Offer breast augmentation at your plastic surgery center? You’ve made a wise choice. Most importantly, you can help people. As a WebMD article notes, breast augmentation has the potential to improve body image, self-esteem, and sexual satisfaction. Those benefits can even motivate one to live a happier, healthier lifestyle. Second, offering breast implants is a good way for plastic surgery centers to boost revenue. Breast augmentation is the most common cosmetic surgery, with nearly 350,000 operations performed in America each year. The breast augmentation market reached $2.6 billion in 2018 and is expected to exceed $4.3 billion by 2026, according to a MarketWatch report. To ensure your plastic surgery center has the success it should, you must learn about medical credit card processing. You may not realize it, but credit card fees are eating into your revenue.Before you say it’s just 3-4% on the transaction, consider this: Choosing the wrong medical credit card processing company can decrease your profits by 5-10% (or even more). Does that get your attention? Know it doesn’t have to be this way. You can eliminate credit card processing fees at your medical practice, make more money, and keep your business running smoothly (which means you can help more people!). In this article, we’ll show you all you need to know about how to get the cheapest credit card processing for your plastic surgery center.
You probably accept payments for breast implants in numerous ways, including:
In-person credit card payments should cost you the least for breast augmentation payments. According to CreditDonkey, you’ll pay between 1.5%-2.9% plus a markup to the merchant service provider (MSP). For online credit card processing, average fees range around 2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction. Fees are more than in-person medical credit card processing to account for the higher likelihood of fraud with online payments. For over-the-phone and potentially online payments, you’ll use virtual terminal credit card processing (where the customer or you type in the card information). MSPs usually charge more for the convenience and added security needed to process these online payments. Here’s an example of average fees from a few major vendors:
In addition to those fees, you have to factor in initial equipment costs and any ongoing expenses, such as software fees. For example, Square, though transparent with their pricing, does charge $60 per month for their point-of-sale hardware.
Now that you know what medical credit card processing fees you pay per transaction, let’s dig a little deeper. How much do these fees decrease your profits from breast augmentation procedures?
You know you’re probably paying about 3%-4% per transaction for medical credit card processing. If someone pays their full breast augmentation bill with a credit card, that’s a lot of money that’s slipping away. After all, the average cost of breast augmentation surgery nears $3,900, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. If you charge a patient $4,000 and they pay with a credit card, that could mean you pay $120+ in medical credit card processing fees. That’s alarming. But you may ask: How many patients pay for breast augmentation with a credit card?Obviously, some pay with a check, debit card, or cash. But since breast augmentation costs a lot and some patients may have payment plans, it’s possible a significant portion of your revenue comes from credit card payments. For consumers, credit cards are the most common payment method for purchases. They make up 40% of transactions, according to Statista.
Moreover, as a Federal Reserve study states, credit card usage increases as transaction values increase. Considering breast implants are a large transaction, your plastic surgery center likely processes a higher percentage of credit card transactions than average. So, you could have 60% of your breast augmentation revenue come from credit card transactions. That’s half your revenue subject to medical credit card processing fees. Chances are such fees affect your plastic surgery center’s finance greatly...
To give an idea of how much medical credit card processing fees affect your plastic surgery center, let’s do an example. Let’s say you do 400 breast augmentations per year at an average cost of $4,000. That’s $1.6 million in revenue from breast augmentation. Not bad, right? But consider the following:
Over a decade, you could put $336,000 back into your pocket—just by eliminating medical credit card processing fees. That’s a lot more money. And you could use that to expand your business, save more for retirement, pay for your child’s college, take nicer vacations, and more. Need any more motivation to get better medical credit card processing?
First, educate yourself about medical credit card processing. That means understanding the fees you pay and the types of pricing models.Here’s what you need to know:You have to pay three types of credit card transaction fees:
There are two types of MSP pricing models:
Many medical practices opt for pass-through pricing as it provides pricing transparency and simplicity, and is often more affordable. At your plastic surgery center, consider MSPs that offer the pass-through pricing model.So, how do you find the cheapest medical credit card processing and take home more of your breast augmentation revenue? Here’s what should do:
How can you take home all your 100% of your breast augmentation revenue? After all, even with the cheapest medical credit card processing, you still pay fees when patients pay for their breast augmentation. That’s true.But we have a solution…Implement a cash discount program, and eliminate medical credit card processing fees altogether. With a cash discount program, you give your breast augmentation patients a discount for paying in cash. At NadaPayments, for instance, our system offers patients a discount of up to 3.95%. For a $4,000 breast augmentation, that’s savings of $158.When you make that offer, your patients will be enticed, and more likely to pay with cash. And if they don’t pay in cash, you charge the non-discounted price (which accounts for credit card transaction fees). What a cash discount program gives you is essentially free credit card processing at your plastic surgery center. You can stop paying fees and earn more income from breast augmentation procedures.Want to learn more? We’re ready to help your plastic surgery center eliminate medical credit card processing fees. Contact us at +1 (929) 293-1800 or click the link below.
