Dental Consultant | Dental Practice Solutions

Boosting Dental Practice Efficiency with Management Consultants

By: Debbie Seidel-Bittke, RDH, BS

November 21, 2023

Effective management is the cornerstone of a successful dental practice. Dental practice management consultants play a pivotal role in optimizing the operations of dental clinics, enhancing patient care, and increasing overall efficiency. In this blog, we will delve into the ways in which these consultants can transform your dental practice and help it thrive.

Maximizing Operational Efficiency

One of the primary functions of dental practice management consultants is to streamline the day-to-day operations of your dental clinic. They carefully assess the existing processes, identify bottlenecks, and implement strategies to enhance efficiency. From appointment scheduling strategies that meet the practice goals to managing the sequence of patient appointments, dental consultants provide invaluable insights on how to make your practice run like a well-oiled machine.

For example, a well-structured appointment system can significantly reduce bottlenecks at the front desk, and clinicians running late which causes stress for patients and the team. Dental consultants can introduce schedule-to-goal strategies that optimize patient appointments, minimize open holes in the schedule, and ensure a steady flow of patients throughout the day. This will improve the patient experience, it allows the dental team to work more efficiently, and will help the dental practice achieve their financial goals.

Enhancing Financial Management

Financial stability is a critical aspect of every dental practice. Dental practice consultants are well-versed in financial management, and they can help you achieve a healthier bottom line. They assist in lowering overhead costs and optimize services to generate more production. By analyzing your expenses, revenue streams, and sequences of patient appointments, dental consultants can identify areas for improvement.

Moreover, dental consultants can offer insights on fee schedules, and insurance billing; helping you determine the correct fees for your services while remaining competitive in your market. They can also help you create annual planning to control your overhead and tap into your true potential. Annual planning strategies ensure your dental practice remains financially sustainable.

Optimizing Patient Care

Patient satisfaction and quality care are at the core of a successful dental practice. Dental practice management consultants emphasize the importance of patient-centric care. They help you create a welcoming and efficient environment that puts patients at ease.

Efficient patient management includes reducing wait times, ensuring timely appointments, and delivering excellent customer service. Consultants can guide your team on effective communication, building trust with patients, and implementing procedures that prioritize patient comfort and well-being. Happy patients are more likely to return and recommend your practice to others.

Implementing Technology Solutions

The dental profession is continually evolving with new technologies and tools emerging regularly. Dental practice consultants who stay up-to-date with the latest advancements and can advise the dentist-business owner about integrating technology into their dental practice. Whether it’s digital record-keeping, advanced imaging systems, AI dental apps to boost case acceptance, or telehealth solutions, they help you leverage technology to enhance patient care and streamline administrative tasks.

Digital X-rays and electronic health records reduce the time spent on paperwork and provide a more comprehensive view of a patient’s dental history.

Employee Development and Team Training

A well-trained and motivated team is vital for the success of your dental practice. Dental practice management consultants assist in the development of an effective team by identifying employee needs, offering leadership guidance, and fostering a positive work environment. They can also help with performance evaluations and employee retention strategies.

By investing in your team’s professional growth, you enhance the quality of patient care creating a more cohesive and productive team.

Strategic Dental Practice Growth and Marketing

Growth is a vital part of every business, and dental practices are no exception. Dental practice consultants can help you develop growth strategies by analyzing your unique niche, identifying opportunities for expansion, and advising on marketing initiatives. They can guide you in building a solid online presence, enhancing your website, and developing marketing campaigns to attract new patients.

Dental Consultant | The End of Year is Near. How to Get Dental Hygiene Patients to Return Now.

By: admin

August 8, 2018

The end of the year is near. In today’s blog you will read how to get your dental hygiene patients to return now.

Summer is coming to an end. The kids are going back to school. Parents are busy with work, back-to-school shopping and it seem there is not time to visit the dental office

Many of your dental patients haven’t scheduled necessary dental treatment for themselves or their family.

