5 Simple Systems to Improve KPIs Today
Cathy J. Scott • November 18, 2021
Pre-Schedule Recalls and Hygiene Appointments
Have your team keep a tracking of how many of these appointments they can schedule. The best influencer of having Patient’s comply is your RDH. They can have this discussion at the end of the appointment and communicate compelling reasons for the patient to keep up their hard work on their daily oral health care. By having the software schedule open in the Hygiene Op, they will have great success with pre-booking. An industry standard is 80-95% pre-book success. Some offices are seeing 95% success. A simple “Mrs. Smith, let’s schedule your next visit” works. Avoid “Can we schedule your next visit?” This only creates the opportunity for the Patient to say “no”.
Quadrant Dentistry
When diagnosing and presenting treatment, make sure you offer Patient’s the ability to take care of all treatment needed in that quadrant of their mouth. Perhaps, the tooth next to the one with decay has a slight overhang and it could be repaired, or an old amalgam may be present that the patient wishes to have changed to a beautiful tooth coloured restoration. Patients love to save time and the number of visits for treatment. The avoidance of more local anaesthetic injections, use of rubber dam, the frozen feeling for hours afterward can be minimized by offering quadrant dentistry.
Block Booking
Your schedule-this is one of the simplest and very effective ways to improve your daily production and reduce stress. By analyzing your lists of procedure codes that you offer in your practice and templating your schedule so that there is a mix everyday of procedures and being diligent as to where you as the clinician would like to do these procedures in your day, you can serve all Patients and reduce the stress of jamming the schedule. This system will reduce disappointments for patients having to wait for openings, will provide productive services in your schedule every day and create predictable outcomes both financially and in terms of customer service. The 10 minute appointment book is also a game changer!
Digital Technology
Patients are now savvy to what digital technology can do to help them understand what is happening in their mouth. Intra-oral and extra-oral photographs and excellent quality xrays can provide clinicians the opportunity to present treatment to patients by taking them on a “tour of their mouth”. When patients can see for themselves what the clinician sees, they understand it and can make informed decisions on treatment. It may not get them to “yes” today but it can plant seeds for the long term so when the patient is ready to say “yes”, they believe in the treatment.
Verbage Scripts
Take the time with your team to develop scripts for every situation/presentation that comes about in the day. This can be done at weekly team meetings, or by assigning an eloquent communicator on the team to write these script books for the team. The team can assess and offer edits/suggestions and over a few months, this project can then be turned out into script books for each team member. Kind, respectful and rehearsed communication can build team confidence on delivery and build trust with your patients.
Dress for Success!