398: Go For Gold: Same-Day Treatment

This episode of the Dental A-Team podcast covers same-day treatment and how it can reduce stress on the staff and improve VIP patient care. Implementing this practice needs to be a team effort, and Kiera covers what types of offices are ready to roll, how making goals can help, and why same-day treatment should be the culture of your practice.

Now, implementing or ramping up same-day treatment isn’t always an option. Doctors, are you not staying on time as is? Now may not be the time to add more to your plate (but Kiera still has advice on how to get there).

Not sure how to get started in implementing, executing, tracking, and measuring same-day treatment in your practice? Reach out to us and we can help! [email protected] 

Episode resources:

Reach out to Kiera

Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast

Become Dental A-Team Platinum!

Review the podcast on iTunes

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, pillar, office manager, regional manager, practice owner, and I have a team of traveling consultants, but we have traveled to over 165 different offices coaching teams. Yep. We don't just understand you. We are here. 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. You guys, all right, are you ready for a podcast to deliver solid gold? I hope you are. This is a system, solid gold, so I hope you guys are ready. Sometimes we do personal solid gold, because in the Dental A Team, we are a three-prong approach. And if you're new to the Dental A Team, welcome. If you've been with us for a while, welcome. If you're just coming back to us, welcome. And hey, if you're a long-time friend, high five, great to have you here today. But at the Dental A Team, we are really big on a three-prong approach with our consulting. Yes, we physically fly to your practice, but our three focuses as a company... Guys, we need a better acronym. So I'm going to put it out there. I will literally send you a $50 Amazon gift card, just to remind me I said this for anyone who can name this a little bit better.

            Our three focuses currently is named MYS, M-Y-S, like my life is how we were kind of thinking about it, but I feel like it needs a better name. So you guys are all brilliant. I'm putting it out to you guys. But M stands for money and finances. So we feel like as a business, as a team, we should be focused on three areas to make us well-rounded people. One is money and the financials of a practice, because if our practice is not strong financially, we are not profitable, doctor stressed out, team stressed out, it is not a good world. And I truly believe if we're not profitable, it's a hobby, not a business.

            So that's a big thing we focus on, but I believe that that comes through to other areas. And that is Y stands for you as a person. That encompasses your spirituality, your mental state, your physical being, your leadership development. What are you eating? What's your health? Are you working out? Are you a balanced human being? Y stands for you as a person, and then S stands for systems and teams. So really big on implementing systems and empowering and encouraging the team as well to make sure that the practice runs on that. Again, we need help with this. We're trying to create what this acronym can be for people like, "Hey, the Dental A Team focuses on MYS." Like, it falls flat. If you guys a great idea, it's really around like the money, the financials, the profitability of the practice to make sure you're running a true, healthy business. Then you as a person, physically, spiritually, emotionally, your friendships, you guys, like my wide zone for me is really struggling. And an S is for systems and teams.

            Again, $50 Amazon gift card, come up with the best acronym, email us, [email protected]. Don't worry. My team gets stressed out when they listened to the podcast, because I make these things up all the time when they're like, "Kiera, someone emailed in for an Amazon gift card." That just tells me that the team doesn't always listen. I don't blame them, there's a lot, but today's podcast is on some solid gold for you guys on a system. So this is coming into the system piece of it. And that is on same-day treatment. I am a huge proponent of when we consult practices that we focus on reducing stress of the team, the doctor, the owners, while improving patient VIP care. So we reduce stress and improve VIP patient care.

            And if that resonates with you, join us. We'd love to have you as one of our platinum or gold clients. That's what we focus on. That's what all of our consulting surrounded by. And so, same-day treatment is really where I feel like the team can actually be less stressed, and it can also loop into being, gosh, just like really awesome VIP care. Think about it for you guys. If you're going into the dentist, and we can justify on either side, you can justify your story, which I don't care, words create worlds, you create your own reality. So whatever you believe is going to become a reality and you will find substantial proof and evidence to make that real.

            How many of you have wished that there was an easy way to get that dang operations manual then? Well, guess what? We are here to deliver. That's right. Join us for an entire eight hours and get eight hours of CE Friday, September 17th, for our operations manual creation. That's right. We are literally going to walk you and your team through step-by-step workshop style. It's virtual, and you're going to get that operations manual started and quite a few pieces completed. So join us on Friday, September 17th. Utilize our coupon code "podcast ops". That's podcast O-P-S. Head on over to the dentalateam.com/events. I cannot wait to see you. Let's get that operations manual done, done, and done. Bring your entire team. And I'll see you guys there.

            I personally believe people are busy. I like to have my visit maximize. I find offices of the most VIP favorite offices, those that present same-day treatment for me, meaning I come into the practice, I get my cleaning and I can do my filling the same-day. Now I get it. You guys, I ran a super, super busy practice. Same-day treatment was not always an option for me, but having the culture of same-day treatment as VIP patient care could be the culture of your practice, and it should be in my opinion, for the best practices. I've heard a few times that the most productive chair is an empty chair, because you can convert same-day treatment all day long, but same-day treatment sometimes stresses teams out, because guess what, we're already running behind. And if you are a doctor or you have a doctor that can't stay on time with their regular schedule, same-day treatment is not for you, yet.

