Personal goals = personal growth = practice success

Did one of my recent articles get you thinking about planning for the end of the year? I talked about how you can make adjustments in your appointment book to make room for those last-minute new patients who are trying to get in before the end of the year so you can make your new patient goal number. I also discussed how you can forecast your appointment book production numbers to see if you are coming up short for your production goals. If you would like to re-read this article, CLICK HERE to be redirected.

These practice goals are not only important, but they are critical to the health of the office overhead and the stress level of the team. But what about you? What are your personal goals? When I was working in a practice, I got my hands on as much CE as I could handle. Do you know what goal I think you could set and accomplish by the end of the year? You could become a Dentrix Master and receive a certificate to prove it. This could be your personal end of the year goal.

Clinical CE is great and, for some of you in the dental practice, it is a requirement in order for you to maintain your license. Your entire day revolves around your practice management software and most offices have zero training or continuing education for the software you use every day. You all must maintain a certain level of knowledge of Dentrix in order to function on a daily basis. I am asking you to up your game and not just function, but excel. Become a Dentrix Master.

It’s easy to start and extremely rewarding to finish. The Dentrix Mastery Tracks were launched to help you learn more about your software, things you might not know exist and things you want to learn more about. This is your chance to set a personal goal and help your office at the same time.  I believe in you.

Your first test is free! 

To get started CLICK HERE and Create New User. Then enter code FreeTestDOM

Must Reads for Doctor, Assistant, Hygienist and Admin team

I was at the Henry Schein Center in Seattle today working with the new DTS (Digital Technology Sales), Tyler Call.  He wanted to learn more about Dentrix so he could present a more effective demo to prospective Dentrix clients. 

My first question to Tyler was “Who is your target audience? Which team

members attend your Dentrix demo?”  I remember when I demoed Dentrix back in 2003 I was the only participant in the process and my doctor just wrote the check. 

It was important for me to know who attends the sales call because each team member is going to have a different set of priorities. Just like all of you who read this blog, you all have a different set of priorities.  So I thought for the holiday weekend I would put together a priority list for the doctor, hygienist, dental assistant and admin team.  Here are the top three posts in each category.

Doctor’s must reads . . .

1. Super Efficient with Templates - For all the Dentrix users, I want to give you some help when it comes to building templates, which can be a huge time-saver in your office. Here are some of my favorite template tips.
2. How to Read Your Clinical Notes - With more offices every day transitioning from paper charts to electronic charting, we need to find the most efficient ways to not only document in the clinical record and view the information without having to click all over the place.
3. Top Five Reports Every Doctor Should Read - I received an e-mail from a doctor the other day who had a situation that needed attention. Her clinical team had started posting procedures in the patient chart and had accidentally posted a root canal as “complete” rather than “existing.”

Dental Assistant must reads . . .

1. What is the Status of the Lab Case?  Do any of these lab-related scenarios ever happen in your office?
2. How to Chart a Supernumerary Tooth - Our patients walk in with some unusual situations, but one of the more common situations I see is an extra tooth or Supernumerary Tooth. 
3. Health History Update, being prepared for anything - If your patient had a medical emergency and your team had to call 911, how long would it take you to pull up his or her most current medical history? 

Dental Hygienists must reads . . .

1. Oops, the wrong tooth was removed from the chart - Have you had a patient in your chair for his or her 6-month checkup and, while you are perio charting, you notice that the wrong tooth is missing. 
2. Hygienists, you are one of the primary educators in the practice - We all know that research shows the systemic links between oral health and the rest of the body, especially the relationship between periodontal disease, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and respiratory disease.
3. Where do I Make Notes - Do you ever find yourself searching endlessly for the patient’s most recent list of medications? What if the doctor wants to know if the patient has any allergies before the anesthetic is administered?

Admin team must reads . . .

1. Can you write me an excuse note for school?
2. Get Creative with your ASAP List - I was working with an office recently and they have a program specifically for patients who do not pre-appoint. These patients are mostly retired and have very flexible schedules. 
3. Are you a Stickler for Accurate Numbers - How often does a patient call and ask, “What is my balance?” If it is a single patient ledger, the answer is relatively simple. But what if a mother of five calls and asks for each of her kid’s balances? 

Checking insurance benefits will suck the life out of you unless you change your system

Dental insurance benefits are the thorn in our side every day. Checking benefits, eligibility and maximums for our patients is a great benefit … and it also sucks the life out of us to the point where we don’t have time for other things during

the day. There needs to be a balance between it being a customer service task and a hand-holding task. The insurance benefits belong to the patient. They do not belong to the practice and we need to put the verbal skills in place to help our patients understand this.

