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Kiera educates listeners on how to install systems in the billing department that can better flow out to the clinical teams so denials and old balances can disappear once and for all. Episode resources: Reach out to Kiera Tune Into DAT's Monthly Webinar Practice Momentum Group Consulting Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Become Dental A-Team Platinum! Review the podcast Transcript: Kiera Dent (00:00.59) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and man, let's do a little billing 101 for you all today on the podcast. Who's excited for billing? How to deal with denials and old balances. How does that sound? You guys, I am not your expert biller, but you know what? We're going to have a good time with this. I know enough about billing to make me a little wild. And so I hope you guys are excited about it. I feel like let's do a quick tactical practical for you. a few things around billing. As always, thank you for being a part of our Dental 18 podcast family. I adore you. I enjoy my time hanging out with you. I love to podcast with you and I love to give you tactical tips that you can take back to your practice and make your practice even better. As always, just share this with one person today. I ask that you guys just share it, put it in a podcast or a Facebook group, share it with a friend, send a text message to somebody, but just share it. That's how we're gonna be able to get into the hands of every single dental practice. and truly be able to hit our mission of positively impacting the world of dentistry in the greatest way possible. So dealing with denials is super annoying and we've got some expert billers Shasta with Paragon, Sarah O 'Brien with Evolution Billing. They're incredible. And so this is just going to be kind of a high level. I also love Josh Smith with dental claim support. Be sure to tell them Dental A Team sent you if you need that, but dealing with the denials I think is really just getting into it and figuring out why are we getting these denials? having your biller look through and what is it contacting you. I think so much of the denials is education and then putting into place a system so we don't get those denials. So calling them and researching and figuring out why are we actually getting denials on the buildup? What is it? Most of the time, the reason your buildup is being denied is because they require it to be on a seat date, not on the prep date. And if you will submit the seat date with it, you usually will get those buildups done. But calling the insurance company, finding out why was this denied? It should be covered. And then getting the proper, the proper documentation is truly going to help. We just actually did a doctor think tank with our, our clients. We have a think tank with our doctors and I absolutely love it. I call it the let your hair down, come hang out, ask the questions. But we actually just did one on all things billing. It was one of our best attended think tanks because the doctors really don't understand what to do with it. And so how do we actually handle denials is just because they submitted denial does not mean it's a denial. Kiera Dent (02:23.598) What we need to do is we need to research it, we need to figure it out. And then if we're getting denied because we don't have an intraoral, we don't have an x -ray or we didn't get the correct radiographs or we didn't have the correct information within our notes, like I was talking to an office the other day and they said, we need this, all this information from the doctors on these bigger cases to get it approved. And I said, fantastic, make a note template and then update the note templates to give you everything that you need. And I think so many practices feel like that's too hard. And to me, that's being proactive on the problem rather than reactive on the - on the flip side. The reaction side is that we got the denial. The proactive is how can I actually set this as a system within the note template that we know we're gonna fill in every time to make sure that we actually get these pieces. Other things you can do if we're missing the documentation is put an intra -oral photo as part of the deliverables that are being in the procedure. So if it's a crown or it's a filling, put X -ray, intra -oral. So it's part of what they actually have to submit that we did do those items. and then also put it in the note template. It could be the very first pop -up when they go to put a crown in of take X -ray. Like you literally can make a pop -up on there in your note templates of reminding them to take that X -ray right before we get started. Or intra -oral, you can also have it like we took an intra -oral. Dental assistants, please, please, please, I'm gonna say this. Start your notes as soon as you start the procedure because if you go through, you already know what you're gonna do for the bulk of it. your note pretty much done before the procedure even starts. So it's going to remind you to take the extra. It's going to remind you to take the intra oral, have the intra oral as part of your prep setup for the fillings and the crowns, knowing that we need to take those x -rays for hygienists with the SRPs, making sure you have that in there as well. But often into those note templates, it can just be simple like that or having it on the route slip, add it into the treatment plan of these are the items that we need to do. So we prevent those denials and then the billing team educate. your clinical team. Now, with that said, billers, you're super, super, super detailed and I love you for that. Clinical teams are not usually as detailed and so oftentimes what I watch is there's a divide between the clinical team and the billing team because the billing team's like, we need all this and they make it very hard. So the clinical team's like, fine, we'll do our best, but it's going to be too hard. So coming to a middle ground of billers, what is truly the one, two, three things that you have to have? Kiera Dent (04:40.27) for 90 % of the claims, I understand that there will be 10 % that we need something different. What can we do that's a true system to make it easier for people as opposed to just being like nuance. For example, I was talking to an office the other day and they said, Kiera, we have to have the doctors write this whole thing. I said, not a chance. They're not gonna do it. So what could we do instead? And they're like, well, I just have to have all this information. And I said, but like break it down for me. Like, what do you really have to have? So they were telling me and I said, all right, well, like let's put that in a note template. And they said, yeah, but like, that's not going to work because the doctor has to fill it in. And I'm like, the doctor's not going to do it. So let's find an alternative where they're not going to do it. Just like billers, like your clinical team is not going to write a huge narrative. Can you have pre -made narratives for them of, you know what the insurance is going to ask for. You do all the billing. Make a quick pre -made narrative for a crown of like, crown was replaced because of that, that, that, that, that have that as one option. Crown was replaced because. or like initial placement of the crown or make multiple templates for it of initial placement of a crown, replacement of a crown, how old was the crown, like put that in there of the information that you need because I understand from a billers perspective that it seems so we need all these details. But the reality is most of them fall within patterns and if we can just get the quick patterns done where 90 % of our claims are being covered, amazing. But I say that's on the billers responsibility is to figure out why was it denied? build the system so the whole team can follow through and then make sure that it's happening consistently. So don't just tell them telling does not ever work. People don't change behavior by just telling make it into a system to where it's a fail proof. Like I think about Ray Kroc with McDonald's. If he just told them like, I need you to make sure that those fries are taken out every whatever minutes. People are not going to remember to do that. So he said a buzzer that would go off constantly for him that made sure that people take the fries out of the fryer so they don't get burnt. In practices with systems, I feel like so often we don't realize you need to build a system that doesn't require people to think. It just requires them to fill in the template and then you get everything you need. So looking with those denials, how do you handle them? It's researching the company, finding out why, fixing the note template and educating the team. But like I said, make it into patterns and make it simple for your clinical team because they're not going to sit there and write a narrative. Your doctors are not going to fill in these whole things. Build narratives as a builder. Kiera Dent (07:00.654) So that way your team can quickly just choose it and you get 99 % of what you need to begin with and you're not chasing it down. I think that's a really great way to deal with denials. And then I'll pivot gears real quick on how to handle old balances. So when we're looking at it, and I think these both go in the billing world is like, so that's how we deal with the denials and that's how we build a system for our team. Now on the flip side, we've got the AR, right? And so billers should be in my opinion, Every single month going through every single account. Yes, I said every single account. And I have a lovely spreadsheet that I love for our offices that I give them of this is how you actually track every account. It's statement one, two, three. We make, when we do statements, we send it out as a text. We're not mailing statements. You can still mail, but I would definitely recommend connecting with Moolah. If you're mailing out statements, they're an incredible payment processor. Be sure to tell them Dental A Team sent you because you guys do get preferred rates with Moolah. But what's awesome about them is like they have a whole drip campaign so statements get done. But on your billing spreadsheet, it should be statement one, two, three. We know we've called them. We've got the insurance follow up. We've got the payments. But every month your biller should be able to tell you every single account in the AR of what's going on. Because once we do that, then with these old balances, I know that you've had about three months of trying to collect on these old balances. And then if we can't, what I usually recommend is once we've gone through and the doctor sees how much. Number one, why did we get the old balances? Like what happened to get this? And did we fix and create a system? So this never happens again, because what I hate more than anything is writing off money, but we never fixed the problem. And so it's just as leaky bucket. We write money off, but we never fix the leak in the bucket. So you've got to find a way to fix the hole in the bucket by building a system. So before I ever allow a team to write old balances off, I make them build a system to where this never happens again, because you don't want me taking the X amount of money out of your paycheck. This is truly your paycheck by having to write off these old balances. Now I understand it could be a bill or left or different things in place, but if a bill or left, it wasn't a system. You need to have a system in place to make sure this doesn't happen. So with that, we set up a system so it doesn't happen again. We figure out what we did wrong. Maybe we didn't have timely filing on it. Well, great, let's set up an alert. This is where the spreadsheet comes into play so we know we always have timely filing on it. Kiera Dent (09:18.254) Maybe it was the fact that we didn't have the correct estimates in there. Amazing. All fee schedules have to go in. We have to have signed ones. We have to bill them if we don't have it coming back from insurance. We follow up with the insurance every like two weeks to make sure that we're getting all these claims paid. And so with that, once all that's done, then what we do with these old balances is I set a day and I just say, this is the bad day. Doctors, we write all this off as old debt. You can decide if you want to send them to collections. You can decide if it's old debt, but we just... We write it off, we zero out those accounts, we can set a note so that way if the patient ever does return to the practice, they are required to pay that amount before they're able to be seen. But we literally just zero it all out. Usually I have offices work on this for three to six months before I zero it out. And then we just know, and I try to do it at a set time so I know May of this year or June or December is when we're gonna just write it all off so that way the books are truly clean. but I'm going to try and collect every single penny because I feel like that's my job. The work was done and we owe it to our practice to collect the money and to our patients to train them that they do need to get paid. Now, sometimes if it's old, you might be able to strike some deals of like, let's do a 50 50 or like all right off 