how to avoid holes in dental schedule

Dental Office Tips to Reduce Last Minute Cancelations and Broken Appointments
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Dental Office Tips to Reduce Last Minute Cancelations and Broken Appointments

Hello Friends,

Are same-day broken appointments stressing you out? You leave the office at the end of the day with a beautiful, full schedule for the next day and arrive back at the office in the morning only to have the schedules fall apart at the last minute. Ugh! If this ever happens to you I know how frustrating that can be. Not to mention, it kills production.

In this article, you will find several ways to greatly reduce last-minute schedule changes. I am certain that if you follow each step, you will stress less, make more money, help more patients, and have more fun.  Please print it out and share it with everyone on the team. We need everyone in the office to follow the same protocol/system for you to be successful.  Consider reviewing this at your next huddle or team meeting.

Tips and Ideas to reduce last-minute cancellations and no-shows:

Consistently Be Great! – Do everything to ensure that each and every patient has a great experience during their appointments.  Give them something good to talk about and a reason to keep coming back!

STOP moving appts around! A sure-fire way to aggravate patients, cause them to disrespect your time and the schedule, or for them to think you don’t know what you’re doing is by moving their appointment times. Unless, of course, they have asked to be on your Priority List.  Calling patients to come in early, come in late, or come in on a different day is annoying and I promise you it is hurting your schedule and production. I can’t emphasize this enough –  Respect their time and they’ll respect yours.

Appointment Reminder Systems – Ensure that you have an effective interval set up to remind patients of their appointments and that your message is helping not hurting the practice. For example, Don’t say “Calling to confirm” – it should be “We’re looking forward to seeing you on ____ at ____. OR ____ is looking forward to seeing you…” When is the last time you reviewed your electronic appointment reminder messages and intervals and your appointment confirmation protocol?

Unconfirmed Appointments – If it is 1 day before the appointment and you have a patient or patients that haven’t responded to your appointment reminders, you must pick up the phone and call them.  You shouldn’t be able to look at the day’s schedule during your morning huddle and see unconfirmed appts.

Cancels – Using the word cancel or cancellation sends a poor message to your patients. It tells them that cancellations happen and are expected. We don’t want that. You can say ”this doesn’t happen very often but if for some reason you need to change your reservation with ___, we ask that you please provide us with at least 48 hours’ notice.”

Stay on Time – See your patients at their appointment time. This means they should be seated in the treatment chair on or before their appt time. Avoid running behind schedule. Don’t keep them waiting too long in their chair either (ie: waiting for the doctor to come in for the examination).

Appointments ASAP – If a patient calls (especially a New Patient) to schedule an appointment and they can’t get in for 2 or more weeks you are at risk of that patient calling somewhere else to get an appointment sooner or other life’s distractions and priorities getting in their way moving them to cancel last-minute or no-show. If your schedules are so full that patients are having to wait to get in they might feel like you’re too busy for them or that their dental care needs are not important. If you do not have an immediate opening let the patient know that you’ll place them on your priority list and while it doesn’t happen very often if there is an unexpected change to the schedule and you can see them sooner they’ll be the first to know.

Doctors, if you’re struggling to reach your practice goals or that there is too much chaos in your practice– feel free to contact me for a complimentary, no-obligation 30-minute telephone consultation at bhaydenconsulting@gmail.com to see if a coaching relationship is right for you.

New Patients– Don’t rely on electronic reminders for your new patients. Instead, call and let them know you’re looking forward to meeting them and briefly share with them what to expect during their first visit.

Bad Appointment History – If a patient has a history of not showing up or canceling last minute, please don’t schedule any future appointments for them.

Treatment Plans and Financial Arrangements – Every patient that has an appt. scheduled with the doctor for treatment must have a copy of their treatment plan AND a financial agreement before the appt. DON’T ASSUME that the patient is OK with their financial responsibility simply because you gave them a copy of their treatment plan and they didn’t question the cost.  What often happens is they say OK and schedule and then will no-show or cancel at the last minute.

Hygiene Patients – Schedule their next 3, 4, and 6-month appt when they are at the office. Preferably, the hygienist should always schedule the next appointment from the treatment room. Take a second to stress to the patient how important this appointment is and what you’ll be looking for at their next appt. (It’s not just a cleaning and there is a reason for the recommended appt interval.)

Scheduling Appointments – When scheduling appointments for your patients let them know that this time is being reserved exclusively for them. Also, consider having patients pay their co-pay or leave a deposit at the time of scheduling. Especially, if you’re reserving more than an hour on the doctor’s schedule.

