Message Boards
Today's Active Topics Today's Active Cases Browse Forum Categories My Recent Activity My Messages Private Groups My Marked Threads My Subscriptions
Today's Active Images Today's Active Polls Most Active Topics Global Townie Map Advanced Message Board Search Message Board Terms of Use

Corporate Profile: ChaseHealthAdvance

Start Discussion

From left: Barry Trexler, SVP of sales and marketing; Rebeka Buckman and Brandon Dresser, practice consultants; and Hugh Bleemer, president, ChaseHealthAdvance.
ChaseHealthAdvance provides an easy solution to patient financing, helping orthodontic providers to increase case acceptance and spend more time with their patients.

With rising costs of medical and dental services throughout the last decade, there arose a need for a new and adaptive health-care financing option. Elective procedures like advanced dental care, orthodontic work, vision correction and cosmetic procedures often go uncovered by insurance, so Chase worked to create affordable, flexible options for those looking to finance these treatments.

Background
Chase Card Services launched a patient-financing pilot program in March 2006. It's success led to the purchase of Unicorn Financial Services in August 2007. Since Unicorn had more than 10 years of experience to leverage, the combination of the two strong companies became ChaseHealthAdvance financing options. The company has grown to become one of the largest patient financing companies in the industry.

Since day one, ChaseHealthAdvance's goals have been to advocate for treatment affordability for patients and treatment acceptance for practices, as well as to constantly seek to improve its services.

Both of these values can be seen in the No Surprise financing principle. ChaseHealthAdvance strives to make the entire financing process transparent by providing simple, easy-to-understand product terms and disclosures for everyone involved. The goal is to ensure that nothing catches a patient or practice off-guard during the financing process so that the satisfaction patients experience during treatment extends to the repayment process.

How it Works
From the orthodontists' standpoint, enrolling is easy. There are no enrollment fees, monthly minimums or required equipment to purchase. Practices sign a provider agreement and select the payment plans they would like to offer to their patients. Orthodontists pay a service fee that is typically less than nine percent.

Every practice has a knowledgeable practice consultant who trains doctors and their staff on ChaseHealthAdvance processes. The consultant continues to work with them throughout the relationship to identify opportunities where Chase's services can help them meet their business goals.

When patients select financing through Chase, they are accountable to Chase rather than the orthodontist for payments. Orthodontic patients can choose from no-interest repayment plans of 12, 18 and 24 months. The provider receives their treatment fee from Chase directly deposited into the practice account within 24 to 48 hours of the transaction. This takes the pressure and hassle of payment collections away from the orthodontist so he or she can focus on providing the best care possible for the patients.

The Benefits to Orthodontists
This financing program is beneficial to orthodontists in several ways. Firstly, it eliminates the hassle of in-house financing. In most situations, it's also more cost effective than the typical in-house financing plan. Secondly, research shows that if a practice does not collect on an account that is more than 90 days old, there is only a 20 percent chance of ever collecting on it.¹ In addition, unless a patient has paid up front, the average time between the visit and a payment is 72 days¹ – a long time for clinicians to float treatment costs.

Some clinicians feel they have a good cash-paying base of patients and just don't think offering payment options is necessary. Others may be resistant to the idea of paying a service fee for the use of financing. It's important to consider the profits orthodontists are missing out on by not offering affordable financing options. Who are the patients who walk away from treatment because they know that with the existing expectations for payment, treatment won't be plausible? By offering payment plans and communicating affordability, orthodontists are able to provide treatment services to a broader range of patients.

"Doctors can even use CHA to finance learning newer, advanced treatments," says Barry Trexler, senior vice president of sales and marketing. "And can then offer these advanced services to their patients with less worry about the cost because financing will allow patients to spread the payments out over time."



Drs. Robert W. McMinn and Michael P. Turgeau
Practice Testimonial

At the orthodontic practice of Drs. McMinn and Turgeau, we are committed to providing our patients with the best options available for their orthodontic care.

We have been users of the Damon System for several years. This system has allowed us to achieve great results while greatly reducing the overall treatment time for many of our patients. In the last year we added the Insignia option to our Damon System. The Insignia option is slightly more expensive, and we worried it might keep patients from accepting this advanced treatment solution.

It was our Damon representative who first suggested ChaseHealthAdvance financing options. He told us ChaseHealthAdvance had a very easy process and multiple no-interest repayment options, which would make treatment more affordable for our patients.

