Last week, we put in place several key principles around how to keep your schedule consistently flowing the way you want. \u00a0Ideally, that has to do with a daily objective that you wish to achieve for production. \u00a0Most would underestimate the significance of actually orchestrating and owning the schedule.<\/p>\n
You might have expected tips and tricks and formulas. \u00a0But, that\u2019s not what it takes to achieve consistent success in your practice. \u00a0It takes action. \u00a0It takes you and your team (and usually one particular person who is going to drive the schedule forward) paying attention to it \u2013 in the future \u2013 not just in the moment.<\/p>\n
Now, all that said, of course the statement I get back by Doctors is, \u201cYeah, but Scott I need the patients to do my schedule that way\u2026\u201d \u00a0Or they will say, \u201cWell I don\u2019t have any anchor appointments or not enough for one a day right now\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Ultimately, while that might be correct in the given circumstances, it is not the first place to focus. \u00a0If you do not take control over the schedule no matter how busy or slow you are, then it will always come as feast or famine. \u00a0It will be productive days and unproductive days. \u00a0Big days and little days. \u00a0It is important to create consistency in schedule because that is what allows you to operate every other part of your practice consistently.<\/p>\n
So, yes, we need the dentistry to build a better schedule but you need the principles and commitments to set your schedule up for success first.<\/p>\n
Now that I\u2019ve beat that up even more than last week, let\u2019s talk about the magic that must happen inside of your practice every single day with every single patient.<\/p>\n
Case Acceptance<\/p>\n
You can use a lot of terms here but we\u2019ll stick with Case Acceptance because I want to really dive deep into the meaning of this and ensure everyone understands that not all case acceptance is created equal.<\/p>\n
Today, my goal is to layout for you the five major success factors to Case Acceptance that when embraced and brought into your culture drive consistent results. \u00a0This will prevent even patient economics and insurance dynamics from affecting the integrity of your practice, diagnosis, and overall case acceptance.<\/p>\n
Before we go there let me explain why I said not all case acceptance is the same. \u00a0That is because many Doctors will say their case acceptance is good and they either mean one of two things or maybe both.<\/p>\n
First, they don\u2019t really know whether it is or not; they have no numbers. \u00a0Second, they mean that \u201cmost\u201d patients \u201cdo something.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, that is NOT case acceptance.<\/p>\n
Case Acceptance is: the comprehensive diagnosis (the total amount of treatment value in the treatment plan) compared to the amount of and value of dentistry the patient actually commits to, pays for, and schedules.<\/p>\n
Of course, you could have some treatment phased in or spread out but the patient gets 100% of the work done over a period of time.<\/p>\n
Generally speaking we are talking about the percent of the treatment presented that patient said yes to.<\/p>\n
This is why this statistic is so skewed because you can get almost everyone to do what insurance pays for or at least get the one problem they came in for in the first place fixed but that isn\u2019t true case acceptance. \u00a0That is going to represent a lower value or percentage of case acceptance. \u00a0We want to be looking at accurate data in order to assess actual performance.<\/p>\n
Here are the five principles of Case Acceptance\u2026<\/p>\n
1st \u2013 Preparation and Awareness of Treatment<\/p>\n
This can be chart reviews as well as paying attention inside of the room. \u00a0 I always say you must \u201cknow thy patient.\u201d \u00a0Every single clinical team member (and really every team member) should study what is going on with each patient coming in today.<\/p>\n
This goes such a long way to bringing the next point into play\u2026<\/p>\n
2nd \u2013 Have a Strategy and a Plan for Engaging Patients with Treatment<\/p>\n
Obviously, in a new patient experience you have a system you follow to \u2018build the case.\u2019 \u00a0However, for existing patients, what\u2019s the plan for the patient that has said no for years on something? \u00a0How are we going to go about it today? \u00a0What\u2019s the plan for introducing the idea of invisalign or screening for sleep or moving to a new recommended treatment?<\/p>\n
The best practices operate with specific strategies for each patient category.<\/p>\n
Of course, any strategy should utilize things like my 3 P\u2019s (Pictures, Proof, and Pain), as other ways to bring the treatment to life for each patient.<\/p>\n
Next, maybe the biggest shortcoming of all\u2026<\/p>\n
3rd \u2013 Communication Across All People<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not just with your team and not just with patients, but with everyone.<\/p>\n
