Flex Learning Hub

Flex Cost & Value: Unveiling the Numbers Behind Patient Communication

Written by Craig Cormack | February 25, 2021

To That, We Say, "Challenge Accepted."
(Cue the inspirational theme music and watch us climb the value mountain.)

We love talking about Flex. We live and breathe it daily, so we enjoy the opportunity to discuss the way our developers have magically fit all that Flex technology into a virtual workhorse for patient engagement. We think we have a great story to tell.

You know what else we don’t mind talking about? Cost.

The Cost of Flex Dental Patient Communication Software

Cost is the topic most people dread when they buy anything. No one wants to haggle with a salesperson and EVERYONE deserves to feel like they ended up with a great value for the money they’ve just invested in a product or service. We get it - our team would prefer to talk about features, functionality and improving the practice processes that matter most to you and your staff rather than negotiating dollars and cents. 

Unapologetically Transparent - It’s All About Trust.

One look at the Flex website and you will immediately notice that we do not shy away from a conversation on price. All of our services and associated monthly rates are prominently displayed for the world to see. No hiding here! We feel trust and transparency is a good foundation for building a strong relationship with your practice.

What You Get For Your Money

There are a range of patient communication solutions that integrate with Open Dental and, honestly, Flex is priced higher than some systems out there and lower than others. Flex was developed by a practice using Open Dental (more on that here), so it was designed for functionality and intuitive use rather than maximizing profit. We understand that, to some, the lowest price will be the top priority and Flex won’t necessarily check that box. We address cost head-on so there are no surprises down the road.

Here is what you can expect to pay for Flex, FlexSchedule and Flex+.

  • Flex - $299 per month

  • FlexSchedule - $199 per month

  • Flex+ (a combination of both services) - $398 per month 

Here’s what you get:

Flex - $299 per month

The Open Dental patient communication over-achiever.

  • Seamless Integration with Open Dental.
  • Treatment Planning with custom payment options for discussing with your patients so treatment recommendations and fee expectations are crystal clear.
  • FlexPay to have your patients pay directly from a treatment plan, a tablet, or from an emailed or texted statement. 
  • Smart Web Forms that are pre-filled with relevant patient data and are dynamically updated automatically based upon demographic data, so patients won’t be presented with questions that are not relevant to them. Get patients in the chair faster!
  • Automated Patient Communications via text or email that are easy to edit and configure. Confirm appointments, send recalls and welcome new patients.
  • FlexBlast to send mass email messages to your patient base. Need to tell everyone you’ve won the lottery and are closing your doors? Do it here.
  • Two-Way Text Messaging - Get those texting thumbs and emojis ready.
  • Custom Consent Forms so you can import your existing documents and let Flex gather those signatures.
  • Popular Phone Integrations with Mango Voice or RingCentral.
  • Access to our Flex Mobile app.
  • Intraoffice Messaging that lets you easily communicate with your co-workers throughout the day. Yes, even the ones you don’t really want to talk to.
  • Integrated Discount Plans you can present to patients via tablet and import directly to the patient’s image files while Flex automatically records the expiration date next to their basic info.
  • Online Patient Reviews to get those 5-star ratings rolling in.

FlexSchedule - $199 per month

The online scheduling savant that knows how you like your appointment book.

  • Fast, Mobile Booking for patient convenience.
  • SmartFill Technology that adapts to fill your appointment book efficiently by guiding patients to gaps in your schedule or open slots next to other appointments.
  • Real-Time Integration - no delays or waiting for syncing! See appointments in Open Dental as soon as they are scheduled.
  • Flex Nudge is a quirky name for a powerful feature. Weigh your appointment times so patients see appointment slots that you want offered first. So smart.

Flex+ - $398 per month

For those that must have it all.

Flex + combines Flex and FlexSchedule at a package price, giving you all of the features we have to offer and some monthly savings to boot. 

What’s Missing

All of our pricing is completely transparent and all-inclusive - it’s what we do. Here’s what we don’t include in our services: 

  • We don’t do hidden fees
  • We never lock you into an annual contract
  • We don’t do sales promos, last-minute close-outs or any of the other traditional sales and marketing tricks

We also don’t do buyer’s remorse - you know, where you buy something and it suddenly has a “holiday offer” or “trade show pricing” right after you bought it. Having spent years in the dental industry, I can tell you that there’s no such thing as “special pricing” - it’s just sales and marketing spin and spinning makes us dizzy.

Features + Affordability = Value in Patient Engagement

We have lots of Flex fans on social media. Recently, I was sent a social media post that another company’s executive made regarding Flex and our pricing. To paraphrase, they indicated their pricing was only $49 more per month than Flex and that they had been around much longer. I don’t mention this story to draw negative attention to another company but to illustrate the difference in philosophies. 

It’s true - we are one of the newer companies to roll into the proverbial town but we brought a boatload of great features, intuitive functionality, and thoughtful design with us. Flex is all about functionality that works AND being the most user-friendly patient communication solution for Open Dental out there - we would rather talk about value and performance than worry about racing to the bottom (or top) of the price hill. We don't mind being the new kid in town . . . we're just going to keep dreaming up new ways to tackle your workflow challenges.

Fortunately, we have been able to include key features in Flex that practices want while maintaining a balance between functionality and affordability in our pricing. In our opinion, when you marry a great feature set with a price that makes sense to the majority of practices out there, you arrive at value. And that is where we make Flex fans for life.

Value - By The Numbers

Value is often a nebulous concept, as it can mean different things depending on who you ask. One thing I think we can agree on is that a high return-on-investment is often a good gauge of value. Let’s take a look at some numbers provided by our FlexSchedule users:

We asked our FlexSchedule users how many new patients they have booked since adding FlexSchedule to their practice. 

  • The average number of new patients added by each practice via FlexSchedule per year was 144.
  • What is the average patient worth to your practice? According to the ADA, an average patient pays around $653 for treatment per year but you can use your own number here.
  • If we do the math, that’s around $94,000 in revenue from these new patients. If you used your own patient value, what did you end up with?

Regardless if you used $644 or your own number for annual per patient spend, I think you'll arrive at the same conclusion - these FlexSchedule users are seeing a great return on their monthly FlexSchedule investment. That’s the value we feel all of our Flex solutions can deliver to your practice.

What Does Flex Really Cost?

If you’re looking at plain numbers, our solutions range from $199-398 per month. Flex’s robust feature set, ease of use, and return on investment it can bring to your practice are additional pieces of the value puzzle. 

We are all about delivering value to your practice and patients through the workflow efficiencies and patient communication features of Flex. We’ve accepted the challenge and hope you'll join us on the journey.

Ready to learn more?

If you’re an Open Dental user looking for a patient communication solution, please ask for opinions of our solution from other Open Dental practices. We pride ourselves on creating Flex fans for life. The words of our customers are our best reference and we think you’ll like what you find.

Our team members are all what we affectionately call “Flex-perts” and make it a priority to address all requests quickly and knowledgeably. If you have any questions or would like to learn more, please click the button below and submit your questions online. A member of our team will connect with you shortly and help you understand the value that Flex can bring to your practice and your patients.