We are in the final quarter of the year and starting to look ahead to the new year. This is very evident as you walk through Costco and see all the Christmas decorations lining the aisle. When you are still having 80 degree weather, it is hard to start thinking about the end of the year already. However, there are a few things that I want to hone in on for October that can prep you for success.
Most insurance plans still renew in January, so we definitely want to send out a reminder to our patients who have unused insurance benefits that now is the time before they lose their remaining benefits on December 31st. When I was working in a practice, it was inevitable that patients would wait until the end of the year to schedule and then you are scrambling to make room for everyone. You should be able to partner your Dentrix software with your automated reminder system to send out a customized campaign to patients with unused insurance benefits. The way you do this is create a custom list from Dentrix or your third-party software can pull a customized list. If you are not able to do that with your current platform, then let’s talk about other options for you.
There are a couple ways in Dentrix that you can pull a list . . . .
- Treatment Manager Report – You can copy this list to the clipboard and paste into Excel so you could import it into an email campaign. This is my favorite report in Dentrix. I call it, “Mining for Gold.”
- Patient Report by Filters – You can also open this report up in Excel so you can easily import it into an automated campaign.
Every dental practice has production goals it needs to meet in order to have positive profitability. If you are reading this article and you don’t know what your practice’s production goals are, then I recommend starting the conversation with your doctor so you can help your practice thrive. Now is the time to start looking ahead to the new year and forecasting how the goals will change and staying on track to meet or exceed this year’s goals. In both scenarios, it is important to enter your production goals into Dentrix so you can track them, and every member of your team can be “in the know” when it comes to practice profitability.
- Enter your goals into the computer so you can see them on the Dentrix appointment book and monitor them on the Daily Huddle Report.
- Set up customized views in your hygiene rooms so your hygienists can monitor their own goals.
Many patients are on an incentive type of dental plan and you could be an advocate for your patients by sending these patients out a reminder that they need to come in for their regular checkup in order to boost their percentage for reimbursement. I know in the state of Washington that many of the school teachers were on an incentive This type of search might be a little more challenging depending on the way you have your insurance plans labeled. However, it can be a nice reminder for your patients to help them maximize their benefits.
Finally, start thinking about how you are going to celebrate the end of the year with your team. Being out in the field with hundreds of offices, I hear of so many ways offices choose to join together and bring in the new year. Here are a few ideas on how to celebrate . . .
- Ugly sweater contest
- Formal night with family
- Broadway show
- Choose a local charity to support
- Participate in your local food drive
- Giving Tree
However you choose to celebrate the end of the year, I hope it is amazing. Start early with your planning so you don’t miss out on something fun and rewarding.
