How Promotional Financing Education Helps Your Patients Prioritize Their Hearing Health

How Promotional Financing Education Helps Your Patients Prioritize Their Hearing Health

CareCredit Staff

With today’s high cost of living, it’s no surprise that our health and wellness costs are being impacted too. For people seeking hearing care specifically, costs can have a significant influence on their hearing health decisions, preventing some from getting the care they want and need. Findings from Synchrony’s Hearing Health & Loss Prevention study revealed that 70% of people consider their hearing a priority, yet less than 10% have visited an audiologist in the past year.1

Though, when it came to talking to a healthcare provider about their hearing health, the study shows only around half of respondents indicated the primary motivating factors for getting their hearing checked would be if they developed noticeable symptoms (56%), or if the hearing assessment were free (43%), indicating people are not focused on preventing hearing loss and cost may be a barrier to hearing care. Additionally, nearly 4 out of 5 (78%) hearing device users said their device was expensive.2

Keeping this in mind, audiologists and their teams must be prepared to educate patients with varying levels of financial knowledge about the cost of care, such as what’s covered by their insurance and what they can be expected to pay out-of-pocket, which can support them in making informed choices about their hearing health. Further, it’s essential for providers to have conversations and share resources with patients about the payment options available to help manage the cost of care.

If patients need help to manage the cost of care, providers can refer to and share readily available resources with them, such as CareCredit’s WellU financial health articles, to equip them with insightful information about their options to help pay for out-of-pocket costs, such as:

  • Financial assistance (when applicable)
  • Health savings account (HSA)
  • Flexible spending account (FSA)
  • Promotional financing solutions, including deferred interest options

Deferred interest is a convenient option for people who want the flexibility to pay for their hearing care costs over time; however, providers must emphasize that deferred interest financing is not the same as an interest free loan. It is crucial to communicate to patients that:

To ensure they can manage their monthly payments and avoid excess payments, it’s important for providers to help patients understand exactly how promotional financing works and direct them to resources to help them make an informed decision about the payment process. This includes:

  • Education on how much they’ll be expected to pay towards their balance each month
  • If the required minimum payment is adequate to pay their balance off in time
  • When their promotional period ends
  • If possible, audiologists and their teams should develop a plan with patients to try to pay off their balance prior to the end date

In the end, as long as patients understand their expected hearing care costs, keep up with payments and pay off the balance on time, promotional financing can be helpful to pay for care on any budget. ■

References

  1. Synchrony. May 14, 2024. Hearing Health & Loss Prevention study. https://www.synchrony.com/contenthub/newsroom/new-synchrony-study-revealsconsumers.html
  2. See reference 1.