November 27, 2024 • 29 mins
Discover how to transform your hearing care practice with insights from Blaise Delfino, as we promise to reveal the keys to reducing hearing aid return rates drastically. Blaise opens up about his journey to achieving a return rate of less than 1%, sharing strategies that focus on enhancing patient satisfaction and making hearing aids financially accessible. By refining patient interactions and service delivery models, Blaise and his team not only retained more patients but turned them into advocates for better hearing. Learn how offering financing options like CareCredit can remove financial barriers, ensuring that hearing technology is accessible to all who need it.
Explore the art of creating a patient-centered approach that doesn't just satisfy but truly engages. From the personal touch of handwritten thank you cards to the precision of real ear measurement and tympanometry, discover how these best practices can elevate the patient experience and reduce frustration. Setting realistic expectations about hearing aids—emphasizing improved speech clarity over mere sound amplification—keeps patients informed and content. By focusing on these strategies, we aim to increase referrals and establish a thriving practice that better serves its community while supporting patients on their hearing journeys.
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Email: hearingmatterspodcast@gmail.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Thank you you to our partners.
Cycle, built for the entirehearing care practice.
Redux the best dryer hands downCaption call by Sorenson.
Life is calling CareCredit.
Here today to help more peoplehear tomorrow.
Faderplugs the world's firstcustom adjustable earplug.
(00:42):
Welcome back to another episodeof the Hearing Matters podcast.
I'm founder and host, blaiseDelfino, and, as a friendly
reminder, this podcast isseparate from my work at Starkey
.
I'm your host, blaise Delfino,and I hope you're all having a
wonderful week.
I personally cannot believe howclose Christmas is.
(01:05):
This year has absolutely flownby.
If you're listening to this, itmight be morning, afternoon,
evening, either way.
Hello, I am your host, blaiseDelfino, and, for those new to
the show, thank you for lendingyour ears and thank you for
joining us on our mission toraise awareness of the
importance of hearing healthcare.
(01:26):
And whether you're a studentstudying speech pathology or
audiology, you're a privatepractice owner, ent, or even a
current or future hearing aiduser, we welcome you with open
arms and we hope that thisplatform assists you in making
an educated decision regardinghearing health care, assists you
in making an educated decisionregarding hearing healthcare.
I've been reflecting a lot,especially when I was practicing
(01:47):
full-time as a private practiceowner and hearing instrument
specialist and every December31st, especially before the new
year, I would look at our keyperformance indicators, most
commonly referred to as KPIs,and I would always look at
specific numbers, but mostimportantly our return for
(02:10):
credit rate or RFC.
And one of the reasons I lookedat that was not because to say,
oh you know, only 10 patientsthis year return their hearing
aids.
That's great To me.
When a patient would returntheir hearing aids, I took that
very personally because I lovewhat we do as hearing care
(02:30):
providers and if a patient wereto return their hearing aids, I
felt as though I had failed them, especially if they had a
severe hearing loss, and Ipersonally learned not to take
it personally.
We always walk through.
But I will say full disclaimerhere.
Our return rate was less than1% and I don't share that to
brag or boast or to impress you,but rather impress upon you
(02:54):
that I do know what it feelslike when a patient returns
their hearing aids.
Some are not ready, some it istruly a financial aspect.
But we learned quickly toreframe how we were speaking
with our patients, our servicedelivery model, our patient
experience, and that's why wehave and had such a low return
(03:15):
rate.
So, again, that number.
I looked at that and if we hada low RFC.
What that told me is we havehappy patients that are telling
their friends about their newhearing journey, and that's also
showing that our team is allwalking in lockstep.
We're all walking together inthe same direction helping
(03:36):
patients hear life's story, andI really felt it in my heart of
hearts to talk to you today anddiscuss ways in which you can
reduce hearing aid returns.
Now we are this band of hearingcare providers that truly are on
a mission to raise awareness ofthe importance of hearing
health care, and we have a lotof work to do.
(03:57):
We need to continue to removethis stigma and oftentimes new
hearing aid users, when theycome into the clinic, they might
be a little skeptical and theyare going through that grieving
process and I can assure you,embodying empathy.
So, ways in which we canimprove low return for credit
(04:17):
rate.
If we have 50% of our patientsreturning their hearing
instruments, the problem isprobably the individual looking
at you in the mirror.
We don't want 50, 60, 70%because, again, it's also not in
the best interest of thepatient.
But I know that you listening.
(04:38):
Right now you have a low RFCrate, so number one have a low
RFC rate, so number one, how toimprove our return for credit
rate?
Are you, and is your clinic,offering appropriate financing
options?
Now, today, access is a buzzwordin the hearing healthcare space
.
We talk about access totechnology, access to hearing
(05:01):
healthcare, and we do have manyplatforms that do provide access
to hearing health care andhearing care providers, but are
you, the hearing care provider,offering appropriate financing
options to your patients?
There was a study that wasconducted and these findings
were released on January 2nd2023.
(05:21):
And it writes Americans arefalling short on the savings
front.
According to the State ofPersonal Finance in America 2022
, a study conducted by RamseySolutions, there's a clear
shortfall in personal savingsamong millions of Americans.
The study revealed that 36% ofall Americans have absolutely no
(05:41):
savings at all and another 19%have less than $1,000 saved.
Just 45% of all Americans have$1,000 or more in savings.
Now the reason I bring that upfirst and foremost, I am a fan
of Dave Ramsey and his teachings, especially when it comes to
(06:04):
financial literacy.
