Episode 774: Are Consent Forms a Stumbling Block for Your Patients?

DAT consultants Tiff and Denae address a hot topic for practices to plan to improve for the new year: online paperwork. They give insight on benefits, integration, best software, and more.

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Transcript:

Tiffanie (00:01.242)

Denae, I've got you back today. Thank you so much for being open to podcasting with me. I know that I kind of throw it on the schedule all the time and I really, really appreciate you guys always just being willing to pop on here with me. So thank you for being here. I've got a couple picked out today that I think are really, really intriguing and interesting. How are you today? First off, how are you today? How's life? How's Denae?

 

Denae Black (00:24.142)

doing good. It's getting a little bit chilly here in Michigan. But I can't complain sweater weather is one of my favorites. So I'm doing great.

 

Tiffanie (00:25.38)

Yeah.

 

Tiffanie (00:29.474)

Yeah. I love it. I don't think that, and you know this cause you grew up here, I don't think I actually know what sweater weather is. I pretend to and I buy like the candle, you know, and I light that all sweater weather, but I don't actually know what it is. I'm wearing a jacket today and my AC is on. Jacket's.

 

Denae Black (00:48.11)

Thank you.

 

Tiffanie (00:48.998)

mainly for this podcast. So like my AC kicked on last night at like 6pm and I was like, is the AC on right now? It's freaking November, but it was literally like 80 degrees in our house. So yeah, so I'm jealous. That's my point. I'm jealous. I'm jealous. But the attire looks so cute. Yeah. And you love to wear, I don't know if we've ever talked about this before, you and Kara, but you love to wear like six outfits a day. So

 

Denae Black (01:01.87)

Yes.

 

Denae Black (01:05.453)

Yeah. I can like a blame.

 

Denae Black (01:14.99)

I do. True.

 

Tiffanie (01:17.06)

Does that also transition into your sweater and winter wear?

 

Denae Black (01:21.71)

So I actually have a heater in my office, like a space heater, because it does get cold. I usually don't like long sleeves. They just make me feel a little claustrophobic. But I have a space heater in my office and a heated foot massager under my desk. That's the inner, yeah. That's the inner desert girl in me coming out.

 

Tiffanie (01:27.227)

Yeah.

 

Tiffanie (01:30.959)

Yeah.

 

Tiffanie (01:35.446)

Oh my gosh, that's so cute. Yeah, yeah, the cluster phobic. Yeah, go ahead.

 

That's what I was, yeah, I was like the claustrophobic feeling of like having things on your arms and around your neck. That's, that's the Arizona thing. I can't, I can only do it for so long and I'm like, get this off of me. I'm gonna die. Yeah, I love it. I love it. Okay, well I'll be jealous of your winter weather here in a couple of weeks. Um, and I'm surely jealous of your fall sweater weather. Um, but I'll live it up over here in the 80 degree winter we've got coming. Um.

 

Denae Black (01:54.83)

Yeah, for sure.

 

Denae Black (02:10.03)

Yes.

 

Tiffanie (02:11.454)

Okay, so today I have one that I think is coming up a lot for practices, especially as we like near the end of the year. I think this is something that comes up because I know a lot of my practices, and Denae, you may see this as well. I know a lot of my practices are always looking for things that they can do differently next year or like products or companies they can sign on with that can make their patient experience better in the coming year that they can start to shift in December,

 

as those things are coming on. So one of those pieces that I find at the end of the year, I get slammed with from a ton of my practices is paperwork, online paperwork. And I know it's been a little bit of a bug in our sock. I don't even know what to say there, right? But it's like, I can't get this done. I don't understand why this is so hard to integrate, but I think we're finally getting it. And Tanei, is that something that you're seeing too?

 

getting new patient paperwork and consent forms and all of that more automated and streamlined and off of paper and onto online systems. Are you seeing that as well?

 

Denae Black (03:15.406)

Yeah, absolutely. I definitely am. And I think that you're hitting it spot on. Like the end of the year is normally a really good time. And we see a lot of offices start to reflect on what went really good last year and what are the new things that we wanna start to implement going into the new year. And it's so easy for us to try to put things off that could really elevate our patient experience because we might throughout the year be trying to prioritize.

 

Tiffanie (03:16.996)

Yeah.

 

Tiffanie (03:27.598)

Yeah.

 

Denae Black (03:42.894)

hitting goals or cashflow or things like that, that oftentimes when you come to the end of the year, you're like, oh, you know what? What could have really leveled or elevated our patient experience up could be things like more technology. So yeah, I am hearing quite a few of my offices that are asking for, hey, what are the ins and the outs? Why, pros and cons on why I should start to do electronic paperwork and things like that.