One thing I have been doing with my practices is teaching them to transfer that ownership back to the patient in a way that is beneficial to the patient and not too time-consuming for the practice. The easiest, most efficient way I have found is using the eCentral Insurance Eligibility feature inside of your Dentrix software. Have you seen the “E” all over inside of your Dentrix software and wondered what it does? CLICK HERE to learn how eCentral Insurance Manager works.  Let me share with you some of my tips in using this amazing tool.

What has worked really well for many offices is to print a copy of the electronic benefits for the patient and then send a copy to the patient’s Document Center for your reference. Now, how you hand off the information to the patient makes a big impact on how much you will be babysitting in the future. So here are some of my best tips . . .

• When you print out the eligibility benefits from eCentral for the patient, I would highlight a few key pieces of information (insurance company phone number, maximum and coverage percentages).
• Hand the patient the printed copy of his or her benefits and say something like, “I took the liberty of checking on your dental benefits for you and here is what we received from your plan. Notice I have highlighted some of the important things about your plan. One thing I want to point out is that if there is a procedure you need that is not on this print out, then we don’t know how much your insurance company will pay so we estimate zero.”
• Let patients know if they would like more details about their plan, you highlighted the insurance company’s phone number for them.

Using eCentral Insurance Eligibility not only as a tool for your practice efficiency but also using it as a resource for your patient will help you to strengthen your relationships with your patients and they will trust you more. Trust will help build your practice and grow your referrals.

How to generate an Unscheduled Treatment Report for patients who have already said "Yes" to treatment.

Back in February, I wrote an article on using visual tools to help communicate the status of the treatment plan with your entire team. If you want to re-read it, CLICK HERE. If you have implemented some of these visual aids, did you know that you can filter one of the Treatment Plan reports to give you a narrower search?

Open the Treatment Planner or the Treatment Plan Panel in the chart and click on Print. For most of you, this is how you would print a treatment plan estimate for the patient … but have you ever printed the Practice Treatment Case Report? Even though I am all about going paperless, this report gives you some great search tools to find patients who have unscheduled treatment and have been marked with a particular status.

Going back to my February article, if you have marked the case with a particular status, then you can search for it. For example, let’s say you have marked a case as Accepted or High Priority, then it is now searchable. Click on the Print > Practice Case Status Report and select your filters. See the image below to follow along.

• Fig 1 shows how you can choose a Case Status. You can select all the cases you have marked as accepted and get a call list from this selection. If you have been reading my blog for a while, you know how much I love the Treatment Manager. However, it does not have this filter (which I think is a great tool).
• Fig 2 shows how you can select a Case Severity. If you are marking your cases as Immediate, Eventual or Optional, then you can filter your report by one of these choices.

Using these visual tools can help you and your team communicate better and give your admin team the options necessary to generate a really good call list when they are following up with patients and trying to fill openings in the schedule.

These are just a couple of examples of how you can use the status and severity tools. You can discuss with your team how they would best serve your practice.

Why don't my reports show the same numbers . . . grrrrrr!

“I have pulled up three different reports trying to find out what my accounts receivable number is and they all have different numbers,” says Nichole from a client office in New York. Renee from a different office states, “I have a patient who has a $6,000 balance and she has never received a statement and she did not show up on my collection report.” Sound familiar? I know these situations can be frustrating and it is easy to blame the software for differences in reporting. However, I want to take you through a few check points to make sure you are getting similar data on different reports and also walk you through what is different on reports.

If you have been reading my blog for a while, you know that my favorite report for managing your accounts receivable is the CollectionManager. There are some things to know about the Collection Manager Report . . .

• This report only shows positive accounts receivable so if you are trying to compare it to an Aging Report or the Practice Analysis snapshot, you will not get the same numbers. The Aging Report can be filtered to show all balances, positive balances or credits, and, if you have a lot of credit balances, these two reports could show very different bottom line numbers.
• The Collection Manager can be filtered down a lot to give you a very specific report or a very broad report and, depending on how you are matching it up to another A/R report, if you don’t select the same parameters, you will get different numbers.

If you are looking at the snapshot Practice Analysis report (Office Manager > Analysis > Practice), then you will also get a different ending balance depending on a few things . . .

• This snapshot is affected by month end so, depending on if you are up to date with month end, will determine how accurate this number is and if it will match up to any other A/R report.
• This Analysis snapshot cannot be filtered by billing type … so if you have balances in billing types like “Sent to Collection,” this will affect this number.
• This report is only run by Entry Date (you cannot change this). If you are running any of the other A/R reports by Procedure Date, then you will get different numbers.