But, as hearing care providers,we also have to embody
financial literacy, especiallyif you are running a private
practice, because numbers reallydo tell a story, but one way to
reduce your return for creditrate is to offer these
appropriate financing options,because what that study just
(06:25):
showed us is that there aregoing to be patients that come
to us that do not have liquidfunds to pay for their hearing
technology.
So we need to ensure that weare sensitive to that.
We know, as hearing careproviders, that the cost of
untreated hearing loss isgreater than the price of the
hearing technology, but we alsohave to be understanding and
(06:47):
aware that not every patient,even if they need that premium
technology, will be able toafford that.
So I challenge you to audityourself, audit your practice.
What financing options areavailable to my patients?
Am I working with anorganization like a care credit?
What are the terms?
I understand as a hearinghealthcare practice.
(07:11):
It costs you to offer financingoptions, but again, that is one
of those costs of doingbusiness and reflecting with you
and your team who set thoseprice points, ensuring that it
is not only fair to yourpractice but also the patient in
terms of what financing optionsare available, whether it be
(07:32):
that 12-month term, 18-monthterm or 36-month term.
So what is going to help thepractice, what is going to help
the patient and what is going tobe that appropriate middle
ground?
The second way to improve yourreturn for credit rate is
implementing motivationalinterviewing.
Are we asking the rightquestions?
(07:54):
I always loved implementingmotivational interviewing
because number one, you reallyget to know the patient much
deeper than just asking do youhave ear pain, yes or no?
That's what the patient intakecan answer, all of those yes or
no questions, those close-endedquestions.
(08:15):
With motivational interviewingwe're really getting deep in
terms of those open-endedquestions.
How is this patient feeling?
What is their motivation levelto engage with hearing
technology, to even make thedecision today to walk out with
hearing technology?
And when you are implementingmotivational interviewing, this
(08:38):
is usually when you bring thepatient back to the audiology
suite before you test theirhearing.
If the patient brought withthem a family member or a spouse
, or they had a third party withthem, I would always ask the
patient Mrs Smith, what wouldyou like to accomplish today?
And that was always the firstquestion I asked.
(09:00):
And then I would look to thespouse or the third party and I
would ask him or her what wouldyou like to accomplish today?
And after that question, prettymuch nine times out of 10, the
patient would say I've never hada health care provider ask me
what I wanted to accomplish atthe appointment.
And number one you need to begenuinely curious as to why
(09:24):
they're here, what they wouldlike to accomplish today,
because if they walk out of theclinic feeling as though that
they haven't accomplished whatthey came to accomplish, they're
not going to have that sense offulfillment.
So your job as that hearinghealthcare provider is to ensure
you're providing them thatplatform to accomplish what they
wanted to.
Nine times out of 10, especiallyif it were the husbands, it
(09:46):
would say I want to prove to mywife that it's selective hearing
and we've heard that so manytimes but ensuring that you make
them feel comfortable, upfrontduring the motivational
interviewing process and you'reasking the right questions.
And that would then follow upby understanding and asking them
(10:06):
what a typical day like is forthem, especially as it relates
to communication.
On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 beingyou're not socially active to 10
, you're very socially activewhere would you put yourself
today?
Well, I'd probably put myselfaround a 4 or 5.
Tell me about your socialactivity level 10, 15, 20 years
ago, before you started tosuspect that you presented with
(10:28):
hearing loss.
Oh, I was at a 10.
So now we understand, we knowwhere to go.
Now there are patients that maybe introverts or ambiverts, but
again, this motivationalinterviewing allows you upfront
to really deep dive andunderstand.
Is the patient motivated to dosomething about their hearing?
Are they here because theirspouse pushed them?
(10:49):
You're still going to give thispatient 110%, but there are
patients who are truly just notready to take that step towards
better hearing.
A third way that you can improveyour return for credit rate is
appropriate onboarding andfollow-up schedule for the
(11:10):
patients just fit with hearingtechnology and patients who have
been wearing hearing aids for10, 15, 20 years.
So when we talk aboutonboarding and follow-up
schedule, first and foremost,when we started in private
practice full-time, andespecially following graduate
school in 2017, we knew that bythe year 2020, the majority of
(11:32):
consumers would make theirpurchasing decisions based on
the experience that they had,and we asked ourselves and we
audited ourselves.
Sometimes it's very hard tolook, you know, inside the
picture or inside the jar.
What are we doing right now?
That is not the best experiencefor patients.
What can we do?
Starting tomorrow?
(11:53):
What is that low-hanging fruitthat we can start to implement
to create the best patientexperience possible, and it came
down to implementing anonboarding schedule and
experience that our patientsabsolutely love.
So what does that look like?
When a new patient moves forwardwith hearing technology, we
(12:14):
send them home with a folderthat is branded to our practice
and then inside that folder weincluded information about
today's visit, information aboutthe technology that they're
moving forward with.
We included one of our mostrecent quarterly newsletters so
this patient could go home andread more about the hearing care
(12:35):
provider and hearing carepractice that they're moving
forward with.
And this is really how theHearing Matters podcast came
about.
Because we started this podcastsolely for the patients that we
were fitting in the clinic.
Because if a patient would gohome and have questions, we
wanted to record episodes thatthat patient could go back and
listen to, especially if theywere moving forward with a
(12:58):
specific hearing aidmanufacturer you know we've
talked about the differenthearing aids available or if
they want to understand whatwe're going to accomplish at
their first follow-up.
We recorded an episode allabout their first follow-up.
So, coming into that next thatfitting appointment, for example
, that patient knew what we weregoing to cover and what it did.
