end of year insurance letters

Fall Dental Office Management and Leadership Ideas for October 2022
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Fall Dental Office Management and Leadership Ideas for October 2022

Hello Friends,

October is the start of your final quarter for the year. What do you have planned to help make this your best fourth quarter ever?

Here are some office management reminders and leadership ideas for October 2022

October is Employee Ownership Month – Encourage and lead your employees to take on an ownership mentality. The benefits: Taking ownership of your work helps with motivation in your job role, as it empowers you to ask questions, develop ideas, provide solutions to problems, be proactive instead of reactive, and ask for constructive feedback.  Employees can be the driver behind the success of the practice. It is vital that you provide your team with the support and resources they need to develop and become more engaged.

Doctors, if you would like to grow and improve your dental practice and have wondered what it might be like to work with me and what coaching is all about or would like to learn what opportunities for improvement exist in your practice... please feel free to reach out to me to schedule a complimentary, no-obligation coaching call at bhaydenconsulting@gmail.com.

Employee Appreciation Gift – Taco Day 4th – Bring in tacos for lunch for the team to enjoy.

Boss’s Day: October 17th – Plan now to make this a special day for your boss(es).  (Usually, it is on the 16th but moved it to the 17th because it fell on a weekend day.)  Plan now to make this a special day for your boss(es).

Practice Management Reminders & Ideas: 

Insurance Use it or Lose it Reminders – Did you get your end-of-year insurance dental benefit, HSA, and FSA use it or lose it reminder letters/emails/texts/calls out? 

Stay on Time & Take Control of your Schedule – If you’re often running behind schedule, investigate the reason(s) why. If you know the why… change whatever it is causing you to stray from the schedule.  If it’s your schedule that is the problem, remember this, you have control of who, what, when, and how the appointments are scheduled. Arriving at the office with plenty of time before the first scheduled patient, reserve time/holds for new patients, perio patients, and emergencies, expect your patients to arrive on time, never wait on hygiene exams, calculate the actual amount of time it takes to do procedures, and control the schedules, these things will help you stay on time and enjoy smoother, productive, and less chaotic days.

Do you like the ideas that I share each month? If you do, would you kindly leave me a review/recommendation on Google or Facebook, please? Simply click the following links:   GOOGLE   and/or  FACEBOOK Thank you so much! – Looking forward to hearing from you!

Looking for Marketing and additional Practice Growth Tips & Ideas for October? Check these out:

Here: October’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month Dental Office Ideas

Here: Tips and Ideas for October’s National Dental Hygiene Month

Here: Marketing and Practice Growth Ideas for October

Wishing you all the very best October!

Yours for Greater Success,

~Betty – Dental Coach

P.S. Before you go, I would LOVE for you to PLEASE leave me a review/recommendation on Google or Facebook. Simply click the following links:    GOOGLE   and/or  FACEBOOK Thank you so much!!

I would love the opportunity to work along with you and your team to help you set and exceed your practice goals. If you would like to schedule a no-obligation, complimentary consultation to learn how our coaching program works, please email me at bhaydenconsulting@gmail.com.

Dental Office Leadership, Management, and Marketing Tips and Ideas for November 2020
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Dental Office Leadership, Management, and Marketing Tips and Ideas for November 2020

Hello Friends,

The New Year is just around the corner – it’s understandable that for many 2021 can’t get here soon enough! While that may be true for you too; please, take some time to consider where you are at with your goals for this year. How do you want to end this year? What do you want November and December to look like?

Would you like to increase your production, collections, and new patients? How about reappointing more of your unscheduled/inactive patients? If yes, these ideas that I am sharing with you, when implemented, WILL help you increase production, attract more new patients, build relationships within the community, as well as exceed your established patients’ expectations. 

For the last several years, a few times each month here on my website I share complimentary dental office leadership, marketing, and management tips and ideas. Are you automatically receiving my email post updates to your inbox? If not, PLEASE take a second and follow today or send me your email address and I will send you an invitation to follow. This way, you won’t miss a single idea. Feel free to share my blog with your dental friends. ~ Thank you!

Leadership, Management, and Marketing Tips & Ideas

November 2020

Leadership Tips & Ideas:

“The single biggest way to impact an organization is to focus on leadership development. There is almost no limit to the potential of an organization that recruits good people, raises them up as leaders and continually develops them.” – John Maxwell

Employee Appreciation – National Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day: 15th – How is the office refrigerator looking? Time for a good cleaning? After you empty it of all expired foods and give it a good cleaning inside and outside…why not stock it with beverages and healthy snacks for the team to enjoy? It might also be a good time to post a reminder for EVERYONE to remember to ALWAYS clean up after themselves. 