20 % of it. You pay 80 % of it. I try to strike some deals with patients just to get payments paid. You can also again work with a processor and you can make payments. So that way the patient can pay over time on this balance if it's old and they weren't expecting it. And verbiage for that is like, hey, we were going through our accounts and we noticed that there's a balance on your account. We do need to get that paid. I can take card over the phone. I do Visa or Amex. Which do you prefer? Now they're like, I wasn't expecting this. Amazing. Let's do a couple of payments. And just have a payment process in place where they can pay it maybe over the course of three months, six months, whatever you guys choose to do. But the goal is that we get these balances taken care of. And I'm just very confident with it. You don't need to say that, we lost a biller and we didn't know about this. I can't tell you how many times I have companies from six months ago, 12 months ago, they say, hey, we're reviewing our accounts. And we noticed that this balance was still remaining on your account. We do need to get it taken care of. We accept a credit card and we do need it paid by this date. It's like no nonsense. That's how other companies do it. So just so you know, Kiera Dent (11:33.326) That's what happens and they do audit their accounts quite often. It's very common. This is why there's auditing people. This is why there's accounting teams is because their job is to true up and make sure the balances are all correct. And I know we feel guilty like, well, we should have been doing this. Of course, we should have been doing it, but we didn't. Today, we know that these people owe money for work that we did do. We're not going after them for money that we didn't actually do the work for. You did the work. And so we need to get those balances cleaned up and taken care of. So that's my recommendation. And I know I did like a really high level for you guys on denials and balances, but the goal is, I hope you guys take from everything is there's gotta be a system so that way we stop having the denials and we stop having th…
Full show notes at the publisherKiera encourages practices to send out end-of-year benefit letters now, just in time for the slow-down in September. As a bonus, she includes the lingo those letters can include. Episode resources: Reach out to Kiera Tune Into DAT's Monthly Webinar Practice Momentum Group Consulting Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Become Dental A-Team Platinum! Review the podcast Transcript: Kiera Dent (00:00.634) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and welcome I hope you guys are doing so incredible and I hope that you guys just remember how great life is for you and That we're so lucky and blessed to be living in the day that we are and that we're able to be a part of dentistry And it's kind of crazy to be podcasting again. I took a little bit of time for myself I had some things come up and so it's kind of fun to be back to the podcast world and just mad kudos to our team So you guys today I wanted to give you a quick tip to hopefully help you not have a suck -tem -ber as it has been known in the industry for years. I have an office, shout out to them, they know who they are and they call themselves the slam dunk September. And so how do you prevent that suck -tem -ber now to ensure that you have that slam dunk September? And if it's not September for you, maybe it's October, but typically around fall, things tend to be a little bit more slow. People are getting back to school. The holidays are coming up and so people are kind of in this funky zone. feel like September is really that like shifting. It's a shifting from summer to fall. It's a shifting from being in summer, going back to school. It's a shifting from summertime into end of your holidays. And so how can we ensure that you guys are truly successful and set up for that? And it's a very simple tip that I think is so relevant for you just to put on your radar and to remind you. And sometimes you may have heard Sometimes you'll hear things on the podcast that maybe we've talked about in the past I try really hard to give you guys new podcasts all the time But I think one of the most important things is just for us to remember things that we know to set them on automatic cadences So we don't have to remember as much and that we can become very proficient and efficient are the things that I like to do So before we get into that, I just want to say thank you for being a podcast listener. Thank you for being a part of my life Thank you for being people that I know rally in dentistry and are here and committed to making changes into dentistry. And I just want to ask you to please go leave that review for us. Share this with a friend, put it in a Facebook place, on a post, in an Instagram question, share it with people when they ask questions. You guys know you can always go to TheDentalATeam.com, click on our podcast page and be sure to search any of your questions, any of your topics. And I guarantee you in the almost 900 episodes we have that there will be answers and solutions for you. If you're like me and you prefer it to be a little bit easier. Kiera Dent (02:20.642) Be sure to just email us Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. We can help you, we can reach out with you, you can join our family. We have virtual, we've got group, and we've got one -on -one consulting options for you. So really trying to accommodate all the budgets out there and all the styles and preferences and just really wanting to make sure you feel supported. I know the world can feel a little funny right now. The world can feel a little uncertain. What is going to happen with the election? What's going to happen with our patients? What's happening with insurances? What's happening with the turnover? Am I going to have a team? I think all those questions really having a coach to guide you to give that guidance. I know I lean on my coach all the time and that's honestly why I'm obsessed with consulting our practices and being on coaching calls today. Just being able to help guide them and give them that sounding board and giving them tips and advice and shortcuts really I think is a helpful thing. And so that's really what we're about at Dental A Team. And if that inspires you, if you feel like maybe there is an easier path we've helped. offices from startup to selling to transitions to multi -practice ownership. So whatever your path, whatever your journey is, Dental A Team's not a one size fits all. Dental A Team is here to support you, your team and your ultimate goals and desires. And we do it from people who have been there, done that and done it successfully many times over. And so really that's our goal. That's our love. And that's our obsession is you giving you and your team the happiness, the ease. Now that doesn't come without you having to put in the work too. Some people just think that we're a magic diet pill and we're not. but we do try to eliminate the stress and make it easy for you. today, like I said, let's help you guys not have that September. Let's help you have that amazing September. And one of the easiest things is to, think it's so funny as a society, we send our end of year benefit letters at the end of the year, right? And I thought about it. Most people have already been to the dentist come August, especially mid August. We are past that six month mark. July was A lot of people's benefits are either partially used, some of them are maxed, but most of them still have some insurance remaining. And I think it's so silly that we send out our end of year benefit letters in October. I did the exact same thing, but then I started thinking, well, if we have a hard September and we're going to be sending out end of year benefit letters in October, could we not combine the two and be able to, utilize that? And so, just something to think about. I don't think there's anything wrong with sending at least seven letters and also incorporating Kiera Dent (04:40.886) Phone calls in it as well kind of like our reactivation of two two two. So two weeks two months Excuse me two days two weeks two months is how we like to reactivate patients You could do the same thing with reactivation and we could be sending it out say in August September October November And then we really start hitting it in November harder But something I found when I was sending letters is my October November December are pretty darn busy And it was my September that was very light and so why not send these mid August. We're going to try and get this released early for you guys. So you're catching this podcast right at the time and sending out these email blasts of a use it or lose it or early bird gets the worm or let's schedule on your time schedule, not when it's packed. Or why don't you take advantage of the benefits that your insurance gave you instead of having it go back to your insurance company or Hey, our schedules get really, really busy or specifically targeting certain cases right now where you can go through your own scheduled treatment plans and look for them. and see what you can do for them to be able to get them in on your schedules. And I just think it's something where we, I think end of year benefit letters came because our September's were slow. And so I'm like, why not be proactive? Why not set in our schedule that in August every year we start sending letters. And so there are a couple letter templates that we've been doing for some of our offices. And of course our offices get VIP. We share everything with them on the podcast. I will definitely give you guys a sample of it for sure, but. Like one blast could be like dear patient name. Can you believe it's the end of the year is already approaching Halloween will be here before you know it and we're going to be into fall spice and pumpkin spice and making this up because this one's specifically for the New Year's ball drop. That's a little bit closer to end of year, but you could be saying like right now like truly pumpkin spice seasons about to be upon us knowing that time flies when we're all having so much fun. We wanted to take a moment to remind you that your dental care is a top priority. If you're seeing our practice as a patient with dental insurance now is the time to get Most insurance plans renew annually, that's what the air quotes, renew annually in January and run on a use it or lose it motto. Don't waste what you've got. If you have a cleaning to reserve or maybe dental treatment that's been recommended, let's help you find the best day and time to use what you've got left on your insurance plan. Like we said, pumpkin spice is going to be here before we know it. Call and reserve your next appointment with us. We want to make sure that we can accommodate your schedule before our schedules get packed. Look forward to seeing you soon. regards, best regards to your dental office. Kiera Dent (07:04.824) So something as simple, I love to correlate my emails with the holidays that are coming around. So it could be like, no tricks, just treats. Let's get you scheduled today. Or you could do something around like, it's pumpkin spice day. Be sure to use up your benefits. Or you can say like, it's time to give like gratitude. Could you imagine what your life would be like without teeth? We get to smile, we get to speak, we get to eat. Like all these things like Thanksgiving wouldn't be the same without our teeth. let's be sure we're taking care of them. So you really can play into some fun things, make them fun letters that your patients will be reading, and do something where, again, we're doing a benefit. I understand that it's going to benefit you as a practice for September, but truly as a patient wasting money on insurance, I think is the dumbest thing that they can ever do. Like that is Kiera's rant where I will go off on that because I just think it's, it's so unfortunate. People pay their premiums, people pay for their insurance and yet we don't use our insurance and What happens is that money goes back to the insurance companies and that patient who paid their premiums, they're not able to maximize it. Now, if your patients have already maxed out, that's okay. Depending upon the state that you're in, some offices, again, it's state laws, so be sure to look into your state laws. Some stay in network, so they'll still honor the insurance fees. And if you're a state that does that, I always tell the patients like, hey, your insurance company gets to change every single year. They get to be doing things differently. And I would hate for to legitimately have them come up with a policy and a plan next year that doesn't cover the treatment. We know this year, right here, right now, that this is what your insurance company is covering. Let's maximize the discounts that you still get. I explained to patients the difference between dental insurance and medical insurance. Dental insurance is like a coupon. They give us a bucket of money is another way to describe it. And once that money is gone, that's all we can use. But medical insurance, we pay our deductible and then they cover the rest. so dental insurance is very different and we want to make