(13:20):
Is it decreased majority of thequestions and I will tell you 80
to 90% of the new patients thatwe fit with technology, whether
it was the patient listening tothe episode or their spouse or
third party majority listened tothe episode and it was a lot of
fun.
Our patients said, wow, like Ican't wait to listen to next
week's episode.
So what you were doing is youwere creating an experience and
(13:44):
we were creating an experienceand a community and a platform
for our patients to feeleducated, welcomed, and there
was no smoke and mirrors, right,like as a consumer.
Let's just say you go topurchase a new vehicle and the
dealership doesn't show you howto use any of the buttons in
(14:04):
this car that you know today'svehicles.
They look like spaceships nowinside.
So, like, what does this buttondo?
What does that feature do?
As hearing healthcareprofessionals, it is our duty
and responsibility to focus onthe benefits of the hearing
technology first and the featuresecond.
But what does that onboardingschedule look like?
So we always, of course,implemented their fitting
(14:25):
appointment first, follow-up,second follow-up.
If they felt as though thatthey needed a third follow-up,
of course we satisfied that andthen every six months, we saw
them for a clean and check.
So we're seeing our patients atleast, at least following that
onboarding schedule two times ayear at least.
The patients did incrediblywell and again, this absolutely
(14:49):
positively influenced andimpacted our very low return for
credit rate.
I will tell you we implementeda system, we created a system,
and I was never afraid of MrsSmith coming back to the hearing
care clinic with hermanufacturer bag in hand not
(15:10):
wearing the hearing aids, sayingI came to return these.
What this system and processdid not only for me as a hearing
care provider, but for our teamis it increased our confidence.
So if we take a look at this,you know you have a low return
for credit rate, you're offeringappropriate financing options,
you're implementing motivationalinterviewing and you have a
(15:33):
system that ensures that thepatient is onboarded properly.
Just these three things alone.
If you implement in the newyear, you will see a drastic
decrease in your return forcredit rate.
The patients felt part of aprogram versus a transaction.
With our onboarding andfollow-up schedule.
(15:54):
Think about the last time youfelt as though you were truly
heard at a store or a shoppingexperience.
It could be a healthcareprovider as well.
Did you feel heard?
Did you feel part of a programor did you feel as though it was
just a transaction?
We are human beings and we aresocially connected.
(16:15):
We are social beings.
We want to feel part ofsomething, especially in the
hearing healthcare industry.
There is no industry like ours.
We can never turn our hearingoff, it is always on, and our
patients, when they start tosense that decrease in hearing,
oftentimes they may start toexperience that loss of self,
(16:37):
and that's where grieving comesin.
So, if anything, we discussedtoday the ways in which to
decrease your return for creditrate.
This is number one.
This is really, reallyimportant that you create a
system and or refine yourcurrent system to ensure that
the onboarding schedule is firstclass.
We would always follow up too.
(16:58):
When a patient was fit with newhearing technology, we sent
them a thank you card.
It's those little things andthat thank you card hand signed,
oftentimes handwritten.
Because, if you go back to thebasics, we live in a world of
artificial intelligence and it'sphenomenal technology.
The hearing aids use AI andit's friendly AI, but we as
(17:19):
hearing healthcare providers andbusiness owners, private
practice owners, cannot losethat human touch.
Blaze, I don't have the time.
I get it.
We all have 24 hours in the day.
However, can you pre-sign someof these thank you cards and
your front office staff fillthem out?
So it's those little things andI use this terminology a lot
(17:40):
You've never been bitten by anelephant, but you've been bitten
by a mosquito, so it's thelittle things in business and
life that really come back tobite us.
The fourth way to improve anddecrease your return for credit
rate in 2024 is drumroll, please.
Implementation of best practices.
We are not going to deep diveinto this today, because you, as
(18:02):
a hearing health care provider,know you should be conducting
speech and noise testing, videootoscopy, tympanometry,
otoacoustic emissions,functional gain testing, real
ear measurement.
Those are just a few bestpractices that we, as hearing
care providers, should beimplementing.
When you implement bestpractices and one of them,
(18:25):
absolutely a tool that we'veused and continue to use is the
use of the AFAB, the AbbreviatedProfile of Hearing Aid Benefit
Start to implement that thisyear.
If there's anything that you dothis year, like we discussed, I
should say in the new year,refine your onboarding and
follow-up schedule and reallyensure that you're implementing
(18:46):
best practices with every singlenew and current patient.
What is that going to do?
So how is the implementation ofbest practices Blaze going to
reduce my return for credit rate?
Here's why the patients whenyou implement best practice, you
know that you are hitting theirtargets for best speech and
understanding.
When you do real earmeasurement, when you implement
(19:06):
tympanometry, you know thattheir middle ear space is
functioning appropriately.
You know what their speech andnoise testing scores are.
So what you're going to do isincrease maybe some of that
digital noise reduction.
The implementation of bestpractices allows you to
fine-tune the hearing technology, but also understand what
(19:28):
additional communication methodsdo I need to discuss with this
patient to ensure that they'rehearing to the best of their
ability.
When you do that, the patientis going to be happy.
They're going to feel heard.
They're going to feel part ofthe community with which they
once were able to communicate in.
But maybe they've recentlywithdrawn, or the past years
have withdrawn, and what they'regoing to do is tell their
(19:52):
friends and family about theirnew hearing world.
And if a friend or familymember of this said patient also
feels as though that theypresent with a hearing loss,
they're most likely going tocall you.
Which again, a decreased returnfor credit rate or a low return
for credit rate.
What that also carries overinto is increase in patient
referrals, because your patientsare happier and your practice
(20:15):
is going to continue to help somany community members.
