Keeping everyone on the same page in a multi-dentist practice

Posted on May 17, 2012 by Jill Nesbitt Leave a comment

Jill meeting with dentists

The main role of an administrator in a multiple dentist group practice is that of communication. Each dentist wants to know what’s going on and no one likes to feel they are out of the loop. In a busy, multiple dentist practice, this is no small trick!

One of my keys to communication is having regular meetings with an agenda. Just like a dentist wouldn’t walk into a treatment room without the proper tray setup, I would never walk into a meeting without an agenda. This may seem easy – don’t you just write down a few things you want to talk about? I have found that running effective meetings that accomplish tasks and keep everyone on the same page is one of the most important (if not the most important) tasks that I have as the administrator. The dentists appreciate Continue reading “Keeping everyone on the same page in a multi-dentist practice” »

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Call Lists: An essential way to keep schedules full

Posted on May 10, 2012 by Jill Nesbitt Leave a comment

We’re all fighting the same dragon – holes in schedules. Do you sometimes feel that this never-ending battle is going to get the best of you? Not if you have a battle plan! A major part of this plan is the call list. With the right call list, you have the ability to fill your schedule and move on to the million other items on your To Do list.

Here are the call lists we maintain:

  • ASAP
  • Primetime (people that prefer evenings and weekends)
  • Unscheduled treatment
  • Monthly recall
  • Yearly recall

The ASAP list is a great one in Dentrix. Just ask your scheduled patient ‘If we have a change in schedule, would you like us to call you?’ – and you can easily add him to the ASAP list. Then, if you get a hole in the schedule – this is your first choice for a call list.

Since we’re open til 7pm through the week and Saturday mornings, we offer Continue reading “Call Lists: An essential way to keep schedules full” »

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Solving personal dramas in the dental practice

Posted on May 3, 2012 by Jill Nesbitt 1 Comment

Do you have a couple of dental staff members that just don’t work well together? You may be hearing rumors of ‘words exchanged’ or seeing eye rolls or other body language that tells you a problem exists? Sometimes, these upsets just seem to work themselves out. And sometimes, you need to get involved.

Here’s how to solve drama with your dental staff:

#1: Talk individually with each person – let them know you are aware that they are having a problem and you want to help. Ask them to Continue reading “Solving personal dramas in the dental practice” »

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Ideas to fill dentist schedules: Document reason for treatment

Posted on April 26, 2012 by Jill Nesbitt 1 Comment

How are you doing at filling schedules these days? We’ve had some light days lately and are reviewing our systems for how to fill our dentist schedules, so here are a few ideas you can use:

  • Treatment plan everything in Dentrix – if it’s not entered into the computer, then no one can follow up
  • Run Unscheduled Treatment reports regularly to call patients that did not schedule
  • Document your calls and letters to the patient so you don’t overdo it.
  • Use a checklist to fill the schedule when you have “Day of” openings – that can be Continue reading “Ideas to fill dentist schedules: Document reason for treatment” »
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Hiring Dental Staff: Part 5 Voting

Posted on April 19, 2012 by Jill Nesbitt Leave a comment

It’s time to hire! We’ve survived reading through resumes, telephone interviews, onsite interviews and even a few observations. We’ve laughed at the girls that showed up to the interviews in tank tops and flip flops and we’ve enjoyed getting to know some of the candidates that might seem like a great fit for the practice. Now, it’s time to make our hiring decision.

Before the final decision is made, call references. Call at least 2 previous workplaces and speak with your candidate’s supervisor. (Hint from an embezzlement investigator: never use the phone numbers provided by the candidates, always look up the phone number yourself to avoid being scammed.) Be sure your release has been signed by your candidate before you call. Ask a few questions, such as: Continue reading “Hiring Dental Staff: Part 5 Voting” »

Dental staff training, Hiring dental staff, Staff management

Setting up a new dentist in the Dentrix schedule

Posted on April 12, 2012 by Jill Nesbitt Leave a comment

In my practice, we are thrilled to be adding a third GP dentist. With our 4 specialists, this will make 7 dentists under one roof! One of the most important pieces of helping our new dentist get settled into the practice is setting up his schedule in Dentrix.

