Insurance reimbursement is not more but less, and insurance companies are getting very particular about what you submit as a narrative and what codes you can and can’t use.
On a positive note, our clients this year, 2018, are seeing bigger production numbers than seen in the past five plus years.
Why is this good news?
It is good news because people are spending money.
It shows that the economic decline is no longer an excuse you can use if you practice production and collections are still down.
What can you do?
Let me outline 3 steps you must take if you want to see at least 100k come in to your dental office (your bank account) in the next twelve months.
1. Leadership
The offices we work with who do the best are the offices that have a dentist, a practice owner who is a great leader!
What does this mean, “Be a leader”?
Being a leader includes a variety of characteristics so let me just name two here:
- A person who can make wise decisions in a timely manner.
- This means that when an important decision is in front of you, you must be able to make a decision within the next day or at least a week. Many dentists take weeks, months to make a decision and by the time they have made the important decision, their practice has suffered even more.
2. Morning Team Huddle.
This is where you make or break your day. The morning team huddle must occur on a daily basis.
We teach our clients; large and small offices, how to do this in less than 20 minutes each morning.
This is effectively completed when the team members have adited their patients for the day. The front office must know the goals and provide a report about where the office is in reaching the daily and monthly goals.
Once the front office reports on the financial goals, the rest of the team can fill in the blanks, so the office will meet the monthly goals.
Once the front office reports on the financial goals, the rest of the team can fill in the blanks, so the office will meet the monthly goals.
We have a specific template; a written format and you can email our office to receive this template. Email info@dentalpracticesolutions.com
3. Hygiene Appointment: Preventive Care and Periodontal Therapy
Maximizing your hygiene recare is the biggest and fastest area to grow your practice.
This includes running a report to notify (phone call and specific text message) patients who are overdue for their hygiene appointment. I have written a lot about reactivating and retaining your hygiene patients. Check out the eBooks (bonus additional info included) about reactivating and retaining your patients: Click to Learn More.
It is very important that the hygienist and doctor examine every new patient and routine hygiene patients for healthy gums. Identify either health or disease. When you identify that there is no bone loss, now identify if they patient has gingivitis.
For patients with no bone loss but 30% or more of their gingiva presents with inflammation, you must treat this patient with the new gingivitis code. I have a free webinar with a wealth of information about this new service. You can download the free gingivitis information when you click here.
The hygienist is also the one clinician that sees patients (The goal if you follow this plan is to have routine hygiene patients.) and spends about one hour looking in the patient’s mouth, so they become the best clinician to recommend restorative and elective treatment.
80% of doctors schedule should come from the hygienist recommending restorative care and helping patients dream about the beautiful smile they want.
Want is a key word. When patients want what they need, case acceptance will be at an all-time high. Set a goal to have 85% case acceptance and 80% of your case acceptance come from hygiene appointments.
Conclusion
The economic climate in 2018 is a lot different than you may be thinking. People are visiting their dentist and when they do visit their dentist, they are saying “YES” to accepting restorative and even elective services.
It takes a leader to inspire their team to engage in the success strategies for their dental practice. If the leader can inspire and they understand how to get the team to do what needs to be done, the team can drive the practice systems.
Pick one of these three suggestions and start to implement. Once you have implemented, monitor the progress of this system.
Another choice is to reach out to an expert who can be a guide to take you on the shortest path to the 100k (or even more) in the next twelve months.
It is now time to take the fastest path to gain the highest level of success possible. It is within reach.
You need to decide how you will get there and the path that you choose to take, should allow you a way to get here and not work more days or hours.
Dream it. Believe it. Live it!
About the Author
Debbie Seidel-Bittke, RDH, BS is a dental consultant, coach, speaker and author. She is also CEO of Dental Practice Solutions. Debbie is a world-class leader in creating profitable hygiene departments. She is well-known as a former clinical assistant professor at USC in Los Angeles and a former hygiene department program director. Dentistry Today recognized Debbie as a Leader in Dental Consulting. She can be reached at (888) 816-1511. Send an e-mail to info@dentalpracticesolutions.com or go to her website: https://dentalpracticesolutions.com.
Be sure to check out our live CE Event:
Dentistry: Get a Grip on Your Practice and Grow Your Business
September 21, 2018 6AGD Credits
More Info Here Click Here.
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