VALUE – Walk-Out Statement – Consider itemizing the hygiene appt walk-out statement to include the no-charge services… ie: Oral Cancer Screening, Nutrition Counseling, Oral Hygiene Instructions, Etc. It is so much more than just a cleaning. Be sure to ALWAYS give the full fee for that day even if they have “100 %” coverage with their insurance. They need to hear the actual dollar amount for each visit. Helps to put more value on the appt.

No-Shows / Late Arrivals – Always acknowledge your no-show/late patients with a call 3-5 minutes past their appt. time.  If you get a voice mail – let the patient know you’re concerned because they missed their reservation. Have a system in place for following up on broken appointments. Don’t allow these patients to slip through the cracks.  

Telephone – The dreaded telephone calls for same-day cancellation attempts from your patients. They can destroy a perfect schedule in a matter of minutes. Stay in control of your schedules. Create a system for how to care for and respond to same-day cancellation attempts. Cancellations are not OK. Work together as a team to come up with scripting guidelines that work for your office. Think of all the different scenarios and reasons patients call to cancel (cost, illness, work, no babysitter, schedule conflicts, etc.) and role-play the best responses. Your goal should be, if appropriate, to respectfully help the patient find a way to keep the appointment as scheduled without threatening or embarrassing them.

If you currently leave it up to the patient to call back and reschedule you are not only creating more work for yourself but you’re putting the office at risk of losing that patient due to inactivity. Reschedule/reappoint the patient while you have them on the phone.

Whatever you do and no matter how desperate you are to fill the schedule DO NOT REAPPOINT habitual offenders! You should never be able to look at the schedule and point out who will most likely cancel or no-show. I’m sure that’s never happened in your office, right? 

If you appreciate and enjoy the complimentary ideas and content that I share each month  – I would LOVE for you to PLEASE take a quick minute to 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.

Sending you wishes for a full and productive schedule… one that doesn’t fall apart!

Friends, if you do not know what your office’s broken appointment and reappointment numbers and percentages look like, including how many of your active patients are unscheduled; please take a good look at what those numbers look like and what systems you have in place to track these patients.  You need to know where you’re at currently to know how to best care for your patients and what your potential for growth is. If your practice management software is Dentrix, Eaglesoft, Practice Web, or Open Dental I can help you quickly get that data. Just let me know via email at bhaydenconsulting.com

For additional scheduling tips and ideas visit here: 12 Tips To Help You Fill Holes In Your Dental Schedules with Productive Appointments

Yours for Greater Success,

Betty – Dental Coach

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

Before you go, would you pretty please do something for me? 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!!

12 Tips To Help You Fill Holes In Your Dental Schedules with Productive Appointments
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12 Tips To Help You Fill Holes In Your Dental Schedules with Productive Appointments

Hello Friends,

Many dental offices are dealing with holes in their schedules and an increase in last-minute schedule changes and broken appointments. Or maybe you have full schedules, but they’re chaotic and not very productive.

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 (and KEEP) appointments. More importantly, we want the schedules to not only be full/busy but productive & healthy.

Here are 12 tips and ideas that won’t require a lot of extra time or expense to help improve your schedules for this fall…

#1. Morning Huddle – At your morning huddle, review schedules for patients coming in without a future hygiene appointment scheduled, any family members due in hygiene, and patients with unscheduled treatment plans.  What is your plan to ensure that these patients leave with their next appointment scheduled?

#2. Broken Appointments – Who is tracking, and how are they tracking your broken appts? More importantly, what proactive steps are taken to reduce or eliminate broken appts in your office?  

Practice Owners – 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 discover areas of opportunity for your practice … please feel free to reach out to me to schedule a complimentary, no-obligation coaching call at bhaydenconsulting@gmail.com.

#3. Telephones – It is imperative that all team members are well-trained to effectively care for the patients and potential patients calling your office.  How many calls end with an appointment scheduled, and how many do not? Are your office phones being answered during the times that patients and potential patients are most likely to call? How many times is the phone ringing before being answered? How often are callers being put on hold?

What about the “shopper” callers, the callers with insurance questions, the callers with questions about whether going to the dentist is safe or not, the callers asking if you’re accepting new patients, how do you know that these calls are being handled and cared for effectively? How do you know that your team members are not inadvertently keeping them from scheduling an appointment and Keeping you from welcoming them into the practice as new patients?

This may not seem like a big deal or related to what I am talking about today, but how the telephone callers are cared for or not cared for has a big impact on your schedules and the growth of your practice.  

