399: Fixing the Schedule Mess

We’ve been hearing it a LOT from Dental A-Team clients: Their schedules are a mess, including plenty of cancellations. So … Kiera and Brittany are here to talk you through solutions! Their conversation touches on the following points:

• Block scheduling

• Using the right verbiage

• Being proactive

• Using a back-office quarterback

This process may seem counterintuitive in some ways (aren’t you supposed to let the patient choose what time works for them?), but it’s a process that’s been tried and true.

Don’t believe us? Give it a try for six weeks and see where you end up.

More on Brittany:

I have spent my life in and around the dental field. Raised by a dental assistant, my training started young and my journey in dentistry continues as I strive to help teams realize their dreams!

Working in dentistry for over 15 years, I have had the opportunity to work in a variety of structures from small to large and private practice to dental support organizations. I have learned how the organization and management of an office impact the lives of each team member and patient. I have studied healthcare administration while working most positions in a dental office including hygiene lead, coach, and office manager. This helps me bring an understanding of driving value and patient care to help dental teams cultivate a fulfilling work environment. 

Episode resources:

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Listen to Episode 364: Block Schedule Around the Prime and Fluff

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Podcast Transcript

Kiera Dent:

Hey, everyone. Welcome to the Dental A Team Podcast. I'm your host, Kiera Dent and I had this crazy idea that maybe I could combine a doctor and a team member's perspective because let's face it, dentistry can be a challenging profession with those two perspectives. I've been a dental assistant, treatment coordinator, scheduler, biller, office manager, regional manager, practice owner and I have a team of traveling consultants where we have traveled to over 165 different offices coaching teams. Yep, we don't just understand you, we are you. Our mission is to positively impact the world of dental and I believe that this podcast is the greatest way I can help elevate teams, grow VIP experiences, reduce stress, and create A teams. Welcome to the Dental A Team Podcast.

            Hello Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and guess who I've got on the podcast today? I've got Brit and she's one of our most recent ad-ons to the Dental A Team and I will say she comes jam packed with insane experience, that I'm so excited that she's on our team, because we get to share her with all of you. So I am jazz to bring Brittany. She's got a wealth of knowledge, hygiene, front office, regional manager. She's helped practices merge and grow multiple locations, scheduler, biller, you name it, guys, she's done it. She just has not been a dentist, so beyond that, she's got it all. So Brit, welcome to the show. How are you today?

Brittany:

I'm fantastic. Thanks for having me. Excited to be here.

Kiera Dent:

Absolutely. So today, guys, we're going to dive into a topic that we've been noticing on our coaching calls with our clients. Brittany's been seeing it with her clients. I've been seeing it with my clients and that is on the dreaded schedule and how to fix it. I think right now it's hot. I just talked to an office and they said, "We're having a ton of cancellations." And I'm like, gosh, I feel like I'm on repeat with every coaching call because everyone's having cancellations, everyone's having their schedule wild. Tiffany sent me a picture of a schedule from a doctor, she's out today, who said, "Look at this schedule. Look at what they gave me." So it's really a good time. So Brit take it away on fixing this schedule mess that we've been seeing out there for everybody.

Brittany:

Yeah. So I think it's something the offices, definitely, we see a lot of struggles with, and I feel like we can always do better with sometimes. And I like to think of it as, it's really important that we're directing the schedule and being proactive about the schedule and not just letting the schedule happen to us. And so I think there's a few ways that you can help to be the director of your schedule. So one of the big ones that we work with and implement in a lot of offices is block scheduling. So block scheduling so that we plan out our day and where we want certain procedures, whether that's high production, low production, emergency exams, seeing patients, for hygiene schedule, having sealing and root planing and new patients set in there as well, so that you already have a map of what your ideal schedule looks like. So that's what we're headed towards and working on filling.

Kiera Dent:

Yeah, for sure. I like the blocks a lot. Today, I had an office and they are getting over one hundred new patients and they're struggling and they're like, "Kiera, we don't even want to make re-care calls because there's nowhere to put them." And I said, "Do you guys have blocks in for all those new patients?" And they said, "No." They said, "But we're so booked out. We're booked out for a month." And I said, "Fantastic. Put those blocks in now because do something today to better your future self for you tomorrow." Those blocks will literally direct a perfect schedule. And I think we forget this often. It was just like in my own personal life, the last three, four months of my life, I felt psycho and out of control. And this month Shelby was awesome and put blocks in my schedule to work on the big projects.

