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Understanding Dentistry As A Business |
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Almost half of U.S. businesses are service related. Customers patronize certain services and avoid others. Quality products are a must, but customers judge a business on other things too. Customers want to be treated well and businesses that emphasize good personal service bring customers back and keep them.
In dentistry, as in other service-related fields, business survival depends on maintaining a competitive edge. For this reason, more and more dental practices are working on improving their customer service skills. Expanding the patient base is important, but it should never be limited to attracting new patients. The lifeblood of a business is a repeat loyal patient who can be our best ally in getting those new patients to come through the front door. Quality service makes this happen. It is the most important ingredient in the mix of things that can keep a patient from saying, “A dentist is a dentist is a dentist.”
No one in a master dental practice ever forgets that dentistry is a business. Every team member in a Master Practice recognizes that the customer truly is the boss. Everyone in the practice knows that a satisfied customer comes back and a dissatisfied customer doesn’t. Everyone in the practice strives to make every patient comfortable, both physically and emotionally. To do this effectively, every member of the dental team must become a student of human behavior. Everyone must learn to read:
• What the customer wants
• What the customer needs
• What the customer thinks
• What the customer feels
• Whether the customer is satisfied
• Whether the customer is planning to return
We must all ask ourselves, “If I were this person, what would I want?”
All patients have four basic needs and our successes are dependent on our ability to satisfy these:
• Need to be understood
• Need to feel welcome
• Need to feel important
• Need to be comfortable
Keeping the customer’s needs and wants satisfied requires commitment and discipline. It means we must consistently practice the following:
• Always being pleasant to patients even if they are not pleasant to us
• Welcoming patients’ suggestions on how the practice can improve its services
• Graciously listening to and handling any complaints or problems
• Smiling even when we don’t feel like smiling
• Rolling with the punches and turning on a dime
• Providing service that is above and beyond the call of duty (and above and beyond what the competitor has to offer)
• Thoroughly and enthusiastically explaining the features and benefits of all of the dental services provided by the practice
• Projecting sincerity and compassion to every patient
• Responding quickly to patients’ concerns
• Making patient comfort a priority
• Working quickly and efficiently
• Ensuring that the only background noise is soothing music
How well you do your job and how well you follow these guidelines is up to you. The choices you make will have an important impact on you, on patients and on the practice.
HOW A PRACTICE GROWS
Patient Interaction with Staff = Practice Profitability
Systems Review = System Improvement
System Improvement = Patient Satisfaction = Practice success!
Production Goals X per month
Scheduling Goals 85% each month
Collection Goals 96 % each month
Sales Goals 40-80% each month
Marketing Goals 100 % per month
Each patient flows through each of these systems and departments in the practice.
Each team member contributes to achieving goals.
Each team member knows and values practice philosophy and practice vision.
Everyone in a Master Practice has a role. Everyone in a Master Practice has responsibilities that are not limited to his or her specific little corner of the practice. Everyone recognizes the importance of teamwork and remembers that a team is only as strong as its weakest link.
Front office systems are well organized and the front office module is a constant hub of productive activity. “Down time” is used constructively with all the priorities organized and in line to be addressed. The Front Desk person is well prepared for each day and can focus ahead to the coming week. She is goal oriented and knowledgeable. She is always aware of the patient in the reception area and reaches out with good will.
The clinical areas are monitored continuously to assure cleanliness, asepsis, adequate supplies, and functioning equipment. The assistants are knowledgeable in all areas of dentistry performed in the office and readily converse with the patients regarding their dental healthcare needs.
The Dental Hygienist is knowledgeable and is responsible for maintaining the periodontal maintenance program in our practice. She should readily converse with patients regarding their dental needs (including restorative) and dialogue with the Doctor during the examination of a patient. She should be constantly aware of a patient's comfort level. In addition, the Hygienist is responsible for helping to keep her schedule filled and should play an important role in the recare system.
The Doctor is an excellent practitioner and values and appreciates the contributions of every team member in the practice. He or she leads the team in creating an environment that is pleasant, safe, and fun to be in.
Remember: The success of your practice depends heavily on teamwork. It also depends on a motivational environment in which every team member feels appreciated and valued. If everyone in the practice contributes to creating such an environment, everyone wins. As the team leader, the doctor is the person in charge of setting the tone and inspiring the entire team to excellence, but the doctor cannot do this alone. He or she must have the support and cooperation of everyone in the practice. Everyone needs to understand that a lack of motivation can lead to heavy staff turnover, a decrease in staff and patient satisfaction, reduced productivity and income, and an increase in business expenses.
