419: Don’t Let Your Patients Leave Without Doing This!

Happy Hygiene Month! The Dental A-Team is continuing to focus on a new system each month. Today’s topic is about hygiene reappointment, but the tips can be applied to other areas in the office, too.

Hygienists, you should be reappointing with your patients in the back 98% of the time! Kiera shares how you can do this, how it’ll help you avoid dead time, and why it gets your practice humming along.

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:

0:00:05.6 S1: Hey everyone, welcome to the daily team podcast. I'm your host, Jared, and I have 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 in dental treatment coordinator, schedule filler, office manager, regional manager, practice owner, and I have a team of traveling resultant, or we have traveled over 165 different offices, coaching teams. Yep, you 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 18. Welcome to the dental team podcast.

0:00:50.3 S2: To Oden, ally to Masters. This is Karen, you guys happy hygiene month. If you just don't know, the deal team has what we call our 12 systems. Yes, that's right, we have gone through... We've studied so opening different practices, and we had came up with these 12 systems for a really healthy practice. Everybody asked me, What is a system? And I think the best definition of a system is what Walton said, they said that wealth Disney has predictable mat. They have magic. They're predictable magic. There we go. Let me just get this quote right, guys, it's predictable magic with the systems behind the scenes, so we think oftentimes of magic is being very sporadic, but it can actually be predictable magic and it's through the systems behind the scenes, so a system is something that makes things work like clockwork. You don't have to have a rock or a team member to do it, it's literally a system, so we know our marketing is on a system, we know our posting is on a system, the way we run our campaigns is on a system, we know the way we attract new patients is on the system, we know the way that we have constant communication from our team and our leadership team back and forth, that's a system.

0:01:53.1 S2: We also know how we track our finances is a system, watching our overhead and watching your supplies, watching our labs, all those things are on a system, we have a system for our hygiene, how do we do our Perio... What about the way that we see of treatment with our doctor, what about the way that we do re-appointment and hygiene, all of that's a system. What about the way we hire an onboard... That's a system, guys, there's a lot of... Many systems within systems. But we found that there are about 12 specific systems, so every month in the dental team, we focus on one system, and this month you're focusing on hygiene, you guys... All of our clients go through our 12 systems, it's kind of just I feel like a Check Point, so we definitely are aligned with Dennis advisors, they have their periodic table is what it looks like, but it's our elements, and they have their 12 elements of very successful financial wealth and portfolio, and we kind of realized, practices have 12 systems. We want it to be an automatic thing, so every single year you get through all the pieces, shake off the dust on those old systems, and that way you guys are able to make sure that you have a very profitable and very systematic practice.

0:03:00.5 S2: Yes, you add the human touch, yes, you add all those different flares and yes, you update these systems every year, but this way, none of them get lost, so many practice a little bit here we are so good with our new patient experience and then... I don't know what happened to just fell off was because you're a human being and things fall off, so if you guys in, check it out on our web page, the day team dot com, we have our 12 systems on there, so you guys can check them out see how you guys are doing. All of our clients go through full system, so every single month we send over a check list of items, it should be within that system, you can take a look, where are you rocking it, compare... Did we maybe fall off track that we should definitely add to argue an office that actually has your operations may now then... Okay, high five, most offices do not even have this thing completed, and if they do, they're not even maximizing it or utilizing it, so guys, we're putting on a free... You heard, right? Free CE credit event on September 17th.

0:03:54.5 S2: Join us guys, get your tickets registered now, get your team over there, be there because somebody who signs up this week is going to actually get three months of operations manual intensive coaching with our consulting team. So hop on over, guys, it's going to be Friday, September 17th, 60 CE credits for you and your team come workshop style, let's get this operations manna done, let's level it up, let's make sure to use... Right now with hiring and onboarding, we thought this was the best way we could give back to you and your practices, so head on over to the dental team dot com, and I will see you guys Friday, September 17th. So it's kind of like in life, January, we remember in January, we are gonna set goals for the new year, great, that's a check point in time where we check in, we set new goals, well, then we usually fall off and then all of a sudden maybe it's OH, summer's coming and we wanna get each body ready, so hey, health just came back up for us, well then you know the holidays come like, Oh, we should actually get back on family, but...

