Front Desk training

 What is the role of the front desk?

role of receptionist and dental assistant are the most underrated role.

The person processing people coming in, scheduling right away. one of the most important positions in the office. you can have a great dentist and if the front staff is bad, he won't make as much money.

front desk/ 

1. main role- productive scheduling.

how you are lining up doctor exam and productivity. being chaotic is actually costing you money. the trend to being in network allowed for chaos. volume of patients coming in, so the patients need you more than you need them. end of day, exhausted.

a. Front desk- everyone comes to the front desk. all the problems come to the front desk. if your too good at it, they stop trying to solve it on their own.

we need to work together as a team. we need to get clinical staff on board. provide them with as much help as we can.

2. information and communication- we don't want to interrupt providers as they are working. 

Morning huddle- she asked if we do it. I said no. She said to do insurance check, medical history, do any patients come in with a wheelchair, any special accommodations, does anyone need a specific medication? anyone with big balances? anyone's who's case is not back?

it sounds like we do all of that already. morning huddle sounds official. 

Productive use of time

-patient needs, insurance limitations, availability, 

-when have conversation with patient we try to explain their insurance policy the best we can. if we knew you saw a specialist before us, we would be better served to help you. you have 1500 max.. guiding them 

-remind them, all these other visits you were guiding and explaining their plan and their limitations. get the patient the best result. if someone went somewhere else for second opinion, we tell them that. 

-we're putting that patient to work and holding them accountable. balance of power is to navigate our patients. it needs to come from a place of servitude.

-of course we want to help you. We are level and we want to be of help. "You didn't provide that information so we can help you now."

-you stay nice and kind even if they are yelling. they are going to remember them how you are treating them. 

WE ARE ALL SUPPOSED TO BE STANDING (maybe front desk?)

-make patient feel special, greeting them. on the phone and someone is standing in front of me. I will wave and stand up and smile. sit back down, get done with the conversation and stand up again to see the person in front of me. it makes the patient feel special.

-balance of getting new business versus keeping the business that you have. for our office, I think we need to keep the business that we have. 

SCHEDULE TO PRODUCTION

-2 large appointments (one in the morning and one in the afternoon) (endo, crown, implants)  things that drain the provider.

then 1 or 2 med appointment (fillings)

and no charge appointment after (crown inserts, Invisalign check)

have block for emergency appointment every day (recommend 30 minutes early in the morning or 30 minutes after lunch). if it doesn't get filled, people can take that time and have off.

NO SHOWS

scheduling

-can put their availability in the notes, and have the sooner if possible list. 

-create those boundaries from the start. if we are too familiar, they think we are going to understand that something else is more important. 

-give a one time pass for no shows.

-thorough confirmations. (she talked about all the ways they don't work). I don't think it applies to us. 

-want to make patients feel safe and cared for. its about them and what they need.

boundaries, time and expectations

-through confirmations, we have given them 48 hours if we need to cancel them. laid out expectations, we have to limit them when they dont respect our practice.

90 points of contact in a 30 day period. we have to be great at our jobs.