Practice Management Tips & Ideas:

Incomplete Treatment & Insurance Maximum Renewals – Do you have any patients with incomplete treatment or ones that are due/past due in hygiene with remaining insurance benefits that are going to run out at the end of this year? Do what you can to help them see the need and value in scheduling an appointment this month before the end of the year rush really shifts into high gear! 

Have you followed up with a call(s) to your patients that haven’t responded to your use it or lose it letters/emails? If you didn’t get your letters and emails sent out I encourage you to take action now. Would you like a sample Use it or Lose it letter? Email me at bhaydenconsulting@gmail.com and I will gladly send one over to you.

Do you know how many of your active patients have a future appointment and how many do not? Do you know how many of your patients have unscheduled treatment plans and money remaining on their insurance for this year?

To help you get that data quickly, like within minutes – if your PMS is either Dentrix, Eaglesoft, or Open Dental you can request a complimentary, no-obligation practice data snapshot here: Game-Changing Awareness from Dental Intelligence  – Within minutes we’ll identify your practice’s strengths and uncover hidden opportunities.  I am happy to assist you with this at no charge and with absolutely no obligation to do anything further with me. 

Scheduling – What steps have you taken to ensure your schedules will be able to accommodate those patients that wait until the last minute to use their dental benefits before the year ends?

Marketing Tips & Ideas

Candy Buy Back – If you’re starting off the month of November hosting a Candy Buy Back event…be sure to promote it with posts and videos via your social media platforms, and alert the local TV news, and online & print newspapers too.

World Kindness Week: 8th – 14th AND Random Acts of Kindness Week: 16th – 23rd – Time to spread some kindness!  Here are a few ideas…

  • Give your patients that come in for an appointment a special surprise gift or treat.
  • Deliver gifts to a few of the local businesses.
  • Reach out to your inactive, unscheduled patients to let them know you’re thinking about them.
  • Is there a patient coming in this month for treatment that is experiencing serious financial hardship and would benefit from some extra kindness by you donating some of their dental treatment?
dental coach betty hayden kindness

Black Friday – Offer Special Pricing on Teeth Whitening, Electric Toothbrushes, Ortho Consultation, or a New Patient Visit.

Cosmetic Dentistry Opportunity:

Many of your patients will soon be attending end of the year office parties/events either in person or via Zoom.  Now is a great time to help them see how they can easily get their smile ready for the camera with teeth whitening and other cosmetic treatment/procedures.

Patient & Community Educational Idea:

November is Diabetes Month –

All month-long share posts on your social media platforms regarding the importance of regular preventive dental visits to the dentist. When you have diabetes, high blood sugar can take a toll on your entire body — including your teeth and gums.

Dental Office Tips and Ideas for Diabetes Month

International Stress Awareness Day: 4th    – Share tips on how to reduce stress & the relationship between stress and oral health. Service/Treatment Feature: Mouthguards.

Social Media Post Ideas to Improve Engagement during the month of November

National Peanut Butter Lovers Month

Childrens’ Book Week: 9th -15th

National Brush Day: 1st (Share videos of proper brushing techniques and how to choose which toothbrush is best)

X-Ray Day: 8th (Why x-rays important to your dental health)

Flossing Day: 27th (Share video demonstrating flossing techniques and tools)

Did you enjoy these tips and ideas?   I would love and truly appreciate for you to please take a second to leave a review/recommendation for me here on GOOGLE and/or FACEBOOK

Yours for Greater Success,

~Betty (Dental Coach)

P.S. Please stop by and say hello to me on  Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and Pinterest

End of Year Dental Insurance Benefits Reminders, Tips, and Ideas (Use it or lose it)
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End of Year Dental Insurance Benefits Reminders, Tips, and Ideas (Use it or lose it)

Hello Friends,

Have you had an opportunity to start reminding your patients to take advantage of any remaining dental insurance benefits before they expire at the end of year?

If not, this is a great time to get started on your “Use it or Lose it!” letters, calls, texts, and emails to your patients. This is for all of your patients that have dental benefits that renew on January 1st and/or patients with FSA or HSA dollars that expire at the end of the year.

Especially helpful for your patients that are /pastdue/due/or due this year for their hygiene visit and/or with treatment that is yet to be started or needs to be completed and their remaining dental insurance maximums are getting ready to expire.

Time to remind them to Use it or Lose it! – Get your letters, emails and text messages out to your patients reminding them to use any insurance benefits they have remaining for the year to complete any needed treatment or for their continuing care hygiene appointment before they lose them.

Remember, the closer it gets to the end of the year the more difficult it becomes to get them to schedule and you may not even have room in your schedule to accommodate them.

