Kids Dental Brands (KDB), a leading Medicaid dentistry provider, faced a unique and significant challenge in its high-volume, multi-state operations: how to effectively cater to a large uninsured population without compromising its commercial insurance negotiations.
By partnering with Clerri to launch the Kids Smile Club, KDB secured a seamless, automated solution that protects its UCR fees while providing affordable care to adolescents and teens.
About Kids Dental Brands
Balancing affordability with high UCR fees
Kids Dental Brands' patient base spans 45+ offices in seven states and is approximately 75% Medicaid. For the remaining cash-pay and uninsured families, high UCR charges resulted in prohibitive treatment costs.
KDB needed a compliant alternative that could offer lower, competitive fees to uninsured patients without impacting their UCR. They also required a technology partner whose platform was robust enough to integrate with their proprietary systems and handle the 80-140 pediatric patients the practices see every day.
"Our UCR fees are too high for our patients who fall off Medicaid," said Brent Roberts, President of Kids Dental Brands. "We wanted to offer an option for those families, providing them with a financially feasible solution. Kids Smile Club has become an important part of our practices."
The integrated and automated Clerri membership platform
Kids Dental Brands chose Clerri to power Kids Smile Club. The subscription-based membership includes exams, x-rays, and fluoride treatments as part of a hygiene bundle, up to 85% off preventive and diagnostic services, and discounts on restorative procedures and other services.
KDB did not make the decision to partner with Clerri lightly. It was a strategic choice based on Clerri’s technological foundation and its ability to support automation within a highly centralized operation.
The Clerri Care Membership Platform allows DSOs, groups, and independent practices to create and price their own membership plan, automate administration, market to new and dormant patients, and track results. With Clerri Bridge, membership opportunities appear in the PMS schedule view, enabling front office staff to instantly explain savings and enroll patients with a single click. Bridge is compatible with a wide range of PMS systems, including Denticon, Dentrix Ascend, Dentrix Core, Dentrix Enterprise, Eaglesoft, and Open Dental, as well as cloud-based systems like Curve, Practice Works, Dolphin, and Cloud9.
We built tools to automate everything from billing to tracking patients, making the roll-out with Clerri simple.
Seamless conversion and operational efficiency
The Clerri platform immediately delivered value by automating two critical functions from the start.
1. Conversion for Cash and Patients Transitioning Off Medicaid
KDB simplified the enrollment process by fully automating the cost-benefit calculation, making membership a "no-brainer" for uninsured families. "We try to simplify every process as much as possible,” said Brent. “We built tools to automate everything from billing to tracking patients, making the roll-out with Clerri simple.
Clerri also created a critical safety net for KDB’s existing patients: those who lose or age out of Medicaid coverage. With Medicaid verification happening monthly in many states, KDB identifies patients whose coverage has ended (2-4 patients per day in high-volume offices) and immediately offers them the Kids Smile Club membership.
Under-performing KDB practices that do not move as many fee-for-service patients to Kids Smile Club receive regular training, which helps them achieve lower no-show rates and higher treatment acceptance. “We don't even have a cash pay option in our system,” said Brent.
2. Advanced Data Integration and Patient Outreach
KDB integrates membership data with Dentrix Enterprise, allowing KDB’s proprietary systems to:
- Identify members who have unused benefits.
- Generate a call list for their call center.
- Proactively outreach to patients, driving them back into the office to take advantage of their paid benefits, increasing visit frequency and restorative case acceptance.
Fueling new patient growth
With the cash patient retention process in place, KDB is now focused on leveraging the Clerri platform to fuel new patient acquisition, the lifeblood of a pediatric-focused DSO whose patients age out at 18. KDB is exploring new marketing initiatives and sees the potential to integrate features like financing directly into the platform. This integration would further help families manage the costs of large cases, such as general anesthesia for special needs patients or orthodontics.
“We’re a growing company,” said Brent. “I want to find a vendor that grows with us. Someone who is investing in their platform just like we’re investing in our business.”
