Dental Support Specialties Blog

Eliminate Cancellations? When donkey’s fly and hell freezes over maybe!

To quote one of my favorite dental guru’s, Howard Farran, (www.DentalTown.com) “To eliminate cancellations and fails you might as well pick up the earth and throw it into the sun”.  I LOVE this! Everyone is looking for the magic pill that will cure this ill of dental practices everywhere…………

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there is no magic pill, no quick fix, no one system that is ever going to eliminate cancellations and no-shows. None. The only thing you can do takes hard work; Have the best systems in place, follow them consistently and be prepared with a backup should a cancellation or no-show happen!! You know, that never-ending Perpetual State of Preparedness that I always talk about!!

Here are a few things to consider when streamlining your systems to make sure that your practice has everything in line to make the most of the challenging opportunity a hole in the schedule provides:

You’re welcome if you now have the Hootie and the Blowfish song stuck in your head. 🙂

Too bad opportunity doesn’t come with an alarm; a buzzing signal to notify us of opportunity directly ahead; pulling us from our harried thoughts and opportunity detractors to enable us to not only focus on the opportunity but to make the most of it. Alas. Life intervenes. Work intervenes. Family intervenes. And yet time goes on.

That’s right. I said it. Check your cheeze-whiz.

As in cheeze-whiz marketing. This is what I call any generic attempt at marketing or patient education to save a few bucks or time and it always comes out looky CHEESY and well, for lack of better terms, cheap.

Do you feel that way sometimes? Shufflin’ through a spotty schedule and wondering where did Mrs. Smith’s crown appointment go, did anyone follow up on Mr. Jones who was sent out for a root canal 4 months ago and wasn’t it time for Joe Schmoe to be seen here for PM since he alternates with the periodontist?

Notes. Chart notes. Clinical notes. Appointment notes. Who likes taking them? Who likes reading them? Not too many people who I know of. Well, except of course me!

The schedule that is!

Show me a full dental practice schedule, complete with loaded short call lists and I’ll show you a team who works that schedule EVERY SINGLE DAY of the work week.

They don’t miss working it on Wednesdays, or Fridays or even 1/2 day Thursdays. They may not see patients those times, but they are still actively working the schedule – filling open appointment times, working to pad the short call lists and actively engaging with patients. Are you winging it, or do you have solid systems in place to keep your schedule full?

Need support with answering your phones and scheduling appointments? Losing a front desk person? Someone call off sick? Admin team overwhelmed and finding themselves with not enough time to systematically and consistently answer opportunity (calls) and follow the systems needed for a full schedule and maximum results? How about PRN support for special projects like mass-mailing the USE IT OR LOSE IT letters or even chart auditing?

In my many blessings of speaking with offices all across the United States, it continues to perplex me as to why so many offices still don’t extend 40 hours of phone availability to their patients. I am not talking an answering service, who in my humble opinion are nothing more than a glorified answering machine – I am talking real availability to your patients to meet any and all of their needs during this time and this includes LUNCH HOUR! I am always amazed at ANY office that sets an answering machine over a lunch hour. Holy cow! Don’t you know that is when working moms make the majority of their appointments??? And how frustrating it is for someone calling your practice to hear “We’re out to lunch for an hour and half, your call will be important to us when we get back” (that IS what they hear you know!)

“Hi – this is Mr. Jones. I have an appointment scheduled next week, Thursday I think, that I need to cancel. I don’t have any more insurance left this year and it’s just a cleaning anyways so I am going to wait until after the new year”

“Hello! This is Mrs. George. Last time I was in, Deborah the hygienist told me she wanted to see me every 3 months. I don’t even know why. My insurance will only cover cleanings 2x a year so I need to reschedule my appointment that’s coming up next week.”

It’s 3 pm in the afternoon on a beautifully sunny day with a sky full of cotton candy clouds. There is a warm breeze caressing the city like a lover caressing his soul mates cheek after a passionate rendezvous. (Did I grab your attention??!!)

The phone rings………… The over tired, unappreciative employee cringes in dismay at the thought of actually having to answer the phone on the second ring,  rolls their eyes on the third, wearily answers it on the fourth by mumbling some unintelligible pathetic greeting that even a certified speed reader can’t decipher and then couldn’t even tell you who called or what they wanted after they completed the call in 32 seconds flat. They go back to wondering why their life sucks, how they got stuck in this pathetic job (oh, hey, when is payday?!) and how Susie is having a banger of a get together this weekend and gosh is it Friday yet?