sure we maximize it, utilize it, and then also get the discounts and benefits that come along with it. Because again, it's just a cute fun plan and let's make sure that we're getting everything on sale. Prices do go up next year for us and also for insurances, not your amount that they're going to cover, but the differences of what they will cover. And they often do change that from year to year. So we know today, we know we've got treatment, more treatments coming next year. Kiera Dent (09:23.79) So let's maximize and utilize those benefits. Now, if you're a state that doesn't do that and you actually go into your office fees, totally fine. We let them know we've maximized and utilized all of your benefits. Let's make sure we get the treatment done today because treatment will come up and we don't want it to stack up on you and it will never be cheaper or more predictable than it is today. So really helping your patients realize like we're proactive. I remember when I was dating my husband, I drove a 97 Honda Civic, it was cherry red. I called her Rosie Anne named after my mower on my family's lawn business. I mowed lawns all growing up and I named my mower Rosie Anne. She was red as well and hence my car became Rosie Anne. I remember my husband, I was in college and like money just felt tight and I remember my window broke one time and I told my husband, said, I just don't know if I want to fix it. And he gave me something that I thought of so much. said, Kiera, always fix it when it happens because more things will break down. our teeth are like, they're not like cars, but they are continually breaking down. Our bodies are continually breaking down. Cars are breaking down. and he said, always fix it because otherwise it just becomes more expensive. And I thought about that. Think about my window would break and then, you know, the AC breaks and then the clutch goes out and then the windshield wiper needs to be replaced in, you know, when we do it in small chunks, it doesn't seem as drastic, but think about our patients, the patients who come and get their small little fillings fixed. it's, know, a couple hundred dollars here. versus our patients who have put off dental care for so long, and then they come in and they have these giant treatment plans that are 30 ,000 plus to get their mouths back to where they were. I think being proactive and taking care of them while they're small is something that we can do as a huge benefit to our patients. so helping our patients understand like, no, we wanna help you be proactive because it's smaller, we get to preserve more tooth. And I don't know, I have such a passion for teeth, clearly, that's why I do what I do. But just helping our patients realize like our teeth like I said really truly are I think the It's funny. I say the mouthpiece to your soul, but it really is it's the way we smile It's the way we communicate the way we eat and enjoy food without our teeth It really would make it quite hard and the confidence that's there with it as well And so I think even if your patients might not prioritize it as much as you do Helping them see that like hey as problems come up because they're going to continue Kiera Dent (11:48.396) Our bodies are going to continue to get older. Our teeth are going to continue to age with us. And so let's be proactive on it now. So that's really how I'm able to help patients. And I think as long as we're not basing it on insurance, we're using insurance as a coupon. We're using it as a way to help our patients get the treatment done that's necessary. But at the end of the day, they're worth it. And being able to have that confidence, being able to have their teeth long term. Jason, my husband, his grandma. gave him some great advice. She was much older and she said one of the greatest things she's so grateful she did for herself was to take care of her teeth. She said, Jason, I want you to floss every night and I want you to brush your teeth. And she died many years later. She was well into her nineties and she had all of her original teeth. And she said she was so grateful because she was still able to maintain a high quality of life. She's able to still smile with confidence. And she said she was so grateful.…
Full show notes at the publisherTiff and Dana drill down on how practices can avoid their hygiene schedules falling apart, including the benefit of ASAP lists and their opinions on re-care. Episode resources: Reach out to Tiff and Dana Tune Into DAT's Monthly Webinar Practice Momentum Group Consulting Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Become Dental A-Team Platinum! Review the podcast Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:06.99) Hey, Dental A Team podcast listeners, we are back at you again. We are so excited to be here. I have Miss Dana with me today. You guys know she's one of my favorites to podcast with. Dana, I have to say, I know a couple podcasts ago, you guys may remember, I asked her about some legging recommendations. She gave me some hiking, like legging recommendations. I wasn't able to find the specific pair that you talked about yet, but I did find a Lulu pair. that I used in Yosemite last week. And honestly, I've used them for a couple of hikes here in the Valley as well in Phoenix. Amazing. I was so happy because they were specifically that material. It was a different kind of material than regular leggings. And I'm so happy. And I was thinking of you the whole time. And I was like, my gosh, she was right. And it had so many pockets for my phone and all the things. So thank you, Dana. And I know you've also been really, you've been working really, really hard. in personal life in your world of fitness. And I think it's really cool. And I wanted to acknowledge that today. And I wanted to let the world know that Dana is a freaking rock star. She was so strong. saw, I don't even remember the rec the other day that I saw you, you posted something and I was like, holy cow, like the things that this woman is capable of doing are incredible. So kudos to you, Dana. I love it. What is your, I always like to ask you a question. What's the most fun thing in CrossFit that you're doing right now. Like what's something that you're working to overcome, accomplish, you're killing it on, something that you're really having fun with right Dana (01:40.331) Yeah, I mean, I feel like I'm always working on something, right? And I think this year I turned 40. It was a big birthday. And my goal was to be the strongest that I've ever been. So I've been focusing a lot on strength, but I always am practicing skill work. And I finally got my rope climbs down. So I can actually do those like consecutively. So that's exciting. And I've been working on my handstand pushups to the point where I can do five in a row. So I'll take that. The Dental A Team (02:02.895) So cool. Nice. The Dental A Team (02:09.935) Okay. Well, I mean, I struggle with five regular pushups, not on my head. So that's impressive to me. I know that in CrossFit there's people that are doing a lot of amazing, wild things, but to me that is amazing and wild. So congratulations. That's huge. Awesome. I love it. I love it. Well, you work really hard in and out of the quote unquote office. So thank you for always being here and thank you for always being willing Dana (02:24.629) Thanks. The Dental A Team (02:39.722) record these podcasts with me for our listeners. I know they're super beneficial. Today's content is actually really fun for me because by trade in case you guys did not know, Dana is a licensed and trained professional hygienist. That is what she did. I mean, she's done it all. She's done all the positions really most of them I should say not dentist, none of us has been a dentist, whatever, it's fine. But she was a hygienist, you guys for a long time and she still is a hygienist. I think it's really cool. think it's always fun for me to have these conversations with you to gain your perspective from your side as well. Today I wanted to talk about really keeping the hygiene schedule full. So I know from my perspective from dental assistant and then from my perspective as a front office, which you also have that perspective, it's kind of like a free for all a lot of the times. And it's really just not always first or high priority. But from the hygiene standpoint, Dana, what is that like? Let's just go through, what does it feel like when you look at a schedule and you're like, great, this is a killer day, it's gonna be awesome. You get through your first patient and then you look back at your schedule and it's totally falling apart. Or you look ahead and you're like, gosh, I only have scheduled, I'm only scheduled out a week and a half. Like, what is that like as a hygienist looking at your schedule and seeing Dana (03:55.689) Yeah, I mean, it can be stressful because really for me, I mean, you probably know this about me, Tiff, but I'm pretty goal oriented. And so obviously, I know when I don't have patients on my schedule, that affects my ability to get to goal. then to like, I am there, the reason why I'm there and what I love is that patient care and being able to take care of my patients and do the things that they need when they're in my chair. And so if my schedule isn't full or isn't ideal, I don't get to do that as much as I ideally would love. And so it can be stressful, it The Dental A Team (04:01.997) Yeah. Dana (04:25.633) be frustrating, right? Because so many times, like hygiene is just like your routine care, right? And so it's, it doesn't, it is stressful as far as like, did I not build enough importance for that visit? Or where did maybe, you know, my communication with that patient make it so that they didn't value their time with me? And so I think that it can be frustrating and stressful for every hygienist. The Dental A Team (04:49.836) Yeah, I think that makes sense. And I think that's important what you just said, because you just took it from a spin that I didn't even expect. And I think most probably team members for an office workers and assistants don't expect that either because it feels, or we allow it to feel, we take it very personally when a hygienist is like what happens to our schedule. But you have taken it personally when a patient falls off of your schedule. So you're already in a space unrest of like upset of gosh, what could I have done differently? Or how could I have been better? And then we come out I'm gonna say we for the front office, we come out at oftentimes of like, hey, I did the best that I could, what do you expect from me? So then you're already you're already in a space of upset and unrest and, and trying to figure it out. And then we come at you like, don't come at me. And now you're you know, the hygiene team then maybe take offense to that and become defensive. So that makes sense. I'm actually really glad I asked you that question, because I'm not sure I've ever asked that or dove into that. And I hope the listeners heard what Dana said as well as, and then can kind of see that picture painted of how an upset could occur between two people or two groups of people very easily because of one misunderstanding. We're both kind of taking offense to a situation without understanding the other person's point of view. That was actually incredible. Thank you. I knew you would say something really great, but I wasn't even expecting as far as that went. So that was really fantastic. Thank you. I see within that a space of communication. So making sure clear expectations are made from the get -go. That we're always asking more questions and assuming less. That's a reminder I love to give everyone in my life. Ask more questions, assume less. and assume the only assumption can be that you don't know the answer. The Dental A Team (06:50.57) ask more questions and assume less and assume the only thing you can assume is that you don't actually know the answer because you're not the other person. So that's huge right there because I think that's a space where people can really say, hey, let's talk about this. And if we have solid systems set up from the get -go, a good foundation of what do we do if something falls off the schedule? What do we do when the schedule falls apart? That's a really easy space to meet expectations and hopefully refill a schedule before a hygienist even notices. That's my favorite thing to do is to make sure that he or she has a full schedule and doesn't even know it fell apart. So with that, some common, common ways to do that, we're gonna dive into a few for you guys today so that you can really be prepared to meet those expectations and really clear up a lot of communication between the two of those two departments or three departments. My favorite and Dana, think we work on this a lot with practices, blocked scheduling and ASAP lists. Those are my two favorites. I love blocked scheduling. We talk about this in a lot of different podcasts for a lot of different reasons, but within hygiene, it really helps set and build the value and ensures that your new patients are scheduled where they need to be. When those new patients schedule blocks and those SRP blocks are in place correctly, we're scheduling out into the future. as they come off, it's very easy if