Planning New Year's Resolutions For Your Practice

• Always take X-rays when the patient is due.
• Offer fluoride to every patient, regardless of insurance coverage. Many patients are willing to pay out of pocket for it once you have explained the benefits.
• Check if your younger patients are eligible for sealants. It’s a quick and easy procedure which will increase the production for that appointment.
• Record periodontal probe depths regularly and place an antimicrobial agent if needed.
• You can add dental plan exceptions in the Dentrix G7.4 Dental Insurance Benefits and Coverage dialog box to record all the patient’s insurance plan coverage details, age limits, and frequencies, so the entire team has easy access to this information. This will make it quicker and easier to present treatment plans to patients for these types of procedures.

Increase Collections

• Be sure to always collect patient portions at time of service. Over the counter collections can be tracked on the Dentrix Practice Advisor Report. You can set up the payment types that should be considered as over-the-counter collections in the Practice Advisor setup. It’s recommended that you collect 30-40 percent of production at the time of service. 
• Use the Collections Manager in Dentrix to follow up on patients who have an outstanding balance.
• Follow up on outstanding insurance claims using the Insurance Aging Report. Make detailed notes in the Claim Status Notes to remind you of why the claim is delayed in being paid.
• If you’re using Dentrix Pay, you can securely save credit card information and apply payments to Payment Agreements. This will ensure balances are paid in a timely manner.

Decrease No-Shows and Cancellations

• Confirm appointments. Sounds obvious, but I’m not satisfied an appointment is confirmed until I have spoken to the patient or received confirmation via text message or email. Don’t assume that leaving a message on a voicemail is a confirmed appointment.
• Have a strict no-show and cancellation policy. Advise your patients of your policy and be sure to enforce it. 
• Have an ASAP List available for the times you do have a last-minute cancellation so that you can fill the appointment and avoid lost revenue. Appointments can be put on the ASAP list which is available in Appointment Lists in the Appointment Book.

Improve Interoffice Communication

• Use an instant messaging system to communicate throughout the office. This can save a lot of time going back and forth to tell the doctor that the hygienist is ready for an exam, or to tell the office manager that she has a phone call. Communicating via text message also avoids patients overhearing conversations that may be about another patient.
• Use Patient Route Slips or Patient Visit Forms to communicate from the clinical team to the administrative team information like procedures that were completed for a patient and what their next visit should be. This eliminates confusion when setting appointments complete. 

Charlotte Skaggs, Certified Dentrix Trainer

Charlotte Skaggs is the founder of Vector Dental Consulting LLC, a practice management firm focused on taking offices to the next level. Charlotte co-owned and managed a successful dental practice with her husband for 17 years. She has a unique approach to consulting based on the perspective of a practice owner. Charlotte has been using Dentrix for almost 20 years and is a certified Dentrix trainer. Contact Charlotte at vectordentalconsulting@gmail.com.