 

Tiffanie (03:58.873)

Mm.

 

Tiffanie (04:12.61)

Yeah, I think that's a huge, I think you hit on a couple of huge points there. So one, end of the year seems to be the time of year we reflect, right? So we're reflecting back on things. But you also talked about goals, right? So you said, we're reflecting to see if we hit the goals, like where are we at with our goals? Are we gonna make them? But I think one piece, honestly, Janay, that I'm finding is that we don't tend to look at the big goals and break them down as small as we could. And I actually think, as you, as-

 

our practices and you guys listening, as you're going through and reflecting on your year, and you're looking for ways that we could do better, give a better patient experience, I honestly wonder where something like that would come in. So we're talking today about online paperwork and getting your new patient paperwork online, what that needs to look like on your website, things like that. And Dene, it honestly impacts the patient experience. It saves time for the practice. And I think that's one of those small granular things.

 

that we don't think about that adds up to those bigger goals. Because honestly, it seems so crazy to say even having your paperwork online increases production, but it could, right? And it could increase the patient experience so much and decrease the time maybe that the front office ladies are spending trying to collect the data and trying to get everything input. It just streamlines so much there that it

 

makes the whole experience better for everyone. And when we're in that elevated space as a, as a client, right, as a patient, or as a team member, we're, we're jiving a little bit better and things flow better. So today, what are your thoughts on that? Like as a huge pro to it, what do you think about that as like a granular goal to get to those bigger goals?

 

Denae Black (05:56.622)

Yeah, I agree 100%. As a mom of four, I'm all about prep work. And the more that I can prep before I go into a day, the smoother my day is gonna go. And so trying to break this into how could this relate to new patient forms is as someone that sat at the front desk for many, many years in my career,

 

Tiffanie (06:00.055)

Yeah.

 

Denae Black (06:23.118)

If I had new patient forms, if I had all of the data, all of the things I needed to know about the patient before they came in, I would have the ability to prep and to really verify the insurance when it needed to be done, make sure I'm highlighting any allergies or things like that, and then also make sure that I'm getting the patients back on time. So for me, it's like...

 

Tiffanie (06:33.529)

Yeah.

 

Denae Black (06:48.142)

absolutely like goal setting and all that fun stuff, but it also allows just you as a team to be able to prep before you even go in and get to know your patient a little bit more before they even walk through the door.

 

Tiffanie (07:00.614)

Totally, totally. I love that you said all of that. And then like being on time, right? So I mean, as a front office for sure. And we're like staring at the patient, like when are you gonna be done? But we're staring at the patient one, because it messes up the flow of our whole day for the rest of the patients. But then as the back office, right? They're like.

 

tapping on the window, right? Or they're on the desk, like, are they done yet? Are they done yet? Because their day is getting behind. And what happens, doctors, if you don't know, or office managers, what tends to happen is we'll have a patient scheduled, even a surgery patient coming in that has a ton of consent forms or what have you, or crown consent form, like it could be anything, any type of form that needs to be filled out ahead of time before they're taken to the back office. What tends to happen is we schedule them.

 

for their 8 a.m. appointment or their 10 a.m. appointment, 1 p.m., whatever time in the day they're scheduled, they get there at their appointment time. Because the text messages prior to their appointment time went out for that appointment time. So even if we need to tell them, right, doctors, I remember my doctor in practice and a lot of my doctors now are like, we'll just tell them to come 15, 20 minutes before their appointment. Absolutely, totally can do that. But when we put that appointment,

 

Denae Black (08:04.686)

Yep.

 

Tiffanie (08:18.302)

into the schedule online, it will populate as that appointment and then the confirmations go out for that appointment time. So even if we tell them, they're likely, and I know this, I always, I say prepare for your worst patient. I'm your worst patient. So I prepare for what I would do. And when I got that text message, I'd be like, oh shoot, I thought I was at 745. It's not until 8, I have 15 more minutes to make sure that I'm ready, right? To get my coffee on the way or to leave my house a little bit later. I can

 

Denae Black (08:33.261)

Thank you.

 

Tiffanie (08:47.258)

put the dishes away, that's how my brain works. Like, what can I squeeze into that 15 minute difference? And so then I'm there right on time rather than earlier to fill out the paperwork. And so we have that little bit of a disconnect, I think, between the online confirming process, the front office and the back office and all of the different expectations that we have of them. So having that paperwork available and ready to go online takes all of that out. So...