Remember: Ideal motivation begins with a realistic assessment of how things stand, an examination of what can be improved, and a commitment from everyone to make this work better. All team members need to know what is expected of them and all team members need to feel confident that they are entitled to expect cooperation and assistance from others.
Motivation Truly Comes From Within
The road to success is paved with many obstacles. How can you keep moving forward, striving to reach the highest level, when everyday life experiences distract you? The key is being motivated. Motivation provides the emotional spark needed to find the guts, the strength, character and commitment that will keep you going when the going gets tough. This applies to personal as well as professional life, and it is important to recognize that how you fare in one area can positively or negatively affect how you fare in the other.
Over the last 20 years, we have dedicated hundreds of hours observing the common denominators that make some dental practices very successful while so many others just get by. Members of the more successful dental practices like themselves, enjoy working with each other and generally have fun! This is not to imply that they do not have their fair share of everyday problems that are experienced by every dental practice in the United States. It simply means that they respond to those problems with a “Take charge and take names attitude.” They do not waste time whining or feeling sorry for themselves and measuring the size of the obstacles they encounter until those obstacles become the only things they see. Instead, they seek solutions and answers, and they are firm in their belief that anything is possible and no barriers can prevent them from being the best they can be. The key issue that seems to make a difference is motivation.
What can we, as team members, do to become more motivated? What will make us smile more and enjoy our patients, our practices, and our lives in the years to come?
It begins with recognizing that there are things you can control and things you cannot control and understanding that the control you exercise over yourself and your reaction to those things beyond your control can make all the difference. Motivation comes from within; it cannot be given to you or taken away from you. It can, however, be practiced and fine-tuned and perfected until it becomes a way of life. When this happens, obstacles become challenges, things you cannot control become less onerous, and everything you desire becomes possible.
Teaching yourself to be more motivated means making a decision that you would rather be happy than unhappy. It means an attitude adjustment. It means active participation in creating a better professional and personal life for yourself. Sometimes it means taking a chance on yourself. Sometimes it means realizing that there is no disgrace in getting help from someone else. Mostly it means making a commitment to stay upbeat and positive instead of angry, sad and negative, no matter what the day brings.
1. Every morning, when you wake up, you must say to yourself, “I am a great person. I care about people. I care about my job. I am very organized. I am good at what I do and committed to the practice vision. I have emotional, professional, and personal priorities and I can achieve what I want in all three.”
2. Write a list of everything you want to do, be, and have. Next write the reason why you want to reach these goals. Ask yourself, "Will this make me happier, healthier, improve my family relations, make me more secure or make me smile more?” More importantly, if the goal is reached, will it contribute to a balanced, successful life? Prioritize the goals and set a date when they will be achieved. Give yourself a deadline date and commit all your goals to paper. A goal is not a goal if it is not committed to paper.
3. Maintain positive thinking and seek positive training. Motivated team members are passionate about their profession. Make sure that you continue to seek the courses that will make you the best in your field.
4. Find a mentor. Get counseling from a person who has wisdom as well as knowledge. A person with wisdom has good judgment and insights into what you are facing. Always choose the best person for a mentor. Imitate perfection and you reach for the best. Imitate mediocrity and you settle for less than you are capable of and less than you deserve.
5. Practice environment control. Maintain a healthy lifestyle by eating right and exercising. Feed your mind as well as your body with things that are good, clean, and positive. Stay away from things and people that depress you, and surround yourself with people who are upbeat and news that is good news.
6. Smile and think only good thoughts. Leave every encounter on a positive note.
7. Maintain a sense of humor. Find something to laugh at every day – a funny cartoon in the paper, the silly side of human nature, a child at play, a pet’s antics.
Practice these seven steps every day as if your life depended on them.
MOTIVATION PEARLS
The doctor enables a motivational environment.
The team maintains a motivational environment.
The doctor sets the tone.
The team enhances the tone.
The doctor values the team.
The team values the doctor.
Everyone works to ensure that everyone remains
motivated, happy, appreciated, and comfortable.
Everyone helps. No one hinders.
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Understanding Dentistry As A Business |
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|
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Almost half of U.S. businesses are service related. Customers patronize certain services and avoid others. Quality products are a must, but customers judge a business on other things too. Customers want to be treated well and businesses that emphasize good personal service bring customers back and keep them.
