Kirstin’s Insider Tips for Cosmetic Surgery Financing

Announcer (00:02):
You are listening to Alabama the Beautiful with cosmetic surgeon, Dr. James Koehler and Kirstin Jarvis.

Kirstin (00:08):
Hey, Dr. Koehler.

Dr. Koehler (00:10):
Hey Kirstin.

Kirstin (00:13):
The tables are turning today.

Dr. Koehler (00:15):
Oh, okay.

Kirstin (00:15):
You're going to ask me the questions because today we're talking about financing and that's my specialty.

Dr. Koehler (00:22):
Oh, okay. Like you finance a lot of stuff?

Kirstin (00:26):
Well, you don't want to know. I am really good at spending.

Dr. Koehler (00:31):
Okay, good.

Kirstin (00:33):
Okay.

Dr. Koehler (00:34):
So we want to talk about patient financing. That's an important topic. Definitely have a lot of questions from patients about that, and you are the person, so we'll go through this. So why don't we start off, let's say before a consultation, we get a lot of phone calls from patients. They call the office and they want to get information about procedures and pricing. How do we do that?

Kirstin (00:55):
So when patients call the office and want to know about pricing specifically, they always speak to one of our patient care coordinators ahead of time because they are the experts in the field. And a lot of times they'll talk to patients on the phone and get their goals and figure out what they would like to achieve by the end of their surgical journey. And then that way they can get a really specific quote together for that patient and give them pretty much down to the dollar pricing for what they're expecting to come in and consult for.

Dr. Koehler (01:28):
So if I call the office or a friend calls the office and says, I want to get a tummy tuck. Well, they won't just give me the price over the phone?

Kirstin (01:37):
Yeah, they will give you the price over the phone, but they're going to figure out what exactly your goals are because it could be that you don't even need a tummy tuck or maybe you need a mini tummy tuck. And a lot of people just call and say, oh yeah, I need a tummy tuck. But just a full tummy tuck may not give you the results that you are looking to achieve. So sometimes they'll ask for pictures, they'll ask you if you've had any surgeries, if you've ever had a full-term pregnancy, things like that to figure out what potentially you could be looking at as far as surgery.

Dr. Koehler (02:09):
I just said that jokingly, but I think it's a really important thing. People want to get down to the nitty gritty. They just want to be able to call and say, how much is a tummy tuck? Well, yeah, like you said, we have a lot of different situations. Sometimes people aren't candidates for a tummy tuck, they're smoking or their BMI is too high or whatever the case might be. And so we need to first nail things down and yes, the prices, it's not like we're trying to keep that a secret. It's like, oh, the secret, we can't tell you the price. But as you mentioned, it may not be the right procedure for 'em or they may not even be a candidate for it altogether. So instead of just getting that information and there's so much more that goes into it. So yeah, there is a bit of a give and a take that goes on to get the information and to get them accurate pricing. So yeah, that's a really important thing that you shared there. So Kirstin is a fee to come and see me for a consultation?

Kirstin (03:02):
No, all of our surgical consultations are complimentary.

Dr. Koehler (03:05):
Alright. So before the patient comes in for the consultation, how do the patient care coordinators help patients better understand the costs and how to be prepared for the surgery?

Kirstin (03:19):
So the patient care coordinators will ask a series of questions. They want to know surgical history, the patient's height and weight so they can get an accurate BMI just to make sure that they are a good surgical candidate for our facility to begin with. They're going to ask, have you lost a significant amount of weight to figure out if there's going to be a lot of excess skin that they need to deal with, if they've had any children before, if they've breastfed, because that could play a role in how their breasts look, whether they need a lift or whether they could get away with an augmentation by itself. So they'll ask them a series of questions to just kind of get a history and get a picture of what everything looks like. And then they are going to figure out what the goals are for the patient.

(04:03):
So they're going to ask them what they want to look like in the end. So if we're talking about breast, if a patient wants a reduction, they'll say, what size are you now? They say, I'm a 40 triple D and I want to be a B Cup. So they'll ask them all kinds of questions like that. They could potentially ask for pictures if they want to run something by you before, because we always want to give patients a really accurate number of what they could be looking at as far as surgical costs. So sometimes they'll take photos of the patient to you to ask for an opinion on what you think the patient might need, just so that they could be prepared mentally for that type of recovery. And also financially for when they come in for the consultation so they know what they're looking at for cost.

Dr. Koehler (04:43):
I do know we do work with several finance companies. Two of the ones that we use more commonly are CareCredit and Care Fund. But what's the difference between those two and which one's better? Which one should they go with?

Kirstin (04:53):
So Care Fund is similar to a personal loan and you can go to Carefund.com to apply for that loan. They offer 12 months 0% financing, which compared to CareCredit in this office, we do not do 12 months with CareCredit and we can only do six months, 0% financing with CareCredit. So Care Fund is different in that aspect. Also Care Fund, they're semi-local to us, they're based here in Alabama. So when you call and talk to a person, they probably live here somewhere around close to us and you always get an actual person on the phone instead of a robot. So we really like that. That's part of the reason that we started offering Care Fund to our patients. It's just really personable for the patient. They give approvals within 15 minutes and then if it is something that's going to take a little bit longer because of credit score or debt to income ratio, they'll usually call the patient on the phone and talk those things out and you can send documentation if they need further documentation.

(05:49):
It's just really easy and simple for the patient to work with Care Fund. CareCredit is a credit card. It's great because it's widely accepted all over the United States and dentists and vets and doctor's offices, all kinds of places take it. So it makes it kind of simple in that way. They have an app that you can use, but it is a credit card versus a loan and their interest rates are a little bit higher than we've seen with Care Fund. And then again, in this office, we just offer the six month 0% financing with them.

