Some Thoughts To Consider: Continue reading “Financial/Insurance Thoughts”
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Send A Photo of your Team
Please send Jody a Photo of you with your team. I will post them!
Marden Dental Pics
Great Message to start your week
Alan Weiss is a consultant’s consultant. He posts messages on a weekly basis that make you think about your business and your interaction with your clients. I thought this was a great message to share.
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This week’s focus point: I’m hearing too often from solo practitioners and small business owners that they feel “blowing their own horn” and assertive promotion is inappropriate, that it conflicts with personal humility. My view is that the greatest service we can perform is helping others by providing the value and talents we possess. That requires our alerting people to our willingness to convey them. This is an occupation, not an avocation. Idle boasting is never appropriate, but honest discussions of how you can help others is a requirement. We’re here to make waves, not to merely stick our toes in the water.Monday Morning Perspective: Worry often gives a small thing a big shadow. — Swedish proverb.
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This week’s focus point: I’m hearing too often from solo practitioners and small business owners that they feel “blowing their own horn” and assertive promotion is inappropriate, that it conflicts with personal humility. My view is that the greatest service we can perform is helping others by providing the value and talents we possess. That requires our alerting people to our willingness to convey them. This is an occupation, not an avocation. Idle boasting is never appropriate, but honest discussions of how you can help others is a requirement. We’re here to make waves, not to merely stick our toes in the water.Monday Morning Perspective: Worry often gives a small thing a big shadow. — Swedish proverb.
Alan Weiss’ website is: http://www.contrarianconsulting.com
and his email is: alan@summitconsulting.com
He is a wonderful resource to keep you on track
Ask for Referrals
Situation:
You want your patients to know you accept patient referrals (no, they just don’t know—many physicians and other healthcare offices are closed to new patients).
Desired Result:
To consistently attract quality new patients from other patients by asking for referrals.
How To:
In order to generate more patient referrals, focus on providing excellent customer service, a great patient experience and quality dental care. Don’t be shy about pointing out the great care they received. Help them know they made a good decision to go ahead with treatment and they will receive the results they are looking for (i.e. beautiful smile, long lasting restoration, conservative care etc…).
One effective method of asking for referrals is to “fish for compliments”. When a patient has a fabulous dental experience, ensure that you “get the word out” by asking them for a referral.
Here are the 5 steps:
- Ask your patient an open-ended question that will lead to a compliment.
“So what did you think of today’s visit? - Accept the compliment graciously and make a values statement about the practice.
“I’m glad to hear that! We work very hard to make certain we keep our patients comfortable and relaxed. And you’re right, we do have fun! I’m glad you enjoyed your visit with us.” - Transition Statement
“Many people avoid dental visits out of fear. They don’t know a visit to the dentist can be enjoyable!” - Ask for the referral
“If you know of anyone who might benefit from a visit to our office, please let them know about us. We’ll take great care of them!” - Thank the patient
“Thank you again for the nice compliment, it’s nice to know we are doing a good job.”
Asking for referrals is not begging for patients. It is a subtle way to let patients know about the excellence you provide and how important they are to your practice. Start fishing for compliments and watch new patients call your office.
New Book to Read
Most of us recognize that we have a tendency to look for the bad news, the problems. The new book, Switch: How to change when change is hard, explores finding a road map for taking action. They illustrate how our capacity for analysis is endless, that successes can look like warning signs to our problem-solving brains. The authors teach us that we must look for the bright spots even when all we think we see is failure, and use that to create hope. I personally really believe that if all you see is problems that is all you will get in life. I have seen it over and over again with clients. Focus on the negative and it will come to you. On the other hand, believe that you are making progress, how ever small, and you will continue to move forward. As a practice leader you can showcase what is working rather than focusing on all the problems and give your team courage and hope to continue to do the difficult things. The book has a good message, I encourage you to read it.
