Do you have a gold mine hidden in your unscheduled treatments?
What does a rock star team, top of the line technology, and electricity have in common? They all cost money. A healthy cash flow is an essential component to every practice. While there is a reliable stream of income generated in hygiene, there is a cap on how much your practice can profit from cleanings and periodontal maintenance in order to stay competitive in a highly insurance driven world. The key to a flourishing practice is a patient who accepts and completes their restorative and/or cosmetic treatment plan.
When treatment is recommended, and the patient does not schedule an appointment, AND we do not follow up about the need for treatment what message are we sending to the patient? Perhaps the patient thinks it is not that important or we would have contacted them therefore the patient waits for their next hygiene appointment to come back to the office. Worse than this scenario is perhaps we don’t even ask about the reason the patient declined the doctor’s recommendation at their next hygiene visit-this is unacceptable, you must follow a protocol for declined treatment.
When it comes to having a healthy, profitable practice, team work makes the dream work. Every person in the office has a specific responsibility in making the patient experience a great one. Getting a patient to accept treatment starts long before the treatment plan is presented. Each step of the patient experience is a protocol of its own.
Today we are just going to focus on what to do when you have a patient who leaves the office without scheduling. What are the steps your team follows to ensure the patient feels cared for and understands the value of the treatment presented. Are you asking the right questions? What is your follow up?
The effort expended in the pursuit of clinical excellence, developing your practice, diagnosing and treatment planning requires a tracking system that measures your case acceptance rate (reach out for the tracking forms we use), along with a protocol to follow up with patients who have declined treatment. If team members do not have the time to handle this task due to competing priorities, then dedicated time must be created weekly to ensure this protocol gets implemented. NO EXCUSES.
If you have not been tracking this in the past, you may need the entire team to audit & review patient charts to get you back on track. Going forward, monitoring the unscheduled treatment list is something that should be done weekly.
You must document the status of every patient’s treatment cycle.
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Schedule dedicated time to contact patients with outstanding treatment
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Before contacting the patient, audit the patient’s chart for accuracy
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Announce accepted/declined treatment at the daily preparation meeting to stay current
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The Doctor or dental assistant calls or sends a personal note to patients who have declined treatment and have active disease. Do this within 48 hours Patients who have not been called by the doctor or dental assistant need a follow-up call and/or letter (reach out to see the sample letters we use)
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If the patient does not want to schedule an appointment, find out the reason and ask for permission to contact the patient within a certain time frame.
What does your follow up phone call sound like? What questions could you ask to continue to build rapport with the patient, understand their hesitation, their concerns, and what they value about their dental health?
If I have said it once, I have said it a hundred times. You cannot improve what you do not measure. Track, track, track. Track the number of patients to which you presented treatment and the number of patients that scheduled at least one phase of treatment. Also, track the dollar amount presented and the dollar amount scheduled (reach out to get access to our accepted and declined treatment protocols). Begin a new tracker each month, and you can cross reference these numbers with your marketing tracker to determine the effectiveness of your targeted marketing as well.
It takes a village. Set your team up for success by giving them the protocols that make the practice a well-oiled machine. When that is true, each person’s role becomes a joy. I am happy to help your team set up systems, processes, procedures, and protocols. Don’t know the difference and why it matters to your business?
Ready to take your dental practice to the next level? Sign up for a free demo today and see how our solutions can help you achieve excellence!