0:04:51.9 S2: Yeah, what if you had every single month of focus in your personal life and in your business life is that way... You didn't even have to think about it, it was just on auto pilot. What if it was in January, you set goals, then didn't Feuer you focus on love and family relationships, then in March you focus on your health, and then you just kinda kept going through all the pieces that make you human. Well, that's what we wanted to do, is basically have it on auto-pilot for your practice, so this month is all about hygiene, lots of different topics on hygiene, lots of different things, and today I wanted to dive into an area that seems kind of silly, seems kind of just automatic, but it's not... It's missed a lot in a lot of practices, and that is hygiene reappointment, meaning IDENT should be re-appointing their patients in the back and the operator is the fastest easiest way to do it, and so many practices take their patients upfront and have their front office schedule it... And I'm only very surprised if that even happened, the reason being is it's way faster just to do it in the operator versus taking them up front, so what...

0:05:47.3 S2: A lot of hides get hung up on procures me a lot of time, so I wanna give you guys some tips, some pointers, this can also work for dental assistants, can also work for... For an office, so when you're seeing the patient, I'm really pro-blood pressure on all patients, and there are reasons you guys should take blood pressure, but for me selfishly, I do it so I don't forget to get my notes taken in to make my next appointment, so I pop that blood pressure cuff on and I start my note right then and there, usually I can have the bulk of my not already done because most patients are about the same and then just basically do the same thing over and over and over again. So it's pretty easy. I can help me know about 90% done before that blood pressure cuff is off, also if I see on the dental assistant side, but they need another appointment, fantastic, I can look to get that schedule hygienist. That is a great time for you to get their six-month appointment basically made for them, or their three-month appointment made while that blood pressure is going...

0:06:38.9 S2: Just find it. Most people are creatures of habit. Most of the time, if a Monday at 80 am works great. Probably in six months, it's going to work right there too. I typically recommend instead of going six months to the day, you guys close six months and at least today, if not six months and a week, also make sure on those re-appointments, you guys are putting blocks in there for your new patients, your SRP, and if you're struggling to get those primate aces in, pre-block those at least a year in advance, so I always like a year going out, so if we're in August right now, I would have all the way through my August of 2023, allied 2022, we're only in 2021 guys. So in August of 2022, all of my new patient blocks and SRP blocks would already be pre-booked for next year, then when we roll into September, I'm gonna go make blocks in September, then when we go into October, I'm gonna make blocks in October... So this way, I'm always 12 months ahead and I never forget to do these blocks, I said A reminder for the first day of the month that you're in the office, I said A reminder to go make the new patient blocks, typically a hygienist owns this and the reason you wanna have those blocks in there or when we're making these re-appointments, we don't fill up and fill in all the space for those new patients, SPS, perio maintenance that we're going to need in the future.

0:07:49.1 S2: So that way when you guys are scheduling, well, if there's a block there, fantastic, just go to another date, typically it's pretty easy there, so make sure you guys have all those blocks pre-set, and the way I say How many blocks? A lot of people ask me how many blocks per hygienist... Well, first and foremost, I usually don't like my first appointment of the day as a new patient, when they cancel, it's a rough way to start the day, so usually I reserve a new patient spot or on my 100 Am, am I 2 PM, I get it. Those aren't the most convenient times, however, for a new patient, they really wanna come in, they're probably going to make it work if you like, you can have an end of day, but I just don't like new patients canceling and not showing up, and those are prime times for my current patients who are already really great patients, so I usually don't give those up to new patients, however... You're welcome to do it however you like. New patient, an SRP blocks are usually pretty interchangeable, and then basically what I do is I figure out how many new patients and we average per month, divide that by the number of days that we have in the month, and then divide that by the number of hygienist working each day.