In dentistry, as in other service-related fields, business survival depends on maintaining a competitive edge. For this reason, more and more dental practices are working on improving their customer service skills. Expanding the patient base is important, but it should never be limited to attracting new patients. The lifeblood of a business is a repeat loyal patient who can be our best ally in getting those new patients to come through the front door. Quality service makes this happen. It is the most important ingredient in the mix of things that can keep a patient from saying, “A dentist is a dentist is a dentist.”
No one in a master dental practice ever forgets that dentistry is a business. Every team member in a Master Practice recognizes that the customer truly is the boss. Everyone in the practice knows that a satisfied customer comes back and a dissatisfied customer doesn’t. Everyone in the practice strives to make every patient comfortable, both physically and emotionally. To do this effectively, every member of the dental team must become a student of human behavior. Everyone must learn to read:
• What the customer wants
• What the customer needs
• What the customer thinks
• What the customer feels
• Whether the customer is satisfied
• Whether the customer is planning to return
We must all ask ourselves, “If I were this person, what would I want?”
All patients have four basic needs and our successes are dependent on our ability to satisfy these:
• Need to be understood
• Need to feel welcome
• Need to feel important
• Need to be comfortable
Keeping the customer’s needs and wants satisfied requires commitment and discipline. It means we must consistently practice the following:
• Always being pleasant to patients even if they are not pleasant to us
• Welcoming patients’ suggestions on how the practice can improve its services
• Graciously listening to and handling any complaints or problems
• Smiling even when we don’t feel like smiling
• Rolling with the punches and turning on a dime
• Providing service that is above and beyond the call of duty (and above and beyond what the competitor has to offer)
• Thoroughly and enthusiastically explaining the features and benefits of all of the dental services provided by the practice
• Projecting sincerity and compassion to every patient
• Responding quickly to patients’ concerns
• Making patient comfort a priority
• Working quickly and efficiently
• Ensuring that the only background noise is soothing music
How well you do your job and how well you follow these guidelines is up to you. The choices you make will have an important impact on you, on patients and on the practice.
HOW A PRACTICE GROWS
Patient Interaction with Staff = Practice Profitability
Systems Review = System Improvement
System Improvement = Patient Satisfaction = Practice success!
Production Goals X per month
Scheduling Goals 85% each month
Collection Goals 96 % each month
Sales Goals 40-80% each month
Marketing Goals 100 % per month
Each patient flows through each of these systems and departments in the practice.
Each team member contributes to achieving goals.
Each team member knows and values practice philosophy and practice vision.
Everyone in a Master Practice has a role. Everyone in a Master Practice has responsibilities that are not limited to his or her specific little corner of the practice. Everyone recognizes the importance of teamwork and remembers that a team is only as strong as its weakest link.
Front office systems are well organized and the front office module is a constant hub of productive activity. “Down time” is used constructively with all the priorities organized and in line to be addressed. The Front Desk person is well prepared for each day and can focus ahead to the coming week. She is goal oriented and knowledgeable. She is always aware of the patient in the reception area and reaches out with good will.
The clinical areas are monitored continuously to assure cleanliness, asepsis, adequate supplies, and functioning equipment. The assistants are knowledgeable in all areas of dentistry performed in the office and readily converse with the patients regarding their dental healthcare needs.
The Dental Hygienist is knowledgeable and is responsible for maintaining the periodontal maintenance program in our practice. She should readily converse with patients regarding their dental needs (including restorative) and dialogue with the Doctor during the examination of a patient. She should be constantly aware of a patient's comfort level. In addition, the Hygienist is responsible for helping to keep her schedule filled and should play an important role in the recare system.
The Doctor is an excellent practitioner and values and appreciates the contributions of every team member in the practice. He or she leads the team in creating an environment that is pleasant, safe, and fun to be in.
Remember: The success of your practice depends heavily on teamwork. It also depends on a motivational environment in which every team member feels appreciated and valued. If everyone in the practice contributes to creating such an environment, everyone wins. As the team leader, the doctor is the person in charge of setting the tone and inspiring the entire team to excellence, but the doctor cannot do this alone. He or she must have the support and cooperation of everyone in the practice. Everyone needs to understand that a lack of motivation can lead to heavy staff turnover, a decrease in staff and patient satisfaction, reduced productivity and income, and an increase in business expenses.
