Do You Take My Insurance?

Pick up your phone and search your practice name plus the word "insurance." Then read what comes up the way a new patient would: on a small screen, with an insurance card in hand, deciding whether you're worth a phone call.

Patients check insurance first, often before they ever call. If your website doesn't answer the question clearly, they do one of two things: they call to ask, or they quietly move on to a practice that did answer. You never see the second group. They don't show up in your call log or your inbox.

Can a patient tell from your website whether you take their plan? We check it in every free medical website audit →

What we found this fall

In audits over the last two months, the insurance question was answered badly in three different ways:

• A dermatology practice whose online booking covers only four insurance plans. The booking page worked, and it said it was only for specific plans. But the practice's own insurance page listed many more. A patient on any plan outside those four had no way to book online and had to call during office hours.
• An ophthalmology group that names two plans, then says "many others." The site mentions Medicare and one Blue plan, says the practice accepts many other local and national plans, and asks patients to call the office to verify. There is no full list. If your plan isn't one of the two named, you're left to guess or pick up the phone.
• A pediatric practice with a complete list, hidden two clicks deep. The list itself was clear, which is the hard part. But a parent had to open the menu, go to a new-patients page and scroll before finding it.

None of these is a hard problem. All three come down to the same thing: the patient has to work to get a simple yes or no.

Why a vague insurance answer costs you patients

• Patients who don't want to call, don't. Someone comparing two practices at 9 PM won't wait until morning to ask. They'll book with the one that showed a plan list, and you'll never know you were in the running.
• "Call to verify" with no list reads like a "no." A patient whose plan isn't named can't tell whether you're a maybe or a never. Most won't spend a phone call finding out.
• Online booking that covers a few plans turns away the rest. If your calendar accepts four plans and you accept a dozen, the patients on the other eight get the message that you're not for them, even though you are.
• Your front desk answers the same call all day. Every "do you take..." call is time not spent on the patients already in your office, and some of those calls come from people who were never going to book anyway.

Check yours in two minutes

1. Search your practice name plus "insurance" on your phone. See what Google shows, and whether your own website appears.
2. Start on your homepage, as a patient would. Count the clicks it takes to reach a list of accepted plans. If it takes more than one, or you can't find it, patients won't either.
3. Read the list itself. Are plans named, or does it say "most major insurance"? A patient can't match their card to "most."
4. Open your online booking and compare. Which plans can book there? Do they match the plans you actually accept? If not, does the page say what to do?
5. Check your Google Business Profile and one directory listing. Do they say the same thing your website does?

How to fix it

• Create one clear "Insurance we accept" page. Name the plans, and add a short note that patients should confirm coverage with your office, since it can depend on the specific plan.
• Link it from the homepage, the main navigation and the booking page. The patient should reach it from wherever they're standing when the question comes up.
• Make online booking match the list. Either open it to every plan you accept, or say clearly which plans can book online and how everyone else books: a phone number, a request form, whatever works at your office. If your booking button has other problems, start with our post on "Book Online" buttons that don't book anything.
• Keep your Google Business Profile and directory listings consistent. Wherever a patient might check you, the answer should be the same one your website gives.
• Update it when contracts change. A plan you've added or dropped should change on the page that week, not whenever someone remembers.
• Put someone in charge of keeping it current. Name one person, or hand it to someone who will. An insurance page that's wrong is worse for patients than one that's vague, because they show up expecting coverage.

The bottom line

Insurance is often the first question a new patient has, and your website is where they'll look for the answer before they pick up the phone. If it's hard to find, vague, or contradicted by your booking page, some of those patients leave without a word. Search your practice name plus "insurance" on your phone today. If you can't tell whether you'd take your own plan in under a minute, neither can they.

Request your free website audit →

We'll check whether your website answers the insurance question, how many clicks it takes to find, and whether online booking matches the plans you accept, then send you the 3–5 fixes that matter most. A real person reviews every audit. No cost, no obligation.