#4. Treatment Plan Presentations and Completions – Pull your unscheduled treatment plan reports. Even if you prefer to leave it to your patients to decide when they’re ready to schedule, you certainly can keep in touch with them and continue to gently plant some treatment reminder seeds of urgency, want, and need.

#5. Welcoming New Patients – What are your plans to successfully welcome more new patients into the practice? What are you willing to do differently in order to reach/exceed your monthly new patient goals?

#6. Community – What are some things you can do to get your name out there in the community?  If you’re not already, now is an awesome time to become the “go-to” dentist in your city/town.

What can you and your team do to give back to the community? Hint: I share ideas with you each month to do just that. Are you following my monthly emails? If not, take a second and sign up/subscribe. This way, you won’t miss a single idea!

#7. Reviews & Recommendations – This one is super easy! Let your patients do some of the work, and invite them to do the talking for you. Give them something good to talk about and spread to their friends, family, neighbors, and co-workers. How? Consistently deliver excellent experiences via the telephone and in-person at their appointments. Make it easy for them to leave a review on Facebook and Google.

Please do not underestimate the power of “fresh” online reviews and recommendations to grow your practice.

#8. Insured Patients – Mid-September, early October start your end-of-year insurance “use it or lose it” reminders and campaigns.  Patients tend to wait until the last minute to try and squeeze in a dental appointment to use their remaining benefits – encourage them to beat the end-of-the-year rush.

#9. In-Office Savings Plan –   If your office offers an in-office savings plan, create some campaigns to let more uninsured people and local small businesses know about your awesome and affordable in-office savings plan.

#10. Continuing Education and Team Building – The fall season may be the perfect time to schedule some in-office continuing education and training. As well as some fun team-building activities.

#11. Exceed Expectations – Spend more quality time with the patients who do come in for their appointments.

#12. Celebrate your Success! –  This will require a team effort to enjoy productive and healthy schedules for the rest of this year and beyond so please be sure to find ways to celebrate your success. Reward the behavior that you want to see more of! 

BONUS TIP! – Take advantage of your social media pages and Google My Business Account to share office happenings, dental health tips, community news, and to feature different dental services/treatments that you offer.

If you appreciate and enjoy the complimentary ideas and content that I share each month  – I would LOVE for you to PLEASE take a quick minute to leave me a review/recommendation on Google or Facebook. Simply click the following links:    GOOGLE   and/or  FACEBOOK Thank you so much!!

I am wishing you all the healthiest and happiest schedules for this Fall!

~Betty – Dental Coach

Before you go, would you kindly please do something for me? 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!!

Quick Fix Tips to Fill Unexpected Holes in the Dental Hygiene Schedule
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Quick Fix Tips to Fill Unexpected Holes in the Dental Hygiene Schedule

Hello Friends,

Holes in the dental hygiene schedule, why do we dread this so much? Because, unfilled appointments, canceled, or missed appointments all kill profitability.

So what do you do? You probably are desperate for a quick fix to fill the holes in the schedule. Right? Well, I’ll help you out by sharing some ideas to fill the hygiene schedule as a quick fix. However, I must say a quick fix is typically only a temporary fix. If holes in the schedule are becoming the norm around your office you need something more than a quick fix to figure out why this is happening and work to prevent your hygiene schedule from looking like Swiss cheese every week.

Doctors, if you’re struggling to reach your practice goals or want to enjoy healthier and more productive schedules – feel free to contact me for a complimentary, no-obligation 30-minute telephone consultation at bhaydenconsulting@gmail.com to see if a coaching relationship is right for you.

Note, this isn’t the time to point fingers or start blaming someone for having holes in the schedule. Work together, as a team to fill these holes. Ideally, the hygienist should be involved in making these calls to patients, etc. Patients are more likely to respond when it’s their beloved hygienist calling them. Besides, the hygienist(s) are obviously the one(s) with the extra time. So the ideas I share are directed to the hygiene department with the goal of them becoming productive, happy, and profitable.  (Again, you will want to at a later date, work together as a team to determine why this is happening and create solutions to repair the breakdown.) Here are some tips for creating healthier hygiene schedules: https://bettyhaydenconsulting.com/2020/09/01/ten-steps-to-create-healthy-and-productive-fall-dental-hygiene-schedules/