Remember: Ideal motivation begins with a realistic assessment of how things stand, an examination of what can be improved, and a commitment from everyone to make this work better. All team members need to know what is expected of them and all team members need to feel confident that they are entitled to expect cooperation and assistance from others.
Motivation Truly Comes From Within
The road to success is paved with many obstacles. How can you keep moving forward, striving to reach the highest level, when everyday life experiences distract you? The key is being motivated. Motivation provides the emotional spark needed to find the guts, the strength, character and commitment that will keep you going when the going gets tough. This applies to personal as well as professional life, and it is important to recognize that how you fare in one area can positively or negatively affect how you fare in the other.
Over the last 20 years, we have dedicated hundreds of hours observing the common denominators that make some dental practices very successful while so many others just get by. Members of the more successful dental practices like themselves, enjoy working with each other and generally have fun! This is not to imply that they do not have their fair share of everyday problems that are experienced by every dental practice in the United States. It simply means that they respond to those problems with a “Take charge and take names attitude.” They do not waste time whining or feeling sorry for themselves and measuring the size of the obstacles they encounter until those obstacles become the only things they see. Instead, they seek solutions and answers, and they are firm in their belief that anything is possible and no barriers can prevent them from being the best they can be. The key issue that seems to make a difference is motivation.
What can we, as team members, do to become more motivated? What will make us smile more and enjoy our patients, our practices, and our lives in the years to come?
It begins with recognizing that there are things you can control and things you cannot control and understanding that the control you exercise over yourself and your reaction to those things beyond your control can make all the difference. Motivation comes from within; it cannot be given to you or taken away from you. It can, however, be practiced and fine-tuned and perfected until it becomes a way of life. When this happens, obstacles become challenges, things you cannot control become less onerous, and everything you desire becomes possible.
Teaching yourself to be more motivated means making a decision that you would rather be happy than unhappy. It means an attitude adjustment. It means active participation in creating a better professional and personal life for yourself. Sometimes it means taking a chance on yourself. Sometimes it means realizing that there is no disgrace in getting help from someone else. Mostly it means making a commitment to stay upbeat and positive instead of angry, sad and negative, no matter what the day brings.
1. Every morning, when you wake up, you must say to yourself, “I am a great person. I care about people. I care about my job. I am very organized. I am good at what I do and committed to the practice vision. I have emotional, professional, and personal priorities and I can achieve what I want in all three.”
2. Write a list of everything you want to do, be, and have. Next write the reason why you want to reach these goals. Ask yourself, "Will this make me happier, healthier, improve my family relations, make me more secure or make me smile more?” More importantly, if the goal is reached, will it contribute to a balanced, successful life? Prioritize the goals and set a date when they will be achieved. Give yourself a deadline date and commit all your goals to paper. A goal is not a goal if it is not committed to paper.
3. Maintain positive thinking and seek positive training. Motivated team members are passionate about their profession. Make sure that you continue to seek the courses that will make you the best in your field.
4. Find a mentor. Get counseling from a person who has wisdom as well as knowledge. A person with wisdom has good judgment and insights into what you are facing. Always choose the best person for a mentor. Imitate perfection and you reach for the best. Imitate mediocrity and you settle for less than you are capable of and less than you deserve.
5. Practice environment control. Maintain a healthy lifestyle by eating right and exercising. Feed your mind as well as your body with things that are good, clean, and positive. Stay away from things and people that depress you, and surround yourself with people who are upbeat and news that is good news.
6. Smile and think only good thoughts. Leave every encounter on a positive note.
7. Maintain a sense of humor. Find something to laugh at every day – a funny cartoon in the paper, the silly side of human nature, a child at play, a pet’s antics.
Practice these seven steps every day as if your life depended on them.
MOTIVATION PEARLS
The doctor enables a motivational environment.
The team maintains a motivational environment.
The doctor sets the tone.
The team enhances the tone.
The doctor values the team.
The team values the doctor.
Everyone works to ensure that everyone remains
motivated, happy, appreciated, and comfortable.
Everyone helps. No one hinders.
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Dental Hygiene and America's Oral Health: Getting Everyone on the Same Page |
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by Cynthia McKane-Wagester
 In 2002, U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher's Report on Oral Health in America confirmed that the mouth is connected to the body and what goes on in the mouth can have a positive or negative effect on overall health. This is a premise that has long been recognized by the American Dental Hygienist's Association and by countless individual hygienists. At the same time, it is a concept that has not readily been fully appreciated by individual practitioners, by state licensing and regulatory boards, or by patients.