SuddenValues.com
This is a marketing company that you may want to check out. They create a reward program from the email addresses you collect. Something you can easily do but the hook is that they do this with many businesses and they send out a weekly email to everyone listing the offers merchants have for that week. Good cross promotional opportunity. Especially in an area where they are heavily established this might be a good way to get your name in front of other merchants and other potential patients. From what I can tell from the website they seem to have started in Michigan – Glenn or Jeff might be something to check out.
If anyone investigates this let us know what you find out! Thanks Jody
ADA and Pop Cap Games – a Halloween alternative to sugary snacks
Many of you know I am a fan of the family-friendly Plants vs. Zombies app and game and play it regularly on my iPad. I was happy to learn the ADA and Pop Cap Games (developer of Plants vs. Zombies) have created a partnership and a program called Stop Zombie Mouth. To celebrate Halloween with your patients, or as a giveaway at your practice or home, member dentists can order Zombie trading cards featuring the the characters in the game Plants vs. Zombies. Instead of sugary treats, patients can get cool trading cards with download codes, and a great healthcare message. These trading cards can be ordered from the ADA catalog of products for free plus a nominal shipping charge. Game coupons can also be downloaded for free at the website www.stopzombiemouth.com. Check out the website, it has tips, fun facts, freebies to download like coloring pages, an Halloween party invite and several others. What a fun way to differentiate your practice this Halloween!!
What can be shared on email with patients?
The following question was posted to the Academy of Dental Practice Management Consultants which Linda and I belong to. I thought you would all want to know the answer.
How specific can email to patient be reminding them about treatment? Can you mention specific treatment needs or only make a general statement to contact the office? Is this covered under HIPAA?
The answer below is from: Linda Harvey, MS, LHRM, DFASHRM •
Email is a great source of confusion for everyone.
HIPAA requires that patient info must be kept secure. Regular email transmission which includes responding to email received from patients is not secure.
That being said, there are several options:
1) use a secure portal such as eDossea or subscribe to a service thru Eaglesoft or Dentrix (I believe they both offer such a service).
2) use an email encryption service (there are free ones)
3) implement an office policy that limits what you are allowed to email to patients such as appointment confirmation. I just met the Practice Administrator who said they have a strict policy against emailing patients or responding to patient emails.
4) get the patient’s permission to communicate via unencrypted email. This is an important piece of information one can gather on the Acknowledgement Form new patients sign. BUT, I would still limit the type of information emailed.
Referring back to your question about treatment, I would not mention specific treatment in an email. For example, an email reminder that the pt has unused benefits would be better than saying “are you ready to schedule for those extractions and implants.”
HIPAA is quite serious about enforcing the regulations; plus the random audits are in full force. Have already met one dental Business Associate that was audited. I just got back from Tampa working with a doctor whose staff gave a patient the wrong records on a CD…patient then complained to the Office of Civil Rights. They are now under investigation and have a narrow window to correct and reply to the complaint.
Linda Harvey is a great source of information regarding risk management and being HIPAA compliant. If anyone needs a speaker for a study club she would be fabulous! Her website is: http://www.lindaharvey.net
Happy Valentine’s Day to all!
Growth
Most practices we work with believe in continuous personal and professional growth. They realize they and their team have lots more potential to unlock. So…ask yourself:
How do you want to grow personally?
Are you a better person today than you were yesterday?
What are you doing to get your team to grow personally?
Are you learning something everyday? What? Is it positive?
What can you do to help your team better understand the practice mission and vision?
How are you planning to grow professionally this year?
How are you challenging and stretching yourself?
These are not easy questions, most require thought and introspection. Really think about it, “Are you a better person today versus yesterday? How?” It is a challenge, it means focusing on personal growth as much as professional growth or the latest clinical courses and procedures. Improving your clinical skills or learning a new procedure to add to your mix of services certainly helps growth and production in the practice. Personal change is by far harder, and it is what will put your practice head and shoulders above the rest. Numbers are important. How you and the team feel about yourselves and what you are contributing to your community, is far more rewarding. We challenge you to spend the time you need to get your team onboard and focus everyone on working on improving themselves. Growth in production will happen naturally as a result.