Most dental benefits will not roll over to the next year and that means you are wasting insurance benefits for your patients.

Now is the time to try and help your patients maximize their dental insurance coverage. Many of your patients are overdue for a routine hygiene appointment.

August is the best time to be looking over your list of overdue hygiene patients and also patients with outstanding treatment.

Every month of each year, plan a day to run a report of overdue hygiene patients. Mark your calendar to run this report the first week of each month.

At this point in the year, it is crucial to focus on contacting your overdue hygiene patients as well as get patients to return who have unscheduled treatment to complete.

How do you contact your patients?

It is important to contact your patients in a way that creates a quick response.

With today’s world of technology, you may notice that most people don’t pick up their phone (of not often), they don’t check their personal emails throughout the day and not many people go to their mailbox to pick up their mail each day.

We suggest that you have the ability to two-way text all of your patients.

To begin the two-way texting, you need to have the technology connected to your practice management software.

We recommend SolutionReach to our clients because not only does this company offer two-way texting, but you can add a link for your patients to click which will allow them to immediately schedule their appointment.

What does your text message say?

You will at the very least want to text all overdue patients with only a sentence that says, please call our office about your dental appointment.

We have found this works very well for patients to call your office and especially when they know they don’t have an appointment.

Once the patient does call they will most likely let you know, “I don’t have an appointment.”

Your response will sound like this:

“Mrs. Smith, please let me check your patient record to find out exactly what is happening here. May I put you on a brief hold? This will take me less than ten seconds to check.”

Most patients will be patient enough to wait a few seconds.

Here is the part that may be new to you.

The team of consultants at Dental Practice Solutions, teaches clients this acronym called, R2R.

What does R2R mean?

R2R means “Reason to Return.”

The R2R is a brief description each clinician writes on the last line of the patients record, each time the patient is seen in the office.

This means that the clinician has discussed, communicated, with their patient the reason why they need to return, and that reason will not only be a clinical reason but a benefit to the patient.

If the patient you just took a call from, has a clinical R2R note that states, Pt has bleeding gums, infection around all the back molars and heavy tartar build-up in lower front teeth. Pt has diabetes and I explained that treating gum disease will put a halt to the life-altering challenges of diabetes that can be prevented when their mouth is healthy.

Using the R2R. What to say to the patient.

Once your team of clinicians begin to use the R2R the person answering the phone call will always put a patient who calls about an appointment on a short hold while they check the R2R.

Now that your patient is on the phone, let them know that doctor (and you can include the hygienists’ who last saw the patient) is concerned about their health. Explain that last time they saw doctor and hygienist they had infection in their gums and this can make their diabetes worse which causes other serious health problems. Let the patient know it is extremely important to complete the gum treatment because now we know this will help improve their diabetes.

What do we do if we have not used the R2R?

If you are reading about the R2R for the first time, when you look at a patients’ record, there will not be an R2R and I suggest that you have each of your team members learn about this.

Please contact our office and a dental consultant on our team will be happy to provide a training for your team. We can offer AGD CE Credits if you like.

Steps to reactivate overdue hygiene patients:

Step 1. Run your reports

1. Run an overdue hygiene patient report for the past 6 or 12 months.
  1. If you don’t usually run this report monthly you will want to go back at least 12 months when you begin running this report.

Step 2. Send a text message

Use your patient engagement software (Ex. SolutionReach) to contact overdue hygiene patients
Your first text message should only say “Please call our office today about your dental appointment.”

Step 3. In one week for the patients who have not responded to your text message, send them an email.

In your email you can now include your scheduling link, so these patients can easily click the link to schedule their hygiene appointment.
Your email message can be customized with each patients’ name, but the same email goes out to every patient who needs a dental hygiene appointment.
As a dental consultant I have learned that people respond more favorably to this email when you offer them an incentive to return for their appointment.

We know that free tray whitening works well when attempting to get overdue hygiene patients back to your office.