Most hygiene departments are in a state of dormancy. What went on ten years ago is still going on. Patients still see the hygienist as "that nice young lady who cleans my teeth" and most hygienists either do not recognize their true potential or are hindered from developing that potential by old-fashioned philosophical and political mindsets that are resistant to change.
In many cases, hygienist's hands are tied by a bureaucracy intent on preventing harm to patients. While this is a noble and laudable intent, it often manifests itself in archaic statutes that do not reflect contemporary realities. Many states, for example, impose numerous and onerous restrictions on what a hygienist can do and mandate restrictive, and sometimes demeaning, supervision of some (or all) hygiene operatory activities. In many cases the laws that regulate hygiene were enacted years or decades ago; they have not been amended or adjusted to reflect changes in the dental profession and changes in the way a contemporary hygienist is trained. This is a problem that often results in adversarial relationships between practitioners and their hygiene departments, one that creates more work for dentists and leaves many hygienists frustrated.
Adversarial relationships of this kind often arise because doctors are wary of transgressing against laws that restrict hygiene and are often equally uncomfortable transgressing against the traditional wisdom that hygiene is hygiene and dentistry is dentistry and never the twain shall meet. In the latter instance, this wariness is unwarranted. Today's hygienist has far more at her disposal than a scaler for scraping away tartar. She has much to contribute to the oral and overall health of patients and to the productivity and profitability of the practice she serves.
The dental hygienist who has graduated from an accredited institution and has passed the rigorous National Board Dental Hygiene Examination has a comprehensive education and sound clinical skills that eminently qualify her to deliver a broad range of excellent oral health services to patients. She is well prepared to communicate with patients about their oral health status, to diagnose oral health problems, and to recommend treatment plans and procedures that can improve not only oral health, but overall health. Her potential contribution to the practice, therefore, should not be viewed within the limited parameters of the traditional PMV. It should be viewed from a much broader perspective, one that envisions the hygienist's role in cultivating patient trust and patient compliance as well as in bridging the gap between preventive and restorative dentistry.
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Social Networking for Dentists - Made Easy |
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by Dan Marut, DMD
By now you probably heard of Facebook and/or MySpace. If you are really techno savvy you may have written a blog and heard of Twitter. You may even have heard of NewDocs. As a dentist you are a practitioner taking care of patients and enhancing your clinical skills. As a manager you manage a team of health care providers. As a business owner you are charting the course of your business and leading it into the future. The reality is most dentists don’t have the time to learn what all the hoopla about social networking means and what the implication is for them personally, other dentists, and dentistry as a profession.
I wrote this to shed light on the social networking phenomenon and to be used as a guide to dentists navigating the current social networking landscape.
What is a social network?
For as long as humans have walked the earth we have been social creatures. We pride ourselves on family and formed groups in order to survive. These groups not only allowed us to survive but also thrive leading to new ideas and innovations. Social groups used to be physical and local in nature. They would encompass everything from Rotary clubs to bowling leagues. Social networking has been around for ages. With the advent of the internet, people all of the sudden had the world at their finger tips. My dad, who is 72, said to me, “The internet is amazing! This little box on my desk can show me the world.” That about sums it up, the internet gives you information at your finger tips and on demand. Well, the internet, and some other factors, led to the diminishment of local groups and group activities. People became free to roam the world from their own house and do it when they wanted to.
People still yearned for connection. We need it. It has become hotwired into our development as humans. The internet fragmented us. However, human needs will not be denied. Just as the internet diminished human grouping, it is now bringing us together like never before. Explore how online social networking is making a difference in all facets of human life.
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by Carl Loeb
CEO, Previser
PreViser’s oral cancer risk analysis calculates a score on a 1 to 5, very low to very high scale. It takes into account various types of tobacco usage, levels of alcohol consumption, cancer history and other factors to determine relative risk levels.
Many PreViser practices are now utilizing additional diagnostic technologies like Vizilite™ and Velscope™ that incorporate luminescing technology to assist in the identification of lesions that may escape identification under white light illumination.
Where these additional diagnostics represent an additional cost to the patient, it may be useful to link the decision on whom to recommend the additional procedure to the individual’s risk level for oral cancer. While this approach is inconsistent with the recommendations of some of the manufacturers of additional oral cancer diagnostics, who feel that all patients should be examined with their products, it may be an approach that makes sense to the patient who has to pay for the diagnostic.
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