            We've worked with a lot of practices. So I'm going to kind of dive down through a few of these items, tackling how you can add same-day treatment. Now you might tell me, "Kiera, on the other side of this coin, no, we give an hour and a half comprehensive consult. We feel like that's the best VIP patient care for our patients, and then we bring them back for treatment." High five, rock on you, do your thing, and I'm going to support you 110%. I am a believer. You guys, I'm a busy human. If I had to go spend an hour and a half at a practice, and then I have to come back for another hour and a half, you're not going to see me for probably four or five months, because the reality of me being home and our schedules aligning is probably four to six months out.

            Now, the practices who are of the same mentality, Kiera Dent is probably not your avatar. I'm probably not your ideal patient. So you have to look at who your ideal patient is and adapt your practice accordingly. So here's a few items for same-day treatment. Let's start with the practices whose doctor doesn't stay on time. Docs, I'm speaking to you with love and just genuine love of how you can improve this and make this a little bit better. So often, and I've done this with hundreds of practices, so I'm not calling you out. And honestly, you guys, I'm a terrible, terrible detail human. That is my handicap. That is my weakness, and I have been working insanely hard to not miss the details. So I believe all of us can grow to the next level, and we just have to accept and recognize where we are and then commit to growing to that next level.

            With that said, if you know you're a slower doctor, as far as producing and staying on time, a couple of options that I've done with some other offices that we've done is consolidate you down to one column. Maybe you shouldn't be running two columns until we can keep you on track with those with just that one column. Yes, it's scary. However, offices I've done that in, they actually don't lose their production. They stay on time, and they feel like they won the day versus failing the day. Don't worry it's not forever, but maybe for a quarter, just so you can really maximize your time. Another option is they have these really cute, cool cubes. Let me try that again. There are these really cool cubes on Amazon...

            Hey, $50 Amazon plug here, you guys come up with a better acronym. For me. It can be three letters, four letters. I don't care, $50. So you can buy this on Amazon with the Dental A Team's gift card, but there are these cubes on Amazon where it's a color cube and you flip it, and so you can see how much time you're spending. So doc, let's say we flip it so we can show you how long you're spending on your preps on average, how long you're spending seating crowns on average. It's just a cool cube. You can wipe it down, so it's definitely can be in the rooms, but that can help you just know how long you're taking on these preps and these exams, and that sometimes can really, really, really shorten your exam time or prep time, I mean.

            That's not going to allow you to add in same-day treatment. We're not talking about like 20 minutes. I'm talking about one or two minutes here and there, if we can shave those minutes off just by being more efficient, which then leads into perfect handoff, so when doctor walks in, you guys have heard me talk about, and if you have it go search Dental A Team, the dentalateam.com. Head on over to our podcast page, and you can search, you guys. We have a search bar on our website, and you can literally type in any topic. And we probably have, I'm not exaggerating, a lot. We've produced hundreds of podcasts. So any topic you guys want help on, that's how you can access them on our website. It's very simple, very easy on your phone or on your desktop. You can access them. But I've talked about the ICRP, so ICRP handoff of the introduction, the compliment to the patient, recap of what's happening or what you've discussed, and then something personal about them.

            If your entire team would execute on these handoffs consistently, I promise you, doc, so shave off exam times, and you'll also shave off treatment times, because it's consistent across the board, it seems really ridiculous. But having every single team member giving you the same handoff is going to be able to help you increase that same-day treatment. That also then leads to assistants and hygienists. Look at your patient that day and have it as your standard goal that you're going to add one same-day treatment per day as VIP care. Meaning, if a patient's coming in for an upper MOD on number 14 and 15 has a DIO but they're not scheduled for it. I'm going to talk to them about it and get the, for an office or back office. You can do this too, if you've been trained. And if not, maybe learn it.

            You can talk to them about the financials and get them ready to go, so you can do those two fillings when they're side by side. Typically, and I know I'm going to put this out there, this is not always the case. But typically teeth in the same quadrant can be added within the same appointment time. And usually... I'm putting on a big, asterisk, like guys, this is not in stone, usually that can help you guys people to add same-day really, really simply and not jam up your schedule. So those are just a few quick ideas. I also love tracking same-day treatment. I like to have a goal that the team sets together as a team of how many same-day treatments do we think we can do in a month? Let's say we're working 16 days a month. Let's go for 10 same-day treatments that we add on.

            That could be sealants added same-day. That could be extra fillings added same-day. That could be an invisalign start same-day. Any of those opportunities where we're saving the patient an appointment to come back, also think about it. Doing that extra filling same-day, again, if you can, the goal is not to throw the rest of our day off. But if you can add that extra filling in, guess what? That patient loves you. They just became a walking raving fan of you. They're going to talk to you up to all their friends, because you did something different that went above and beyond, but you were able to do it within the confines of that appointment time. Also, a fun tool and trick on same-day treatment. Guys, I'm insanely passionate, if you can tell, about same-day treatment, because this is how we grew our practice from 500,000 to 2.4 million in nine months.