Each of our dentists has his or her own page in the Dentrix appointment book. Our secretary training includes the list of each dentist and which F key to use to find their schedule. To give you a sense of how we have this organized for our group:

  • F1 – General dentist – with columns for the dentist, anesthetic and his EFDA
  • F2 – General dentist – with columns for the dentist, anesthetic and his EFDA
  • F3 – Our newest general dentist – set up the same way
  • F4 – 3 Hygienists – one column for each RDH
  • F5 – Orthodontist – 6 columns for exams, rechecks, banding, etc. Continue reading “Setting up a new dentist in the Dentrix schedule” »
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More thoughts on Embezzlement

Posted on April 5, 2012 by Jill Nesbitt Leave a comment

I had the pleasure of having breakfast with Mr. David Harris of Prosperident while we were both attending the Chicago MidWinter dental meeting. He shared some seriously scary stories over coffee and definitely established himself as the dental embezzlement expert.

Here’s what I learned:

  • There’s no way to be perfectly safe from theft. Criminals are smart and they know how dental practices operate.
  • The average amount stolen from dentists is $157,000. Ouch.
  • Setting up systems in the practice like using passwords or really listening to patient complaints are good ideas especially if they serve more than one benefit, not just as a theft-deterrent.
  • What we can do is to profile our staff – do we see anyone living beyond their means or never wanting any time off so they can “protect” their work? Criminals often have a similar profile of behavior that can be identified.

Interestingly enough, a specialist I know just Continue reading “More thoughts on Embezzlement” »

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42 registered so far . . .

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Jill Nesbitt Leave a comment

You may have noticed that I will be speaking at the Dentrix Business of Dentistry conference this July. I just found out that I have 42 people pre-registered for my class! 42 new friends that I can’t wait to meet.

I just finished my handouts & slides for the conference and thought I’d share a sneak peek at one of them – it’s the image I’ve used for this post. Can you believe the amazing growth in group practices in just 8 short years?!

My presentation is titled “From Office Manager to Practice Administrator: Managing a Growing Multi-Provider Practice”. From this one slide alone, you can see there is a need in dentistry for managers that can run the business-side of a practice. Dentists are obviously practicing in groups and the larger the group, the more complex it is. Larger staff, more dental supplies needed, more meetings to keep everyone on the same page and someone to keep an eye on overhead so it doesn’t start creeping up. Plus the opportunity of cooperative marketing and clinical coordination of cases requires excellent communication internally.

If you’re practicing in a group and you’d like to learn more about how to manage, please register for my class: http://www.businessofdentistry.com/ I’d love to have you!

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Hiring dental staff – Part 4: Observation

Posted on March 22, 2012 by Jill Nesbitt Leave a comment

A quick review of our hiring process so far:
In Part 1: Where place ads? we reviewed how to attract candidates for your dental position. In Part 2: Telephone interview I shared the questions and approach to eliminating unqualified candidates. In Part 3: Onsite 1/2 Hour Interview I discussed how to do an onsite ½ hour interview.

Today, we’re moving to Part 4: Observation. If one dentist or staff person liked the candidate well enough after the onsite interview, now it’s time to see what the entire team thinks. Invite the candidate to spend up to 1/2 day observing Continue reading “Hiring dental staff – Part 4: Observation” »

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Dentrix has a New Attitude

Posted on March 15, 2012 by Jill Nesbitt 1 Comment

I’ve been a Dentrix user for 15 years and in all that time I’ve seen Dentrix keep a pretty tight lid on their database. Ages ago when we were planning to buy a digital x-ray system, we found that almost no one was allowed to create a “bridge” to Dentrix’s data. At the time, we certainly understood that Dentrix couldn’t possibly allow all vendors access to its database and in fact, we saw the limited companies that did have a bridge as somewhat “Dentrix approved” simply because they were allowed access.

Times have changed.

Dentrix has a new attitude of openness. With their G5 update they are opening the door to a new kind of partnership with vendors that would like to create programs specifically for Dentrix customers. Similar to the iTunes concept, Dentrix is creating partnerships with vendors and then sharing links to these vendors through the Dentrix website. You can see the existing partnerships on the Dentrix.com website if you click on the What’s new in G5 link.

Dentrix’s new attitude could open the door to some really new, cool applications tailor-made for practices just like ours. I can imagine all sorts of specialty applications that could become available – perhaps multiple choices on how our statements or ledgers might print? Perhaps some cool variations for treatment plans? Perhaps the ability to play angry birds while documenting clinical notes? Okay, as the office manager I have to drop that last one but in general, the more choices I have, the more I can customize my communications with patients.

Cheers to more openness and more choice! Cheers to the smart vendors and people that will create cool new applications that will make our practices run more efficiently, save us time and maybe make our day-to-day tasks more fun!

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