We found everyone at ChaseHealthAdvance to be readily accessible, genuinely helpful and amazingly knowledgeable. It was simple to get started with the program and the training programs were thorough but easy to understand. Our representative walked us through practice exercises until we were comfortable and anytime we had questions, help was only a phone call away. Everyone we spoke to at ChaseHealthAdvance made the transition smooth and effortless.

Our patients love the option of financing with ChaseHealthAdvance. Many of them take advantage of it. They tell us they like having their financing backed by Chase, a name they know and trust. Another benefit for our patients is the ability to use their ChaseHealthAdvance account with other doctors.

Our first year with ChaseHealthAdvance was a great start. We are looking forward to continuing our flourishing partnership with ChaseHealthAdvance for many years to come.

ChaseHealthAdvance also provides clinicians with numerous marketing tools to help them communicate the affordability of financing to their patients. Web banners help providers share financing information on their site. A downloadable payment calculator helps patients explore affordable payment plans. And co-branded letter templates let providers share financing options with patients.

Additional Benefits to Patients
Chase has leveraged 13 years of credit data in the health care space coupled with its deep credit underwriting expertise to deploy custom scorecards to determine credit eligibility.

"We want patients to leave a provider's office understanding exactly what they've signed up for – no surprises," says Hugh Bleemer, president of ChaseHealthAdvance. A clear picture of the affordable payment options available helps patients to make treatment decisions with knowledge of all financial factors.

The application and approval process is easy and everything is automated so in most cases patients know their approval status, financeable amount and repayment options within minutes.



The application can be completed in the doctor's office by the patient or the office's treatment coordinator and also by the patient either on the phone or online. Orthodontic patients can choose from no-interest repayment plans of 12, 18, or 24 months. The agreements are written in clear and simple language that helps ensure patients understand that their last payment will be the same as their first. And with ChaseHealthAdvance, no down payment is ever required and up to 100 percent of the cost of the treatment can be financed. An additional benefit of ChaseHealthAdvance is that credit lines are structured to meet each patient's needs.

One of the unique features of ChaseHealthAdvance is the ability for patients to reuse their credit lines. The credit line can be used for anyone in the family (even the family dog or cat). The funds can be used for any procedure performed by any ChaseHealthAdvance provider nationwide, including vision, hearing, cosmetic and veterinary care. It's easy to find additional providers by using the Doctor Locator feature on the ChaseHealthAdvance Web site. Patients simply choose the type of doctor and enter a zip code to get a list of providers nearby.

Everything is done via ChaseHealthAdvance's comprehensive Web site. By logging on at MyChaseHealthAdvance.com, patients can view their balances and transaction histories and can conveniently make payments online.



Future Innovations
The management team of ChaseHealthAdvance works together to continuously innovate and constantly improve services. As one example, they recently developed a Present and Apply tool for the iPad. This tool makes it easy for practices to walk patients through the case presentation process in a visual and easy-to-understand format. The tool communicates affordability, helping remove the cost barrier for the patient. This allows the provider to present simple monthly payment plans and allows the patient to apply for financing right from the iPad.

Orthodontic treatments are evolving to shorter treatment times and more effective procedures. "We think patients will want to gain access to the most advanced treatments to help their smiles look great and maintain their overall health," says Trexler. "Patients should be able to receive the care they want and need for themselves and their families, and we at ChaseHealthAdvance want to be a part of helping them achieve that."

References
  1. Average losses, billing and collecting costs collected from published materials provided by J. M. Shoemaker Consulting, Inc., Blair/McGill & Company, Cathy Jameson, Ph.D., Levin, Roger P DDS
Orthotown Magazine
September 2025
Orthotown Magazine September 2025 Read Current Issue Read Archived Issues
Sponsors
Townie® Poll
Do you have a dedicated insurance coordinator in your office?
  
Site Menu
Message Boards Magazine Continuing Education Podcasts Blogs Classifieds News Events Townie® Poll Ebooks Townie Choice Awards
Company Info
Contact Us Advertise With Us Howard Farran DDS, MBA Policies and Agreements
Site Help
Sally Gross, Member Services Specialist
Phone: +1-480-445-9710
Email: sally@farranmedia.com
©2025 Orthotown, a division of Farran Media • All Rights Reserved
9633 S. 48th Street Suite 200 • Phoenix, AZ 85044 • Phone:+1-480-598-0001 • Fax:+1-480-598-3450