Can I offer a discount to my patients who pay in full prior to treatment ?

Yes, discounts for payment in full prior to treatment are legitimate. A discount is commonly offered to patients who do not have dental benefits and who submit payment in full before treatment. Although it is not as common, some practices may choose to offer a courtesy or discount to patients with dental plans. When patients are covered by plans with which the dentist is in network, forgiving or failing to collect the copay is likely a violation of the dentist's contract with the plan. Reasonable efforts should be made to collect copayments. Although courtesies and discounts are permitted for patients with out-of-network (not contracted) dental benefits, the discount must be applied to both the patient and dental benefit plan portions. For information on how to apply discounts for patients with dental benefits, please reference the article The Right Way to Offer a Patient Discount on cda.org/practicesupport.