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CareCredit Finance Program Worksheet

This worksheet is a required portion of the CareCredit program. Please complete once you've finished the module material. You will receive a copy of your answers once you click "Submit" at the bottom of the page.

First Name

Last Name

Email

It's Everyone's Job to Talk About Finances

Do financial conversations play a role in your occupational stress? Explain why or why not.

Make a list of the payment options your hospital accepts. What are the requirements for each? Who decides which options your hospital offers?

How do you feel when you present a bill to a client when you know it would be too expensive for you to pay? What scares you most about these conversations?

Use the area below to summarize this topic and record key takeaways.

Basic Finance for Veterinary Teams

After completing the 100 Pennies game, what did you learn about hospital expenses and your part in them?

How can you relate personalizing your conversation with clients to finances?

Use the area below to summarize this topic and record key takeaways.

Confident and Competent Financial Conversations


Empathy is being able to put yourself in someone else's shoes. Create an empathetic statement you could use when a client says "You are only in this for the money. I should not have to choose food on my table or vaccines for my dog."

How do you explain to a client that veterinary care is not only for emergencies or illness?

When you begin to judge a client by what they look like, wear, or drive, how can you bring yourself back to a reset that every client should be treated the same when it comes to finances?

Use the area below to summarize this topic and record key takeaways.

CareCredit Benefits

List out discussion points to use with a client about why they should obtain a CareCredit credit card before emergencies or unexpected needs occur.

List out discussion points to use with a client about why CareCredit is a great option for pets to receive care in emergency and high-cost situations.

What other benefits does CareCredit have beyond a pet care credit card?

Walk through your role in your hospital's process of assisting clients in the approval process for CareCredit.

What is one myth about CareCredit that has now been busted for you since taking this course?

A client pushes back that CareCredit is "just another credit card". How do you respond?

Use the area below to summarize this topic and record key takeaways.

Assisting Clients with Veterinary Care Plans

Walk through the benefits of pet insurance and CareCredit financing options like you are speaking to a client about them.

You are responsible for walking through a surgery estimate with a client that you know they were not expecting. How do you handle that?

Use the area below to summarize this topic and record key takeaways.

Access to Care Solutions


Economic euthanasia will be happening in a room where you are responsible for collecting payment. How do you handle this situation?

What are the options you can provide when a client states they have no money to pay for any services and got declined for payment plans?

Use the area below to summarize this topic and record key takeaways.

Advanced Financial Conversations

How do you make talking about money comfortable for you and the client?

What key points do you want to remember when talking to a client regarding a high-cost estimate or final bill?

How have you changed an "I'm sorry" statement into something that does not apologize for doing your job and caring for pets?

How would you handle the Mr. Smith situation using what you have learned in this course?

How can you help the client and the pet in the Expensive Breeder Puppy situation using the tools learned from this program?

Use the area below to summarize this topic and record key takeaways.

Financial Case Studies

How would you respond to a client who says,

"If my pet looks healthy, I don't need to bring it to the veterinarian. Veterinarians are only for sick pets and emergencies!"
"Veterinary care is too expensive. I don’t want to put a price on my pet’s life, but I can’t afford such costly care."
"Don't you care about pets? You're only in it for the money!"
"I have bad credit and won't be approved."
"I've had dogs my whole life and have never received a bill like this."
"I'm not paying for you to put my cat down. I'll find another way."
"I can get my hands on vaccines at Farm & Fleet. Why would I spend five times the amount here for you to do it?"

How would you talk to a client about an estimate that is expensive when the client does not look like they have the money?

What could you say to a client instead of: "Mr. Jones, I know this is expensive. I wouldn't be able to pay it either."

What could you say to a client instead of: "You should have saved money for when emergencies hit like this."

You present a bill to a client and they are shocked by the total. How do you justify your hospital charges?

Use the area below to summarize this topic and record key takeaways.

Apply What You've Learned

Clients look forward to a veterinary experience with a trusted, knowledgeable, compassionate staff. When you can have comfortable financial conversations as part of a stellar client experience, you connect with clients, earn their trust, and establish a professional relationship.

We have discussed how to have empathetic financial conversations to ensure the clinic team and the pet owner can do what's best for pets. Now, it's time to apply your knowledge in a challenge to benefit your practice.

Step 1: The Challenge—Using information from this course, create a standard operating procedure (SOP) for discussing finances with clients, from the initial phone inquiry to checking out after their appointment. (Include when and where finances are discussed, deposits are taken, and financial updates are given).

 

Step 2: Once you've finished your SOP and your hospital has adopted it, you can track and measure your success. Determine a way for all CSRs to track how many clients are helped by providing financial options. How many calls did your clinic receive? How many appointments were captured? How many clients were less stressed about financial discussions?

 

Step 3: Share the collected data with your practice manager to demonstrate the power of your training. I suspect they'll be surprised by your SOP's impact on the number of clients and pets helped.

Step 4: Celebrate! Count the number of clients and pets you have helped. You have made a huge difference in the lives of these pets and the people who love them. This is why we work in veterinary medicine!

NOTES:

Use this area to write ideas to include when making your SOP for Financial Conversations.

You've reached the end!