 

Denae Black (08:49.038)

Mm.

 

Tiffanie (09:17.562)

Denae, mama four, like imagine if you walked in, one if, when you, right, I'm sure this has happened to you, you've walked in somewhere and you're like, well you call and you're like, schedule all of us at the same time because I'm not coming back multiple times and then you get there and you've got five forms, five different new patient packets, yourself and your four kids, you've gotta fill out, like that's gotta be very time consuming. So then mom is 30 to 40 minutes into her appointment by the time all those forms are filled out, don't you think?

 

Denae Black (09:40.718)

Yep.

 

Denae Black (09:47.342)

Absolutely. Not to mention, I am probably not going to be really reading your policies, your protocols. I'm just signing wherever it says to sign and I'm trying to get through it really fast. So you're probably not even going to be able to read my handwriting. Like I'm also trying to, you know, round up all these kids that are in the lobby with me. Yeah.

 

Tiffanie (09:48.599)

Yeah.

 

Tiffanie (09:52.632)

Right.

 

Tiffanie (09:56.534)

That's so true.

 

Tiffanie (10:02.338)

Absolutely. I totally agree.

 

Tiffanie (10:08.014)

That is so true. I have one kid and I do that. So I'm a skimmer. I am a, I'm planned for the worst. I'm your worst. Like I am a skimmer. And I'm like, I surely didn't see that. Oh, I signed it. Great. Here's your here's your broken appointment fee. Gotcha. I hear you. So when we put them online, I think number one, the first thing to think about is integration. Because if you've got new patient paperwork or consent forms or whatever that are going online,

 

Denae Black (10:22.542)

Yep.

 

Tiffanie (10:34.146)

You really want those to integrate seamlessly with your system so that when they're posted, when they're done, the patients have finished them, they just populate straight into your patient's chart. We don't have to go fishing for them. And I know way back when in the olden days, we had like two platforms that did it. I know Gentrix had the kiosk and it sucked and it never worked. And it was like, I don't know where it's throwing the paperwork. It's in La Land somewhere, but they've come a really long way. So I know I shied away myself because we tried to integrate.

 

kiosk way too early. And so I shied away for a really long time on the paperwork. So I was like, it's just easier this way. But team members, I'm telling you right now, it's not. It's not. And they integrate really well. And I think, Denae, what are some, what are some, not like we got Modento, we've got, you know, Allflex, all of those companies do it, but what are they doing really well? Do you feel like, like where are they?

 

Where, how are they accessing these forms? How are the patients getting them? Like, what are these companies doing differently aside from the integration to make it really easy for the practices to utilize it in their offices?

 

Denae Black (11:40.494)

So I think what we're seeing now more than ever is some more one-on-one training. A lot of times I'm finding that these companies are carving like specific timeout with the team and making sure that they're available to really train them on what is this gonna look like? Where are you gonna be able to find it to make sure that they know where to find those documents? Another thing is a lot of these companies are downloading the forms directly into the patient's account.

 

Tiffanie (11:45.999)

Mm-hmm.

 

Tiffanie (12:02.489)

Yeah.

 

Tiffanie (12:09.851)

Mm.

 

Denae Black (12:10.062)

So as long as they have their name and their appointment time and everything's connected, it's going straight into their account, which, I mean, talk about efficiency. You don't even have to go search for it. It just automatically downloads into the account. So that's a huge one. But I feel like the biggest thing that it can either make or break, whether or not you are truly going to implement this, is the support that you get from the company.

 

Tiffanie (12:20.74)

Yeah.

 

Tiffanie (12:27.215)

Okay.

 

Tiffanie (12:37.667)

Yeah.

 

Denae Black (12:38.19)

not only the training, but also the one on one support as other things come up. You know, making sure that those companies that you do go with or that that company that you go with is going to be available for your team when they need them.

 

Tiffanie (12:51.958)

Yeah, those are great. I love them. I love that. I do think the training makes a huge difference. And I know that way back in the day with the with the ones we were trying to use, it was really hard. And it was hard for them, I think. And so it was hard for us. So that has definitely come a long way. I think placement wise, like making sure that everyone has access to it. So your patients can access it on your website, which I think also when patients are vetting practices, that's something they might look at too, like what

 

How electronically savvy are we? Is the paperwork, I know I, this is definitely a different realm, but similar. I have a dog that needs grooming desperately. And I spent like, I felt like two hours, it was probably 15 minutes yesterday, right? On Google Maps, like trying to find dog groomers near me. And I was skipping ones that I couldn't schedule online, that I couldn't access the information. I couldn't.