Let's talk about the fifth wayto decrease return for credit
rate and ways to improve thisnumber in 2024.
Set realistic expectations.
This is really, reallyimportant to do, and the reason
(20:35):
why is because when you areworking with patients and you're
setting realistic expectations,your patients have this
guidepost of okay.
My hearing care provider toldme that the goal of a hearing
aid is not to make everythinglouder, it's to make speech
clearer, and I am not going tohave supersonic hearing with
these hearing aids.
(20:56):
The hearing care provider alsotold me that there are sounds
that I've heard before that maysound a little louder the first
week or two.
Some sounds may sound harsh,but my brain is going to
acclimate to this new hearingworld.
I really wanted to talk to youtoday about you know when you
(21:16):
set these realistic expectations.
If I were to say, mrs Smith, weneed to set realistic
expectations here.
Wow, the hearing technologytoday is incredible and you have
these amazing features likebiometrics and fall detection
Incredible technology.
The goal of the hearing aid isto help you understand speech
(21:37):
clearer, not only in simple butcomplex listening situations
like a restaurant, bar area orjust around family during the
holidays, but also thetelevision.
So we set realistic technologyexpectations.
We set realistic listeningexpectations and the patients
would always say thank you fordoing that, because we also have
(22:00):
to understand too, that thispatient has been grieving.
They are looking for somerelief If we shoot for the stars
for this technology and we overpromise what the technology is
going to do for them.
Number one it's not in the bestinterest of the patient because
when you set unrealisticexpectations, they're going to
get frustrated and guess what?
(22:21):
They're going to return theirhearing aids.
Who cares about the return?
What I care about is thispatient who has been struggling,
maybe for a few years, who isnow not wearing technology, and
we understand the comorbiditieslinked to untreated hearing loss
.
So as hearing healthcareproviders, it is our duty and
responsibility to set theserealistic expectations.
(22:42):
When you're setting realisticexpectations, oftentimes this
conversation leads into thepatient maybe asking well, how
long do I have to try thehearing aids?
What we did is we replacedtrial period with adjustment
period.
So we would say Mrs Jones, youhave a 30-day adjustment period,
(23:05):
what this allows us to do as ateam is to ensure that you're
satisfied with your new hearingworld.
We're going to make adjustmentsto the hearing technology and
we're going to track yourperformance, not only with the
hearing technology, but from acommunication standpoint as well
.
I would encourage you, replacetrial with adjustment period.
(23:29):
Last but not least, the sixthway to decrease your return for
credit rate and improve this KPIis to recommend appropriate
hearing technology.
So when you've implemented bestpractices and the patient has a
92% word recognition score, butthey have a severe speech and
(23:52):
noise score and they have a veryactive lifestyle and they're 65
.
You're most likely going torecommend premium hearing
technology.
However, that's also where thatappropriate financing option
comes into place.
This is where you talk aboutthe price of the technology,
what comes with that warranty,et cetera, et cetera.
(24:14):
I'm not going to tell you howto run your business from a
warranty standpoint or a pricingstandpoint.
That is between you and yourbusiness only.
But when we are recommendingappropriate hearing technology
and we are leading with highstandard of care, what does that
mean?
What does that high standard ofcare mean?
We need to make the bestrecommendation for the patient.
(24:35):
Oftentimes I've heard ofstories at different conferences
and conventions where providerswill say my patients will not
spend X amount for premiumtechnology, so I always offer
mid to lower tier hearingtechnology.
I can understand the reasoningbehind that, but I also believe
that you are taking away theopportunity for your patient to
(24:59):
hear even better with premiumtechnology.
So if you recommend, let's justsay okay.
Mrs Smith, we know that youpresent with a significant
hearing loss and you told methat you live a very active
lifestyle.
Your goals are to understand.
In restaurants, in meetings,your husband expressed to us
(25:21):
that he wants you to hear betterwhen you go out to dinner, when
he takes you out to dinner andpicks up that bill.
Right, based on yoursignificant hearing loss, your
social activity level and whatyou would like to accomplish
your social activity level andwhat you would like to
accomplish, I am going torecommend the premium hearing
solution that we have in theclinic, which costs X, and then
(25:42):
what you do is you stop talkingand implement wait time.
And this is really an episodethat we could do separately,
talking about recommendingappropriate hearing technology.
But again just wanted to discusssix tips and tricks to improve
your return for credit rate whenyou do recommend appropriate
hearing technology and your casepresentation is educational,
(26:05):
not transactional.
Again, that patient is actuallymaking the decision, as they
should be.
You're that guidepost.
Oftentimes they're going tomove forward with your
recommendation.
If you change the paradigm of Iam providing so much value,
this patient is going to hear somuch better.
They're going to communicate somuch better.
(26:26):
The goal here as a hearing careprovider is to again educate
them.
We know that they're going tohave their technology for quite
a few years.
Now that's where thatappropriate financing option
comes into play.
If the patient truthfully cannotafford premium hearing
technology, discuss lower tiertechnology.
(26:47):
But again, you need to thenreset those realistic
expectations.
If you go from a premium tomid-level device, well, you have
a severe speech and noise score.
If we go with the mid-leveldevice, this is what you can
expect.
If you are going into a lowertier technology, please
recommend and every providershould be doing this including a
(27:09):
remote microphone to increasethat signal to noise ratio, and
that should be whether it be low, mid or premium technology.
So again, six ways to improveyour return for credit rate and
reduce your RFC.
Because again, yes, we want toensure that our practice is
thriving and we're able to helpas many patients as possible.
(27:31):
One of the reasons we want toreduce the return for credit
rate is because there's millionsof individuals out there with
hearing loss.