1. 1. You can also use other special offers to motivate patients to return such as money of Invisalign.

Step 3. Understand the specific type of appointment needed.

When you do have patients calling to schedule their appointment, be sure to look at their patient record to understand what type of appointment they need.

Step 4. Begin using the R2R.

1. All clinicians must make this part of their patient record.
2. When a patient calls to schedule or change an appointment, the front office person answering the patient call, will look up the R2R so they know exactly what the patient needs to schedule for (Ex. Prophy, x-rays and doctor exam, etc.) can speak to the patient about the necessary service and value/benefits for scheduling.
3. This R2R can and should be used every time a patient calls to change a dental appointment. Use the value and benefit to the patient to get them to keep their appointment not change it.

The number 1 focus this month needs to be contacting all patients who need to return this year for a hygiene appointment.

Need help implementing the R2R or any other systems?

We are here to help you! Call us to find out how to get training virtually or in-office. We are here to help! Your team will receive AGD CE Credits with any training we complete for you. Contact us today. Email: admin@dentalpracticesolutions.com or call our office: 949-351-8741

Next week I will return with information to contact patients with outstanding treatment. I will also write about how overcome this big challenge of patients leaving without scheduling their important restorative care.

ABOUT DEBBIE SEIDEL-BITTKE, RDH, BS

Debbie Seidel-Bittke is the CEO of Dental Practice Solutions and has over 15 years of business and consulting experience, as well as 30 plus years of working knowledge as a dental professional.

Having the unique ability to understand dentists’ need, Debbie can help each dental practice grow to be efficient and profitable. The growth occurs by optimizing your dental hygiene department. She has a team of experts that will work in the other areas of your dental practice as necessary. Debbie’s insight allows her to effectively communicate and implement success strategies while strategically addressing productivity challenges in the dental practice.

As a dental hygiene business coach, a former clinician and educator, she is adept at collaborating with dentists and their team to incorporate her expertise to see a dental practice grow to levels beyond their imagination. Debbie and her team of experts will increase the profitability of each dental practice. This year, 2018, no client of Dental Practice Solutions will increase production less than $125,000 and without working more days in the office. Ask us how you can be next to do this!

Call or email our office to schedule for your Free Profit Boosting Session:

Email: admin@dentalpracticesolutions.com or call our office: 949-351-8741

Overdue Dental Hygiene Patients

By: admin

October 19, 2016

CLICK HERE TO WATCH VIDEO

Every dental office has dental patients who need to schedule for restorative treatment and overdue hygiene appointments.

The last quarter of each year is the perfect time to reach out to patients who have overlooked their dental visit.

Many patients who have dental insurance will need to use it or lose it so a call, email or text message is a great way to reach out.

BUT…………….Why after your patient has put off their dental appointment, would they want to return now?

What can you do and say to get patients back before the end of year?

What’s your plan to bring your dental patients back before the end of 2016?

As a dental hygiene consultant I recommend that you always give your patients a reason to return that includes a value to them and a benefit for why they need to complete treatment or continue seeing their hygienist routinely.

We have an acronym for this and we call it: PARVB

It stands for:

Patient

Appointment

Reason to return

Value

Benefit

How will you use PARVB?

PARVB works best when you have your patient seated in your chair.

You as the clinician need to understand what is valuable to your patient. For example:

Is it important for your patient to have a beautiful smile?
Is money important in making their decisions?
What is valuable to your patient?
How will completing that restoration benefit your patient?
- Will your patient save money if they have the decay removed next week vs. wait until it causes pain and needs a root canal and crown? i.e. Cost more money to them!

When your patient is in the office as a patient write a PARVB and when a patient refuses to schedule or calls to change their scheduled appointment know what that patients PARVB is and state to your patient the exact reason they need to return and let that reason be the Value to your patient and state how it will benefit them.

Hope this helps you to keep your back door closed.

