State Regulations

Membership plan rules, state by state.

Membership plan requirements are set by each state, and the answers live with the agencies that write and enforce them. This directory points you straight at the official source for every state — your licensing board, the insurance department, the consumer protection office and your state association — plus the practical basics worth having in order before you launch.

Operating basics every membership plan should have in order

None of this is a reading of your state's rules. It is the housekeeping that makes the legal review short and the plan easy to run.

1. 01Write down how your plan is structuredPut in one place what members pay, what they receive, how long the term runs and who provides the care. Most questions a regulator or attorney asks about a dental practice membership start here.
2. 02Describe the plan in your own words, consistentlyUse the same wording for the plan on your website, in your agreement, on printed material and at the front desk. Mismatched descriptions are the most common thing practices have to clean up later.
3. 03Keep the membership agreement signed and retrievableEvery member should have accepted written terms covering fees, billing frequency, renewal, cancellation and refunds, and you should be able to produce that record for any member on request.
4. 04Make renewal, cancellation and refund handling explicitDecide how a member cancels, what happens to the remainder of a term and how refunds are handled — then say it the same way in the agreement and in practice.
5. 05Check advertising claims against what the plan actually deliversSavings figures, discount percentages and comparisons should be traceable to your own fee schedule and plan design.
6. 06Keep membership money accounted for separatelyRecurring membership revenue should be reportable on its own so you can see members, payments and outstanding balances without digging through general production.
7. 07Have your own attorney review before launch and after changesRules that touch dentists and prepaid plans vary by state and change. A short review before launch, and again whenever you change pricing or benefits, is the cheapest step on this list.