someone falls off the schedule, maybe an SRP got called into work and can't come later today. Well, guess what, I've got another SRP that's very easy to find, that's probably about the same time, if not exactly the same time of day, that can likely come in and I can choose that one to call and bring them in earlier. The ASAP list is super similar, like what time of day are they looking to come in, making sure we're notating all of those things, every system as far as I know, Has the capability of an ASAP list. know Dentrix does, Open Dental does, Dana's saying yes, so that means Eagle Soft does. She knew that was my crux. Ascend, I can't answer that question. And then Curve does, and I bet Care Stack does as well. So utilize those ASAP lists. If you don't know how to do it within your system, Google you guys. I know we get a lot of those questions and I'm happy to answer them. So you can reach out, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com as The Dental A Team (09:08.058) But usually if we don't know the answer, we're typing it in Google for you guys. So Google at first reach out to us if you need it or if you need help creating the system around it. But that ASAP space with those blocked schedules really helped to solidify a grouping of people to pull into those holes. Dana, how do you help practices see the system behind a good ASAP list? Because I know a lot of practices really struggle to see the value creating it and can sometimes feel like it's redundant or they're like, gosh, I've called all these people. What kind of systems do you put in place for Dana (09:46.707) And I think this keeps coming up more and more right now because a lot of offices are short on hygiene hours and so the last thing we want to do is have an opening and there have been an easy person to put in there but it's not easy because we rely on our memory and let's face it as much as our memory is great, right? Four or five even close to six months later not so great if we're all being honest with ourselves and so I think the Where I see a lot of the pushback on the ASAP list is if they've tried it and it's messy, The Dental A Team (10:09.57) Mm -hmm. Dana (10:16.373) There's no cleanup system. There's no like we just keep calling the same people. There's no anything There's not great notes in there So my first thing is who do you put on the ASAP list and really the ASAP list is anyone who rescheduled who canceled right or rescheduled and didn't get back on our schedule I guess so they just canceled or The Dental A Team (10:30.012) sorry. Dana (10:35.749) They didn't and they didn't reappoint so putting those people on your ASAP list because you know They were due or our past do and need to get in fairly quickly Anyone who we had to schedule out a little bit farther than we'd like to and who wanted sooner or anyone who we put in a not ideal time for them and they would actually prefer something different so those are who goes on your ASAP list and then it's a really it is just when do we call them and When do we clean them Right? And so it's just kind of creating those rules of thumb. So when we call them, obviously when we have a cancellation or we have somebody who even we anticipate calling side booking if we need to. So that would be when you would use the list and then it's just an easy cleanup how many times are we gonna reach out to this patient and offer them something sooner before we take them off and we just give them their original appointment because we've tried to make it within our schedule and we don't wanna keep also bugging them to a certain extent. So it's just kind of coming up with that cutoff. I usually say like three or four times and then they just come up the ASAP list or making sure that we're checking our ASAP list and is somebody on there already have a sooner appointment? Like did we already do something and we just left them? The Dental A Team (11:23.946) Okay. Dana (11:49.039) on there. So it's just having those strategies that make ASAP list work. just oftentimes can get clunky because we don't have those strategies in place when we start it. The Dental A Team (11:57.04) Mm -hmm. I totally agree. I totally agree. And there have been so many times when I was in practice that I would say to a patient, like, gosh, I know for me it would be really hard, you know, to move my appointment up in my life, but I like to think that it would be easy. So I know we've offered a couple of times, but I don't want to keep bugging you. Do you me to keep calling if they come up, or do you want me to take you off the list? And oftentimes patients will be like, no, it's not a bother at all. And I know it's annoying. Like, I can't make this one, but please keep trying. And I'd be like, totally fine. It's not a problem whatsoever. I just want to make sure I driving you crazy with the phone calls or patients would be like, yeah, you know what, you're right. Like, I'm probably never going to be able to come in early. So just take me off. I'd rather just keep the plan that I have. So it helps to clean it up. Just asking a simple question of, is this beneficial for you? Or is it a nuisance? Because either way, I want to make sure that you're satisfied. So and I think we think we're invading, right? That's always the issue. We always feel like we're invading somebody's bubble or we're bothering them. And we don't want to be a So then we shy away from calling them or like, gosh, I just called them two days ago. I'm not going to call them again. But if we ask them upfront and they tell us it is, or is not a bother, now we can make that decision that goes back to not making assumptions. So I think that's huge. Now, Dana, I preach this to all of my clients, all of my practices I work with, re care, make her re care, re care. When I was first new into dentistry, I was a few years into dentistry, my dearest doctor they worked for for a long time. He was a re -care maniac and he used to drive me insane until I saw, okay, I get it. He's like, we're not six months booked, we've got a problem and he was just hammering this re -care constantly and I was like, what is the deal? But when we stop calling people and we stop being like front of mind, right? Top of mind, we're not in front of them anymore is when they forge…
Full show notes at the publisherRereleasing one of DAT's most popular episodes! Want to know the secret to wowing your patients? Kiera shares it in THIS episode. Some spoilers to ask yourself: What experience do you want your patients to have when they enter your practice? Fun? Relaxing? Modern? What companies have the type of experience you want your patients to have? The Dental A-Team's model companies are, for example, Disneyland, Amazon, Apple, and Google. What would mimicking those companies' experiences feel like in your practice? How can you ensure that every team member provides the same experience? Once these questions are answered, you can roll your practice's vibe into your social media and other marketing efforts. Episode resources: Reach out to Kiera Watch DAT Podcasts on YouTube Practice Momentum Group Consulting Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Become Dental A-Team Platinum! Review the podcast Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:05.742) Hey everyone, welcome to The Dental A Team podcast. I'm your host, Kiera Dent, and I had this crazy idea that maybe I could combine a doctor and a team member's perspective, because let's face it, dentistry can be a challenging profession with those two perspectives. I've been a dental assistant, treatment coordinator, scheduler, pillar, office manager, regional manager, practice owner, and I have a team of traveling consultants where we have traveled to over 165 different offices coaching teams. Yep, we don't just understand you, we are you. Our mission is to positively impact the world of dental. And I believe that this podcast is the greatest way I can help elevate teams, grow VIP experiences, reduce stress, and create A -Teams. Welcome to the Dental A Team Podcast. The Dental A Team (00:51.064) Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and all right, let's chat about how you guys can do the patient experience. As you guys know, patient experience is something really big in every single practice and making sure you guys are really solid and set for it is a huge indicating factor. What do I mean by patient experience? Patient experience is everything from A to Z. How do we answer the phones? How do we walk our patients back to the rooms? How do we present treatment plans? Honestly, the number one thing you should be asking when you dive into this patient experience is, what do we want our patients to experience? Okay, so let's start there. I'm gonna walk this down with you guys. What companies, what experience do you want your patients to have? I would start there. Do you want it to feel spa -like? Do you want it to feel fun and peppy? Do you want it to feel relaxing? Do you want it to feel professional? Do you want it to feel modern and chic? Do you want it to feel family -friendly? Every single one of those you guys could feel a different color scheme You could feel a different style You could have just a completely different experience based on what you want your patients to experience So at Dental A Team, I want everybody to have an incredible experience and that means I want it to be fun I want us to be very approachable very Just I always say I'm cured it from the block. I'm not a dentist. We're not scary So we have cartoon characters We want you to feel like it is very doable. We want it to be very simple and we want to have a lot of ease. That is what we want our clients to feel. And we want them to feel that they're going to get results and they're going to get massive results working with us. That is the experience. I want you to walk in with the most white glove. We take care of you. You have never been treated better by another company. We respond within 24 hours. That is the vibe of Dental A Team. And I will tell you that did not come overnight. We have worked really hard on that. We used to not have VIP patient experience. We used to have a lot of struggles in our company, but that is the experience. When I think of a client calling us, I want them to have happy people on the other side. I want us to be very complimentary. I want us to be very understanding. I want you to have a ton of fun when you work with us while seeing insane results. That was my vision for Dental A Team, and yet it's changed over the years. So that's first and foremost, like what is the actual experience that you want? Number The Dental A Team (03:15.424) is come up with companies that resemble the experience you want. So the companies we model off after our Disneyland, you guys think about Disneyland, they go above and beyond on every single thing that they do. That's what I want Denali team to be. I want our company to go above and beyond. I want us to do things to just blow your minds like our swag boxes for summit. Super fun. All of our clients just got a book called the Humanized Leader by Mary Pat Knight. I want to surprise and dazzle our clients. with amazing value. Everything we ever do has value behind it. Disneyland, everything they do is to create magic. That is something, that's a company we model after. We also model after Amazon. Amazon is insanely easy. Everybody uses them. They are the best out there right now. Okay? So Amazon's a huge company we model after. We also model after Apple in the sense that everything they do, you guys can judge me or not, you can agree or disagree. Apple, everything they do is very simple. It's very easy to use. Children can use an iPhone. AirPods connect in. They think of little easy ways to make it all connect together. Of course, it doesn't always work. That's OK. But even like the boxes that they send to you are amazing and simple, a simple design, easy to use. I love that everything's white. All the cords are white. Everything is square. It's very clean cut. They have a very strong brand. That's what we thought. So those are the companies we model after Disneyland, Apple. Google, Google's another one that we model after, because Google is so simple. They're on top of it. They have a very fun culture. Their employees love to be there. How many of you have wished that there was an easy way to get that dang operations manual done? Well, guess what? We are here to deliver. That's right. Join us for an entire eight hours and get eight hours of CE, Friday, September 17th, for our operations manual creation. That's right. We are literally going to walk you and your team through step by workshop style. It's virtual and you're going to get that operations manual started and quite a few pieces completed. So join us on Friday, September 17th. Utilize our coupon code podcast ops. That's podcast OPS. Head on over to thedenaliateam .com backslash events. I cannot wait to see you. Let's get that operations manual done, done and done. Bring your entire team and I'll see you guys there. The Dental A Team (05:36.952) So I would choose number one, what's the experience you want your patients to have? And then number two, what are some companies that your practice models after? What's really