Dental Hygiene Consultant

ABOUT DEBBIE SEIDEL-BITTKE, RDH, BS

Debbie Seidel is founder of Dental Hygiene Solutions, Powered by Dental Practice Solutions.

DENTISTRY TODAY considers her a top dental consultant for the past 16 yrs.

The focus of Dental Hygiene Solutions is to create healthier, longer lives for our patients while supporting dental practices to tap into their hygiene department profit potential.

Debbie is also a former clinical assistant professor for the dental hygiene program at USC in Los Angeles.

In 2007 she wrote the accreditation, the curriculum, hire the teachers and oversaw the build out- managing a 2 Million Dollar Budget for a dental hygiene program in Portland, Oregon.

Debbie is passionate about supporting dental teams to provide a profitable, patient-centered dental practice through improving systems and efficiencies in the dental hygiene department.

Check out the Free 3-Part Hygiene Department Training: http://www.dentalhygiene.solutions

Check Your Dental Hygiene Department Pulse and Increase Your Profit Potential

By: admin

May 21, 2013

Is your dental hygiene department the second highest profit center of your dental practice? What do profitable hygiene departments have in place that will allow them to work like a well-oiled machine and be their most profitable? Why does one hygiene department create more treatment plan success from their dental hygiene department than many others? Do these hygiene departments see more patients to create these higher results? Do they perform more dental hygiene services? Do these auxiliaries work longer hours?

Strategic Systems

New patients are the lifeline to every successful dental practice. Without new patients, production will decline and the practice will not exist. Every dental practice has a normal attrition of patients. This is a fact of business. People move, pass away, or leave because you are not on their “insurance plan” and this can mean an annual loss of 10%. Just as your heart beats at least 60 beats per minute, you must have a continual flow of new patients walking in the front door to make up for those patients who are walking out the back door.

Patient retention (continuing care) is the heartbeat of the dental practice. Your active patient base consists of patients who value your care, accept your recommendations, and pay for treatment. These are the people who trust you and your team. They refer their families, friends, and colleagues to you. These are the are key players to the ongoing success of your business Most patients see the hygienist more than any other auxiliary of the dental team. This is what makes the hygienist carry and important role in building and maintaining the current active patient base.

Maintaining the Active Patient Base

Always preschedule 90 percent of your hygiene department patients. Patients are more likely to understand the importance of why they need to schedule their next hygiene appointment. When the hygienist schedules the patients for their next hygiene visit there is a continuation in the practioner/hygiene communication process. You most likely see a positive patient attitude and an increase in patient compliance occur when the hygienist is engaged in scheduling the patient next hygiene appointments. Ideally this should occur when the patient is still present in the hygiene treatment room.

Words do matter

The dialogue between the auxiliary and patient is extremely important. Here is an example of how the conversation may go:

Example: “Today I found a few areas of bleeding that were considered abnormal and doctor is observing and area where you have the beginning of decay. Our schedule is very tight because patients usually schedule before they leave their dental hygiene appointment. I know that you like to come in first thing in the morning on Thursdays so I recommend that we reserve your next appointment to assure that you can return on that day of the week and at that time in fact that is a very valuable and popular time for most of our patients. To make sure you have your next appointment on this day of the week and at this time, I want to schedule and reserve this time for you now. I can see you on Thursday, October 18^th at 8am. Will this work for your schedule? ”

The dental hygienist is the oral health educator for every dental practice. It is the role of the dental hygienist to educate patients about the relationship between oral health and systemic health. Patient involvement and active participation create ownership and accountability and will ultimately reduce the cancellation and failure rates of the continuing care patients. The preventive care and supportive periodontal maintenance appointments have the highest cancellations and failed appointment rates of any service in the dental practice. If you have one hygienist working four days a week and each day you have one cancellation you this can lead to an annual loss as high as $150,000 in hygiene department profits and this does not account for the treatment normally diagnosed from the hygiene appointments.