            And I'm like, wow. It's crazy how much extra time all of a sudden magically appeared because I blocked my schedule, so I wasn't feeling frantic trying to just shove people in wherever I could get them. Instead, it was a more directed approach. So like you said, it's directing the schedule with new patients, with doctor patients and I think, I don't know about you Brit, I hear often in offices, they say, "But Kiera we're supposed to be patient advocates. We're not supposed to be the ones who sit here and tell them where to go. They are telling us where they want to go." And I smile and I acknowledge that, "Yeah, you're absolutely correct. I'm just going to throw back the question of how come us having a prime schedule means that we're not being patient advocates."

            Because for me, I believe that if we have the best schedule, the dental practice for us, and it's the smoothest one, the assistants aren't crazy, the hygienists aren't running behind, that is actually better patient care than letting the patients direct. And then we get psycho, we get behind, everybody's falling behind, our team's running ragged. I personally do not think that that's the best patient care. But that's my soap box on there. Brit, come on in and save everybody from my soap box. What are your thoughts on that?

Brittany:

I agree with you. I think that, one thing being the patient advocate and I'm totally with you that if we have a schedule that is built to where our doctors, providers assistants, front desk, that we can all handle the flow of what's coming through, that that allows us to be our best selves for our patients and to take care of them and give them the time and attention that they need. Which one hundred percent is the patient care that we want to provide.

            I think another roadblock for people sometimes is also that their schedule is so busy and crazy that they can't imagine having set times, because they're just trying to fit people in wherever they can. And I think that's where you set up your blocks to where you've got the time to take care of things that need to be taken care of within that day and it helps to control the chaos once you actually have it into place. But I think that can be one that they just can't see past, because they're just managing things, surviving as things are coming in, moving from that phase to actually planning ahead and having those blocks and setting things at specific times.

Kiera Dent:

For sure. Don't you guys love being the office that just stands out. I'm always looking for ways for us to dazzle and shine in the most effective, easy way possible. And you guys, Weave is a company that does that. They allow the patient information to pop up when the phone rings and so you can actually talk to the patient about their likes, their family, the things that they're working on. And so you can actually have a really, really personable conversation, plus they do a ton more. So you guys text the number, phones. So text phones, P-H-O-N-E-S to 797979. You guys can get a free demo of Weave and a twenty-five dollar gift card. So you guys check them out. I think they're awesome. And they can help you guys stand out. That's 797979, Phones, P-H-O-N-E-S.

            And those blocks, I had a doctor who was really struggling, always getting out late, didn't feel like they could stay on top of their life and they literally put these blocks in and within a month she's like, "It's crazy, we're more productive. Our patients are happier. I'm getting out on time more so." And I think it's just the approach of, and I was taught this early, early, early on in consulting. I had a client, which shout out to him, I hope he still listens to the podcast. I was running late for a coaching call and I remember he stopped me and he said, "Kiera, you live your life reactively instead of proactively." He said, "The way you come to calls is you're racing, you're rushing around, and you're trying to just get to my call." He said, "Do you know what I do before our calls?" He said, "I go over to the coffee shop, about 15 minutes early, I get a cup of coffee, I review my agenda of what I want to talk to you so that way when our time comes, I'm actually ready to go for the call."

            I'm not going to lie, guys, it definitely stung and bruised my ego really hard, but he was absolutely correct. And I have thought about that moment so many times in consulting, because if I am being proactive with my day, just like you guys, so directing the schedule, proactively putting those blocks in, you are going to have a proactive schedule that's going to flow much more smoothly for the entire team and the patients versus the reactively, trying to just fit everything in. I gave another example, one of my very, very, very first presentations I ever did. I don't know what the heck I was thinking, but actually it was making cookies in front of a huge audience. And what I did was, I had no ingredients and it was a part of the whole presentation.

            I was like, it said, add three eggs, so I just threw the eggs in, shell and all. It said, add chocolate chips. Well, I didn't have any chocolate chips. I had three girls on the front row take apart these chocolate chips that were within some chocolate chips and I'm like hurry and break those apart. I didn't have oil, so I just added water in. I didn't have butter, so I think I mashed up some, I don't even remember what I had on hand, and I just like threw that in. And I didn't have brown sugar. I only had regular sugar. So I hurried and added green and blue food coloring to make it brown. And, it was just a hodgepodge mess. When you looked at that bowl of cookie dough, it was a mess.