Your goal is to get them from the filing cabinet/computer to the schedule!

Personalize  – When mailing out remaining maximum letters, be sure to customize for each patient according to their treatment plan. This will help to re-create the urgency and value for treatment.  For some patients, it will take some type of additional incentive to get them to act. Perhaps, include a gift certificate for $ off of their treatment if it’s completed and paid for by December 31st. Not redeemable for cash. Or the opportunity to enter a raffle for a really great prize!

Need ideas for what to include in the reminder letter? Feel free to email me at bhaydenconsulting@gmail.com and I will send you a sample letter that you can customize for your office. 

Take this opportunity to add a P.S. message to the end of your letter, telling your patients all about your specials on teeth whitening. Many people at this time of year are looking to whiten their teeth for their end of year celebration family photos, or to buy gifts for family and friends.

For example… 

P.S. Now is a great time to whiten & brighten your smile for your end of year celebration photos. We have some fantastic whitening specials! Teeth whitening gift cards also make a wonderful gift.

P.P.S. Did you know we are on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter? “Like” us on Facebook at … and “follow” us on Instagram, and Twitter at …  / This way you can stay up to date with all our office events & news plus have a chance at exclusive offers & contests.

Mailing Tip –  Use a bright-colored envelope and neatly hand-write the name and address. Use a “live” stamp. This will take a little more time to do but your patients are more likely to open an envelope that looks like it’s from a friend and not their dentist.

Phone Calls – About a week after you mail out your letters, go ahead and start calling them to see if they received the letter and to schedule them an appointment. Please don’t rely on electronic reminders or snail mail as your only method of communication – reach out to your patients with friendly telephone calls too.

Document – Be sure to document that a letter was mailed, phone calls were made and what type of response you received from each patient.

Important Reminder – Before sending out these letters and making calls to your patients be sure to review your upcoming appointment schedule… Where is your open chair time? Will pre-blocking some open time be helpful? Also, before scheduling last-minute appointments that require lab work at the end of the year be sure to communicate with your lab guy/gal that they can, in fact, get these cases back to you in time.

Friends, Do you know how many of your active patients have a future appointment and how many do not? Do you know how many new patients you are welcoming into the practice AND how many patients you’re losing each month?  To help you get that data quickly, like within minutes – if your PMS is either Dentrix, Eaglesoft, or Open Dental you can request a complimentary, no-obligation practice data snapshot here: Game-Changing Awareness from Dental Intelligence  – Within minutes we’ll identify your practice’s strengths and uncover hidden opportunities.  I am happy to assist you with this at no charge and with absolutely no obligation to do anything further with me

Social Media – Use your social media platforms to remind your patients to use their dental benefits before the end of the year.

Dental Office Insurance Renewal Reminders Betty Hayden Consulting

Wishing you all a full schedule for the end of the year!

If you enjoy the complimentary ideas that I share each month, I would love and truly appreciate for you to please leave a review/recommendation for me on Google or Facebook here are the links  GOOGLE and/orFACEBOOK

Have you signed up to receive my complimentary dental marketing and practice management ideas that are sent right to your email inbox each month? If not, take a second and sign up. Or send me your email address and I will send you an invite to follow. This way, you won’t miss a single idea!

Yours for Greater Success,

~Betty

P.S. Please stop by and say hello to me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and Pinterest

Dental Office Marketing, Leadership, and Management Tips and Ideas for September 2020
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Dental Office Marketing, Leadership, and Management Tips and Ideas for September 2020

Hello Friends,

“What does the month of September typically look like in your office? Do you struggle to fill the schedule? Or do you find that it is a productive month for you?”

Those are the questions I asked you all last year because I always encourage my dental office teams to be proactive by taking steps to create/design what they want their schedules, production, collections, and patient growth to look like for each month. Why wait until the end of the month to say “wow, that month was awful” or “wow, that was a great month”… and wonder, how did we do that?

Little did we know that the year 2020 would bring so many changes to our world and negatively impact the schedules in ways we could have never anticipated.

Now, here in August 2020, many offices are facing the potential for the weakest fall schedules they have ever experienced. Your schedules may actually look pretty good for September as you have been reappointing patients that had appts during the shut down. It may even look better than ever. So if you’re busy right now does it even matter what the schedule looks like for October and November? After all, there is still plenty of time to fill all of those holes, right?

For numerous reasons, it matters greatly what your schedules look like for this fall and as for having plenty of time to fill those holes, well, we know what happens with time… it goes by very quickly, especially when we’re busy!

Typically, a full hygiene schedule today means a full doctor schedule tomorrow – why is that? Approximately, 75% of restorative needs are discovered during hygiene patient visits.