We want to show up for themevery single day, and by doing
so, they are going to be happypatients, they're going to be
champions of better hearing andthey're then joining our mission
(27:53):
to raise awareness of betterhearing.
Thank you again for joining usfor another episode of the
Hearing Matters podcast.
Today, we discussed ways inwhich we can reduce hearing aid
returns, not because it's what'sin the best interest of the
practice, but because it is whatis in the best interest of the
patients.
I'm your host, blaise Delfino,and until next time, hear life's
(28:17):
story.
Thank you you to our partners.
Cycle, built for the entirehearing care practice.
Redux the best dryer hands downCaption call by Sorenson.
Life is calling CareCredit.
Here today to help more peoplehear tomorrow.
Faderplugs the world's firstcustom adjustable earplug.
(00:42):
Welcome back to another episodeof the Hearing Matters podcast.
I'm founder and host, blaiseDelfino, and, as a friendly
reminder, this podcast isseparate from my work at Starkey
.
I'm your host, blaise Delfino,and I hope you're all having a
wonderful week.
I personally cannot believe howclose Christmas is.
(01:05):
This year has absolutely flownby.
If you're listening to this, itmight be morning, afternoon,
evening, either way.
Hello, I am your host, blaiseDelfino, and, for those new to
the show, thank you for lendingyour ears and thank you for
joining us on our mission toraise awareness of the
importance of hearing healthcare.
(01:26):
And whether you're a studentstudying speech pathology or
audiology, you're a privatepractice owner, ent, or even a
current or future hearing aiduser, we welcome you with open
arms and we hope that thisplatform assists you in making
an educated decision regardinghearing health care, assists you
in making an educated decisionregarding hearing healthcare.
I've been reflecting a lot,especially when I was practicing
(01:47):
full-time as a private practiceowner and hearing instrument
specialist and every December31st, especially before the new
year, I would look at our keyperformance indicators, most
commonly referred to as KPIs,and I would always look at
specific numbers, but mostimportantly our return for
(02:10):
credit rate or RFC.
And one of the reasons I lookedat that was not because to say,
oh you know, only 10 patientsthis year return their hearing
aids.
That's great To me.
When a patient would returntheir hearing aids, I took that
very personally because I lovewhat we do as hearing care
(02:30):
providers and if a patient wereto return their hearing aids, I
felt as though I had failed them, especially if they had a
severe hearing loss, and Ipersonally learned not to take
it personally.
We always walk through.
But I will say full disclaimerhere.
Our return rate was less than1% and I don't share that to
brag or boast or to impress you,but rather impress upon you
(02:54):
that I do know what it feelslike when a patient returns
their hearing aids.
Some are not ready, some it istruly a financial aspect.
But we learned quickly toreframe how we were speaking
with our patients, our servicedelivery model, our patient
experience, and that's why wehave and had such a low return
(03:15):
rate.
So, again, that number.
I looked at that and if we hada low RFC.
What that told me is we havehappy patients that are telling
their friends about their newhearing journey, and that's also
showing that our team is allwalking in lockstep.
We're all walking together inthe same direction helping
(03:36):
patients hear life's story, andI really felt it in my heart of
hearts to talk to you today anddiscuss ways in which you can
reduce hearing aid returns.
Now we are this band of hearingcare providers that truly are on
a mission to raise awareness ofthe importance of hearing
health care, and we have a lotof work to do.
(03:57):
We need to continue to removethis stigma and oftentimes new
hearing aid users, when theycome into the clinic, they might
be a little skeptical and theyare going through that grieving
process and I can assure you,embodying empathy.
So, ways in which we canimprove low return for credit
(04:17):
rate.
If we have 50% of our patientsreturning their hearing
instruments, the problem isprobably the individual looking
at you in the mirror.
We don't want 50, 60, 70%because, again, it's also not in
the best interest of thepatient.
But I know that you listening.
(04:38):
Right now you have a low RFCrate, so number one have a low
RFC rate, so number one, how toimprove our return for credit
rate?
Are you, and is your clinic,offering appropriate financing
options?
Now, today, access is a buzzwordin the hearing healthcare space
.
We talk about access totechnology, access to hearing
(05:01):
healthcare, and we do have manyplatforms that do provide access
to hearing health care andhearing care providers, but are
you, the hearing care provider,offering appropriate financing
options to your patients?
There was a study that wasconducted and these findings
were released on January 2nd2023.
(05:21):
And it writes Americans arefalling short on the savings
front.
According to the State ofPersonal Finance in America 2022
, a study conducted by RamseySolutions, there's a clear
shortfall in personal savingsamong millions of Americans.
The study revealed that 36% ofall Americans have absolutely no
(05:41):
savings at all and another 19%have less than $1,000 saved.
Just 45% of all Americans have$1,000 or more in savings.
Now the reason I bring that upfirst and foremost, I am a fan
of Dave Ramsey and his teachings, especially when it comes to
(06:04):
financial literacy.
But, as hearing care providers,we also have to embody
financial literacy, especiallyif you are running a private
practice, because numbers reallydo tell a story, but one way to
reduce your return for creditrate is to offer these
appropriate financing options,because what that study just
(06:25):
showed us is that there aregoing to be patients that come
to us that do not have liquidfunds to pay for their hearing
technology.
So we need to ensure that weare sensitive to that.
We know, as hearing careproviders, that the cost of
untreated hearing loss isgreater than the price of the
hearing technology, but we alsohave to be understanding and
(06:47):
aware that not every patient,even if they need that premium
technology, will be able toafford that.
So I challenge you to audityourself, audit your practice.
