Practical Solutions to Solve To- day s Major Scheduling Issues by Jennifer de St Georges 1

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1 Practical Solutions to Solve To- day s Major Scheduling Issues by Jennifer de St Georges 1 The JdSG Method of Dental Practice Management is based on common sense & logic All businesses, regardless of size, benefit from organizing their business into 3 specific divisions A. Patient (customer) Management B. Team (Staff) Management C. Business Management 1. Build Patient Relationships (Market to Yes) 1. Hire for Retention 1. Set up the New Practice 2. Patients & Money (Get paid) 2. Manage for Harmony 2. Work your Business Plan 3. Schedule by Design 3. Handle issues promptly! 3. Practice Transitions 4. Malpractice Prevention B. Today s program provides i) practical proven solutions to solve some of your major current scheduling issues ii) proactive philosophies and protocols to prevent these issues re- occurring iii) now confident to use these philosophies to help you with address issues not covered C. Doctor & Team: Jenny s thoughts about the Team and Scheduling - Doctors & RDH s have much more impact (both positive & negative) on Scheduling than they realize - RDA s, Assistants & RDH s can be blind- sided by time management issues not of their making - Administrative staff especially is on the firing line when it comes to Scheduling issues because. D. Working with your patients Staff: Q: Whom do you work for? A: but patients must you work for Patients will do almost anything you ASK THEM TO DO as long as Patient IT is 2. Patient the to them 3. Person doing the feels 4. Never a patient a unless you are prepared to handle the Communication Consistency between ALL Team members is essential to offer. 1. exceptional patient/customer care 3. build confidence & trust by patients for Doctor & staff 2. prevent misunderstandings 4. practice malpractice prevention - speak as one - united we stand, divided we fall - be pro- active not reactive - inform before you perform, no surprises JdSG mantra E. Four rules about having Rules: Without them, you give patients permission to 1. Have a for 2. your 3. Know when to 4. When you break rules, tell patients otherwise they ll think the is the rule F. Overview JdSG Schedule by Design Method which delivers low stress, high production, keep patients happy days 1. Create a practice Ideal Day which is then customized for Doctor s personality & needs 2. Customize each patient s appointments by their clinical & emotional needs 3. Utilize a software program which is both logical & supportive of good scheduling techniques 4. Is there room in today s technical world for a manual appointment book or has every one gone paperless? 5. How to build in weekly flex time to protect your Ideal Day/Week 6. Acknowledge the need of Doctors & team to commit to arriving on site on time consistently 7. Importance of blocking out quality Dr./Staff meeting time to create your Scheduling by Design program 8. Benefits of scheduling Orientation & Training for new employees. 9. Why Refresher courses/training for current team is a great ROI 10. Monthly Staff Meetings to head off scheduling (and other) issues while small 1

2 Practical Solutions to Solve To- day s Major Scheduling Issues by Jennifer de St Georges 2 Scheduling Issues practices perceives caused by patients! Regain control, increase customer service 1. Emergency patients who want to be seen now 2. Patients insist they can only come in end of day (or Saturdays) 3. Patients who arrive late (or early) with anticipation they will be seen immediately 4. CSN (cancel short notice) Scheduling Issues Jenny feels practices can totally be in charge of 5. Reduce the vast amount of time (& multiple systems) used to Confirm Patient Appointments (Dr. & RDH) 6. Reduce the number of No Shows your practice is currently experiencing 7. Reduce the impact of Doctor s telephone calls on your schedule 8. Buffer time to solve a) late patient arrival b) records update so you run on time & make new patients welcome 9. The dangers of Multi appointments & Using a Cancellation List Scheduling Issues practices perceives caused by patients! Regaining control, increase service in a win- win 1. EMERGENCY patients who want to be seen 5 minutes after they have called 1. No AM Meeting=eliminates ability to plan & prevent scrambling 2. Let emergencies take over the day & suffer as your schedule falls apart 3. High stress, run behind, poor customer service, leave late, Pro- active Approach: 1. Use AM Meeting for Clinical Team to designate emergency appointment times 2. Offer outstanding emergency patient service while retaining schedule control, 3. Think of emergency services as one of the best practice builders available 4. Remember to handle referred emergencies at a higher service level than cold calls 5. Remember cold calls are patients looking for a new home! A big practice builder #1. A true emergency will come down #2. A true emergency does not for a #3. Dr. take the patient out of and #4. Schedule emergencies in a) Patient is in pain Long mornings means b) Specialists needs #5. Never promise treatment #6. On phone always speak to patient in pain; substitutes go into their Oscar winning performance- Exceptions: When acceptable to speak to the non patient #7. Know your Key questions Do you use a Telephone Slip? Closing the Deal: Dr. is so committed to being of service to patients who are in that we reserve special time each morning for patients needing this special attention. Our time this morning is XXX - A Genuine emergency patient says. - Q Non- genuine emergency patient says.. Jenny says : I m so sorry, I must have completely I thought I heard you say you had a dental emergency, I didn t realize you were looking a When to schedule patients outside your designated Emergency Time. 2. Patient who can only come in END OF DAY for their 2- hour appointment! Philosophy Pro-active Schedule patient for end of day appointments for next 2months, shows patients treatment is neither important nor needing immediate attention. Schedule loses flexibility Long mornings & short afternoons concept must be protected for ALL parties 1. Offer the 2 hour appointment in the AM in a U & C manner 2. When patient insists that only an end of the day will suffice.. 3. Raise benefit to patient of working with you Communication skills that deliver.. 2