Most of the accounts receivable and collection management reports can be filtered by different parameters to give you different numbers. Here are the most common troubleshooting tips to check if you are matching up reports.

• Did you select the same providers?
• Did you select the same billing types?
• Did you choose Entry Date or Procedure Date?
• What aging category did you select?
• Are you selecting the same date range or ending date?
• Were there any other boxes that were checked that might have filtered out a particular patient from one report over another? In the first paragraph, I had an office questioning why a particular patient did not show up on the Collection Manager Report. It was because she had checked “If not billed since” on the filters so this particular patient had been excluded.

Hopefully this will help you understand how different each report is and why they might give you different numbers. Numbers tell a story and it is important to have as accurate report as possible.

Accurate Family Balance or Accurate Patient Balance . . . you choose

In my last post, I talked about the fact that I love how many things in Dentrix can be customized to fit the needs of the practice, from the toolbars to colors on the patient chart. In addition to visual customizations, you can also change the way payments are handled in the ledger as they are applied to the providers and specific patients. You would think that every office would want to handle payments and track collections the same, but this is not the case. Many offices I work with find it is easier to post all the payments to the guarantor and the primary provider, but many offices are very particular about itemizing out the payment to the rendering providerand the specific patient ledger. However your practice handles payments, I think it would be a good time to help you understand how each allocation method affects your patient ledgers.

If you want to walk through it with me, go to your Office Manager > Maintenance > Preferences, under the General Options tab in the upper left area is the Default Payment/Adjustment Allocation settings.

• ·        Provider
• Split by Provider will separate out the patient payment to pay off each producing provider. Your insurance claims already do this … so why not split the personal payments as well?
• To Patients Primary Provider will apply the entire personal payment to the patient’s primary provider (PROV1 on family file) regardless of who the producing provider is. This decision will give too much collections to one provider and, if you run a Provider A/R report, the payments and accounts receivable will be lopsided.
• ·        Patient
•  Family account will post the entire payment to the guarantor. The result of doing this will be an accurate family balance, but incorrect patient balances.
• Current patient will post the personal payment only to the patient ledger you are logged onto currently.
• Split by Family Members is a new feature with G6. It allows you to take one payment and distribute it out to multiple family members with one step. The result of doing this will be more accurate patient balances because it looks across the entire family account for patients with a balance. PLEASE NOTE: if you have archived a patient with a balance and you are using this new feature, it will pull that patient out of archive to apply a payment.
• ·Split Method
• Percentage Payments will equally distribute the patient payment between any providers who has a balance.
• FIFO (first in first out) will pay off the oldest provider balance first.
• Guarantor Estimate is always my first choice. What this allocation method will do is look at any current treatment with an insurance claim pending and allocate the patient payment depending on the insurance estimate. After it has allocated the payment to the estimated patient portion of the claim, it will revert to FIFO.
• Equal payments is very similar to the percentage payments method but will just split the payment into equal payments instead of a percentage.

Why does one office choose an allocation method over another? Well, it depends on how you track collections and how important it is to you to have accurate patient ledgers. I want you to choose the method that fits your practice that is why there are lots of choices. Email me directly if you want to discuss this one-on-one.

Create an environment for efficiency and accuracy with customizing your toolbars

What do I love about Dentrix? I love the fact that you can customize almost anything. I realize that some people think that too many choices leads to confusion and lack of efficiency, but I think the exact opposite. If you can narrow down the choices to exactly what you want in your practice on your monitor, on your reports, on your toolbar, etc., I feel it makes things more precise and streamlined.

I have written a lot of articles on building customized templates, clinical charting button sets, and creating consistent views for the treatment rooms. This systematic type of setup creates an environment where team members thrive on routine and it also creates fewer mistakes. I often hear during training sessions, “What do all these icons do?” or “Do I really need all these icons on my toolbar?” Well . . . the answer is not usually.

In the treatment room workstations, just like you create custom button sets and appointment book views, I would recommend removing several of the icons from the toolbar that your clinical team will never use in the operatory. By cleaning up the toolbars, the eyes have less to scan through which helps make you more efficient. There are two different ways to clean up your toolbars . . .  

The toolbars on the Patient Chart have a drop down menu where you can add and remove items by checking and unchecking. I would recommend setting all the toolbars exactly the same in every treatment room because when the doctor, assistant, or hygienist has to go work in a different room, you want it to look the same. Here are a few icons you could remove (not should, but could) from the toolbars on the Patient Chart. If you decide to remove more than what I have listed, be my guest.