helpful is what I'm trying to do is paint pictures for your team members to be able to model and mirror. All of us use Amazon, all of us use Apple, all of us use Google, all of us, hopefully, and if not, call me up, I'll be your friend, have gone to Disneyland. So those are very easy pictures for my team to understand. These are the companies we wanna be This is the experience that we want our clients to feel. And so for you guys in your dental practices, creating this patient experience is going to be tenfold for you. You're going to be able to have them then tangibly taste it, feel it, experience it. And then from there, we start to fine tune our handoffs, our phone calls, because now I can think of, OK, if I was working at Disneyland, how would I answer the phone? Well, I'm going to answer it a lot differently than when I say, We are always amazing on our customer service, right? Like people can physically feel the difference. They can see it. If I were working at Google, how would I treat our clients? How would I treat our patients? If we were Amazon, Amazon's quick. If something's not delivered to your house, no problem. They fix it for you. That's the type of culture that we want our patients to experience. So I really want you guys to pay attention to what is your patient experience? What do you want your clients to have? And then what are the companies that you're practice models after? Choose them. Doctors, this is usually driven by you, office managers you can influence. We've got to make sure it's the feel, vibe. Our dental practice in Colorado was a very hipster feel. We wanted people to feel like it was modern, it was chic. Because we literally played Drake. That was the music we played. We did not appeal to all clients and that was fine. Our doctor had a mohawk, she called it a prohawk. We had a very, very unique practice. We had modern, we were downtown Denver and that was the vibe we wanted. We had modern art in there. And it was a very fun, different culture vibe. We attracted those people. We wanted them to have this very chic experience. So we had this coffee bar, we had different menus, we had different pieces because that was the vibe we wanted them to have. I did not tell them companies we should have modeled after. That would have helped my team understand more tangibly all of us being able to offer the exact same patient experience. And then you want to make sure every team is providing the exact same type of patient experience. You don't want them to go to Kiera and have one experience. The Dental A Team (08:00.802) and then go to Tiffany and have another experience. You want it to be a very similar experience whether they see your dental assistant, your hygienist, your front office, the dentist. All of us are speaking similar languages. And not all of us have to have same personalities. Tiffany, Brittany, and I all have very different personalities. Yet we all have the same type of style, the same type of fun, but yet we come with our own flair to it. And that's what you want to make sure your practice is doing. I'm really impressed. with offices that are able to be consistent on their patient experience. If you guys have not read the E -Myth Revisited, read it. There's a really great story where they talk about the haircut. It's a famous, famous example where this guy goes in to get his haircut and the first time he gets like a neck massage, he gets a glass of brandy, I think, and gets an amazing haircut. The next time he goes in, they don't give him the head massage, they give him a glass of brandy. The next time he goes in, he gets a head massage. but no brandy. And the idea behind it was he actually stopped going because it was not consistent. And so having a consistent patient experience every time they call, how are we answering the phone? How do we handle their billing? How do we handle their handoffs? How do we communicate inpatient charts to ensure that every patient's having the exact same experience? These are pieces that are really going to grow your practice, which it sounds silly, it sounds ridiculous, but that consistency piece is going to help I know a lot of consultants, actually just sent Brittany and Tiffany into an office that I was in. Yes, they're going to bring a different flair. However, the experience, not the how -to, but the experience, the way our clients felt of positive, they're able to do this, that they feel empowered, that it was a fun experience, that it was done with ease. All of that, our client should have picked up. It should have felt like Disneyland. It should have felt like Apple and Google and Amazon. That's how it should have felt. And I know that office felt that way and they felt massive value from it. So that way your team can start to feel that way. Then you guys can go on to a fun brainstorming exercise of, so let's say our practice was Nordstrom. That was the example of the dental college I was at. Midwestern University in Arizona, the dean told us, Kiera, I want our office, our dental practice to feel like Nordstrom. Great, I got it. He was like, you always have excessive composite out for them. The Dental A Team (10:20.118) We never have it feel like we're running out on supplies. You go above and beyond. Yes, that meant that I had to definitely go into some of those students' drawers and recoup all the composite that they were hoarding because they were scared that we wouldn't have enough. However, my job was to always make sure that there was more than enough out there because he wanted them to feel like they were at the Nordstrom of dental schools. And that was literally what we created. So let's say you'd say your practice is the Nordstrom of dental practices. How would you treat your patients? Well, when they come in, you're probably gonna give them a really nice folder. They're probably gonna have nice velvet or leather chairs to sit in. It's gonna be very relaxed. You're gonna be playing more spa -like music. Your team member's gonna come out and call them by name and not shout across the waiting room. You're gonna escort them back. You're probably gonna have very neutral, beautiful colors in there. All these things are the experience that that patient's having, and then staying consistent with that patient experience is going to allow your entire team to deliver again and again and again. And people love consistency. People love knowing that when they come to the dental practice, it's going to be the same. It does not matter if you change team members. Like I get it, it's the great resignation across the nation. I understand. But what is the experience they're getting? What do you want them to? Have you even thought about these things? Cause I know I haven't. And then I don't even know where I made it up. just, I hope I probably read it in a book, but I just thought I need my team to be able to understand who we are and what we are and what we're not. This is kind of part of marketing as well, because then that will fall into your social media. It will come across on all your marketing materials that go out. Every marketing material that we send out to people should be fun, should be positive, should be lighthearted and empowering. That is the vibe. That's what we're pushing out. It should be easy. Our podcast is always quick, easy, down and dirty things you can implement. There is a reason that is our brand, that is our style. So once you guys figure out this patient experience, then roll it into your marketing, then roll it into your social media. But practice this. Ask your team, have them feel it, talk about it every single week, literally in the Dental A Team. You guys, one of the reasons I love doing the podcast is because I got so sick of listening to certain podcasts where people would say something on the podcast and I'd go meet them in real life and that wasn't how they were. And I've tried and vowed that if I say something on the podcast, guys, I'm sure I've made some mistakes. I try really, really, really hard to be honest and authentic. So when I say that we do this every week, that is not an exaggeration. The Dental A Team (12:43.118) every single week in our level 10 meeting with our whole team, whether I'm present or not, they just did the meeting without me today, we go over our core values, the companies we model after, and what our experience is every single time. I don't say our experience is what our niche is, what our mission and vision statements are, what our core values are, and the companies we model after every single week, bec…
Full show notes at the publisherFocusing on relationship-building with your patients is a surprisingly effective way to establish long-term success in the practice. Tiff and Dana discuss why these relationships are such difference-makers, the two methods most critical to creating connection, and how to start implementing that success today. Episode resources: Reach out to Tiff and Dana Tune Into DAT's Monthly Webinar Practice Momentum Group Consulting Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Become Dental A-Team Platinum! Review the podcast Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:01.71) Hello everyone. I'm so excited to be here today. Dana, thank you for being here. You completely rearranged your schedule for me today. Moving all things around, I know you had kid stuff going on. It's kind of the beginning of the school year for us here on the West Coast. I know East Coasters, you guys have a different timeframe that you work with, but here in Arizona, we start really early and my kids been in school for almost a week now. Dana, I know your kids are in school and you've got all this stuff happening. So thank you so much. How are you today? I know you rushed. to get here with me and we rescheduled it and all the pieces to fit my schedule. So thank you. How are you doing today? How are the kids? Are they ready for school? Dana (00:39.79) Doing good, I'm doing good. Thank you so much for being willing and flexible. I know you know all about this time of year. Kids are doing good. I think it's mixed here in my house. I've got some that are ready to see their friends get back to more of like the social aspects of school and then I more focused more on the learning aspects and not super excited to get back. The Dental A Team (00:54.953) Absolutely. The Dental A Team (00:59.533) You've a mixed bag over there. You've got so many personalities in your household. You probably pretty well fit every every genre you possibly could on most things in life. So I love that Brody is like whatever. He's like whatever. He's been super proactive because he's a junior this year and he's got to start thinking about college and he's being super proactive. So I'm a mom that's like cool. Take care of that. Tell tell me what I have to do later. So I'm in the lucky stages of life and praying for you over there with all your littles. Good luck. Today, I really thought it would be fun for us to chat about relationship building and what that looks like in the dental practice and how that can positively affect long term success in general. I know we've chatted about this before and you and I had a good conversation about it a couple weeks ago. But really looking at all of the pieces that encompass what a good relationship looks like within the dental practice. I think for us in the dental world, it's hard to differentiate health from, you know, relationship and mixing those two things can be a little bit difficult because we want to stay professional. I want to stay super like, you know, I kind of think it's a little cold or icy or medically, right? We want to be seen as a medical professionals that we So it kind of can be difficult to mix those two things together, but I really wanted to chat about how that positively affects long -term success in the dental practice. So I think, Dana, from my perspective, I think relationships affect long -term success in general. And I think in the dental practice, our patients are really looking for that. I think in the dental world, you know, we're not really seen as the medical professionals all the time. We're not always seen as the same space as your PCPs and your pediatricians and all of primary care physicians are seen. We're looked at in a different realm and I think we need to remember that. We need to take that to heart and we need to see what we can do with that information. It's very easy for that medical side to gain new patients and to gain recurring patients because there's just not a lot of places for them to go and they follow their insurance. But in dental, people are looking to understand. They're looking to feel seen and feel heard. So I think that relationship aspect makes a huge difference. Dana? The Dental A Team (03:21.604) I know you've got a ton of clients that you work with all the time on things just like this. A lot of the systems that you work on with practices are wrapped around the idea of relationship building. What are some of the key tips and takeaways I think that you've been working on recently with some of your clients that have really turned the corner for them on that relationship piece? Dana (03:43.32) Yeah, and I think that that's truly what makes dentistry unique in the medical profession is the