            And I remember asking the audience, I said, "How many of you feel like this is your schedule? Where it's this hodgepodge." Had we looked ahead for lab cases, had we proactively put blocks in that our day wouldn't look like this, but instead we're like, yeah, let's make some cookies. I don't have a half the ingredients, so let's just hodgepodge it together, well, we get hodgepodge results, as well. I really love what you said, Brit, directing the schedule. And I think some tangibles on that are, one, the block scheduling like we've mentioned, so adding that in for new patients. You can also use those new patient blocks for SRPs. You can put in doctor blocks and make sure... I love, I used to put in high production and try and teach people that's a crown, or that's a root canal. We've since changed that. Put a dollar amount.

            If you want this to be $2,000 right here, that's even easier because now people know my treatment plan is $2,000. That goes right here. I think it makes it very easy to hit your goals and also to have a great patient experience. And I also think directing the schedule is using the verbiage of, hey, awesome, so you're coming in for a crown, doctor wants to get you back in two weeks for an hour and a half. Awesome. Dr. So-and-so loves to do their crowns at 8:00, so let's reserve that time for you. I've got Tuesday at 8:00. Let's reserve that for you. I reserve that. I tell them this is when doctor prefers to do it, and we put them right in the perfect block versus saying, hey, what day works best for you? Soon as you start down that rabbit hole, that's missed expectations, frustrated patients, versus directing and guiding them where you want to go. That's my personal stance. Brit, what are some other ways that you found for directing schedules?

Brittany:

For sure and that's where how to implement block scheduling and still take care of patients is... I like giving them an option too. If there's two days that they can pick from great. Doctor's available Tuesday at 8:00 AM or Thursday at 11:00, which one works best for you. So sometimes that allows them still to make a decision and you're still directing them into the blocks of the schedule of where we want them to be. And I think a perk to doctors, when they create their schedule, how their ideal schedule looks is that, doctors can pick when their brain is freshest or when they want to work on those biggest procedures and they can be their best so that they really can deliver the patients the best care possible.

Kiera Dent:

For sure. And to that point, I've also found when doctors are very proactive on their schedule, meaning docs... We had an office. Brittany and I went to them and she literally just took a piece of paper, drew her columns and drew blocks in. We don't have to get super hyper technical at all to build these blocks, but it helps the doctors realize, I want to do a high production in the morning when I'm the most fresh. I want to do one right after lunch. And then, I want to cut off and I don't want any more procedures after 3:30. Give me the smaller ones, no limiteds, after 3:00. We had an office that was piling in limiteds in the afternoon and the office was staying there super, super late. Well, the reason they were staying there late, isn't because the schedule was poorly done, it was because we were putting limiteds in after 3:30, that turns into procedures, which is great, but it's not great if we're trying to get out.

            So then that office, what they did is, we cut it off so at 3:30, no more limiteds could be added into the schedule and also, we could do crown seats, but we couldn't add really much else in there. That's fine. We can put them in everywhere else because there's a lot of space if we have the parameters of where to build. After that, in their morning huddle, every single day they would ask, where are the two emergency times that we can add patients in? So the whole team looks at the schedule, they tell the front office where they want these emergency times, and it all of a sudden became very proactive versus, well, good luck. I hope they can do it in the back. The back office actually could proactively look for that. That cleared up all their issues. The team was very, very productive. Patients were happier. And again, it just made everything flow a lot more smoothly.

Brittany:

Yeah and I think it really does minimize frustrations between front office, back office, because we all know the plan, we all know where things can go and it's a realistic plan for how the patients can be taken care of. And we're all on the same page in the front office, then you're not, you're just trying to please the patient, you want to get them taken care of and sometimes we put things in spots that maybe aren't ideal. But if we've got it all blocked out and we talk about where our opportunities are throughout the day, then you've got the answer without even having to go to ask someone.