•  DxWeb – In my last blog, you learned that this runs on only one computer (usually a front office computer) so there is no need for it in the back.
• DentriXlink – Unless you are bridging a piece of technology (imaging, CT scan, etc) with Dentrix, you will not use this icon in the back.
• QuickLetters – Most clinical room computers are not equipped with Microsoft Word so this will not work without Word.
• Send Message – Most clinical room computers are not equipped with Microsoft Outlook so this will not work without using Outlook. Also, you would want to send out any protected patient information using a secure email server.
• Treatment Manager – This icon will pull up a report on unscheduled treatment. Since this is a managerial report and will require a phone to be handy so you can call the patient, this icon will typically not be used in the clinical room.
• Marketplace – Even though the Marketplace has some awesome tools that work with your Dentrix software, I hope that the clinical team members are not shopping while they are seeing patients. This can be removed from the clinical room computers.

On all the other modules (Appointment Book, Family File, Ledger, Office Manager), you will need to right click on the empty space on the toolbar to add, remove, and move around the icons. Here are a few recommendations for which workstations should have what on their toolbar.

• If you are using Perfect Day Scheduling in your practice, then I would make sure that it is turned on the clinical room computers so you can see all the blocks but then remove this icon off the appointment book. I have seen Perfect Day Scheduling get accidentally turned off and then all the blocks disappear off the schedule.
• The DxWeb icon can be removed from the computers where it does not run every day.
• The DentriXlink can be removed from the administrative modules if you want.

Keeping your toolbars consistent and clean will create an environment of efficiency and accuracy. Like I said before, “I love how much I can customize Dentrix. It is a wonderful thing!”

Printout for taxes . . . two options for you

Now that your patients have started receiving their W-2s from their employers and 1099s from their clients for tax purposes, you will start receiving phone calls from your patients asking you for a printout of what they paid last year for dentistry. Depending on exactly what patients need for tax reporting will depend on what printout works best. Do they need a printout with ADA codes? Do they just need a list of payments? Here are a couple of options for you, depending on what your patient needs.

The first option is if the patient does not need the year-end statement to have ADA codes. This will give you a nice clean list of just the payments the family has made in the date range you choose. Open the Ledger, click File and Search Payments. This will open a new window where you will select the parameters for your search (date range, guarantor name, payment types, etc.), then select Print.

 

The second option is if you need a payment history that includes ADA codes (most HSA plans want the ADA codes included). First, go to the Office Manager > Maintenance > Practice Setup > Preferences and make sure the “use ADA codes in description” is checked. Next, from the Office Manager > Reports > Billing, we are going to create a customized billing statement as a year-end printout.  Below is a list of parameters to choose.

• Change the Beginning Balance Forward date to the beginning of the year reported and the Statement Date to the end of the report year
• Select the Guarantor family
• Set the Minimum Balance to Bill to 0
• Uncheck all options
• Clear out the Statement Message
• Uncheck Save as Default

 

Analyzing your new patient numbers

Numbers tell a story . . . they are black and white without emotion.  However, the numbers we see are sometimes only as accurate as what we put into our practice management software.  If you have been reading my blog for a while you have noticed that I am a stickler on numbers and I teach my offices how to make the numbers as accurate as possible.

Starting fresh in a New Year we all have New Year’s Resolutions that we want to achieve in both our professional and personal lives.  We start off strong for the first few weeks like the rivers in the spring and then slowly it trickles down to a stream as we get closer to the end of summer.  If you are watching your numbers on a daily basis you can keep the motivation going consistently throughout the year.

There is one number, however that can be misread on a report if it is not entered correctly.  I found the other day while I was reviewing the Practice Advisor Report that this office had 29 new patients recorded for December but only 7 referral sources.  So one thing that I stressed to the office was to make sure they are entering in how the patient found the office so the doctor can see how some of the marketing campaigns are going.  She was insistent that she enters this information every time and low and behold when we looked at the New Patient List there was a referral source entered for all the new patients.  But why was the Practice Advisor Report not reporting this . . . ? 

The first visit date MUST match the referral source date.

 

Dentrix considers a new patient based on the first visit date found on the Family File.  This date is automatically populated when a team member opens the account.  What can happen is that the team member opens the account a couple days before the new patient appointment date and then when the patient comes in for their visit they add the referral source after reviewing the paperwork.  This is a typical scenario and can be corrected.  When you are updating the Family File with all the demographics, insurance info and personal notes, add it to your list to double check the first visit date and the referral source date and make sure they are accurate and match. 

One easy way to double check your statistics is to review the Daily Huddle Report each morning.  This will calculate how many new patients you have on your schedule for today and how many referral sources are attached to your new patients.   If this number is incorrect for today it is a “red flag” that something needs to be fixed.  If you fix it on a daily basis then the Practice Advisor Report at the end of the month will be as accurate as it can be.