What financing options areavailable to my patients?
Am I working with anorganization like a care credit?
What are the terms?
I understand as a hearinghealthcare practice.
(07:11):
It costs you to offer financingoptions, but again, that is one
of those costs of doingbusiness and reflecting with you
and your team who set thoseprice points, ensuring that it
is not only fair to yourpractice but also the patient in
terms of what financing optionsare available, whether it be
(07:32):
that 12-month term, 18-monthterm or 36-month term.
So what is going to help thepractice, what is going to help
the patient and what is going tobe that appropriate middle
ground?
The second way to improve yourreturn for credit rate is
implementing motivationalinterviewing.
Are we asking the rightquestions?
(07:54):
I always loved implementingmotivational interviewing
because number one, you reallyget to know the patient much
deeper than just asking do youhave ear pain, yes or no?
That's what the patient intakecan answer, all of those yes or
no questions, those close-endedquestions.
(08:15):
With motivational interviewingwe're really getting deep in
terms of those open-endedquestions.
How is this patient feeling?
What is their motivation levelto engage with hearing
technology, to even make thedecision today to walk out with
hearing technology?
And when you are implementingmotivational interviewing, this
(08:38):
is usually when you bring thepatient back to the audiology
suite before you test theirhearing.
If the patient brought withthem a family member or a spouse
, or they had a third party withthem, I would always ask the
patient Mrs Smith, what wouldyou like to accomplish today?
And that was always the firstquestion I asked.
(09:00):
And then I would look to thespouse or the third party and I
would ask him or her what wouldyou like to accomplish today?
And after that question, prettymuch nine times out of 10, the
patient would say I've never hada health care provider ask me
what I wanted to accomplish atthe appointment.
And number one you need to begenuinely curious as to why
(09:24):
they're here, what they wouldlike to accomplish today,
because if they walk out of theclinic feeling as though that
they haven't accomplished whatthey came to accomplish, they're
not going to have that sense offulfillment.
So your job as that hearinghealthcare provider is to ensure
you're providing them thatplatform to accomplish what they
wanted to.
Nine times out of 10, especiallyif it were the husbands, it
(09:46):
would say I want to prove to mywife that it's selective hearing
and we've heard that so manytimes but ensuring that you make
them feel comfortable, upfrontduring the motivational
interviewing process and you'reasking the right questions.
And that would then follow upby understanding and asking them
(10:06):
what a typical day like is forthem, especially as it relates
to communication.
On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 beingyou're not socially active to 10
, you're very socially activewhere would you put yourself
today?
Well, I'd probably put myselfaround a 4 or 5.
Tell me about your socialactivity level 10, 15, 20 years
ago, before you started tosuspect that you presented with
(10:28):
hearing loss.
Oh, I was at a 10.
So now we understand, we knowwhere to go.
Now there are patients that maybe introverts or ambiverts, but
again, this motivationalinterviewing allows you upfront
to really deep dive andunderstand.
Is the patient motivated to dosomething about their hearing?
Are they here because theirspouse pushed them?
(10:49):
You're still going to give thispatient 110%, but there are
patients who are truly just notready to take that step towards
better hearing.
A third way that you can improveyour return for credit rate is
appropriate onboarding andfollow-up schedule for the
(11:10):
patients just fit with hearingtechnology and patients who have
been wearing hearing aids for10, 15, 20 years.
So when we talk aboutonboarding and follow-up
schedule, first and foremost,when we started in private
practice full-time, andespecially following graduate
school in 2017, we knew that bythe year 2020, the majority of
(11:32):
consumers would make theirpurchasing decisions based on
the experience that they had,and we asked ourselves and we
audited ourselves.
Sometimes it's very hard tolook, you know, inside the
picture or inside the jar.
What are we doing right now?
That is not the best experiencefor patients.
What can we do?
Starting tomorrow?
(11:53):
What is that low-hanging fruitthat we can start to implement
to create the best patientexperience possible, and it came
down to implementing anonboarding schedule and
experience that our patientsabsolutely love.
So what does that look like?
When a new patient moves forwardwith hearing technology, we
(12:14):
send them home with a folderthat is branded to our practice
and then inside that folder weincluded information about
today's visit, information aboutthe technology that they're
moving forward with.
We included one of our mostrecent quarterly newsletters so
this patient could go home andread more about the hearing care
(12:35):
provider and hearing carepractice that they're moving
forward with.
And this is really how theHearing Matters podcast came
about.
Because we started this podcastsolely for the patients that we
were fitting in the clinic.
Because if a patient would gohome and have questions, we
wanted to record episodes thatthat patient could go back and
listen to, especially if theywere moving forward with a
(12:58):
specific hearing aidmanufacturer you know we've
talked about the differenthearing aids available or if
they want to understand whatwe're going to accomplish at
their first follow-up.
We recorded an episode allabout their first follow-up.
So, coming into that next thatfitting appointment, for example
, that patient knew what we weregoing to cover and what it did.
(13:20):
Is it decreased majority of thequestions and I will tell you 80
to 90% of the new patients thatwe fit with technology, whether
it was the patient listening tothe episode or their spouse or
third party majority listened tothe episode and it was a lot of
fun.
Our patients said, wow, like Ican't wait to listen to next
week's episode.
So what you were doing is youwere creating an experience and
(13:44):
we were creating an experienceand a community and a platform
for our patients to feeleducated, welcomed, and there
was no smoke and mirrors, right,like as a consumer.
Let's just say you go topurchase a new vehicle and the
dealership doesn't show you howto use any of the buttons in
(14:04):
this car that you know today'svehicles.
