It might not be a good sign if….

If your phone is answered by a team member who sounds like they hate their job and life (they probably do),  not a good sign. If your team members, and YOU, complain daily about having to go to work, or BE at work, not a good sign. If there is a specific team member that seems to grate on everyone’s nerves, including yours, (they probably do) not a good sign. If your phone is answered by a team member who sounds like they are out of breath,  like Darth Vader, overworked, they ran 2 miles to answer the phone or speak at the speed of sound, not a good sign

• If your phone is answered by a team member who talks so slow with jumbled verbiage, or so unenthusiastic that it makes you wonder if they took a tranquilizer prior to work, not a good sign.

• If your phone is answered by an answering service who immediately cuts patients off by stating “I’m just an answering service”, not a good sign.

• If your phone is answered by someone who feels they have the right to hang up on an invited follow up call, not a good sign

• If your phone is answered by someone, who, well, for lack of a better description is just totally clueless, not a good sign.

• If you’ve had patients complain that your answering service sounded like their calls were being answered from within a bar, not a good sign

• If you’ve have patients tell you they are never coming to your practice again because of a specific employee, not a good sign

• If your phone is actually answered with “Dental Office”, not a good sign

• If your phones are not answered and your schedule not worked  40 hours a week and have patient connection/availability, not a good sign

• If you don’t answer phones phones during “lunch” with a voice mail telling patients that you are at lunch (what they hear is “Hey, your call is not important to us right now, we’re at lunch – even though the patient calling is probably on THEIR lunch and it’s the only time they CAN call!)  not a good sign

• If your answering machine states you’ll start answering your calls at 2 pm (you know, after your lunch) and a patient is calling at 2:05 and they are still getting that message and the same voice mail, not a good sign

• If your phone isn’t answered even during normal working hours but always sent to voice mail, not a good sign.

• If you don’t even have voice mail or an answering machine during off hours, not a good sign.

• If a patient leaves a voice mail expecting a return call and has to call back multiple times to speak to someone because no one ever returned their call, not a good sign

• If your voicemail or answering machine message sounds like a monotone script that is sped read to the point where a patient has to call back 3 times to get the info they need from it, not a good sign.

• If you have what you know to be a stellar program or service for your patients, yet it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere or has stalled, not a good sign (we know with 100% accuracy what offices are successful with certain programs/services and which ones aren’t based on the first 2 phone calls)

• If a new patient calls your office and is full of questions that are abruptly answered with no proactivity in building a relationship, patient engagement and getting the patients scheduled, not a good sign.

• If a new patient, or patient enters your practice and makes it to be seated in a reception chair, opens a magazine and is halfway through reading a recipe before their presence is acknowledged, not a good sign.

• If at any time a patient or new patient is made to feel confused as to where they go, where the restrooms are, or how your systems go, not a good sign.

• If your first patient of the day or first patient after lunch are seated late, not a good sign

• If the Dr. and entire team does not personally introduce themselves to each new patient, not a good sign

• If patients complain that they never see the Dr at their appointments, not a good sign

• If patient communication preferences are not updated at each recare visit, not a good sign

• If you have no viable phone numbers for a patient who was just in last week, not a good sign

• If every single patient is not thanked upon checking out, not a good sign

• If a patient is left in a treatment room alone for an extended period of time, or in silence with a team member who doesn’t engage with them, not a good sign

• If a patient has been promised a follow-up and the follow up never happens, not a good sign

• If you gave up morning huddles because nobody was showing up, you didn’t show up, or because it becomes a bitch fest or you sit there in silence, not a good sign

• If you have no systems, protocols or accountability in your office, not a good sign

• If you have no idea what your new patient, insurance aging, account aging, past due recare or undone treatment lists look like, not a good sign

• If you have team members that are facebooking, tweeting or texting during patient care time, not a good sign

• If your patient, appointment, ledger, financial, clinical and charting notes are not STELLAR, not a good sign

• If your appointments are not confirmed going into your day, not a good sign

• If proper diagnostic xrays, narratives, perio charting, subscriber ID’s and insurance requisite information is not up to date, systematic and precise, not a good sign

• If your temporary dental assistant smells like cat urine and falls asleep in a chair, not a good sign

• If you have money that mysteriously disappears from team members purses during work hours, not a good sign

• If your assistant has to get up more than once during treatment to retrieve a forgotten instrument on a regular basis, not a good sign

• If you are scheduled for an inspection and your team look at you like deers in headlights, not a good sign

• If a clinical assistant asks where the clinical manuals are, not a good sign

• If an employee spends half of their day in the restroom, not a good sign

• If nobody knows when the last sterilization spore strip was ran, (or what it even is??) not a good sign

• If you look at your clinical inventory and you have expired product from years past, not a good sign

• If team members talk negatively about each other, YOU or even worse, patients, not a good sign

• If you have a team member who refuses to take out the trash, clean their room or support the team effort of working together efficiently (because “they don’t get paid to do that”) to keep the patient flow smooth or all be able to leave at the same time, not a good sign

• If you don’t have multiple financial options available for your patients, not a good sign

• If you don’t have SIGNED financial agreements with detailed F/A conversations noted, not a good sign

• If you are always asking, “Hey, what happened to So & So patient” or “Hey, is So & So’s crown back” or “What happened to our schedule this week”, not a good sign

• If you don’t have daily goals for not only production, but for yourself and your team members, not a good sign

While this blog is meant tongue in cheek, it does give a few honest points for reflection.