Curve Dental has announced the launch of Curve Memberships, a new feature within its cloud-based practice management platform designed to help dental practices identify patients who may benefit from in-house membership plans, facilitate enrollment, and manage membership payments.
Curve Memberships integrates membership information with patient records and existing practice workflows. The system is intended particularly for patients without dental insurance, as well as those seeking elective or other services that fall outside their insurance coverage.
Once a patient enrolls in a membership plan, payments are automatically posted to the patient’s account in Curve, allowing membership billing, collections, and patient records to be managed within the practice management system.
"Dental membership plans work—until they become one more thing the front desk has to remember, " said Luke Anderson, Chief Product Officer at Curve Dental. "Curve Memberships connects with the software the team already uses all day, so identifying patients, driving enrollment and managing membership payments becomes part of the workflow—not more tasks to manage. That means practices can grow revenue without adding more work to the team's day."
Addressing Access and Payment Options
More than 1 in 5 working-age US adults lack dental benefits, according to the American Dental Association Health Policy Institute. In-house dental membership plans can provide an alternative payment model for uninsured patients and may also be used for services not covered by a patient’s dental plan.
Managing these programs, however, can require staff to identify appropriate patients, explain membership options, track enrollment, and conduct follow-up outreach. Curve Memberships is designed to automate portions of this process, including delivery of personalized membership invitations, while reducing reliance on separate lists, spreadsheets, and manual outreach.
For patients, membership plans generally provide a subscription-based approach to paying for dental services. For practices, such programs may provide recurring revenue, support patient retention, and establish a direct financial relationship with patients outside traditional insurance reimbursement.
The company also positions membership plans as a potential means of supporting case acceptance by providing patients with more transparent costs for services they might otherwise postpone or decline, particularly treatment not covered by insurance.
"Membership-driven care gives practices more control over the economics of care while giving patients a clearer way to say yes to treatment," said Anderson. "Curve Memberships helps make that easier to manage—from identifying opportunities and enrollment through payments and performance."
Membership Management Within Existing Workflows
Curve Memberships connects membership status and related information with patient records and other workflows already available within the Curve platform. Practices can use Curve reporting tools to evaluate production and collection trends among membership patients and assess the financial contribution of their programs.
Features of Curve Memberships include tools to identify potential membership candidates, automatically deliver personalized invitations, display membership information within existing patient workflows, automatically post payments to patient accounts, and track program performance through Curve reporting.
Practices also receive assistance with program setup and launch, along with marketing resources for communicating membership options to patients.
The introduction of Curve Memberships follows Curve Dental’s recently announced $200 million research and development commitment. According to the company, its ongoing investments include artificial intelligence, automation, payment technologies, and other practice management capabilities.
Curve Memberships is scheduled to become available to eligible Curve Dental customers beginning this month.
