Membership plan questions, answered for the whole team

Because a large share of those patients either have no dental benefits, thin coverage, or they delay treatment because the out-of-pocket number is a surprise. You do not have to win a new-patient war first. You can offer a practice-owned plan to people who already trust you.

A simple illustration used on our homepage: a practice with 1,500 active patients where 10% join a $40/month plan is 150 members × $40 = $6,000/month, or $72,000/year in dues — before additional treatment those members accept. Results vary. The point is the opportunity is already on the recall list.

Yes. Most practices do both. Keep the plans that still make sense. Use membership for patients insurance does not serve well: uninsured adults, retirees without dental benefits, families on medical-only coverage, and patients who are tired of deductibles, waiting periods, and annual maximums.

Membership is not “fire every carrier tomorrow.” It is another relationship sitting next to the ones you already have.

No. Fee-for-service offices use membership as a clean alternative to insurance. PPO offices use it to stop losing the uninsured part of the book and to create a revenue stream that is not a write-off. Same software either way. You set the plans.

Dues hit on a schedule you control. That is different from production that depends on who showed up this week and what the carrier allowed. Owners use it to smooth cash flow, fund hygiene, and take pressure off the next new-patient campaign.

On the uninsured and underinsured segment, you are not sending a claim and writing off the difference to a contracted fee. You set the dues and the member discount. Preventive visits are bundled into the plan you designed. Restorative is your fee schedule minus the discount you chose.

That is why practices do not treat membership as “another cheap PPO.” It is a plan you own.

Members already paid for preventive care on a schedule. They have a reason to keep the hygiene appointment. Practices typically see members return more reliably than uninsured cash patients who were waiting until something hurt.

Yes. StonePrism is built so a group can run membership programs across practices from one system: shared or location-specific plans, centralized reporting, and staff who enroll the same way in every office.

Many practices report about 20 seconds once the team has done it a few times. That is the difference between “we’ll mail you a packet” and “you’re on the plan before you leave the window.”

No. StonePrism tracks active members, payments, failed cards, and renewals. Staff stop chasing a binder or a shared Excel file.

Treat it as an option for a specific problem. “You don’t have dental benefits. We have a practice plan that covers preventive care and a savings on other treatment. Most patients are enrolled in about the time it takes to run a card.” That is an offer, not a close.

We train the team on when to mention it — uninsured new patients, declined treatment, hygiene patients with no coverage — so it does not become a script they dread.

Automated recurring payments run through Stripe. Renewals and notifications are built in. Staff still help when a patient wants to change a card or pause a plan. They do not build the billing machine.

Whatever you put in the plan. Typical design:

• Predictable monthly or annual dues
• Bundled preventive care (exams, cleanings, routine x-rays on a schedule you define)
• A stated discount on other treatment
• No claims, no waiting period, no carrier annual maximum

Adult, child, and periodontal plans are common. You decide.

No. Say that out loud to patients. It is a membership with your practice. They pay you. You deliver the benefits you printed. There is no third-party claims desk in the middle.

Your brand. Patient-facing communications carry the practice name. StonePrism is the system in the back office.

Cost is no longer a blank check. They already have a relationship, a preventive schedule, and a known discount. The conversation becomes “here is what you need and here is what it costs on your plan,” not “we’ll see what insurance allows.”

A discount on treatment that never gets scheduled is 100% off. Members convert work that cash-uninsured patients often defer. You set the percentage. Many offices land in a 10–20% range because it feels meaningful to the patient without turning the operatory into a loss leader.

Run your own numbers on a crown, a perio series, or an implant workup before you print the plan. StonePrism does not dictate fees.

You set dues. Many practices land around $30–$50 per month for an adult preventive plan, or a prepaid annual price. Child and perio plans are priced separately. Price it so preventive is covered and the discount on other treatment still works at your costs — not at a national average.

Flat-rate software. No per-member fee. Unlimited members, plans, and staff on the plan we quote you. The software bill does not climb because enrollment worked.

We do not publish a single software price here. Pricing is tailored to practice size and goals. Ask on a demo or the pricing conversation — same as the live site.

Recurring dues run through Stripe. Card processing fees are Stripe’s, the same way online payments work in the rest of the practice. StonePrism is not taking a slice of dues as a per-member software tax.

1. Design the plans — dues, bundled preventive, member discount, adult/child/perio if you want them.
2. Set branding so patients see the practice, not a third-party plan name.
3. Train the team on a 20-second enroll and when to offer it.
4. Turn on Stripe billing, renewals, and notifications.
5. Start with the uninsured and underinsured patients already in the database.

StonePrism helps with plan design, staff training, and implementation. It is not a box of software left on the desk.

No. The product exists because membership programs die when they become a side job with a spreadsheet. Enrollment is short. Billing is automated. Reporting is in one place.

No. Keep Dentrix, Eaglesoft, Open Dental, or whatever you run. StonePrism manages the membership layer. The chart and the schedule stay where they are.

• Fast enrollment
• Automated recurring payments through Stripe
• Renewals and notifications
• Practice-branded patient communication
• Reporting on members, payments, and dues
• Multi-location programs

Infrastructure is built for HIPAA- and PCI-conscious practice data. Live U.S.-based support and training are part of getting the team confident, not an afterthought.

The practice. Membership payments go to you. StonePrism is not a plan broker taking the patient relationship.

Yes. Your plans, your practice name, your relationship. Patients should feel they joined Northside Family Dentistry — not a national discount brand.

Insurance is a third-party contract. The carrier sets coverage, allowable fees, and when you get paid. Membership is a direct agreement with your practice. You set price and benefits. There are no claims to file for the membership itself.

Maybe — and that is as far as we will go on a marketing page. Eligibility depends on how the plan is written, what the administrator allows, and current IRS rules. Some preventive services are easier than prepaid membership dues.

Do not promise HSA or FSA eligibility in brochures or at the desk until your CPA or benefits counsel reviews the specific plan. StonePrism will not make that promise for you.

Discount dental plans and in-house membership programs can be regulated differently by state. Some states care how you describe the plan, whether you use the word insurance, and how refunds work. Have healthcare counsel glance at the member agreement before you enroll the first patient. That is not a StonePrism legal service, and this FAQ is not legal advice.

Uninsured patients already pay something — they pay late, in chunks, or they don’t get the work done. A $30–$50 monthly number is how a lot of households already buy everything else. Offer annual prepay for people who hate subscriptions. The ones who will never join were often not scheduling hygiene anyway.

A cash discount is a one-time haircut with no recall engine and no recurring dues. Membership bundles preventive care, creates a reason to come back, and still lets you offer a member rate on treatment. You can keep a simple cash courtesy for people who will never join. They are different tools.

If the program needs a coordinator and a spreadsheet, you are right to refuse. That is the version StonePrism is built to replace. Twenty-second enrollments, automated billing, no extra FTE. If the front desk still hates it after training, the design failed — tell us on the demo.

Members will cancel. Write a plain cancellation and refund rule and stick to it. Automated billing plus a real preventive benefit is what keeps most people. Churn is not a reason to avoid the program. It is a reason to measure it instead of guessing from the front-desk mood.