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 . . .