debits each month but who you never see from one year to the next or who can only be contacted online? Or would you rather work with one that will be by your side, who makes you feel valued, wants to help your business succeed and who you know has your best interests at heart?
If you’d like to find out more about working with Practice Plan, why not book a no obligation one-to-one chat where you can find out more about your options. We’re ready when you are.