0:08:45.1 S2: So for example, let's say that we're averaging 15 new patients in our practice, alright, so we have 15 new patients, we work 16 days in a month on average, that means I need to have between three to four new patient blocks per day to be able to have enough spots for those 50 new patients, so hopefully I've got two or three hygienists, I might put one new patient block per hygienist per day, and then somebody's gonna get double... I try to put one in the morning and one in the afternoon, and then I shake it up throughout the week, so that way everybody gets it spaced out and you have varying times throughout your schedule, so I don't always have my new patients at 10 and 2 I, I do a 90 01, I might do a 730, whatever it is, but when I'm also placing those new patient and SRP blocks, I make sure that they don't leave a 30-minute dead zone. Usually new patient, an SRP are 90 minutes and then that tends to leave a 30-minute gap, so I try to either but those up together, so maybe it's a new patient to new patient, maybe it's a new patient to SAP, maybe it's a new patient, tick child profit, that way, I'm not having dead time, I hate dead time in a schedule drives me notes, I don't like it, so try to make sure you're maximizing those 90 minutes with zero dead time, that way you guys have a really, really clean schedule.

0:09:56.9 S2: So then when you guys are re-appointing, you're gonna take that blood pressure, start your note and then find their next appointment time, impede... It's really great, guys with those kiddos, mom usually doesn't know the schedule, maybe they do, you've got some moms that are really OCD about it, they know their schedule, but for the bulk of you schedule them and say, Mom, I've got your kiddo scheduled at this time, if it doesn't work out in six months, give us a call, we're happy to move you guys, but they're already scheduled, so I usually just make the appointment for my patient and then when they're done, so fantastic. I write it on the card to do the blood pressure, and then at the end of the appointment... Alright, car, I've got you scheduled. It looks like we're gonna see you on August 25th at 40 PM. They might say like, Oh no, I know In August, I'm gonna be gone. But for the book, they're gonna say fantastical, so you then... So it really isn't that hard, and it's a great way for you just to get those appointments pre-made in the back without it taking a lot of extra time, hygienist.

0:10:48.6 S2: I know that that's a big thing for to make sure that this is not taking all your extra time, so I also recommend that hygiene is re-appoint their patient base at 98%. I do not believe that patient should be leaving the practice without an appointment, so guys, when you just automatically assume that they wanna do it, you schedule them if you need to move it, it's very simple at that point, if they're like, Oh, that day doesn't work, you back. Oh, no problem. Do mornings or afternoons? Work best for you. I prefer afternoons. Great, I can do money at 40 PM or I could do Tuesday at 12 PM, which works best for you. This way you're able to quickly find a spot for them, I don't want it to take a lot of time, but I generally should be able to re-appoint 98% of your patients, the objections that they might come up with is, Oh, you guys... I'm Kara garden, I travel a lot, so I might be your patient that's like, Oh, I travel all the time as what you know, you can actually say to me as your patient, you can say, Hey here, I can actually hate to forget about you.

0:11:43.2 S2: I know we can let you slip through the cracks, I would hate to let you slip through the cracks, so why don't I just pop you on in six months, if that time doesn't work, you're out of town, no problem, just give us a call or happy to move you, but this way we don't forget about you and we don't want you slip through the cracks, you guys... I would honestly say yes to that because I know I'm probably going to forget, then I'm gonna try and call you, then I'm gonna try and get in, then it's not gonna work, it's just a mess, but if I'm already on the schedule... Fantastic, I can call you if I need to move, but this way, you guys don't forget about me and do down... I know I won't forget about you either, so that's a great way you can say if it's about schedule or complex, I just say, Not a problem at all, I know your life is so busy, let's just pop you on there that way I don't forget about you. It doesn't work in six months, no problem, we're happy to change up for you, just give us a 48-hour notice at a minimum, and we're happy to accommodate you.

