Sally McKenzie, CEO McKenzie Management Printer Friendly Version

Is it A Guessing Game in Your Practice?

 “I think.” “I guess.” “I believe.” “I presume.” Do you ever find yourself starting a sentence with those phrases. For example, I think someone explained to Nicole how to properly answer the phone. Or I would guess Ann has been trained how to collect from patients and handle insurance claims. Or I presume Katie understands how to use the scheduling system.

Well, I don’t have to guess, nor do I need to presume, in fact I know that in virtually every case in which dentists think staff is prepared to handle day-to-day tasks and challenges, they are losing both money and patients with every assumption.

Oftentimes, dentists don’t comprehend the impact that lack of training or poor training has on the practice. They don’t realize that the daily scheduling problems occur because the appointment coordinator doesn’t know more than the basics about the scheduling system. Dentists don’t see the link between their astronomical accounts receivables and the business employee who routinely asks patients if they would “like to be billed for today’s services.” They don’t see the connection between multiple cancellations in the schedule and the patient coordinator who confirms appointments by asking patients if they would “like to keep their appointment on such and such a date.”

Meanwhile, the employees, most of whom genuinely want to perform well, are frustrated. We talk to dental team members almost daily who genuinely want to do a good job. They want to know how to better manage collections, how to schedule to meet production objectives, how to present treatment plans and financial arrangements that will benefit both the practice and the patient. They want a strategy for monitoring and improving patient retention. In every case, the employees are craving the opportunity to learn how they can help the practice and the doctor reach their goals. But they haven’t been given the number one tool to succeed -  training.

It’s not that dentists don’t recognize the value of training. But they often talk themselves out of sending employees to professional training for fear that it will cost too much in both time and money. So, they rely on staff to learn on their own or train each other, which is costing practices a fortune in lost productivity. Yet, multiple affordable and convenient options in the dental marketplace are readily available to dentists and teams.

Meanwhile, employees are working at the front desk running the entire business, dealing with hundreds of thousands of dollars. They are handling virtually every aspect of the cash flow. But they have not had one, single day of professional training. And there are no systems. There’s no accountability. There’s lack of information and communication. And this is a huge factor in why practices are not as profitable and as productive as they could be.

The scheduling coordinator, Liz, may know the doctor wants to do as many crown and bridge cases as possible, but she needs training in how to make this happen without turning away other bread and butter patients. The dentist is only going to produce what Liz schedules. And if Liz does not know how to schedule to meet production goals or if she’s blocked the schedule to maximize crown and bridge appointments to the exclusion of other more routine cases, it’s going to hurt the practice. No matter how hard Liz tries, if she doesn’t have the training or understanding of how to interpret production data and what to do with it, she and the practice will fall short.  The doctor thinks that because Liz is a “good employee and a hard worker” that can substitute for real training. Sadly, it’s as much a frustrating guessing game for her as it is for the doctor.

Take unscheduled treatment as another example. The doctor and staff in most practices have no idea how to determine how many patients never schedule recommended treatment. I can’t tell you how many dentists’ offices we go into and the dentist has never seen an unscheduled treatment plan report. Talk about an epiphany when we hand the doctor the report that spells out the hundreds of thousands of dollars in treatment recommended but not pursued. The doctor assumed that most patients eventually scheduled recommended treatment. However, if his staff had been trained, they would have been monitoring this and following up with patients according to a carefully developed plan and strategy. And the team would be discussing this and other key systems regularly in staff meetings.

Perhaps it’s time to stop the “I think” “I guess,” “I believe,” “I presume” routine and find out what you and your team really know.

Sally McKenzie is CEO of McKenzie Management, a nationwide dental management, practice development and educational consulting firm. Working on-site with dentists since 1980, McKenzie Management provides knowledge, guidance and personalized solutions that have propelled thousands of general and specialty practices to realize their potential.

Interested in speaking to Sally about your practice concerns? Email her at sally@thedentistsnetwork.net or call 1.877.777.6151.

Interested in having Sally speak to your dental society or study club? Click here.

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