For a hygiene department achieve success they should be scheduling 95 percent of their future dental hygiene appointments at the time of the patients current dental hygiene appointment. Always create monitors and track the scheduling ratio. Count the total number of patients seen in the hygiene department each month and divide this number by the number of appointments available for the month. The hygiene or scheduling coordinator should then report the current scheduling rate to the team at monthly team meetings. The scheduling coordinator needs to always report in the morning huddle the open times available on the hygiene schedule each day for the next week.

Many dental practices charge a fee for failed appointments, and the effect of doing this has been positive in raising patient awareness of the importance of the time set aside for their appointments.

Team approach

Everyone on the team should understand the words which are effective for a positive patient response. Courtesy confirmation calls, emails, text messages and written communications define the hygiene appointment (continuing care) with dialogues such as this:

“Hello Mr. Goodman, its Megan calling because Maria (Insert the name of the hygienist seeing the patient) and I are looking forward to seeing you tomorrow at 3 o’clock for your preventive care appointment. I see on the schedule that Maria will be doing your annual periodontal screening exam and Dr. Goodtooth mentioned to me that you were in tested in the new whitening product we are using. We’ll see you then. By doing this, patients are moved beyond the“just-a-cleaning-and-a-check-up” mentality. It is best not to discuss any type of cancellation policy because this is only a subconscious reminder that if something else comes up they can cancel and it sets up for failure for your continuing care systems’ success. Do not ask for calls back to the office to verify an appointment. Have the expectation that patients understand the importance of their dental service and desire to come to see the doctor and/or hygienist.

Accountability

Chart audit and patient activation must be ongoing systems that are frequently performed in the office. This is completed through daily reviews and computer reports. While everyone on the team plays an important role, one auxiliary (the hygiene or scheduling coordinator) is responsible and accountable for keeping the daily schedule full and productive. At team meetings, the scheduling coordinator reports and discusses the scheduling effectiveness rate. Everyone needs to be aware of what is working and what is not working so that problem-solving can take place.

Create a plan of action when there is a crack in the system. Ask for suggestions to overcome these challenges which may occur and when you are feeling like a hemorrhaging is occurring in your dental hygiene schedule you may want to consider the advise of a dental expert who is knowledgeable in overcoming these challenges, especially during these stressful economic times.

Scheduling effectively for today and the future

To achieve and assure a full and productive schedule (for all providers), the team should always prepare for the day by auditing patient records. The hygienist reviews patient records for incomplete dental treatment, updated X-rays, status exams, perio, update the medical history, etc. The hygienist needs to be prepared to discuss, demonstrate (with an intraoral camera), answer questions, and provide the facts and findings, risks and benefits, when the doctor enters the treatment room to provide the patient exam. Ideally, a brief meeting (the morning huddle) enables the entire team to communicate, delegate, and maximize the day. One of the most important topics reviewed at huddles with my consulting clients is having the clinical assistants audit their records and identify patients who are seeing the doctor that day that are overdue for hygiene care.

Picture Paint

When patients are in for the appointment with doctor and overdue or need a dental hygiene appointment ask them to stay for the dental hygiene appointment using words such as: “save you-time missing work another day, Save you time returning to the office, etc. Create statements that are certain to benefit the patient. The hygienist does the same if the doctor has an opening and the hygienist has a patient with undone dentistry.

PHILOPHYSHARE (PLAYING WITH PHILOSOPHY)

Finally, by working together, the doctor, hygienist and entire team, communicate and share a practice philosophy for the patients, the hygiene department, and the practice. Working with the dentist as a partner in oral/systemic health care, everyone on the team is committed to the vision of the practice, proudly recommends dental treatment, and refers family and friends to the doctor.

Facilitate change by regularly scheduling meetings with your hygiene team and as a whole team to support and reinforce initiatives and explore new ideas and opportunities for growth and development. Open pathways for communication will lead to mutual respect and admiration and will be reflected in increased profits, a harmonious dental team, and most importantly, healthier patients. It’s a win for all!