They look like spaceships nowinside.
So, like, what does this buttondo?
What does that feature do?
As hearing healthcareprofessionals, it is our duty
and responsibility to focus onthe benefits of the hearing
technology first and the featuresecond.
But what does that onboardingschedule look like?
So we always, of course,implemented their fitting
(14:25):
appointment first, follow-up,second follow-up.
If they felt as though thatthey needed a third follow-up,
of course we satisfied that andthen every six months, we saw
them for a clean and check.
So we're seeing our patients atleast, at least following that
onboarding schedule two times ayear at least.
The patients did incrediblywell and again, this absolutely
(14:49):
positively influenced andimpacted our very low return for
credit rate.
I will tell you we implementeda system, we created a system,
and I was never afraid of MrsSmith coming back to the hearing
care clinic with hermanufacturer bag in hand not
(15:10):
wearing the hearing aids, sayingI came to return these.
What this system and processdid not only for me as a hearing
care provider, but for our teamis it increased our confidence.
So if we take a look at this,you know you have a low return
for credit rate, you're offeringappropriate financing options,
you're implementing motivationalinterviewing and you have a
(15:33):
system that ensures that thepatient is onboarded properly.
Just these three things alone.
If you implement in the newyear, you will see a drastic
decrease in your return forcredit rate.
The patients felt part of aprogram versus a transaction.
With our onboarding andfollow-up schedule.
(15:54):
Think about the last time youfelt as though you were truly
heard at a store or a shoppingexperience.
It could be a healthcareprovider as well.
Did you feel heard?
Did you feel part of a programor did you feel as though it was
just a transaction?
We are human beings and we aresocially connected.
(16:15):
We are social beings.
We want to feel part ofsomething, especially in the
hearing healthcare industry.
There is no industry like ours.
We can never turn our hearingoff, it is always on, and our
patients, when they start tosense that decrease in hearing,
oftentimes they may start toexperience that loss of self,
(16:37):
and that's where grieving comesin.
So, if anything, we discussedtoday the ways in which to
decrease your return for creditrate.
This is number one.
This is really, reallyimportant that you create a
system and or refine yourcurrent system to ensure that
the onboarding schedule is firstclass.
We would always follow up too.
(16:58):
When a patient was fit with newhearing technology, we sent
them a thank you card.
It's those little things andthat thank you card hand signed,
oftentimes handwritten.
Because, if you go back to thebasics, we live in a world of
artificial intelligence and it'sphenomenal technology.
The hearing aids use AI andit's friendly AI, but we as
(17:19):
hearing healthcare providers andbusiness owners, private
practice owners, cannot losethat human touch.
Blaze, I don't have the time.
I get it.
We all have 24 hours in the day.
However, can you pre-sign someof these thank you cards and
your front office staff fillthem out?
So it's those little things andI use this terminology a lot
(17:40):
You've never been bitten by anelephant, but you've been bitten
by a mosquito, so it's thelittle things in business and
life that really come back tobite us.
The fourth way to improve anddecrease your return for credit
rate in 2024 is drumroll, please.
Implementation of best practices.
We are not going to deep diveinto this today, because you, as
(18:02):
a hearing health care provider,know you should be conducting
speech and noise testing, videootoscopy, tympanometry,
otoacoustic emissions,functional gain testing, real
ear measurement.
Those are just a few bestpractices that we, as hearing
care providers, should beimplementing.
When you implement bestpractices and one of them,
(18:25):
absolutely a tool that we'veused and continue to use is the
use of the AFAB, the AbbreviatedProfile of Hearing Aid Benefit
Start to implement that thisyear.
If there's anything that you dothis year, like we discussed, I
should say in the new year,refine your onboarding and
follow-up schedule and reallyensure that you're implementing
(18:46):
best practices with every singlenew and current patient.
What is that going to do?
So how is the implementation ofbest practices Blaze going to
reduce my return for credit rate?
Here's why the patients whenyou implement best practice, you
know that you are hitting theirtargets for best speech and
understanding.
When you do real earmeasurement, when you implement
(19:06):
tympanometry, you know thattheir middle ear space is
functioning appropriately.
You know what their speech andnoise testing scores are.
So what you're going to do isincrease maybe some of that
digital noise reduction.
The implementation of bestpractices allows you to
fine-tune the hearing technology, but also understand what
(19:28):
additional communication methodsdo I need to discuss with this
patient to ensure that they'rehearing to the best of their
ability.
When you do that, the patientis going to be happy.
They're going to feel heard.
They're going to feel part ofthe community with which they
once were able to communicate in.
But maybe they've recentlywithdrawn, or the past years
have withdrawn, and what they'regoing to do is tell their
(19:52):
friends and family about theirnew hearing world.
And if a friend or familymember of this said patient also
feels as though that theypresent with a hearing loss,
they're most likely going tocall you.
Which again, a decreased returnfor credit rate or a low return
for credit rate.
What that also carries overinto is increase in patient
referrals, because your patientsare happier and your practice
(20:15):
is going to continue to help somany community members.
Let's talk about the fifth wayto decrease return for credit
rate and ways to improve thisnumber in 2024.
Set realistic expectations.
This is really, reallyimportant to do, and the reason
(20:35):
why is because when you areworking with patients and you're
setting realistic expectations,your patients have this
guidepost of okay.
My hearing care provider toldme that the goal of a hearing
aid is not to make everythinglouder, it's to make speech
clearer, and I am not going tohave supersonic hearing with
these hearing aids.
(20:56):
The hearing care provider alsotold me that there are sounds
that I've heard before that maysound a little louder the first
week or two.