3 Practical Solutions to Solve To- day s Major Scheduling Issues by Jennifer de St Georges 3 We used to do Dr. has found it is in our patients best to do crown & bridge appointments in the morning when (state benefit). We ll try to put your shorter appointments towards the end of the day when X is not an issue Exceptions:? 3. The patient who arrives 30 minutes LATE: Philosophy Patients arrive 10 minutes prior to the practice schedule time Great, you are here, take a seat and I ll let them know you are here Pro- active Approach Mr. Patient, we re so glad that you re When Debbie, our clinical assistant, came to get you at 4pm, your scheduled time, & found you weren t here we were When we didn't hear from you by 4.15 we were By 4.30 we were beginning to get We re glad to see you. Please take a seat & let us check with to see whether we have enough quality time to do any, or all, of your proposed treatment. 4. The patient who calls you 30 minutes ahead to CANCEL a 3- hour appointment (CSN) No problem would you like to make another one? Practice Goal/philosophy: Save the appointment Pro- active Approach: Mr. Patient. Dr. was only mentioning at our Morning Meeting how glad see you on today s schedule. How is that XXXX doing? My problem is I do not have a time of XX units/time with the next XXX where I can reschedule you. How far away from us are you? When the patients says no problem! Staff: I cannot the tooth is not going to blow up. May we suggest you come at your scheduled time so we may take care of the problem before xxxx 5. REDUCE your time and frustration & INCREASE customer service for your CONFIRMATION Service How to Eliminate 85% of your Confirmation Calls Philosophy 1. Achieve lowest NS rate possible 2. Reduce practice labor costs of unnecessary re- confirmation process 3. Provide supportive customized individual patient customer service Patient perception of your confirmation call/service Q: what is a confirmation call? A: according to 100 patients, a call to Q: What should this telephone call really be called? A: Q: What do Confirming appointments telephone calls lead to A: What I currently see in the market place now 1) calls to office, home, cell 2) texts 3) s 4) taking a single or multiple approach 5) asking patients to confirm they received reminder & confirm they re still planning to keep their apt 6) hospitals 7) Physicians 8) using 3 rd party reminder services My personal opinion on this whole subject is.. 1. Assume ALL patients have the same Re- confirmation service needs 2. Assume patients won t remember their appointments without a reminder 3. Continue Confirming the way you do because we ve always done it that way 4. Use words reinforcing short- term thinking- we re just calling to remind you 5. Doctor has decided it is the best method of reducing NS! 6. Refuse to address the CSN patients who, when telephoned say I m so glad you called 3