Dr. Koehler (06:20):
So before a patient comes in for a consultation with me, should they have their financing all done and approved before they come in?

Kirstin (06:28):
Yes. So being that the surgery coordinators kind of go over all those questions with the patients and then give them what they think the surgery is going to cost, they kind of give them a quote over the phone. They do that because they want to ensure that the patient is ready for surgery because I mean, some surgical procedures can be a larger financial cost, so they just want to make sure that the person is prepared and you're not slammed with a huge price tag when you come in the door. So being that they make sure those patients are prepared, yeah, it would be great to go ahead and be financed if you do need to use one of those outside financing options before you come in for the consultation, just so you know that you're ready and you can book surgery.

Dr. Koehler (07:11):
So Kirstin, do you know if there's a specific credit score you need to have to be approved for one of these CareCredit or Care Fund loans?

Kirstin (07:17):
Yeah, being that CareCredit is a credit card, I think it's, I'm not sure what their basis is for approval, but Care Fund you need to be in the six hundreds to be approved.

Dr. Koehler (07:28):
Well, are there any hidden fees for using these finance companies for my surgery?

Kirstin (07:33):
No. Both companies disclose all their fees ahead of time. Care Fund being that it's a loan, all the stipulations are worked out between you and Care Fund. Like if you want to do the 12 month 0% financing option or you want to stretch it out for a fixed interest rate, all that is done ahead of time with them. CareCredit, you apply for the credit card and then when you come into the office and actual we push the purchase through, that's when you choose whether you want to use the six month 0% financing option or if you want to do one of their fixed interest rate options.

Dr. Koehler (08:06):
How much would typically be approved of my surgery fee? Would the whole amount be approved or just a portion of it? How does that work?

Kirstin (08:14):
That's going to depend on how much the surgery costs, how much your quote is for, and also how much your, it's kind of based on credit. So how much your credit score is, your debt to income ratio. So if you have a $20,000 surgery, it's possible you could be approved for the full $20,000 or it's possible that based on credit and income that you could only be approved for $5,000. That's not anything that we can say or do within the office. That's based on whichever company you choose.

Dr. Koehler (08:45):
Well, what happens if they get declined?

Kirstin (08:47):
With Care Fund, if you get declined, you can speak to a person, a customer service representative within their company and they do a couple checks and balances to further dive in a little bit deeper to your finances to see if they could approve you. CareCredit, I believe if you're declined, then they don't go any further.

Dr. Koehler (09:07):
Yeah. Well one thing that I would just like to add, because I know for a lot of people the amount of money for surgery and other things, they can't just pay it all upfront. So financing is a very real option for the vast majority of our patients. But one thing that I would just like to say is that the surgery that we do is not necessary. It's elective, it's when we want do it and that's great and we're here to help people because we see the benefits that it does in people's lives. It's great. But if you are that hard pressed to finance your procedure and it's very difficult for you to get that kind of financing, my advice is maybe now is not the time, not saying it's not ever, but I hate to see people spread themselves so thin to finance a surgery that they really are not in a good position to afford.

(10:00):
So just good financial decisions people. And one other thing that I would just add is when a person has a surgery, certainly we don't anticipate complications, we don't want complications, but sometimes people do have to have other additional procedures and if that's the case, there can be other expenses. So it's not just the cost of the procedure. There needs to be also the understanding like, okay, well if I did need to do something additional, can I afford to do that as well? So again, those things are rare, but you got to go in eyes wide open when you do surgery. I mean that would be true for any procedure, whether it's even if it was covered by your insurance. Those are things that sometimes need to be addressed. So can patients finance any procedure?

Kirstin (10:41):
Yeah, patients can finance pretty much any surgical procedure within the office. And even smaller office procedures can usually be financed.

Dr. Koehler (10:49):
Is it difficult to apply for the financing?

Kirstin (10:51):
No. You can go to our website under the finances tab and there are links for both Care Fund and CareCredit that take you straight to their application pages to be able to apply through their websites.

Dr. Koehler (11:01):
What if they have a difficulty figuring it out? What do you recommend they do?

Kirstin (11:05):
If there are any problems figuring out the application process, you can either call the one 800 number for each company or contact us here in the office because we've got lots of resources here on paper and we will help you out any way we can with the application process.

Dr. Koehler (11:21):
Awesome. Kirstin, I think that's it. You want to close it out?

Kirstin (11:23):
All right. Do you have a burning question for Dr. Koehler or me? You can leave us a voicemail on our podcast website at Alabamathebeautifulpodcast.com. We'd love to hear from you. Thanks Dr. Koehler.

Dr. Koehler (11:36):
Thanks, Kirstin.

Kirstin (11:37):
Go back to making Alabama beautiful.

Dr. Koehler (11:40):
Alright, we will.

Announcer (11:41):
Got a question for Dr. Koehler? Leave us a voicemail at AlabamaTheBeautifulPodcast.com. Dr. James Koehler is a cosmetic surgeon practicing in Fairhope, Alabama. To learn more about Koehler and Eastern Shore Cosmetic Surgery, go to easternshorecosmeticsurgery.com. The commentary in this podcast represents opinion and does not present medical advice, but general information that does not necessarily relate to the specific conditions of any individual patient. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it and subscribe to Alabama the Beautiful on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you like to listen to podcasts. Follow us on Instagram @EasternShoreCosmeticSurgery. Alabama the Beautiful is a production of The Axis, theaxis.io.