You need to really grasp and take to heart my Triangles of Trust. \u00a0Those that are in the Mastery Series and Advanced Levels, you understand that these go beyond just handoffs and transfers into tag teams with integrated conversations with your patients.<\/p>\n
The reason why communication brings about consistent case acceptance is because you can\u2019t possibly know how a patient feels or what a patient is thinking unless you ask.<\/p>\n
When I\u2019m helping an already high performing Doctors improve case acceptance, it almost always comes back to more candid conversations and more authority with patients by guiding them to the right solution and helping them get over the hump of money or fear or whatever is standing in their way.<\/p>\n
However, no one conversation can stand alone. \u00a0All communication in your practice must flow and be linked together otherwise it loses its impact. \u00a0And I can tell you when you make your communication more consistent, you will make your case acceptance more consistent.<\/p>\n
4th \u2013 Of course, I\u2019m going to say you have to present Total Comprehensive Treatment<\/p>\n
Today\u2019s Report is not about that so I\u2019m not going to elaborate too much. \u00a0I could take every one of these points and write for weeks on them.<\/p>\n
The bottom line is you must have a system for how treatment is presented effectively in order to facilitate case acceptance and carry the momentum from the operatory through to the end.<\/p>\n
I encourage using pictures and a piece of paper to literally demonstrating through words and markers what the treatment is going to be \u2013 the pathway to health. \u00a0I have a very methodical and controlled way of starting with the big picture and going for all the money up front. \u00a0Then working our way down as we need to in order to accomplish one more important thing every time. \u00a0The goal is to secures as high of a percentage as possible of accepted treatment on the TOTAL Treatment Plan.<\/p>\n
Most people start with steps or stages or worse than that visits. \u00a0They never even given themselves a chance to breakthrough schedule plateaus by securing larger amounts of case acceptance.<\/p>\n
5th \u2013 Finally, there has to be Follow-Up.<\/p>\n
I always say more dentistry walks out the door than stays but you don\u2019t have to limit your efforts to only being inside the four walls of the practice.<\/p>\n
The best practices are truly amazing at extending the conversation for those who simply refuse to make a decision today. \u00a0They get the patient in motion, they have next steps, and they follow-up with structured measures (not just when they get around to it or \u201cin a couple weeks\u201d).<\/p>\n
Do not mistake follow-up for letting patients off the hook and being too busy to close cases by saying \u201cI\u2019ll email you.\u201d \u00a0Or worse, \u201cWe\u2019ll call you when we hear back from the insurance.\u201d \u00a0Or whatever other completely unacceptable excuses for not executing on the culmination of every visit \u2013 acceptance, collection, schedule.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s always going to be easier to secure the case acceptance while the patient is still here. \u00a0Playing chase after the fact is tough and often unnecessary \u2013 that is why you have to have a commitment to professional follow-up and keep control of the experience even after the patient leaves.<\/p>\n
With these five leverage points, it\u2019s possible that you are doing all of them to an extent. \u00a0The real value is in asking what can you do better and understanding that the more consistent these 5 Principles are the more consistent your case acceptance will be.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve left out some obvious things that are going to happen to focus on the higher level execution by all team members to take ownership over case acceptance. \u00a0You can insert patients owning their own problems, tough-love, overcoming objections, tracking results at the end of the day and all of these would be right too.<\/p>\n
However, if we are going to stick with being proactive instead of reactive then your commitment to these five and how you bring them to life with every patient will be a difference maker in delivering to you the dentistry that you need to achieve the schedule you want.<\/p>\n
Of course, most of all your goal is to help your patients get healthy and nothing does that more so than case acceptance \u2013 which has to happen first before any dentistry can be done.<\/p>\n
There is a lot to chew on here. \u00a0Remember this: it\u2019s not about how many patients you see, it isn\u2019t even about how many patients say yes, it is about what they say yes to. \u00a0Case Acceptance matters and everything in your practice should be designed to drive and create more comprehensive case acceptance based on your diagnostic approach and treatment philosophy.<\/p>\n
Next week, we\u2019ll be talking about achieving consistent performance with your Team Members. \u00a0Stay tuned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"