4 Practical Solutions to Solve To- day s Major Scheduling Issues by Jennifer de St Georges 4 JdSG s Research shows Practices confirming appointments NS rate is Practices not confirming appointments NS rate is than practices that than practices that Consultation Appointment provides the IDEAL scenario for the New Patient Orientation & Training! 1. Clinical=diagnosis, findings, options, decisions, benefits to move forward or delay 2. Financial=fees, payment options, insurance implications, time deadlines, divorce, minors 3. Management=Confirmation, No Shows Assumptive Close a) In our practice, we do not confirm appointments. Our patients tell us they prefer we don t interrupt their schedule. b) We find the majority of our patients are happy to take for keeping their own appointments. PAUSE (3-5 seconds) to allow for each patient s for response - Patient Response 85%- - - Staff positive answer is. - Patient Response 15% say.. Records need to be noted with each patient s need Goal and designed OUTCOME 1. New patients told at Consultation both verbally & in written (FA) Financial Agreement 2. Positive versus negative, inform before you before, no surprises 3. Goal is to either have patient keep appointment OR call 48 hours ahead=give the structure 4. Goal is NOT to create a profit center! 5. What is the largest $ any practice received from a NS patient? 6. If you don t have an on- site Consultation Appointment? Use the phone and same dialogue Summary of JdSG Reconfirmation Method 1. Understand & build on the customized & individual approach to patient management 2. Appreciate importance of correct verbiage 3. Everything we offer patients must be presented to them, from their perspective, for their benefit 4. Invest 2 minutes with each new patient & save hours & confusion for years to come 5. Doctor must let the Administrative staff head up this system 6. We aim for the 85/15% split 7. Implementation- New Patients - - start next week after practice staff meeting & structure agreement 8. Implementation- Patients of Record continue to confirm (Dr./RDH) via current method ONE more time. When patient ON- SITE, handle personally. since you were last here, we no longer confirm appointments Do NOT 1. Send out negative letters or s!! 2. Tell them on phone 3. Reception room signs 4. Stop confirming 6. REDUCE your time and frustration & by decreasing NO SHOWS (NS) & Cancel Short Notice (CSN) Q: Why are Reconfirmation Calls & No Shows linked? A: Because 1. Do not advice patients in advance how they need to handle appointment changes 2. Retroactively charge patients a NS charge they were unaware of & upset the patient 3. Upset patients often refuse to pay fee and may go elsewhere with bad feelings 4. Continue handle the way you do because we ve always done it that way 5. Use negative words unless you give us 24 hours notice, there will be a charge. 6. Appointment card, FA forms words NOT to use No Shows & charges MAY 4

5 Practical Solutions to Solve To- day s Major Scheduling Issues by Jennifer de St Georges 5 Pro- active Approach 1. As long as we receive at least hours notice of your need to change your appointment, there will be 2. However, should we not hear from you at least hours prior to your scheduled appointment of your need to reschedule your appointment, there will be a $X charge for each half hour missed. 1. We thank you for your acknowledgement of working with us to provide outstanding service to our patients JdSG Method to reduce No Shows (NS) Overall policy 1. $50 for each ½ hour missed 2. 3 consecutive NS & they are invited to find a more casual practice Method 1. #1 No Show=send a statement the next day: charge & then adjust off the $ charge, 2. Patient calls- makes another appointment. Thank them for call. 3. Patient misses the 2 nd consecutive appointment (NS #2 for record keeping).. you have a choice! a) reschedule for #3 with a warning re outcome. When patient misses, fire in a positive manner OR b) do not make a #3 appointment Approaches to avoid 1. Mark the records don t schedule again when they call! 2. Reschedule with no education as to how their past behavior is not acceptible 3. Double book in case they forget again! Questions I get asked 1. Do we call or send an /text if they are late by 10 minutes? 2. Do we send out an /text the next day re they missed the appointment? 3. Recently bought an established practice? 4. Multi doctor practice where each Doctor has a different policy? 7. Doctors & TELEPHONE Calls : Doctor takes all calls. Practice goal/philosophy: this is a Time Management & Patient Service Issue addressed in the AM Meeting General rule: Doctor do not make or receive calls during patient hours. Doctor makes/receives all calls between 2 and 2.20pm. May I have your full name, telephone number your question & I ll have Doctor return your call later today 8. Benefits of scheduling in a 10 minute BUFFER unit - traffic/late - update records - relationship building - New Patients - How it works. 9.The DANGER of using 2 scheduling techniques 1. Scheduling Multi appointments 2. Using a Cancellation List 10. SUMMARY: 5