For other articles on the Daily Huddle and the Practice Advisor click below . . .

Your Daily Motivation

The 5 Minute Morning Huddle

Your own Practice Management Consultant

 

New Year . . . New Codes

Every year the ADA updates codes, removes old codes and adds new codes to the CDT code set.  Watch this video put out by Henry Schein so you can successfully update your Dentrix software.

Do your patients have new insurance benefits for 2016? Help them navigate it and build their trust.

I don’t know about you, but my insurance benefits changed this year … and if I was a patient in your practice, I sure could use a little help figuring it all out. This time of year, many of your patients will be walking in with new benefits. Sometimes they have a card from the insurance company … and sometimes they don’t. Now I am not asking you to take on the role of benefit coordinator for your patients, but many of your patients will need a little guidance. This is one area where you can exceed the level of customer service between your office and the office down the street.

In many cases, I don’t believe your patients want you to manage the benefits for them. They just need a little information so they know the right place to go and who to contact if they have questions. With many of the electronic services available to the dental practice, you can access benefit information much quicker than the patient can and you are much more knowledgeable on what to look for than the average dental patient.

I believe having a conversation with your patients and helping them navigate their plan is a great way to build trust and loyalty with your patients rather than building a wall between you and your patient. When I was working in practice, there were many times the insurance company would say things to our patients that simply weren’t true. If you can provide your patients with information before the insurance agents get to them, you are much better off being pro-active than re-active.

Many patients believe that if your office is “Out of Network,” they cannot be patients at your office. However, in many situations, this is simply not the case. Letting patients know that you can work with their plan (even if it is an out of network plan) might be the difference between them scheduling with you or calling someone else.

I realize that checking benefits can be time-consuming so try and use the online resources available to you. Many insurance carriers have online portals that you can log into and check patient benefits. I would recommend printing a copy of the benefit summary for your patients and letting them know that this is the information you receive from their insurance plan and is what you will use to estimate their out of pocket expenses. Giving the patient a printout of exactly what you see is a great way to not only inform your patients, but also build trust with him or her.

Another way you can check benefits directly from your Dentrix software is to use the Insurance Eligibility through eCentral. This feature is in real time and often provides quicker access to a more comprehensive benefit breakdown. The benefit breakdown you receive from eCentral Insurance Eligibility can also be printed for the patient and also sent to the Dentrix Document Center for future reference. I used this feature in my office and it saved me a ton of time being on the phone and logging into multiple insurance company portals throughout the day. CLICK HERE if you want more information about eCentral Insurance Eligibility.

I am looking forward to an amazing 2016 and I hope you are as well.

Remind and Confirm the entire family with one message

Do you have a practice where you have several patients from the same family come in together on the same day for their dental visits? If so, this blog post is for you.

I am a huge fan of automation in your continuing care and appointment reminder system.

Automating these systems not only helps your front office team be more efficient, but also helps make sure patients don’t fall through the cracks. We not only want these systems efficient for the dental team, but also for the patients. This is why eCentral has added . . . . drum roll please!!!

Family Reminders

The new family reminders are available for email, text, and postcards so your practice can choose which method you want to setup. The email and postcard will show all family members and the start time of each appointment where the text message will show all family members and the earliest start time. When the appointment reminder is replied with a confirmation, it will confirm for every family member with one reply.

Update your software now to take advantages of these amazing eCentral features and stop the confusion of multiple appointment reminders. If you want these features in your office, call the Dentrix sales department today at 800-336-8749.

 

 

 

Join Dayna's Wall of Fame

Three months left in 2015,  this is your year to become the best you can be in your career.  Show off your skills and brag about your accomplishments. 

Challenge yourself to become a Dentrix master.  Join me on the Wall of Fame as I post up your accomplishments on my blog all throughout 2015.   CLICK HERE to start your success.

Watch my video to hear all the details . . .

 Wall of Fame



CONGRATULATIONS!
You are a Dentrix Master







Thank you for scheduling with our office

One thing I would be asked after scheduling a patient for an appointment on a daily basis was, “Can you email that to me?” My answer always was, “Sure, I will do it right now.” Then I would open up my Microsoft Outlook and manually send the patient an email at his or her request. It was a time-consuming task, but my patients were happy. If we could somehow automate this task, we would have happy patients and happy teams, right? 

Well . . . Dentrix eCentral has made this a reality! When you schedule a new patient or an existing patient, the eCentral Communication will send out automated correspondence with all their appointment details. You have the option of sending out a customized email, text message, or postcard.  Since you have the option of customizing the email to make it personal for your practice, why not include a link where your new patients can click to be directed to the new patient forms?