Kiera Dent:

Correct. Also if you guys are a bigger practice to that point, I know we've set up what I call quarterbacks or point guards in the back office for that day. So front office, if you do need to add somebody and it's outside of those blocks, you have a directed person every single day that you know to go ask. So they're directing the schedule, they're finding the spaces that often can help you guys a lot as well. So I would suggest if you're a bigger practice, you're struggling with this, you've tried this, try the quarterback for a couple of weeks and see. That way everybody knows and it's more consistently delivered, versus reactively, like, oh, where can we put this person? I really, really, really love the idea of mornings adding in those two emergency times. I love block scheduling and something I was going to add to block scheduling. I remember one of my first practices that I was working for an office, my office manager told me do not schedule outside the blocks.

            If you schedule outside of the block, you have to ask for my approval. That was really convenient because it made it inconvenient for me and so, and it also forced me to learn which appointments I can put next to each other when I didn't have as much front office experience. So I think the blocks are a good template. The blocks are also a great template if you want your back office to start helping schedule doctor procedures, which then can cut down on the front office lines as well, because then everybody has a template that they can all follow for an office and just as a quick check. But we have literally helped hundreds of practices scheduling the back successfully. The office I just talked to right before we started podcasting has successfully been able to take a 15 op practice and be able to have their entire team scheduling in the back, cutting down exponentially on the front office flow. Patients are happier and they're able to juggle the schedule so much easier and still have an incredible patient experience.

Brittany:

Yep. And I think really important with big teams and offices where we don't have extra operatories, really drilling in and getting that schedule running well. So it is important to make everybody's day smoother. You always know in the office, when you can start to feel the anxiety level and you're like, something is happening, something has gone off, what's going on? We want to minimize those moments and help our schedule run as smooth as possible.

Kiera Dent:

For sure. So I'd suggest guys take this podcast, look at your schedule. Are you guys being directed or are you being reactive? Are you using the verbiage of, hey, doctor would love to see you in the morning. I've got Tuesday at 8:00 AM or Wednesday at 8:00 AM, which works best for you? Are you having those blocks in there? If you have not done this, build the block schedule. I just did it for Shelby for myself. I literally took a calendar out, said these are the times that I want it because I wasn't thinking clearly. I used a podcast after I did six hours of coaching calls. Brittany knows those days. She's been on those coaching call days with me, my mind was spent. So we'd always get behind on podcasts because I would never want a podcast. So now we've switched that. Now there's set time in my schedules so it doesn't get missed.

            You can also put in front office admin time. So the re-care calls, the unscheduled treatment calls, the AR, those can all be put in there as well. So it's not just proactively directing patients schedule, but also your personal schedule. We can talk about that another time. Docs put in your admin time and be choosy. Docs, if you don't want to see limiteds after 3:30, don't put them in there. That's probably going to frustrate you, you're exhausted, you're probably not going to be as great as you are in the mornings. That's okay. You can set parameters, because I found when you're real clear, it's almost like boundaries in life, it's boundaries in your schedule, everything fits better together. Everything flows so much smoother. And it's ironic because just like in life, when we put boundaries in play, we think our life's going to be more restricted and not flow and people aren't going to like us. People actually like us more.

            Just like with your patients having more strict boundaries, so everyone's following the same template and guidelines, you'll have happier patients, more predictable days, more productive days. Not those crazy, super high productive and then the next day is like low production with a million crown seats in there and you're like, what was today? So those, it really can help even all this outside challenge. All of you look at your schedule, change one thing today, try it out for six weeks, see what happens from there. And then reassess with your team, would be my suggestion. Brit, any last thoughts you've got on directive scheduling?

Brittany:

No, just trust it, it'll work. Trust it. If you plan your day and you know that that looks like an ideal day, that's going to allow you to be at your best, move forward with it, put the blocks in, and trust that it's going to help you.

Kiera Dent:

Amen. All right you guys, as always, if this podcast is helping you guys in any way, shape, or form, please share it. Share it with your team, share it with colleagues, share it with friends from college, pop it on Facebook groups. You guys, we love to be a resource. Our goal is to positively impact the world of dentistry and to truly help grow you guys personally and professionally. So please as always share, leave us a review. We are so, so appreciative of you and grateful for you to be in our Dental A Team family, and as always, thanks for listening. We'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.

            And that wraps it up for another episode of the Dental A Team Podcast. Thank you so much for listening and we'll talk to you next time.