On to the ideas for a quick (temporary) fix:

how to fill holes in dental hygiene schedule
  • Priority List – Do you have any patients that would like to come in at an earlier date for their hygiene appointment?  Call them and let them know you have an unexpected change in the schedule (Refrain from saying you had a cancelation) and can see them sooner.
  • Cancellation/Missed Appt List – Do you have any patients on these lists that can be called? (BTW: If you’re not looking at this report each week, you should be!)
  • Family Members – Check for other family members due for their hygiene appt. Is there someone coming in with hygiene that has family members that are also due in hygiene that may want to take one of those open slots?
  • Doctors Schedule – Check the doctors’ schedule for any patients that may be due for their hygiene appt and are coming in around the time that needs to be filled in hygiene. Invite them to take care of their hygiene wellness appointment at the same time.
  • Incentives – Offer an Incentive for accepting a last-minute appointment. For example, complimentary fluoride, teeth whitening, small gift, or gift card. Use your social media platforms to announce this awesome today (or tomorrow) only opportunity.
  • Continuing care/past-due List – Get on the phone and with an enthusiastic and positive voice make some calls to your patients that are due or past due in hygiene. (Vary the times you make these calls. You’ll reach more patients this way.)
  • Social Media – Engage with your patients, potential patients, and local businesses on Facebook, Instagram, etc. For ideas see: https://bettyhaydenconsulting.com/2020/11/05/dental-office-social-media-platform-tips-and-content-ideas/
  • Spend more time with your patients. If you have open time that couldn’t be filled, take this opportunity to discuss better home care tools, update their information and medical history, do full perio charting, talk about cosmetic services, any recent continuing education courses, place sealants, apply desensitizing agent to any sensitive teeth, take impressions for whitening trays, review incomplete treatment with them, ask them if they’ll kindly leave a review on Google or Facebook, mention how dental gift certificates make great gifts, etc.

Just a reminder before making any calls, it would be a good idea to check your patient’s account balance, remaining insurance benefits/any frequency limitations, and review their clinical notes. Also, be sure to document all calls, conversations, and correspondence made to or with the patient.

Note: If at all possible, try to avoid moving patients’ appointments around to fill in gaps. It can aggravate the patient. It’s always best to keep their appointment as scheduled – they reserved that time for a reason.

If the holes in your schedule are a few weeks out you can try these ideas:

  • Reactivate Patients – Send out “We Miss You” letters to your patients that haven’t been in for a year or more.
  • Special Offers – Focus on a particular service or group of patients to target with special offers or prizes on a day that has a lot of holes. For example, Mouthguards  / Teeth Whitening / Sealants / Desensitizing Agents / Back to School / Spring Cleaning / Kids day / Senior day.
  • Fun Themed days – Superhero, Luau, BBQ, Western, Decades Day, Disney, Sports, etc.

Don’t miss out on any of the ideas that I share each month! Are you receiving my complimentary Practice Management and Marketing Ideas in your email each month? If not, please start following us today. If you prefer, send me your email address (to bhaydenconsulting@gmail.com) and I will send you an invitation to follow my blog.

Despite your best efforts to fill the schedule, you may still end up with some holes that just couldn’t be filled. No worries, there is plenty to do to remain productive during this time.

During downtime:

  • Get on the phone and make continuing care calls.
  • Pull Incomplete hygiene treatment reports and call, send postcards, emails, texts, or letters to your patients.
  • Make calls, send emails, postcards, letters, etc. to your patients that are due, past due, or almost due in hygiene.
  • Create some fun and educational Videos – (how to brush, how to floss, what to do in a dental emergency? how much sugar is in your drink? What type of mouthwash should you use? Manual vs Electric Toothbrush, Healthy vs Unhealthy Snacks, Why wear a mouthguard, what type of toothpaste is best? etc.)
  • Thoroughly clean and stock treatment rooms.
  • Get out and visit area businesses. Introduce the office, take them a small gift and a “let’s get acquainted” special offer.
  • Discuss some marketing (practice growth) ideas for the office.
  • Continuing Education. Watch a webinar or video, read a manual, etc. Improve your clinical skills, knowledge of new technology and procedures, telephone scripting, office protocols, etc.
  • Take a tour of the office and look for any areas that could use some improvements, cleaning, and changes.

I hope these ideas provide you with a quick fix to fill those holes in your schedule.

Here are some tips for reducing last-minute changes to the hygiene schedule: https://bettyhaydenconsulting.com/2021/03/31/dental-office-tips-and-ideas-to-reduce-same-day-broken-appointments/

It always brightens my day to hear from you! If you appreciated these complimentary ideas I  would love for you to please take a minute to leave me a review/recommendation here on GOOGLE and/or FACEBOOK.  Thank you!!

Yours for Greater Success!

~Betty

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