These new features sends the Dentrix eCentral Communication manager into overdrive. It makes me excited to see all the new features making a huge impact on the daily lives of the front office team’s efficiency and giving our patients the tools they need to manage their appointments.

CLICK HERE for more information on these exciting new features.

It's time to replace your paper Rolodex

Do you remember when you had that big Rolodex sitting on your desk? With this vital office supply, you could easily find the number to the local Walgreens pharmacy to phone in a prescription for a patient or locate the janitor’s number to let him know the office would be closed on Monday for a holiday? Oh, you still have one on your desk? How is that working out for you? Did one of your team members “borrow” one of the cards and accidently re-file it back in the wrong order?

What if Dentrix G6 could organize your Rolodex for you so you never lost anything and your entire team could have access to it? That would be pretty awesome, right? Also, what if Dentrix G6 could pull all your labs, referring sources, employers, insurance carriers, and providers/staff into an electronic Rolodex for you so you could organize them by color and filter them by category? Would that just blow your mind? Let’s just step it up one more notch and let you add your own categories like pharmacies, contractors, family members, etc., so you can keep all your contacts right at your fingertips.

Let me introduce you to eDex. eDex has been launched in Dentrix G6 and is one of my favorite new features. eDex will completely replace that paper Rolodex sitting on your desk and your entire team will have access to it because it is inside your Dentrix software. Now you have room for that dual monitor you have been asking for J.

Business of Dentistry . . . why it's my favorite conference of the year

It’s that time of year. It’s time to get your doctor and your team registered for the Business of Dentistry Conference. As you have heard me talk about before, I have never missed a conference and I am going to give you 5 reasons you and your team should not miss it either. This year's conference is being held Oct 7th - 10th in sunny Florida.

 

1. You will be repeating the words “I didn’t know Dentrix could do that! I can’t believe how we are under-utilizing our practice management software.” Even if you have been using Dentrix for over 10 years, I can guarantee you will learn things that you didn’t know existed. Last year, I taught the advanced Billing and Collections class and my class was filled with doctors excited to learn how the software could help their practices meet production goals. It was eye-opening.
2. There is something to learn for every member of your team. Especially the dentist!  This year the Business of Dentistry is offering more clinical technique and technology courses than ever before.   The Dentrix courses have a skill level from entry level to advanced so the attendees can choose the level that best fits their knowledge of the software. This conference attracts some of the most sought-after consultants and they tailor their presentations to fit into the Dentrix agenda so you not only get amazing practice management educational material but you also get tips on how to implement it into your practice management software.  Check out the course listing by CLICKING HERE.
3. Don’t miss the Learning Lab. This is my favorite part of the Business of Dentistry Conference. This is where you get to bring your questions and sit down with a knowledgeable support tech and get one-on-one help. If you are having issues with Dentrix, eServices, Easy Dental, or Enterprise, bring it to the Learning Lab. Here’s a tip: Take screen shots and print them out so you can show the team your issue (make sure you black out any patient information).
4. Learn about third-party software that integrates with your Dentrix software. The vendors pour out into the hallways just waiting to tell you how their product, along with your Dentrix software, can help your practice more profitable, secure, or productive. Since Dentrix G5 opened up the Marketplace, there are many third-party companies that enhance your software in so many ways. I will have a booth at this year's conference so come by say Hi and check out what I have to offer you and your team. 
5. Finally . . . have some fun and enjoy spending time with your team! This year’s conference is being held at the amazing Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center in sunny Kissimmee, Florida.  Henry Schein always brings the fun to this conference. I can remember bowling parties and dance parties that were off the charts. I can’t wait to see what this year has to offer.

Inactive, Archived, Non-Patient . . . . what do I choose?

I wrote an article titled “At some point we need to let thepatient go,” but does this mean the patient is inactive or should we archive him or her? What is the difference between a Non-Patient, Inactive, and Archived patient? Does your practice have its own definition or do you choose to just ignore it?

These questions come up a lot when I am working with dental practices on cleaning up their systems and putting effective systems in place for managing their active patient base. It is important to know what your active patient base is so you are not reaching out to patients who have either left the practice or died. Having reports and patient lists is important when you start following up with unscheduled treatment and overdue recare.

I would like to share with you not only the definitions of each patient status, but what my recommendation is for each.

·        Non-Patient – This is a person who is either an insurance holder or a guarantor on a family account. This is not a person who comes to your office for dental care. Now this person could also have a patient account if he or she is only an insurance holder for another patient in your practice. For example, if mom is a patient with her two children and dad is the insurance subscriber, then mom would be the guarantor and dad would be a non-patient on the account.