Some sounds may sound harsh,but my brain is going to
acclimate to this new hearingworld.
I really wanted to talk to youtoday about you know when you
(21:16):
set these realistic expectations.
If I were to say, mrs Smith, weneed to set realistic
expectations here.
Wow, the hearing technologytoday is incredible and you have
these amazing features likebiometrics and fall detection
Incredible technology.
The goal of the hearing aid isto help you understand speech
(21:37):
clearer, not only in simple butcomplex listening situations
like a restaurant, bar area orjust around family during the
holidays, but also thetelevision.
So we set realistic technologyexpectations.
We set realistic listeningexpectations and the patients
would always say thank you fordoing that, because we also have
(22:00):
to understand too, that thispatient has been grieving.
They are looking for somerelief If we shoot for the stars
for this technology and we overpromise what the technology is
going to do for them.
Number one it's not in the bestinterest of the patient because
when you set unrealisticexpectations, they're going to
get frustrated and guess what?
(22:21):
They're going to return theirhearing aids.
Who cares about the return?
What I care about is thispatient who has been struggling,
maybe for a few years, who isnow not wearing technology, and
we understand the comorbiditieslinked to untreated hearing loss
.
So as hearing healthcareproviders, it is our duty and
responsibility to set theserealistic expectations.
(22:42):
When you're setting realisticexpectations, oftentimes this
conversation leads into thepatient maybe asking well, how
long do I have to try thehearing aids?
What we did is we replacedtrial period with adjustment
period.
So we would say Mrs Jones, youhave a 30-day adjustment period,
(23:05):
what this allows us to do as ateam is to ensure that you're
satisfied with your new hearingworld.
We're going to make adjustmentsto the hearing technology and
we're going to track yourperformance, not only with the
hearing technology, but from acommunication standpoint as well
.
I would encourage you, replacetrial with adjustment period.
(23:29):
Last but not least, the sixthway to decrease your return for
credit rate and improve this KPIis to recommend appropriate
hearing technology.
So when you've implemented bestpractices and the patient has a
92% word recognition score, butthey have a severe speech and
(23:52):
noise score and they have a veryactive lifestyle and they're 65
.
You're most likely going torecommend premium hearing
technology.
However, that's also where thatappropriate financing option
comes into place.
This is where you talk aboutthe price of the technology,
what comes with that warranty,et cetera, et cetera.
(24:14):
I'm not going to tell you howto run your business from a
warranty standpoint or a pricingstandpoint.
That is between you and yourbusiness only.
But when we are recommendingappropriate hearing technology
and we are leading with highstandard of care, what does that
mean?
What does that high standard ofcare mean?
We need to make the bestrecommendation for the patient.
(24:35):
Oftentimes I've heard ofstories at different conferences
and conventions where providerswill say my patients will not
spend X amount for premiumtechnology, so I always offer
mid to lower tier hearingtechnology.
I can understand the reasoningbehind that, but I also believe
that you are taking away theopportunity for your patient to
(24:59):
hear even better with premiumtechnology.
So if you recommend, let's justsay okay.
Mrs Smith, we know that youpresent with a significant
hearing loss and you told methat you live a very active
lifestyle.
Your goals are to understand.
In restaurants, in meetings,your husband expressed to us
(25:21):
that he wants you to hear betterwhen you go out to dinner, when
he takes you out to dinner andpicks up that bill.
Right, based on yoursignificant hearing loss, your
social activity level and whatyou would like to accomplish
your social activity level andwhat you would like to
accomplish, I am going torecommend the premium hearing
solution that we have in theclinic, which costs X, and then
(25:42):
what you do is you stop talkingand implement wait time.
And this is really an episodethat we could do separately,
talking about recommendingappropriate hearing technology.
But again just wanted to discusssix tips and tricks to improve
your return for credit rate whenyou do recommend appropriate
hearing technology and your casepresentation is educational,
(26:05):
not transactional.
Again, that patient is actuallymaking the decision, as they
should be.
You're that guidepost.
Oftentimes they're going tomove forward with your
recommendation.
If you change the paradigm of Iam providing so much value,
this patient is going to hear somuch better.
They're going to communicate somuch better.
(26:26):
The goal here as a hearing careprovider is to again educate
them.
We know that they're going tohave their technology for quite
a few years.
Now that's where thatappropriate financing option
comes into play.
If the patient truthfully cannotafford premium hearing
technology, discuss lower tiertechnology.
(26:47):
But again, you need to thenreset those realistic
expectations.
If you go from a premium tomid-level device, well, you have
a severe speech and noise score.
If we go with the mid-leveldevice, this is what you can
expect.
If you are going into a lowertier technology, please
recommend and every providershould be doing this including a
(27:09):
remote microphone to increasethat signal to noise ratio, and
that should be whether it be low, mid or premium technology.
So again, six ways to improveyour return for credit rate and
reduce your RFC.
Because again, yes, we want toensure that our practice is
thriving and we're able to helpas many patients as possible.
(27:31):
One of the reasons we want toreduce the return for credit
rate is because there's millionsof individuals out there with
hearing loss.
We want to show up for themevery single day, and by doing
so, they are going to be happypatients, they're going to be
champions of better hearing andthey're then joining our mission
(27:53):
to raise awareness of betterhearing.
Thank you again for joining usfor another episode of the
Hearing Matters podcast.
Today, we discussed ways inwhich we can reduce hearing aid
returns, not because it's what'sin the best interest of the
practice, but because it is whatis in the best interest of the
patients.
I'm your host, blaise Delfino,and until next time, hear life's
(28:17):
story.
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