0:12:27.2 S2: You know, you're one of my favorite patients. So the thing... Yes, peleus, you'll have a few Cupid people, but that's okay too. You may have some grumpy young people, we have the covid crank going on, but at the most part, people will say yes, so hygiene, that's really a great spot for you to have them re-appointed, clinical team, also look to make sure every patient before they leave your operator is scheduled for their next hygiene appointment, and if they're not, get them scheduled for hygiene, I think so often in practice is we miss low-hanging fruit around us because we don't look at the patient's already in our practice, we don't make sure all of them have their re-care schedule before they leave the practice, Guys, I've said so many times, people think about dentistry when they're in the dental office when they leave, it's much harder to get them to be on the schedule. So clinical team, make sure all your patients are scheduled for their rear, look for family members on that family chart, get them scheduled for re-care guys, I promise you with every single team member would make sure that all hygiene patients are scheduled before they go up front all of them.

0:13:25.5 S2: 98%. It's almost all of them. I'll let you have one here and there, and then all clinical team, make sure they were all scheduled, further re-care and their family members were schedules or your practice would be thriving, I promise you, but yet we get busy. So I'm gonna give you guys the RE-appointment challenge, think Sure you guys take it on, it's very easy to do. If you guys are using routes, I'm a huge proponent of them. I also look for it in family files, I also think it's just a great way to make it happen. So if you guys take on the reappointment challenge, I promise to your practices will look very different than they do today, and it will be very easy, 'cause if we're doing it one patient at a time, it's a very simple clinical team, when you're doing it, put that blood pressure cuff on this is one of the main reasons I love blood pressure is because it gave me a minute to do my notes 'cause I had to stay in there, take the blood pressure off, and I knew I need to document the blood pressure, so I started my note, had it all in there, I would check their route to see their schedule for their cleaning, if they were...

0:14:21.3 S2: I'd be looking up their next cleaning to make sure I had that done scheduled, I could say, Oh, carat, looks like we don't have a schedule for cleaning. How about I just pop you on the schedule, we've got Wednesday at 4 o'clock with Ken, she's an amazing Hi-genital over. Oh yeah, that sounds great. Thanks for catching that. Done. Easy. Okay, it looks like we don't have Jason schedule. Let's get him scheduled for his cleaning, Kenny's amazing, we can get him scheduled this time. Fantastic, done. So guys, look for these opportunities, look for ways that you can make your patient's lives easier, look for ways that you can get people scheduled and make sure you get that re-appointment up. There are also a lot of doubt analytical softwares, there's divergent, there's practice by numbers or dental Intel, let them know dental team sent you, you guys, we have partnerships with them to help you guys get him for discounted rates, but any of those will also tell you your RE-appointment percentages, I'm really, really sticky. I'm making sure you guys have those re-appointments up very high to ensure that all of our hygiene patients are coming back, so guys, we went through how to block schedule out new patients in SRS, how to get your RE-appointment, how to simplify that, and then also how to ramp it up so they have a huge re-care list that you're having to call all the time, if everyone takes us on, it's very simple, very minimal versus having to do the whole rear list all the time, So...

0:15:33.5 S2: Guys, hope that was helpful for you. As always, if we can help you in any way, shape or form, whether it's around hygiene, whether it's around simple tips and tricks, or you just want somebody have fresh eyes on your practice, let us know that's what we do. That's what we love to do. Hello at the generally team dot com. And as always, guys, thanks. So moralistic on catch, next time on the dental team podcast. Alright, Tenali to listeners.

0:15:55.6 S1: That's a wrap. Thank you so much for listening, and if you love today's Podcast, go leave us a review, it takes you five seconds and your review helps more offices, more practices or team members. Just like you find out about the dental team, thank you guys so much for being a part of my dental team family.