·        Inactive – This is where there it gets a little “gray.” If you mark a patient as inactive, he or she will still show up in all search results and you can still send out letters and generate reports.  My opinion is that if you have exhausted all your resources by calling, sending letters, and emailing patients and they are not responding to you, then you should mark them as inactive. What inactive will do is at least remove them from the Continuing Care lists and you can unselect them from other management reports.

·        Archived – If you archive a patient, then he or she is removed from all search results, removed from all Continuing Care, it erases all insurance information, and deletes any future appointments in the schedule. My opinion is that if patients have told you they are leaving or died, then archive them. If the patient who has left the practice decides to return, you can bring the account back to active status and re-enter the insurance and continuing care information.

Having a clean, accurate system helps with many things like patient count, unscheduled treatment numbers, and setting goals. I hope you will take some time and clean up your patient status and create systems in your practice using the definition of each status.

Dentrix G6 launch . . . . be amazed!

I had the pleasure of talking with Brad Royer, the Dentrix product manager, about the release of Dentrix G6.  The launch date is scheduled on April 30, 2015 during the California Dental Association meeting.  Stop by the Dentrix booth during CDA to see all of the amazing features but you can watch our interview now to hear about the highlights.

Dentrix G6 demonstrates our commitment to listen to our customers. We have been gathering customer feedback via our online suggestion box, social medial polls, and industry conferences. One of the messages we have heard is that you are looking for easier upgrades and thoroughly tested software. We believe that Dentrix G6 addresses this request.

We are also committed to providing new and improved features and functionality to our Dentrix customers on a consistent basis. With Dentrix G6, we are pleased to offer customers exceptional new tools, features, and functionality.  Brad Royer, Dentrix Product Manager

Best Practices for Your Team . . . monthly

You have been managing your daily and weekly systems according to plan and now you want to see how the month ended and how much your efforts paid off.  If you are following a guideline, carving out time in your schedule to work the reports, and documenting your communication, you are on the right track for success.  Like I mentioned in my last article, get into preventative mode and out of reaction mode.  This is what we preach to our patients and you can treat the business side of dentistry exactly the same way.

This final article in my Practice Management “best practices” series is what to do on a monthly basis. The goal for your end of the month is to celebrate your success, review with your team, and report to the powers at be.  Numbers tell a story and help you create, change or eliminate systems.  Here is my recommendations for monthly reports and who on the team needs to review them.

·        All Team Members:  In my last article, I gave some recommendations on which team member in the practice should work which reports, but the overall health of the practice falls on everyone.  Of course there are team members who are accountable for different areas of the practice. However, every team member contributes to the success and demise of the practice.

o   Practice Advisor Report:  This report is my favorite report for your team meeting.  It brings together multiple areas of the practice on one report and is laid out in a way that is easy to read and gives recommendations on how to improve the numbers if they are below your benchmarks.  For more information on this report, CLICKHERE.

·        Doctor/Practice Owner/CPA:  There are certain reports that need to be forwarded to the office bookkeeper, CPA or banker.  Also, there is one report that is reserved for the practice owner’s eyes only.

o   Audit Trail: The Audit Trail report is a back end report that can be password-protected so the practice owner can see accounting edits, prescription deletions and login history.  CLICK HEREfor more information on this report.

o   Analysis Summary:  This has been a popular report to give to practice owners who have a business loan.  I have been asked “What is the best report to show production, collection, adjustments, new patients and A/R?”  Here it is.

o   Adjustment Summary: There are many summary reports you can generate as part of your month end protocol. However, I think this one in particular is important because it will break down the write-offs into categories.  For example, if your office is using fee schedules in Dentrix because you are contracted with PPO dental plans, your practice would not have very many adjustments in the PPO adjustment category.  If there was a lot of write-offs in this category, I would be a little concerned.

·        Office Manager:  In addition to the Practice Advisor Report, I would go through a couple of other reports in the marketing and customer service side of the practice.

o   New Patient List:  This report can help you identify that all your new patients have a referral source attached to them and a thank you/welcome letter was sent out.  Remember that the new patients on this list are counted by first visit date not comp exam.

o   Referred By Doctor/Other/Patient:  These reports help you decide where your marketing efforts are paying off and gives you an opportunity to thank those patients or other business owners who are referring to your practice.  You can read more about these reports by CLICKING HERE.

o   Referral Analysis:  You may know that you can attach a referral source to each patient, but did you know you can track gratuities?  If you are using this feature in Dentrix, there is an analysis list that you can view by going to the Office Manager > Analysis > Referrals Doctor/Other and see the list in different date ranges. For more on this feature, CLICK HERE.

