Plan Forward — Implementation Playbook (DSO)

Executive Summary

Plan Forward is a membership-financing platform that enables patients to pay predictable monthly fees for comprehensive dental care, reducing barriers to treatment acceptance and improving practice cash flow predictability. For DSOs specifically, Plan Forward drives higher patient lifetime value, increases case acceptance rates by 35-45%, and creates a scalable revenue model that translates across multiple locations without incremental infrastructure costs.

DSO groups benefit uniquely because Plan Forward's centralized billing, compliance management, and member communication tools leverage your existing corporate infrastructure—eliminating the per-location redundancy that makes adoption slower at independent practices. Expected full deployment across a 10-15 location DSO: 12-16 weeks from contract signature to 80%+ patient enrollment across all sites.

Pre-Implementation Checklist (Weeks 1-2)

Technical Requirements

• EHR/Practice Management Integration: Confirm your DSO's primary PM system (Dentrix, Eaglesoft, Open Dental, etc.) is on Plan Forward's certified integration list. If not, establish timeline for API-layer integration with your IT team.
• Network & Security Audit: Plan Forward requires HIPAA-compliant data transmission. Confirm firewall rules allow secure API calls to Plan Forward servers; arrange port access if needed.
• Single Sign-On (SSO) Readiness: For multi-location DSOs, verify your identity provider (Okta, Azure AD, etc.) can be connected to Plan Forward's admin portal. This streamlines credentials across locations.
• Payment Processing Setup: Confirm merchant account details, preferred ACH/card processing gateway, and reconciliation workflows. Plan Forward connects to Stripe, Square, or your existing processor.

Stakeholder Alignment

• Executive Sponsor: Assign a C-level owner (COO or VP of Operations) who commits 5 hours/week through week 12. This person removes blockers and signals organizational priority.
• Clinical Buy-In: Schedule 90-minute sessions with 2-3 influential clinical leaders at different locations. Address concerns about treatment planning autonomy (Plan Forward enhances rather than restricts it).
• Finance/Billing Team: Brief them on month-end reconciliation workflows. Plan Forward reduces A/R but requires new reporting dashboards—set expectations now.
• Front Desk Stakeholders: Identify 1-2 "superusers" per location who will become member enrollment and retention champions.

Baseline Metrics to Capture

Document these in a shared spreadsheet before launch:

• Acceptance Rate: % of treatment plans accepted at each location (last 90 days)
• Average Case Value: Mean treatment plan cost for restorative/cosmetic cases
• Patient Visit Frequency: % of active patients seen 2+ times annually
• Monthly Revenue Per Location: Overhead-adjusted net revenue
• Days Sales Outstanding (DSO): Average days to collect payment after treatment
• No-Show Rate: % of scheduled appointments missed

These become your control group baseline for ROI measurement.

Pilot Wave (Weeks 3-6)

Location Selection Criteria

Choose 2-3 pilot locations, not just 1. Reasons:

• One location may be an outlier (newer practice, atypical patient demographics)
• Staff redundancy accelerates troubleshooting
• Results are more generalizable to rollout

Selection filters:

• Practice maturity: Established locations (3+ years) with stable operations
• Clinical stability: No recent associate turnover or major renovations planned
• Patient base: Mix of preventive and restorative patients; at least 400+ active patients per location
• Staff capability: Enthusiastic front desk manager + at least one PM-savvy team member
• Competing initiatives: Avoid launching during major office relocations, EHR migrations, or new software rollouts

Configuration and Setup

1. Plan Forward Admin Portal Access (Day 1)

   • Create org-level admin account for DSO HQ
   • Create location-level manager accounts for each pilot site
   • Configure membership tiers specific to your patient base (e.g., "Essential Preventive," "Comprehensive Care," "Premium Plus")
   • Set pricing informed by local market analysis and your target margin (typically $35-$55/month for general practices)

2. PM System Integration (Days 2-3)

   • Plan Forward technical team enables your PM connector; test bi-directional sync of patient records and appointment data
   • Verify that treatment plan codes in your PM map correctly to Plan Forward benefit categories
   • Run 20-30 historical patient records through sync to catch schema mismatches

3. Website & Patient Communication Setup (Days 4-5)

   • Plan Forward provides customizable landing page templates; DSO branding team applies logos, color scheme
   • Create email sequence: intro to membership → enrollment link → onboarding → first month confirmation
   • Design in-office signage (posters, checkout flyers) for both pilot locations

4. Billing Reconciliation Workflow (Days 5-6)

   • Establish daily/weekly reconciliation cadence; assign single point-person per location
   • Create simple Google Sheet or Airtable template tracking: members enrolled, ACH processed, failed payments, refunds
   • Brief accounting on new GL codes (membership revenue separate from traditional fee-for-service)

Training Approach

• Centralized kickoff (2 hours, virtual): All pilot + HQ staff watch Plan Forward-led walkthrough together; record for later reference
• Location-specific breakout (90 min, in-person): Plan Forward consultant works with each location's front desk + doctor for 2-3 hours on Day 4
• Role-specific microlearning:
  • Front desk: 15-min video on enrollment conversation starters
  • Doctors: 10-min video on positioning Plan Forward during treatment discussions
  • Billing: 15-min walkthrough of monthly member reconciliation
• Weekly huddles (Weeks 3-6, 30 min): All pilot locations + HQ join brief Zoom to share enrollment wins, troubleshoot issues, celebrate milestones

Scaled Rollout (Weeks 7-16)

Wave Planning

Week 7: Analyze pilot results. If enrollment is <20% of eligible patients, pause rollout and address barriers (pricing, messaging, PM integration issues) before proceeding.

If pilot succeeds (≥20% enrollment):

• Wave 2 (Weeks 8-10): Roll out to 3-4 medium-maturity locations; reuse pilot training materials
• Wave 3 (Weeks 11-13): 4-5 additional locations; now you have internal champions who can co-train without Plan Forward consultant
• Wave 4 (Weeks 14-16): Remaining locations; fully self-service with HQ oversight

Each location gets 2-week notice, 3-day implementation window, and 2-week ramp-up.

Change Management

• Monthly DSO-wide calls (Weeks 7-16): Share enrollment %, revenue impact, member satisfaction scores across all active locations; recognize top performers
• Overcome objections systematically:
  • "Patients won't adopt" → Share anonymized case studies from pilot locations showing actual adoption %, average tenure
  • "Revenue is unpredictable" → Show month-over-month member churn rate (typically 8-12%); help location forecast based on cohorts
  • "We'll cannibalize fee-for-service" → Track mix shift; typical DSOs see fee-for-service cases increase in size as members commit to care
• Celebrate wins: Spotlight location hitting 35%+ enrollment, highest member retention, most referrals from existing members

Support Infrastructure

• Slack channel dedicated to Plan Forward questions; Plan Forward CSM + DSO HQ monitor daily
• Tiered escalation: Front desk → Location manager → HQ PM liaison → Plan Forward onboarding team
• Monthly business review (1 hour): Plan Forward CSM + DSO operations lead review enrollment trends, flag underperforming locations, adjust messaging/pricing if needed

ROI Tracking

Key Metrics to Measure

1. Member Enrollment Rate: % of eligible patients enrolled (target: 25-35% by Week 12)
2. Member Retention Rate: % of members renewing after first month (target: >85%)
3. Revenue per Member: Sum of monthly dues + incremental treatment revenue generated by member cohort
4. Case Acceptance Lift: