INDEX OF MGE WEBLETTERS
(For earlier editions of MGE’s Newsletters, click here.)
Keys to Improving Case Acceptance, Part I by Jeffrey M. Blumberg
Keys to Improving Case Acceptance, Part II by Jeffrey M. Blumberg
Keys to Improving Case Acceptance, Part III by Jeffrey M. Blumberg
MGE’s weekly webletter, Issue 30.
Here is the next edition of MGE’s weekly webletter. The purpose of this webletter is to provide ideas, tips and suggestions to make your practice more successful.
Feel free to send us your comments and suggestions, or requests for future webletter topics you would like to see covered. If you wish to read the first webletter in this series, click here.
If you wish to read our earlier webletters, click here and select the topic(s) of your interest.
Keys to Improving Case Acceptance, Part III
By Jeffrey M. Blumberg,
Chief Operating Officer, MGE
This is the final installment of a three-part series on improving case acceptance in your practice. For part one in this particular series, click here, for part two, click here.
Increasing case acceptance can have a number of positive ramifications for your patients, practice and for your own professional satisfaction. Patients are happier and receive the treatment they need, your practice is more productive and you personally get to do the kind of dentistry you probably enjoy the most.
In the first installment in this series, we hit on five issues that you could address that would positively impact case acceptance.
They were:
- Communication Skills (doctor and staff)
- Organizational issues relating to case acceptance
- The Schedule and Patient Flow (new and old) through the office
- Staff Participation and Office Policy
- Management of all of the above.
In our last webletters, we covered points 1-3. We’ll wrap up this series by looking at points 4 & 5 above.
4. Staff Participation and Office Policy
a. Staff Participation
By this point, I don’t mean that your staff do anything unusual like a receptionist asking a patient if they are “ready to go ahead with that crown now,” when they check in for their recall appointment. I’ve seen things like this and it strikes me as a rather uncomfortable scenario.
Every one of your staff should have an assigned “hat” or job description. This should give them a particular zone or area of the practice that they are accountable for and where their productivity can be measured (e.g. an Appointment Coordinator who is completely responsible for a properly scheduled appointment book and making sure patients show up).
From this “hat” every staff member has certain things that they do which contribute to case acceptance. It really doesn’t have to be anything special or “over and above” what they would be expected to do. These actions should be built into their “hat.”
For example, if your Financial Secretary is on the ball, he or she will ensure that treatment plans are entered into the system quickly along with fees and insurance participation being determined as fast as possible. The quicker this is done, the faster your case presentation line will move.
Your Appointment Coordinator would ensure that patients are booked for consult appointments when required in addition to scheduling you in such a way that you have time to present treatment.
While your hygienist may be measured on overall hygiene production, keep in mind that the ideal product from your office is a patient who has completed all outstanding treatment and is showing up regularly for their recall exams. With this in mind, as a provider, your hygienist might be on the lookout for any needed treatment to bring to the doctor’s attention (and the patient’s as appropriate – i.e. “the doctor needs to have a look at this area where you’re missing a tooth,” etc.)
If everyone does what they are supposed to on these lines, things move faster and more efficiently – which in the end can translate into higher case acceptance.
b. Office Policy
On this point, let’s look at one particular type of policy in your office – Financial Policy.
Lack of policy can really slow things down and/or create a ton of disagreements or upsets in the office.
Policy should be clear-cut “rules” or instructions set by the doctor. Policy is not open to interpretation and/or change by the staff.
Most offices have a placard or policy that states “all fees due upon completion of treatment” or something of the sort. If that was all you needed patients would never ask for a payment plan or “forget their checkbook.” You need something more detailed that spells out exactly how treatment can be paid for in your office – especially for your staff.
Let’s say you have three people at the front who might collect money at any given time and there is no finance policy. How your fees are collected is then open to the viewpoint of the individual collecting them. One person might want fifty dollars down and fifty a month for a $3,000 treatment plan. Another might take 50% on the start and 50% on completion and so on.
Make these things uniform. Make it very clear how and when things are taken care of.
And just as important, get all of this looked at and agreed to by your patient prior to starting treatment. Springing a multi-thousand dollar bill for services on an unsuspecting patient is just wrong.
5. Management of all of the above.
Managing case acceptance is simple, but rarely done. Manage it with the same attention you put on your schedule. In our previous newsletter we covered stats you should keep. Track these regularly. Keep track of who you’ve presented treatment to and what the outcome was to make sure people don’t fall through the cracks.
At the end of the day, you might also look at what you collected, produced, how many new patients you had, etc. You might even look at what’s coming up the next day or for the rest of the month. Well, do the same thing with case presentations. Look at what you presented that day, who accepted, what they accepted and what’s scheduled to present in the future.
In the end, treatment acceptance precedes productivity and predicts your future production and collections (and as we’ve covered, your referrals). It’s worth working on for healthier patients and a healthier business.
Wishing you the best.
PLEASE NOTE: This article provided by MGE: Management Experts, Inc. consists of suggestions and ideas that could be used to help improve the solvency and viability of a dental practice. There is no guarantee that the information provided is appropriate to your practice. Each practice, their owners, officers and staff are individually responsible for ensuring that any system implemented in the practice complies with the applicable federal, state and local accounting, tax and employment laws, rules and regulations governing the place in which your practice is located. These suggestions do NOT constitute legal or accounting advice. You should seek advice from your own accounting and legal advisors as to what is appropriate to implement in your practice, prior to implementation. MGE: Management Experts, Inc., its officers, directors, shareholders, employees, agents and the writer of this article, are not responsible for any claims, real or otherwise, associated with this material and information or any part thereof.
MGE’s weekly webletter, Issue 29.
Here is the next edition of MGE’s weekly webletter. The purpose of this webletter is to provide ideas, tips and suggestions to make your practice more successful.
Feel free to send us your comments and suggestions, or requests for future webletter topics you would like to see covered. If you wish to read the first webletter in this series, click here.
If you wish to read our earlier webletters, click here and select the topic(s) of your interest.
Keys to Improving Case Acceptance, Part II
By Jeffrey M. Blumberg,
Chief Operating Officer, MGE
This webletter is part 2 of 3 in a series on improving case acceptance in your practice. For part one in this particular series, click here.
Improving case acceptance is a win-win proposition for both you and your patients. In last week’s webletter we touched on five fundamental issues that should be addressed if you’re looking for improvement in this area.
They were:
1. Communication Skills (doctor and staff)
2. Organizational issues relating to case acceptance
3. The Schedule and Patient Flow (new and old) through the office
4. Staff Participation and Office Policy
5. Management of all of the above.
In our last webletter, we covered point 1 – “Communication Skills (doctor and staff).” In this issue, we’ll pick up with #s 2 & 3.
And with that, I’ll start with:
2. Organizational issues relating to case acceptance
Priority-wise, communication skills are the most urgent aspect of your case presentation skill-set.
Organizational issues and patient flow rank a close second and third (or third and second depending how you look at it).
Organizational issues that specifically relate to case acceptance are:
a. Scheduling. Specifically the organizational aspects of the schedule – i.e. who you see when for what and how the schedule is constructed.
b. Who does what? Who is responsible or accountable for the various aspects of the process.
c. Statistics or indicators that tell you what is happening with case acceptance in your office.
We’ll pick these up individually.
a. Scheduling.
For simplicities sake, let’s look at where case acceptance fits in in your business model.
You have marketing that attracts new patients and could also keep your existing base informed of new services and/or reactivate them to come back into the office.
You have case presentation and acceptance which is in effect the “sales” department or activity in your business. I know the word sales may turn people off – but if you look at it, this is what it is. You’re explaining needed treatment and patients accept and pay for it. In any other business – this would be called sales!
Then you have the delivery side of the business where you “deliver the goods” so to speak. This is where the dentistry is performed and delivered.
Many offices have a well thought out and organized delivery area. Meaning, you have systems to schedule, order inventory, track lab cases and treat patients. Of course this is as it should be – delivery of high quality dentistry is why you are there in the first place. I mention this though as very rarely do you find this same degree of organization and system in place for marketing (new patients) or sales (case acceptance), or management for that matter. Sales becomes an afterthought. Organizationally sales or selling (case presentation) is not usually reflected in the office schedule.
In the end, if no one’s buying their treatment plans – whether they pay now or later – there is nothing to deliver!
Sure, you’ll see a consult scheduled once in a while for a larger case – but that’s about the only time sales is reflected in the schedule. Generally, cases are presented whenever and tracking whether the patient accepted or not is rarely done. At best you usually find an “incomplete treatment log,” which rarely produces patients to fill last minute openings.
The solution to all of this can be very simple:
1. When you present treatment, ensure you have the time to do it properly. If you’ve just finished a new patient exam and it’s a large case, look at how much time you have before you present it. If you have three minutes before you need to be in the next room, you might want to schedule the patient to come back for a consultation. If you do have the time, then go ahead and present. The case doesn’t even have to be that large. Three crowns run about $3,000 (or more these days). Some patients may need more than three minutes of your time to explain why they need that much work. Either way, use your judgment and have this option available (i.e. bringing them back for a consult).
2. Have time built into the schedule for consultations. At the Art of Scheduling Productively Workshop, we go over how to ideally schedule consults. Barring this information, you might want to carve out some time first thing in the morning and right after lunch. The advantages to this are many: if you set consults for these times, then you won’t be in the middle of something else while you’re trying to present a treatment plan. If it’s first thing in the morning, you have no one else to see yet and if it’s first after lunch, you can still do your consult distraction free even if you ran through lunch with your last patient. As an added benefit, if you have a large procedure cancel last minute for the morning, you can ask the patient you are doing the consult on first thing if they would like to stay and get started now. In many cases they can and you can replace that open time from the patient that cancelled.
3. On the other side of the coin, you have to ensure that there is time to get the work done – quickly. There’s nothing more disappointing than presenting a treatment plan, having an excited patient accept it and then telling them your next opening is four weeks from now. Make sure you can deliver what you are “selling” quickly.
b. Who does what? Who is responsible or accountable for the various aspects of the process.
Organizationally, every staff member in your office should have a defined area of responsibility and a statistic that tracks whether they are (or are not) performing their functions. In smaller offices, someone might have more than one function (i.e. reception and scheduling, etc.) The case acceptance process is more than just the doctor presenting the case. It includes the receptionist who’s answering your phone, the person in charge of your schedule, your finance person and if you have one, a treatment coordinator. If you are presenting treatment that came up during a recall exam or if you see new patient initials in hygiene, this would also include your hygienist.
All it takes is nonperformance by one person on this “chain” to slow (or stop) the entire process. If your receptionist is rude or short, patients never show up in the first place. If your scheduler controls the schedule poorly, this can also lead to problems and so on.
Make sure everyone involved with the case presentation and acceptance really knows their “stuff” and how it interrelates with the rest of the office. You can even role play it a bit during training time in the office and show what happens with a new patient from start to finish (i.e. the phone call all the way through treatment acceptance and completion). Doing this can help you to pick up and iron out any confusions as well as sort out things that should or shouldn’t be being done.
c. Statistics or indicators that tell you what is happening with case acceptance in your office.
Statistics are more than a number. They should show what’s going on. Driving a car, you look at the speedometer to determine how fast you’re going and if you should slow down or speed up. Running a business without statistics is like driving a car without instrumentation (i.e. speedometers, gas gauges, etc.). Statistics tell you what areas need attention or what might happen in the future.
For management purposes, you might want to track treatment diagnosed and accepted, along with case presentations (number of). Why? Well, if you want to produce $100,000 per month, you would need a commensurate amount of treatment accepted. If you’ve presented $200,000 and only $10,000 has been accepted, then something is wrong. You would also know from this $10,000 figure that rough times are ahead on the production line!
Number of case presentation is also good to track. It’s tough for people to accept treatment if it’s not being presented! I’ll give you an example of this. I spoke to an office manager about eight or nine years ago who was panicked by the low production on the books.
I had her go back and look at how much treatment they had presented the prior couple of weeks and how many consults were done. They had done one and $500 was accepted. The answer to the low production was right there. Someone had messed with the schedule and pushed eight or nine consults off a week (to next week). They fixed the schedule, brought those patients who were scheduled next week into this week and turned things around.
Now, I know the tone of this is very “businessy.” Well, that’s what we are looking at right now – the business. I want you to know that I write this though with a number of assumptions:
1. That the treatment being proscribed is needed treatment.
2. That the most important thing in your office is technical (clinical) quality and
3. That the purpose of all of this is to perform better, faster and more comprehensive service to your patients.
OK, that about covers the organization aspects. Let’s move on to the next point:
3. The Schedule and Patient Flow (new and old) through the office
If patient flow is slow (both new and existing), this of course affects the amount of treatment to be done.
Generally speaking, the work that ends up on the doctor’s schedule comes from three places:
1. Hygiene
2. New Patients
3. Emergency treatment
Now, you’re not going to necessarily “control” how many emergency patients you get. Advertising may get you more – if that’s what you want. But these situations are what the name implies – emergencies – which by definition are not normally planned.
With that in mind, let’s focus on 1 & 2.
Hygiene
Surprisingly, I often see offices that, despite decent new patient numbers, still have the same four or three days of hygiene that they have had for the past five plus years.
The problem – the hygiene area should be growing but it isn’t.
Why? Most often the office’s primary focus is to keep the hygienist busy, whether it’s with some type of perio (scaling) type treatment, new patient or a recall patient. As long as the hygienist isn’t sitting and doing nothing for $40-$50 an hour, everyone’s happy. This misses the “big picture,” which is comparing overall practice patient load (i.e. potential hygiene visits) to what is actually happening (actual hygiene visits). We have a formula to calculate this in a previous webletter. Try it for your practice and see how you measure up.
New Patients.
I don’t think I have to explain how few new patients can affect treatment presentation opportunities. If you want more new patients, I would of course recommend the MGE New Patient Workshop. There are a few interesting nuances to this subject though and if you’re interested, you can learn more about this from the New Patient Acquisition webletters series.
Ideally, you would have a nice balance between these two, along with a well-run schedule which would allow for the office to continually (stably) expand.
And that brings us to the end of this week’s issue. Next week, we’ll jump into points 4 & 5: Staff Participation and Office Policy and Management. Hope all of this helps!
PLEASE NOTE: This article provided by MGE: Management Experts, Inc. consists of suggestions and ideas that could be used to help improve the solvency and viability of a dental practice. There is no guarantee that the information provided is appropriate to your practice. Each practice, their owners, officers and staff are individually responsible for ensuring that any system implemented in the practice complies with the applicable federal, state and local accounting, tax and employment laws, rules and regulations governing the place in which your practice is located. These suggestions do NOT constitute legal or accounting advice. You should seek advice from your own accounting and legal advisors as to what is appropriate to implement in your practice, prior to implementation. MGE: Management Experts, Inc., its officers, directors, shareholders, employees, agents and the writer of this article, are not responsible for any claims, real or otherwise, associated with this material and information or any part thereof.
MGE’s weekly webletter, Issue 28.
Here is the next edition of MGE’s weekly webletter. The purpose of this webletter is to provide ideas, tips and suggestions to make your practice more successful.
Feel free to send us your comments and suggestions, or requests for future webletter topics you would like to see covered.
Keys to Improving Case Acceptance, Part I
By Jeffrey M. Blumberg,
Chief Operating Officer, MGE
This webletter is part 1 of 3 in a series on improving case acceptance in your practice.
Asking a dentist if they would like to improve case acceptance is one of those “no-brainer” questions like, “Would you like more new patients?” or, “Would you like to increase profitability?” Chances are you would get a “yes” to any of those questions.
In this series of webletters (there will be three in all), we’re going to dig into the subject of case acceptance and really examine what it takes to become more successful in this area.
Case Acceptance and How It Affects Your Practice
Improved case acceptance pays off in a number of ways – for you there is:
a. Better collections and increased profitability for the office
b. Professional satisfaction from doing the type of work you enjoy most
c. Believe it or not, more patient referrals
And best of all, it pays off for your patients in: Completed, full treatment plans that actually restore their dental health (as opposed to “patchwork” dentistry or “phased care”).
So, if “improved case acceptance” is a needed and wanted, the next question would be: “What needs to be done to improve/increase it?”
Now, if you were to review the entire MGE training lineup, you’d see that approximately 23 days of training are spent on the subjects of communication and case acceptance. So, obviously you’re not going to get all of that information in this newsletter! But, I thought I would outline the “keys” or areas to work on if you were looking to improve in this area.
The Five Keys to Increased Case Acceptance
Looking the subject over, we hit on five key “areas” that should be addressed if you’re looking to increase case acceptance. They are:
1. Communication skills (doctor and staff)
2. Organizational issues relating to case acceptance
3. The schedule and patient flow (new and old) through the office
4. Staff participation and office policy
5. Management of all of the above.
I’ll address each of these individually, beginning with:
1. Communication skills
Communication is the foundation of case acceptance. If a patient truly understands theneed and significance behind a treatment plan, they would in most cases follow through with it.
Getting frustrated because a patient tells you about the cruise they are taking or new this or that they are buying after they just told you they can’t afford their treatment plan really doesn’t solve anything. What it does tell you though is they haven’t grasped the significance (importance) of the treatment you are recommending. Now, of course, this assumes we’re not talking about optional cosmetic treatment, but rather treatment that would affect function or general health.
How a patient “objects” to “buying” and proceeding with their treatment plan may vary. You might hear they only want to do what insurance pays, or they want to think about it, or they can’t afford it (which is true in a small percentage of cases). Look at it this way: have you ever given an objection to a salesperson like: “I need to talk to my spouse” or “Let me think about it” which might not have been the case? This factually happens quite a bit. Maybe you don’t want to buy and it’s an easy way to end the conversation. Maybe you didn’t need what they were selling. Or, maybe you didn’t understand why you needed it. Either way, your objection might not have matched your reason for not buying.
So what do you do about all of this? Well, of course I’d recommend our MGE Communication and Sales Seminars to individual and more advanced communication courses. (Had to put a shameless plug in there somewhere…)
Ultimately, trouble in this area can lead you down many undesirable roads. For instance: You’re presenting a plan to a patient that they really truly need. If you were in that patient’s shoes, you would do it, no question. At the end of this presentation, the patient wants to wait, etc. This is, in a way, confusing. Why won’t they just go ahead with it? You begin looking for a “reason,” which (in reality) in most cases has to do with how the treatment plan was presented. Not knowing this and still grasping for “why,” you might pick one or more of the following:
a. The economy
b. The patient’s dental IQ
c. Insurance companies
d. The patient doesn’t care about their dental health and so on.
Using one of the above as “the reason,” you might make decisions that are not in the best interest of your practice. Thinking it’s the “dental IQ” in your area, you might move the office (I’ve actually seen this). Or if you have insurance on the mind, you might think your only solution is to join plans (seen this happen plenty of times). Maybe you decide the “economy” is the problem – no one wants to pay for anything – so you lower fees (again have seen this). Either way, you’re attacking the wrong “reason.”
No matter how you slice it, knowing how to communicate is a MUST, MUST, MUST if you wan to positively affect case acceptance, which is why I listed it first.
With that I’ll wrap up this week’s issue.
Next week, we’ll jump into points 2 & 3: Organizational issues relating to case acceptance and the schedule and patient flow through the office. Until then!
PLEASE NOTE: This article provided by MGE: Management Experts, Inc. consists of suggestions and ideas that could be used to help improve the solvency and viability of a dental practice. There is no guarantee that the information provided is appropriate to your practice. Each practice, their owners, officers and staff are individually responsible for ensuring that any system implemented in the practice complies with the applicable federal, state and local accounting, tax and employment laws, rules and regulations governing the place in which your practice is located. These suggestions do NOT constitute legal or accounting advice. You should seek advice from your own accounting and legal advisors as to what is appropriate to implement in your practice, prior to implementation. MGE: Management Experts, Inc., its officers, directors, shareholders, employees, agents and the writer of this article, are not responsible for any claims, real or otherwise, associated with this material and information or any part thereof.