relationships that we get to build because not only do we get to see them multiple times in a year, oftentimes it's for decades and it's that relationship piece I think that keeps patients coming back and they send their family and then you end up having generations all in one practice, which I think it is just highlighting that to teams that this is really a special unique place where we get to take care of our patients but also build relationships with them. And so I think it is something in the health industry that's super unique to dentistry. I think other professions see them maybe when something is wrong or, you know, once a year or for a short term. And we get to see them again throughout decades of their lives. And so it is truly unique and I think it has to be purposeful. And so that's really what I highlight with teams. is finding those systems and finding those ways to make building that relationship purposeful in a practice. you know, adding personal pieces to the handoff, making sure that we're asking personal questions as we seat the patient, making sure that there's a spot in our software system to put notes about patients and the things that we learn so that we don't forget to touch base on it when we see them again, because we've got lots of patients and we always want to make it seem as if we remember the last time you were here, we're just jumping off from where we left off with you. So it is one, getting team members to understand that that's what sets you apart. All the really focus on the big things. It's the practices that well, that focus on the little things and relationship building is one of those things that is a big thing, but little things that we do make the magic there. The Dental A Team (05:24.378) Yeah, I totally agree. I love that. I love that you said the word purposeful. think that's huge. And I think getting the team buying in on that is something that we overlook and allow that to be overshadowed by other pieces and other like busyness within the dental practice. And really it's just all of those busy things, all of the things that we don't have time to get done in a day, all of the things that we're complaining about or saying we need help with, those are distractions from the ultimate goal. And I think we get lost in that. So I love that you said purposeful. And I think to me, when I look at my practices and just Dental A Team practices in general, and the practices that are really thriving in this purposeful space of building that relationship and maintaining and keeping that relationship, they also have happier team members. Because I know for me, one of my favorite pieces of my entire day was when a patient walked in the door and we could have a conversation. took me out of and put me in this like social aspect that didn't require my team members to fulfill and satisfy that social piece for me. I was really able to just be like, my gosh, Ms. Newman, I'm so excited to see you today. Tell me about your grandkids. What Lego set did you buy? I know you had a birthday, whatever it was. Like I would recall these things and it was fun for me to know my patients. And it made me feel like I was making a bigger impact on the people that were coming to our practice than if I were sitting in a position where I couldn't do that or at a practice where they didn't allow it. So I think purposeful was like such a perfect word for you to use because not only are you putting purpose behind what you're doing with a relationship, but you're making people feel as though they have purpose in their positions and in their jobs and in what they're providing. So purpose was absolutely perfect. I think that flows into retention too, right? When we have a purpose and we have a place to be and we understand. the impact that we're making on a community, we're much more likely to stay where we're at. With that comes the other side that you talked about, the systems behind it that make it purposeful, that keep those lines very clear and keep it very clear as to what your objective is. Because I can sit and chat with a patient all day long, but still not accomplish what I set out to as far as my job. So, The Dental A Team (07:42.227) You noted some awesome things, making sure that the notes are in there, making sure we're asking personal questions. And I think to make it easy on people, because we definitely overcomplicate it, we could give some recommendations or some examples of things that just make it really easy. And I usually I tell practices and I know you work on this too with your practices, Dana, to look for three non dental questions that you can ask. I have to remind people Dana, you probably go through this too, I have to remind people that you don't have to have 20 different options or 21 options of three different questions because you're asking each person as if it's a new conversation because to them, they've not had this conversation yet with you today. So my clients oftentimes get caught up in the minutia of trying to make things harder than they need to be. So that three question thing can kind of stump them. I tell practices, just make sure Whatever information you gather from your patient, you're then passing off to your doctor because when it becomes repetitive is when your three questions are the same as your doctor's three questions. Your doctor comes in the room, you don't share your information and they're like, are you going back to work today? And that's what you just asked. So have variations for sure, but have at least three non -dental questions that you can ask your patient when they walk in. Have a really solid from you to your doctor or the next team member that's gonna be working with them. Oftentimes we'll have patients that have exam and x -rays or fillings or whatever on doctor side and they're with a dental assistant first and our dental assistant knows their entire weekend plans and then hygiene comes in, grabs the patient and the patient has to repeat themselves and have that conversation. So even if you're passing off to another team member and maybe not you're providing doctor. still have that handoff ready to go with that personal information, that personal touch. I think that was brilliant, Dana. And I think that's something that oftentimes we're missing. So keep that going. What are some non dental questions? Like I think there's some easy ones, right? What are you doing this weekend? I say it's Wednesday. When it's Wednesday, it's like, we can ask about last weekend or next weekend, which way are we going to go? So there's last weekend, next weekend, are you going back to work? Any fun vacations coming The Dental A Team (09:57.449) What are some other good questions, Dana, that you've heard that are easily transferred in a personal Dana (10:03.374) Yeah, I mean, one thing I always like to say is what have you been doing with your free time? Right? Like just a general question. Done anything fun or been to any new restaurants lately, right? Anything that you can ask as far as like, what do people do day to day? That's just an easy open space for them to start opening up. The Dental A Team (10:20.785) I love that. And that kind of takes you into like the hobbies section as well. Right? I know, Brody and I got our cleanings at one of my practices I was just at in North Carolina. And this was his first time having his cleaning there and the first his first time really meeting the specific hygienist. He's a new team member to that practice. And Brody, I when I got back from consulting that day, he says, my gosh, I didn't know the hygienist Justin. that he did rock climbing. And I'm like, that's a random conversation for you to have. He's like, Yeah, he asked me if I want to go rock climbing with him. And I'm like, What are you talking about? But he asked Brody that question, like, what do do in your free time? Like, what do you like to do? You know, what do you like to do for fun? I think is what he asked Brody. And so Brody starts talking about what he likes to do for fun, and they get on rock climbing. And I'm like, that was I told Brody in that moment, I was like, that was brilliant. Because this guy has no relationship to you at all. He has relationship with no relationship to Brody, but Brody was bought in. Brody felt like he could go rock climbing with this hygienist, right? And I was like, gosh, you don't have to invite your patients to a rock climbing, that's not what I'm saying. I'm just saying it was very easy for him to find a space to have a solid conversation with Brody the entire duration of that appointment. They talked about rock climbing, they talked about mountain biking, they talked about all of the pieces that go into those types of hobbies for the whole appointment, and Brody was amped up and excited. And this is a 16 year old. Not super easy to get a 16 year old amped up and excited about anything. So I felt like, gosh, that's one of those easy questions that you ask. Like, what do you do in your spare time? What have you been doing? I love the new restaurant question. gets you invested and involved in your community. And it allows people to give you a recommendation. We love as human beings sharing the things that we know. We love telling people what we know. We love giving them advice. We unsolicited or solicited. And we love telling people the things that we enjoy. So when you ask a question like that, even the hobbies question, right? Dana can really spur some new activities in your community you didn't know about, or just conversation in general. Now, when we see this with practices, and Dana, I agree or disagree, when we see this with practices, I really see, like I said, the team unify. I see the team just excited to have a purpose individually and as a unit, but I see doctors more excited. I see practices more excited, and I see The Dental A Team (12:42.923) the goals we're aiming to hit are a little bit easier because we're in that relationship space and we're having more fun getting to know each other than driving towards goals. So the goals actually come more naturally. Dana, do you see that as well? And what do you feel like are a couple of systems? We talked about the questions and we talked about making the notes in the system of those questions, passing it off. What are some systems really that you feel like solidify and dive into? that space where it's like these goals are easy to meet because we're doing these things. Dana (13:15.342) Yeah, and I think that it's easy as we're getting to know our patients to get to know each other. So if we say, Hey, Mr. Smith shared this new restaurant, it's great for the doctor to jump in and say, my gosh, I love Italian food. Do you? Right. And it's a three way engaged conversa…
Full show notes at the publisherIt's a very techie world out there, meaning there's probably a more streamlined way to perform some of the systems in your practice. In this episode, Kiera talks about how to go about innovating before you're forced to. She touches on different points to check on in your practice, and gives ideas for outsourcing opportunities to make that day-to-day all the easier. Episode resources: Reach out to Kiera Watch DAT Podcasts on YouTube Practice Momentum Group Consulting Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Become Dental A-Team Platinum! Review the podcast Transcript: Kiera Dent (00:00.91) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and I love podcasting. I love when I get to hang out with you guys. I know I'm not sitting there with you, but I just truly do get excited. I told my husband I had to like take a shower and wash my hair fully and as women, those of you who know, you know, but washing the hair to get it ready to go is a big deal. My husband's like, you got to do your hair. And I was like, yeah, because tomorrow's podcast day. And he said, then you must love it tomorrow because you always love podcasting. He's like, I always know when you're doing podcasts because you're so happy. And I really am. I enjoy being able to share ideas with you. I love to be able to give you guys tangible tips. I love to work with our sponsors and looking for industry leaders and share them with you. And truly it's just a joy for me to serve and to be able to give back to an industry that I love so much. I hope you guys love today. I hope you are enjoying today. And as always, please go leave us that review. Those of you who are doing it, I just want to say thank you. Go leave a review wherever it is because your reviews keep us as the top podcast. So leaving the reviews and also sharing this in Facebook groups. You guys are hanging out in there. People are asking for it. Just be like, Hey guys, I love the Dental A Team podcast. If you're ever looking for a new podcast, something as simple as that is going to help us truly get into the hands of every single dental practice to bring positivity, to bring joy and to bring tactical practical that they can implement today. So today I wanted to dive into are your systems dated? And the reason that this came to me is because my grandma is quite elderly. So my grandma and I actually share the same birthday. That's kind of fun. My grandma, great grandma and myself all actually have the same birthday. So all on the maternal