 

like easily just do it. I had to wait till today to contact them or I had to call them to see what the schedule was. And I was like, I don't know about you guys, but I am actually like in meetings, on calls, or in practice eight to five every day. So I don't think that's really possible in my life. So I thought about that today when I was looking at this topic for us. I'm like, that's again, plan for your worst patient. That's me. If I can't schedule, if I can't.

 

If I can't figure out how I could easily schedule online or even just communicate to you and you communicate back to me online, and if I can't access the paperwork easily online, I'm probably not going to come. And I know that's not everyone and you can't blanket statement everyone, but I do think that that's the day and age we're in. So if on your website, it's not easy to find, like a new patient portal, like...

 

this is where you'll go, this is what your paperwork will look like. So if I open your new patient paperwork and I see there's 16 pages, that's probably also gonna deter me. So like, what does your paperwork look like? Can it be accessed? Is it electronic? Making it very clear on your website that you're welcoming new patients, number one, because I don't think that's something that's always clear. Number two, how are new patients accessing their paperwork? Three, how are current patients accessing?

 

Tiffanie (15:00.974)

consent forms and things like that. I know that I've had patients and I've had a lot of practices I work with that they're like, people are like searching us on Google and they're opening these consent forms and calling us about temporary crowns or about anesthesia questions and they've never even been diagnosed with these things. I'm like, well, let's be happy that they're reading it and that the information is out there. So keep it up there where it's able to be found. And then Denae, I know.

 

probably super helpful for you. Again, I'm only a mom of one, so it's drastically different. But imagine getting that text message and you're like, holy crap, I can do it right here. I'm just gonna bust it out on my iPad or my phone or whatever, how convenient is that for you when an office can copy and paste that link and just shoot you a text while you're on the phone even? Be like, did you get that new patient paperwork?

 

Denae Black (15:51.918)

so convenient. I'm most likely going to get that text message once the kids go to bed. After dinner, they go to bed. I'm going to sit on the couch and I'm going to pull it up and I'm going to start filling those forms out. I'm going to be a lot more aware of what am I signing. You're going to get much more detailed information than you would have if I was sitting there in the lobby. And then not to mention when I do actually show up as a patient,

 

Tiffanie (15:53.321)

Yeah.

 

Tiffanie (15:58.935)

Yeah.

 

Tiffanie (16:07.636)

Yeah.

 

Denae Black (16:20.462)

I'm going to be able to really ask questions about what can I expect whenever I'm here versus just filling out a form. I'll be able to start building a relationship with the team while I'm waiting to get called back versus just sitting there staring at a form.

 

Tiffanie (16:29.263)

Yeah.

 

Tiffanie (16:37.666)

Yeah, I love that. So that's huge too. I think you pointed something out there that it helps build the relationship right off the bat between you and the practice. Because as the patient, the mom of four coming in, like you're already stressed out. You're already wondering how long it's gonna take for everyone to get through. You're trying to figure out how are you going to commute.

 

between appointments, eat, like, you gotta feed these kids, like, they're gonna be starving, when is all this gonna happen? There's so many pieces that we're trying to coordinate as a mom or just even as a single person going to an appointment. Like, those things come up for me when it's just an appointment for myself. So having that time to build that relationship with the team members while you're in the lobby rather than head hunched down and doing the paperwork and then as soon as you're done, you get called to the back, that's very rushed as well.

 

And even though the patient is up there taking their time with the paperwork, it feels rushed when you grab the paperwork and then you grab the patient. Or I know a lot of times I'd be like, just take the patient and start them and they can finish the paperwork while they're back there. It changes their experience. It feels different. So I think that was a good point. So I think you guys, to wrap a bow on this, think about what you want your patient experience to be.

 

Denae Black (17:46.606)

It does.

 

Tiffanie (17:55.486)

and vet some companies that integrate with your software. So whatever software you have, vet those companies, talk with them, see what they can handle. Are they doing flex, or not flex, text to pay, right? So can you integrate all of those pieces? Can you put a payment portal on your website as well as the paperwork portal? So what kind of stuff can they integrate? So you're not using 16 companies for everything, but maybe you can find one, two, or three companies that go to the website.