Unfortunately, when there is that open chair time with no production to collect on, your overhead expenses continue without letup.

This isn’t just about money though – our focus should always be on helping our patients smile healthier and happier. When Your Patients Are Healthy – The Practice Is Healthy. To help make our patients healthier we need them to schedule appointments.

The ideas that I am sharing with you for September will help you reactivate and reappoint patients, attract more new patients, build relationships within the community, as well as exceed your current patients’ expectations.

Dental Office Leadership, Management, and Marketing Tips and Ideas for September 2020

dental coach betty hayden fall dental schedule tips

Leadership Tips & Ideas:

“Leaders become great, not because of their power, but because of their ability to empower others.” -John Maxwell

Empower your team to focus on the possibilities of what a healthy fall schedule can look like and how that is a benefit not only to your patients but to your employees as well. Think beyond what you’ve always done to get by or your current perceived limitations– get creative with your methods for staying in touch with your current patients, reaching out to inactive patients, welcoming more new patients, and learning new things as a team to keep things fresh and motivating.

Employee Appreciation Idea – September is Self-Care Awareness Month – Self-Care has never been more important than it is right now! Give a small gift of appreciation to your employees that encourages self-care.  It could be a gift card or actual gifts. (ie: spa products, chocolate, books, essential oils, teas, waterbottle, etc.)

Practice Management Tips & Ideas:

Unscheduled Treatment Plans & Hygiene Continuing Care – Reach out to all your patients with incomplete treatment plans or that are past-due in hygiene. Encourage them to schedule their appointment during the months of September, October, and November.

Insurance Renewal Letters – Send out your “Use it or Lose it reminder texts, emails, and letters.

Betty Hayden Dental Coach End of Year Insurance Renewal Reminders

Friends, do you know what your schedules look like for the fall months? Do you know how many of your active patients have a future appointment and how many do not? Do you know how many new patients you are welcoming into the practice AND how many patients you’re losing each month?  To help you get that data quickly, like within minutes – if your PMS is either Dentrix, Eaglesoft, or Open Dental you can request a complimentary, no-obligation practice data snapshot here: Game-Changing Awareness from Dental Intelligence  – Within minutes we’ll identify your practice’s strengths and uncover hidden opportunities.  I am happy to assist you with this at no charge and with absolutely no obligation to do anything further with me. 

Marketing Tips and Ideas: (Exceed Expectations for your current patients and the potential new patients that you engage with in your community.):

Theme: Fall in Love with a Beautiful & Healthy Smile

Focus: Preventive & Cosmetic Services

Giving-Away – Drawing for a Fall Themed Gift Basket / Patients can enter the drawing by leaving a review on Google and/or Facebook, referring their friends & family, and for coming in for their appts in September.

dental coach betty hayden fall marketing ideas for September

Local Business Marketing Opportunity: 

September is National Honey Month: Give away little jars of honey with a label or tag that says, for example, “Thank you for Bee-ing an Awesome Neighbor!” or “Our Nurses are Sweet as Honey!”  OR  to your referring offices you can say” Your Referrals Are Sweet As Honey – Thank you!”

Patient & Community Educational Idea:

September 1st – 7th is National Nutrition Week – You could do a quick Facebook live video and/or post content to your social media platforms all about Nutritious School Snack Options. Perhaps, you could even create a cute, simple hand-out for your patients with a list of nutritious snack options and the surprisingly unhealthy snacks.

Social Media Post Ideas to Improve Engagement during the month of September:

World Alzheimer’s Month

National Fruit & Veggie Month

Sweet Corn Week: 3rd – 7th 

Random Acts of Kindness Day: 1st

dental coach betty hayden kindness

Be Late for Something Day: 5th / But not your dental appointment! Here is why it’s so important for you to arrive on time for your appointments…

Mouthguard Day: 7th

Dental Office Tips and Ideas Sports Safety

Grandparents Day: 13th

World Heart Day: 29th

Do you enjoy the complimentary ideas that I share each month?  I would love and truly appreciate for you to please leave me a review/recommendation here on GOOGLE and/or FACEBOOK . Thank you! 🙂

Wishing you all the healthiest and happiest September!

Doctors, if you would like to grow and improve your dental practice and have wondered what it might be like to work with me and what coaching is all about… please feel free to reach out to me to schedule a complimentary, no-obligation coaching call at bhaydenconsulting@gmail.com.

Are you receiving my complimentary Dental Practice Management and Marketing Ideas via your email each month? If not, please follow today or send me (bhaydenconsulting@gmail.com) your email address and I will send you an invitation to follow. This way, you won’t miss a single idea. 

Yours for Greater Success,

~Betty – Dental Coach