line as well. It's a very random fact about me. And I was born at 11 55 p at night. So I barely made the day. My grandma, she is very elderly. But I was watching her and my grandma was very disappointed because in the past, what she used to do is she would have a system for printing pictures. My grandma loved to take pictures. And I remember my grandma and grandpa, whenever they'd come, she had her little camera and she had a little notebook and a teeny tiny pencil. Like my grandma would like sharpen that thing clear to the little like aluminum portion of the eraser. But my grandma always had her little pencil and they had it numbered for the film numbers and she would write what every picture was and where she was at. Kiera Dent (02:18.734) And I remember I was talking to her a couple of days ago and she's like, I just get so annoyed, Kara, because there's nowhere that prints film pictures for me anymore. And I have to do it on my phone. And I was thinking about my grandma and I thought about some practices. And so I wrote down the podcast topic of are your systems dated? Meaning are we doing things just because we've always done them, but there could be a better way to do it. So for example, I did a podcast with Moolah, a credit card processing company and just hearing all the things they do of managing memberships and having online payments and being able to send statements and be able to have drip campaigns, be able to have texts to pay. How many of practices are not staying up to date with the technology that's coming into play? There's another office that we chatted with and they have a virtual assistant who's working in the front office and it's very cool through Reach, which is another company that I love. But they're using a virtual assistant that's in Brazil that's actually sitting on camera. and they're able to answer phone calls and they're able to have real time training with the practice. So it's basically like you have somebody there, but it's for a discounted rate for sure. There's virtual assistants in the Philippines. I've got some companies that I'm currently vetting for you guys. And as soon as I love them, I'm going to refer them and share them with you. But just thinking about the systems, thinking about how we set up for crowns, thinking about how we do our sterilization, thinking about how we answer our phones, thinking about how we do our insurance verification with so much technology coming into play. are your systems dated or do you have systems that people are even following? Like I said, I thought about my grandma with her little camera and her camera roll and all of us would be like, that is ridiculous. But it was a good system. My grandma always knew what her photos were. She knew where she was at. She knew which ones to do. She knew who was in the photo and she had a very good system for that. But that's a very dated system for today's world. And so thinking about our charts and like if you go back in time and we all had charts, I hope you don't have paper charts. There's one office I'm calling them out. They do listen to the podcast and he had paper charts when I met him and I'm like, you didn't think to tell me that? Like that is a very dated thing, but he progressed and we use route slips and we have different types of handoffs that you can give people or different route slips or different charting that you can have, but just really going through and assessing. And so to give you guys kind of just an overview of some systems to be looking at, we have our 12 systems, which I'm sure you guys all know of and. Kiera Dent (04:35.758) The reality is I love our 12 systems because I think it's just a good overview checklist for you of looking at them. So what I have is like looking at your leadership and your office manager and like, what about your systems? And I read a good book, we did the book club on it, but come up for air really talked about systems and are we dated and are there ways that we could do it simpler, like a different way for email and for communication and Slack and how do we respond to it? We're in such a digital age of... are we staying up to date or are we becoming dated and outdated like my grandma? I don't want you guys to get there. So looking at these 12 systems, I'll go through them and just kind of thinking of, is there a way that we could optimize and make it a little bit more efficient or are we doing some things a little more archaic and is there maybe a company that could offload this and make it a little bit easier would be a question I'd ask. So in our leadership and our office management, have we read the books like Come Up for Air or Buy Back Your Time or Traction? Are we implementing those things? Are we kind of dated and... you know, we don't delegate, we don't have a process, do we have a software where we track all of our action items and that we're, we have a project management software where we're truly tracking it. I know that sounds silly and you're like, no, we have a piece of paper, Kiera. Well, truth be told, that's dated. It might work for you, but it is dated. I had an office that I was consulting and she's like, Kiera, I track all my numbers. And then I showed her a digital KPI scorecard that's in the cloud in the drive. So when she's not at home or not in the office, she could actually see all these numbers and metrics. And she's like, gosh, Kara, I've been doing this. But again, that is a dated system. I'm not saying that paper is wrong, but I'm saying, is there a way that you could have better metrics, better ways that you could be tracking this more consistently if you just updated your system? So looking at all the things, what am I doing? And is there an easier, faster, more effective way that I could do this? And I know it sounds timely and it sounds like, well, why do I want to spend that much time on it? The answer is because yes, there might be a startup cost of time, but then it becomes easy because for this doctor, for example, with the KPI she was tracking, what's awesome is now that we put it digital and it's in the cloud. All of her team can actually put in all those KPIs for her every single week. They're now looking at the numbers along with her and she doesn't have to do all the work. So yes, it's going to be a lift of about five ish hours for her to transfer the data. I think that that's still. Kiera Dent (06:56.014) ridiculous, I would say more like two hours to transfer it in and to get it all into place. But then she delegates it to her team. And now she doesn't have to track those numbers. And it's all there for her. Also, what's amazing about it being digital is she can actually create graphs of year over year over year growth to see how is she doing year over year, what's going on with it. And then she can also track and measure month over month as well. So just so many things that can be done. And that might even be a data system. And there might be an even easier way, but at least getting it to current to digital. is going to help out. So back to our 12 systems, leadership and office managers, accountability and KPI tracking. What about our marketing plan? How's our marketing and is it dated? And can we digitize it? Can we make it more up to current times and trends? What about our patient journey and experience? What about tracking results? So KPIs, metrics, production per hour, diagnosing and closing, our reputation management. quality control within the practice, time management and delegation, our meetings, and then our fulfillment in life. So that's for the doctors and for teams. I kind of have it a little bit different where I've got the leadership, then accountability. Sorry. For the teams, that's going to be a little bit different of a 12 system. So for the teams, what we do for them. to see edit this portion. So for the teams, what it's going to be is we start out with that ownership in addition to leadership. Then we go to culture and accountability, then raving fans. What's our process for raving fans in our practice and getting those reviews? Five -star patient experience, the journey, our billing department, our scheduling, our case acceptance and treatment coordinators, our dental assistants, our hygienists, our operations manual and systems, again, going back to meetings and then hiring and onboarding. What are the systems in all those different areas for you and how is your practice doing on those areas? So really looking at those 12 systems to see, are we dated in our culture? I was just asked the other day about, Kiera Dent (09:16.878) What can we do to incentivize our teams and how can we make this more fun? And I'm like, you could do an Amazon shopping spree, give them 10 minutes and people be like, my gosh, I never thought about that. That's getting up to current speed. So looking at other industries and sometimes even looking outside of dentistry, I love to pay attention when I go to grocery stores or to Home Depot, I love to pay attention to Amazon. I love to read up on books of bigger companies. How did they do it? But really listening, like that's why I recommended the book, Come Up for Air. That's why I recommended some of these other. books, buy back your time, because they'll teach you efficiency models that you could do. So instead of being like my grandma, I think all of us would be, we think it's ridiculous. My grandma like, no grandma, you can just go click on that picture. You can see where you are. If you even search somebody's name, it's so smart. It will pull up all the pictures of that person. You can put them up in the cloud. You can put them in the drive. You can have them in Dropbox. You can print them out if you want. You can even buy a camera where you can take those photos and have it print out in a Polaroid. But for my grandma, That feels hard for her. That feels like, no, the paper and pencil work just fine. And my grandma, she's well into her 80s. So maybe it's not time for her to update that system. And for some of you who might have an older practice or you might not want to be as innovative, sure. But I think modernizing it and getting it up to speed, looking at our payment processors, looking at how we do insurance verification, can we cluster things, looking at how we schedule, are there softwares out there that could help us? Are there virtual assistants that could cut down the time? It was so crazy. I was talking to some really, really successful business owners and they said that they had a virtual assistant for every lead on their team. And I thought, how crazy would that be if offices actually did that? And all those mundane things could actually be transferred over to a virtual assistant that would be able to take it all. What about AI and what things have come into play? Are you using your softwares to the fullest? Are we using them so when we... close it, are we actually doing like monthly CE within our software to figure out how to maximize and optimize our software? Are we looking to see how can we make our crown preps more efficient and effective? Are we doing trainings to get it even faster when we're doing scans in the mouth? Are we looking for our patient experience and optimizing that? Are we tracking our cases and making sure we're following up on that? What systems do we have dated? Kiera Dent (11:30.926) and how can you modernize them is my question. So I love to do this. I love to work with practices. I love to give them ideas. I love to help them set up Google Drive. I love to help them see how they can use these. I love to show them how to run traction and use a leadership team. I love to show them how to track KPIs. And so if that's something you're like, I don't even know if my systems are dated, sometimes having an outside come into your practice and take a look can help you figure out where could we optimize and make it more efficient. based on looking at hundreds of practices, because that's a vantage point we have as consultants that maybe you don't get to have. So I'd love to help you see are your systems dated, but really pick one or two, read some books, look to see where can we have it. So that way you're not like my grandma being so dated that you actually have missed the mark to get back on track. I'm so proud of my grandma that she doesn't just use a camera anymore, but the reality is she would still to this day be using a camera if they were still like printing film photos. So force her to innovate. And I say, practices innovate before you're forced to because it's much easier, more efficient for your time and you'll be able to get a better bang for your buck with time, with team turnover, with team morale, with being able to minimize that team turnover and have better morale because we're actually maximizing and we don't have to work as hard and we can work on higher level projects as human beings and let softwares and technologies help with those lower projects. So…