 

cover the broad spectrum of the electronic things you need done. I know a lot of them do all of those pieces. So that the companies combine it, make it easier for you and the team, but make it more efficient for the patients. Update your paperwork. I think this is the perfect time of year to go through your paperwork. Make sure that everything that's in there is actually something that you need or that you're using. Are there things on there that you're not actually using that we can decrease the amount of paperwork and then use it?

 

every time you guys talk to your team, make sure they're on board, make sure they understand how to use it. Danae, I think that was beautiful. Like one of the best things that they've got going for them now is the one-on-one training. That's huge. And Danae, I think most companies too, they'll do like a trial where you can like download some of it and just kind of play with it before you fully integrate it. That might be something too. Yeah, perfect. Perfect. So I'd say talk to your team, figure out how you're going to integrate it, build a plan.

 

Denae Black (19:09.998)

Yeah. Yeah.

 

Tiffanie (19:18.322)

And then just get it done and make sure that teams using it every time. I was just in a practice this week They were so against this integration five months ago like pulling teeth against Integrating this system and then a lot of changes happened this year. So I was fully aware I understood but we pushed him to do it and one of the girls this week while I was there was like This is one of the best things we've ever done I am so happy and what she does because I get this pushback, right like

 

What about the patients? I have older patients. They won't do it online. Or I just have patients that straight won't do it. Well, what she does, it was beautiful. She was on the phone with one patient while I was there on Wednesday and he was just like, I'm not doing it's going to take too long. And she said, that's totally fine. You can do it on your own at home online in your spare time. Like do it on your own at home online, or you can come in 30 minutes early to your appointment and I'll set you up where you can do your paperwork online here.

 

So I was like, oh my gosh, that's beautiful because normally we just say, oh, I'll give it to you when you come or okay, I'm not gonna fight you on this. What she said was you can do it on your own online at home or you can come in and do it online here. So either way, it's gonna be the exact same process. You're just doing it on your leisure or you're coming in early for your appointment and he did it on that day, like an hour after they talked online at home. So I think there's just like.

 

There's ways around everything. So talk to your team, figure out what their holdups are, and then use tricks like that. Like that's seamless and beautiful. Like no matter what it's gonna be online, I'm gonna hand you an iPad and you're gonna do it here, or you can do it at home on your phone or your computer. I truly don't care which one you do, but either way, the team's doing it every single time online. So you don't have a mix and a match of paperwork versus online, because then what happens?

 

is they stop doing it all together. Because the team's like, I don't know where to find the paperwork. I can't read this or I can't do this. And then they stop doing it. So talk to the team, do it every time, vet the companies that integrate and do some trials and then update that paperwork this year. Danae, is there anything else, any last words you can think of that we need to make sure that they're doing to prep for this?

 

Denae Black (21:12.942)

Mm-hmm.

 

Denae Black (21:27.79)

I think the last thing I would touch on is cost, right? Cost is always going to be a big factor on whether or not you move forward with something and trying to make sure that you're getting an ROI. Something like this is hard for you to track, the ROI. But what I would stress is think about how much less paper you're going to be using. Think about how much less toner you're going to be using. And maybe you're one of those practices that bulk orders everything from a printing company.

 

Tiffanie (21:31.663)

Yeah.

 

Tiffanie (21:47.638)

Yeah.

 

Denae Black (21:55.47)

That would no longer be an expense, right? Think about how much time your team spends scanning in those forms. So not only entering in the data, but then scanning those forms into the document center. So all of that, it truly will allow your team to spend more one-on-one time with your patients, focus on patient experience. So when you're thinking about cost,

 

Tiffanie (21:57.593)

I'm sorry.

 

Denae Black (22:21.742)

know that when it comes to new patient forms or when it comes to forms in general, you have a cost associated with that already.

 

Tiffanie (22:30.03)

Yeah, I love that. That was a good point. Okay guys, you got all the details, you got all the info. If you want companies that we recommend, I mentioned a couple here today, but you can always reach out. We're happy to help if you wanna talk about integration, you wanna talk about getting the team on board, like all of those pieces. We do these with teams every single day. We work with teams and doctors on integrating these types of things constantly. So just reach out, hello, at theventilateam.com. We are so happy to help you, or I know that these go up on social.

 

So if you respond on any of our social modalities, then our social team, make sure that all of the messages from Hello or from our socials comes straight to the consulting team. And so we will be the ones that can help you find those answers. And we're just so excited for you guys. Let's make 2024 your best year yet. I can't wait to see what you integrate and please keep us posted. Helloepidental18.com. And when you have a couple of seconds, we'd love to hear your feedback on not only this podcast, but

 

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