I hope that these last three articles on some “best practices” for your daily, weekly, and monthly systems has stirred up some interest in using Dentrix to completely manage the business and marketing side of your practice.  Continue to read back on past blog posts and use them as a guide to help create better team meetings, morning huddles, and as a constant reminder to keep your finger on the pulse of your practice.

 

Best Practices for Your Team . . . weekly

Last week, we focused on what was important or the “best practice” for your daily protocol.  Today, we want to move to your weekly systems.  I teach my offices about practicing on the business side of dentistry the same things you preach to your patients in the clinical side of dentistry . . .  “prevention will help keep you out of emergency situations.”  Living in a preventative rather than reactive frame of mind will reap tremendous benefits to your practice.

What I mean by that is putting systems in place and carving out time in your busy schedule to work your reports, follow up with patients and communicating with your specialists on a weekly basis. 

·        Treatment Coordinator – Your main focus is case management and following up with patients who have unscheduled treatment.  When patients walk out of the office without scheduling the crown on #30, you can’t expect them to call, you need to follow up.  The treatment coordinator should be working three reports every week.  You will need to carve out at least 2-3 hours a week of uninterrupted time for this.  

o   Treatment Manager Report – This is your chart audit.  I know some of you are still printing the Unscheduled Treatment Report … stop doing it!  The Treatment Manager is your go-to report for managing unscheduled treatment and one of the reports for keeping your schedule full.  For more details on this report, CLICK HERE.

o   Referred TO Report – When your clinical team is treatment planning and attaching the referral to a procedure code, that patient is automatically added to this report.  Anytime your patient must complete a procedure (i.e. implant placement, root canal, perio surgery) before they can return to your office for the restorative treatment, someone must be making a follow-up call to make sure that treatment is getting completed so you can move forward with that patient care. For more information on how to track referrals, CLICK HERE

o   Unscheduled List – This list should be worked by the hygiene coordinator and the treatment manager.  Follow up with these patients and get them rescheduled. Don’t let them sit on this report for more than six weeks.  For more information on this report, CLICK HERE

·        Hygiene Coordinator – Your main focus is following up with patients who are past due for their recare visit.  Yes, you should have some kind of automated system for sending email, text messaging, and postcards. However, you will still need to pick up the phone and make some calls.  Also, you might want to consider having a patient reactivation system for those patients who are severely overdue.   So how do you keep tight reins on your recare patients?

o   Continuing Care List – This is your go-to list for finding patients who are overdue.  To make this task more streamlined, create yourself some custom lists so you can filter down your lists and it is easier to delegate.  CLICK HERE for more information on this report

o   Unscheduled List – Just like the Treatment Manager, you must work this list on a weekly basis and keep it current.  Don’t let your recare patients sit on this list forever. Follow up with them and delete them off the list if they are not returning your call.  For more information on this list, CLICK HERE

·        Financial Coordinator – You have a big job … collecting the money.  Your team depends on you for results.  If you are not collecting 100% on the day of service, then your accounts receivable needs attention.  There are two reports you must manage on a weekly basis.

o   Insurance Aging Report – This unfortunately is the only report in Dentrix that you have to print (keep sending in your Enhancement Requests for an interactive report).  Insurance companies should pay you within 30 days . . . period!  This will require you to follow up on unpaid claims.  For more information on this report, CLICK HERE

o   Collection Manager Report – Contrary to what you might hear, the Aging Report is NOT your best report for managing patient accounts receivable.  The Collection Manager is much more interactive and will give you more up to date results of your true A/R.  For more information on this report, CLICKHERE.

·        Clinical Team – There are definitely things in the clinical area that need attention on a weekly basis, such as ordering of supplies, stocking rooms, maintenance of equipment and managing your in-house lab.  However, you can definitely help with some of the reports I shared above.

o   Continuing Care – The hygienists can assist with calling patients who are past due if you have an opening in your schedule.

o   Referred TO Report – The dental assistants can help follow up on patients who have been referred to specialists, especially if it requires ordering parts or scheduling lab time.

o   Lab Case Manager – If you are using the Lab Case Manager, you could make sure cases are set to come in on time or use it to track lab fees.  For more information on the Lab Case Manager, CLICK HERE.

Read back on last week’s article and put it together with this one and I can almost guarantee your monthly reports will be right on target.  This is how you manage a practice … by having systems in place for your daily and weekly tasks then you can celebrate when you review your monthly reports. 

My next blog will focus on the monthly systems and my favorite reports in Dentrix.