            This stuff works, and our patients loved us. I was an assistant and I felt like I had running roller skates on, because we were hopping. But what I found as a key intrical part of same-day treatment is the few minutes that you have, if you use them wisely, you can execute on same-day. And if you don't, you will not be able to execute. And that is from the time the patient sits down or even before they sit down, talking to them about the same-day opportunities. Because if I know that they can get a filling done extra, well, I still got to get the financing done. But if I've already prepared proactively for it, I actually can say, "Doc, get in here. We've got an extra filling. I've got everything ready to go. They're ready to go. And we have enough time."

            Then doc's like, "Oh, I've got two fillings versus one." So their mindset changes as well, and they're able to execute on that. Again, this is not at all, and I want you guys to hear this so strongly, this is never ever, ever done to increase production and jeopardize patient care, ever. If we're going to do sloppy dentistry, it is not work for same-day. However, a lot of times, doctors, if they knew that they had two fillings versus just one, they're able to prep those fillings side by side, they're already numb, the room's already set up. But assistants, that means you've got to be on your a game and have everything ready to go. Otherwise, same-day turns into a train wreck and we are all struggling, and then we're late, patients are unhappy, and we're like, "Forget that. I heard this podcast, but I don't want to do it." I don't blame you. I wouldn't want to do that either.

            I believe that same-day treatment is a culture of a practice versus it being something that we just haphazardly do. So if you're wanting to do this, I would say a few items. Number one, docs, if you're not on time already do not do same-day. Time yourself for the next, I'd say week to month, to find out exactly how long it's taking you per procedure. It might be very eye-opening. I would check there, get that cube, have somebody time you in the office and give yourself gold stars for every time you end a patient on time. You also can drag appointments to the actual length of the appointment if we're running late. So we can see exactly how long it's taking or we can shorten them up if we're finishing early, so we can have better, more accurate scheduling. After that, if you're really struggling, shrink it down to one column, that way we're not overextending. It's okay, only for a quarter until we can get on point, everybody's rocking and rolling.

            After that, I would set a goal of how many same-days you want to have as a team, and then somebody is responsible for tracking that every day, where everybody can see it. Let's see how much same-day you can add in. I did have a bonus in our practice on same-day treatment, but the team was responsible for tracking it. So for all the same-day, we added, interestingly, as soon as the bonus was attached to it, people got really proactive looking for that same-day. And we had rules. Patient could not have jeopardized dentistry. Patient had to get out on time of what they were scheduled to be out on for the same-day dentistry bonus to account.

            You better believe people chart prep like a machine. If you guys want help on that bonus, let us know [email protected]. These are things that we discuss in our coaching calls. So, silver, gold, or platinum, all these great ideas guys, and I'm happy to share with you. Everything we've got, we're happy to share.

            We definitely implemented this bonus, and it's a pain in the booty, I'm not going to lie to you, to track it. However, it helped our team get a culture of same-day treatment and VIP patient care. I would say, guys, implement it on some level. Ramp it up if you're already doing it. Set goals and challenges for yourselves. Look for ways that you can make patients literally raving fans of your practice. I truly believe same-day treatment is the best way to do it. There are so many little missed opportunities every single day that if we would have just proactively chart prepped, or if we would've just known that these patients could have done it for an office, you can call those patients and prep them and tee them up.

            You can look for it when they walk into the practice, make sure you have the financials done. If we could do same-day, these little things save time and allow same-day culture to be executed. I would say, I don't know, I don't think it's a core value per se, but I would have same-day treatment as the culture of my practice, again, if that's your avatar and your style, and these are some easy ways that you can implement, execute, track, and measure to see how it's going. And if you want help, some doctors struggle to execute and implement this in a practice. You hear this and you think, "Hey, that's a great idea, but I don't know how to get my team on board." Great, that's what we're here for. We do this all day long with teams and help them get on board with touchy topics or help phrase it in a way or give tools and resources to make it effective.

            Just like I hired a marketing coach, guys. Shoot, I don't know marketing. And he said, "Great. Kiera, you need to do this, this and this," and I was like, "Thank you." You actually have the tools, the resources, the knowledge, the industry knowledge to let me know what tools even exist to make this a reality. And I think we kind of do the same thing.

            Action items. Number one, come up with an acronym for Dental A Team for MYS, that's better than MYS. It's got to be surrounding something with money and financials. Something about you as a person, physically, spiritually, or mentally, and what the relationships in your lives. And then S for systems and teams. Create that, because that's what Dental a Team focuses on. Number two, time yourself. Even if you're a rockstar doctor, you can time yourself on your exams. Number three, set a goal, have your whole team do it. And number four, proactively chart prep the night before to look for same-day opportunities, discuss them in morning huddle, and create a culture of same-day treatment.

            All right, guys, as always, thank you so much for listening, and I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team podcast.

            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.