Improving Treatment plan acceptance is the fastest way to increase production and improve patient compliance. It is a well-known statistic that if a patient walks out the door without scheduling their next appointment your chances of getting them scheduled drops about 50%. So we ask ourselves, what should we do with the 50% of patients who do not schedule? How can we get through to them and connect on the level necessary to get them not only scheduled but committed to keeping their appointment.
FPC’s dental practice management software, Aspire, has a number of reports to track those patients who “fall through the crack” (much like their teeth) and walk out the door without scheduling or they request a predetermination prior to scheduling. It happens. We, as a team, need to improve our treatment presentation and change the patient’s way of thinking from NEED based dentistry to WANT based dentistry! However, we know we all have those exceptional patients. So, to catch those exceptions, follow these recommendations to get that one or two extra cases a week to improve the bottom line and more importantly your patient’s oral health.
- Print your treatment plan report, either target a particular treatment class or all treatment plans.
- Pull the patients chart or review their Smart Chart/Clinical notes in Aspire prior to calling. Be sure to show them that an effort was made to know about their needs. Show them that you care about them and their family, look for notes that could open up a conversation, like a new baby or recent wedding.
- Scheduling Coordinator: “Hello Mrs. Johnson, this is Debbie from Dr. Smith’s office. How are you and the new baby?”
- Get the person engaged in conversation by mentioning something about them/family or about the work they had done or that needs to be done.
- Scheduling Coordinator: “The doctor asked that I call you. He noticed that you didn’t schedule the treatment he discussed with you last visit”
- Let the patient talk, it is important they feel the conversation is about them, not about you scheduling them.
- Scheduling Coordinator: “What day is best for you? Do you like mornings or afternoons”
- No open ended questions. You want to be as efficient as possible to get them scheduled and keep phone time to a minimum. Answer any questions and address any concerns they may have.
- Overcome all their objections when it comes to Finances, Fear, Time, Value or Trust with your office.
- Remember: “Listen to schedule” not “listen to reply”! Hear your patient’s needs.
- Only put an experienced person on the phone when trying to re-engage a patient and their treatment plan.
- Be sure to keep track of your success so we can constantly improve the process and we learn what works best for your office.
Please talk with your Practice Advisor today and request additional training for you and your staff on “How to get the patient to say YES!”