Full show notes at the publisherConsultants Tiff and Dana talk all about accounts receivable and why knowing your numbers is so critical to practice success. Hint: Once you know where your numbers sit at, you can develop systems to improve the areas in need of help. Episode resources: Reach out to Tiff and Dana Tune Into DAT's Monthly Webinar Practice Momentum Group Consulting Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Become Dental A-Team Platinum! Review the podcast Transcript: Tiffanie (00:08.706) Hello everyone! Welcome to today's podcast. I am here with my fave Dana. Dana thanks for being here with me today. I know we have busted out so many podcasts recently. You have been my like go -to gal for months now. So thank you for taking the brunt and the load of all of the podcast needs that I keep sending your way. I truly appreciate you Dana. How are you today? Dana (00:30.92) Doing good. Absolutely. You're so welcome. And I feel like podcasting with you is so easy Tiff So it's never a burden on my end. Tiffanie (00:37.666) Thank you, thank you. And it's our time together. We got to spend some time together at Retreat and I was like, my gosh, I really do love just like the moments that we get together. So it's perfect. And I have... You're down more southern in Arizona than I am, so you're closer to this beautiful hike, Seven Falls, and it has been so hot on my mind. I mean, it's way too hot outside right now, so we have to wait. But we're projecting that one for the fall, and I just cannot wait to do it. As soon as we have a date, I'm going to make sure that you know so we can go together. We'll have to take some photos for our podcast listeners so they can see these beautiful falls. Love it. How is everything in your world from a client standpoint and just from a consultant standpoint, how is the mid -year going for you as a consultant and what kind of trends are you seeing aside from, I know we chatted about hiring on another one, on another podcast, but what other kind of trends are you seeing? We've been talking a lot of finances the last couple of months. Are you seeing anything within that with your clients right now, Dana? Dana (01:47.112) I think, yeah, the finances right now are a hot topic and I think we're looking at numbers more than ever and a lot of those numbers are including expenses and so I think that conversations have shifted absolutely to be more heavily related to numbers and halfway through the year, right, this is a big time where I look at, okay, let's check on goals, like where are we halfway through the year and let's build out the rest of the year. So really looking at numbers right now at time with clients. Tiffanie (02:12.45) Yeah. Yeah, totally. And we've done a couple of numbers podcasts recently as far as like budgets and overhead and really figuring out how to get those numbers down. So I know, I know when those things come up podcast wise, it's usually because it's relevant to some of the consulting that we've been doing. So I think we both have seen that a ton this year in general for a lot of our practices. I think people are just starting to get a little bit more business savvy. It could be, you know, the DSO market is on the rise and, and, and and my GP owner doctors and my specialty owner doctors even are really starting to try to get a handle on what their overhead looks like, what their profitability of their business is and what that might look like, not just to sell, but I always say, and I learned this from Ms. Kiera Dent, that any business should always be set up to be sold if in the event they do ever want to. It doesn't mean that they're going to sell, but you should always have yourself set in that way so that you're the best and the most profitable that you possibly are. possibly can be. So I think it's really brilliant that a lot of the doctors and the trends that I'm seeing are more business savvy in that way and really trying to get a handle on the knowledge so that they can move forward and be their most profitable. So on the topic of profitability, I really wanted to discuss, we've chatted a lot about like overhead, how to manage it, how to control it as best we can, manipulate the pieces that we can within overhead, but I really wanted to talk about talk today about looking at our AR as a way to also increase profitability. I think that I've seen a lot of people miss this. And if I'm blunt and honest here, I've had a lot of consultant interviews that have missed this as well. And so I know it's not a super common thing to look at because it is something that's so drastically overlooked a lot. Tiffanie (04:12.578) I know, Dana, when I have doctors that are trying to increase profitability, most of the time, and I've had interviewees, you've seen this too, where we're like mock interviewing, we're trying to guide them to the right answer. We've seen it a lot where people, we want to increase the profitability. We want to decrease overhead, increase profitability, and people tackle production. They're like, well, you have to produce more. But you can't. out -produce the problem. We've been saying this for years. You cannot out -produce the problem because the problem is not typically in your production. Dana, where is the problem typically found? My all -star lovely consultant of the Dental A Team that would know this and did know this, where is the problem typically found when profitability is low and overhead is high? Dana (04:57.896) Yeah, absolutely. You're going to look at your collections for that. And great news is AR can add to collections month over month. Tiffanie (05:06.146) Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Spot on. Nailed it. She's hired. She's staying for a lifetime. She's here forever. Yes, your AR, you guys, your collection. So a lot of the times, practices don't know what your collections should be set at, like what your projected collection should be, what your percentage should be. So for a standard GP practice, meaning we're general producing, we're doing a lot of bread and butter, maybe implants, maybe surgeries, things like that, but not a ton of ortho. were PPO or fee for service, you should be 98 % or higher in your collections percentage every other month. So that means that your team is collecting 98 % of the production for that month. 100 ,000, you got $98 ,000 in collections. Now caveat, doctors, because this comes up a lot. your collections from your software is not always going to match your collections in your bank account. Sometimes there's a week or so that it takes for something to post on the bank account that's come through, so it's in a different month. That's always a caveat. And then also, you have your merchant services fees that are deducted from your deposits when you have credit cards ran, or if you're doing credit, or any other kind of merchant services. Those fees are deducted from your deposit. So you're always going to be a little bit skewed there. So minimum of 98 % or higher is going to keep your profitability and your deposits pretty standardized high, if I could say that. Now, AR, this is your accounts receivable. Most doctors don't know a ton about AR, and that's OK. You didn't learn it. But the sad part here that I'm going to announce, Tiffanie (06:50.754) Most dental professionals, most of the front office team, the dental assistants, the things that we know about these systems and these processes like AR, accounts receivable, was taught to us from the person who did it before us at the practice where we learned how to do it. And hopefully, that person knew how to do it. And hopefully, the person who was trained how to do it next did some more research and learned how to do it even better, took some courses, went to some CE. There are courses and things out there. There are ways to learn it. But it's not always happening. So doctors, it's really important to us as a company, the dental A Team, we spend a ton of time with our doctors ensuring that you guys know and understand what these numbers mean because they can affect your profitability so much. So you should have 98 % or higher collections rate. And then your AR, your total outstanding money, meaning the total amount of money that you're waiting, it's out there in the universe, and you're just waiting for it to fall into your lap, should be less than one month's total production. So I've had a doctor, I've had a couple times, I've had a couple practices come to us, but I had a doctor, he is one of my favorite human beings in the entire world. He is the most genuine person I have literally ever met. And he came to me a few years ago and he said, I think something's going on, I have no money, but I have a ton of production and I feel like my AR might be high. And I said, okay, cool, I'll get in, I'll dive into it. And I get there for his first in office visit, this was like, years ago, I think 2018. And I opened it up and I was like, my gosh, I think I'm going to cry. This is a one and a half doctor, like his associates, I'm going to count them as like a half doctor, and two hygiene. And their outstanding AR was like $270 ,000, I think. Tiffanie (08:41.89) And I was like, my gosh. And so much of it was untimely filing from insurance. So much of it was patients hadn't had statements in years. So there are balances here that are five years old that they just haven't gotten taken care of. So much of it was just a disaster. And it was so scary. And I was like, we're going to get a handle of this. And it's OK. We're going to figure this out. We're going to get your profitability up. So looking at it. at that 98 % or higher on collections rate and your outstanding AR less than one month's production is going to help that. So knowing those stats though doesn't change the game. So if you know those stats, you look at it and you're like, OK, Tiff, Dana, we're at 92 % collections. It's really close, for sure. If you're doing ortho or if you're a Medicaid accepting practice, I want 95%. So you've still got 3 % higher to get to. And you've got quite a bit of ways to go for that 98%. So Dana, when you're working with practices, because I know we both see this a lot, where practices come on for systems. And they're like, these are the things we think we don't know. And we dive in, and we're like, gosh, we need to start here, because we've got to get your profitability up before we start working on new patient phone calls. We've got to make sure that the money is being collected on the back end. So what are some systems that you put into place? What are some things that you've things that you do to help doctors find that profitability in their AR and to really get their billing department working for them and not against them. Dana (10:16.936) Yeah, yeah, I think first it is like pulling those reports regularly and looking at those numbers and then knowing of that what is collectible so having a system to if you have agreed upon payment plans like if you have ortho or you do some in -house payment plans knowing how much of your ar is sitting on those that really like We can't count on collecting now because we agree to take that over time Then once you know what you have that's collectible, just kind of knowing where it sits and knowing how quickly we're getting insurance claims paid and kind of looking at trends is most of that patient is most of it AR because when you know those things, then it helps you create systems to improve on things so that you know basically like where you want to put your effort as far as reinventing the wheel or coming up with systems. So it is, I think, pulling those reports and knowing where that money sits, then you can start creating basically a cadence right for your billing person to really follow to ensure that the bulk of your AR is sitting in current and you have clear processes for the aging especially when we get to that 90 point I see so often in offices they don't have a cleanup process really for AR so AR continues to grow and money continues to sit there and we have hopes that we can collect it, right? Or we say, well, I've got a lot sitting in AR and that will come in. Well, that's really not collectible and we've done everything that we can at this point, then having a cleanup process too, so that you have accurate numbers when you're looking at your AR. Tiffanie (11:51.874) Yeah, totally agree. Totally agree. I think something that a lot of practices miss is creating a cadence for statements for patients. And number one, you shouldn't have a lot of statements, you guys. Doctors, if your billing department is sending out a massive amount of statements, you're like, gosh, why am I always buying stamps? Why do we need more envelopes? What is happening right now? It's 2024, right? We shouldn't have this many statements. Or why am I sending out so many texts to pay? What is going on here? You shouldn't have a lot of statements. and dive into the root cause of what's going on every single time. And Dana's pulling the reports and look, that's what she's talking about. She's talking about, let's see what's happening here. So if we're not profitable and we're like, gosh, employee cost is high and supplies are high and labs are high, all of these things are high, how do we change this? First, look at your collections and say, am I at 98 % or higher on my collections? If you are, that's a separate conversation. will happen a minute. Most of the time you're not, or you've got a ton of money sitting in AR that wasn't collected before and you're trailing that, and so your collections is still not in a healthy standpoint and it could be better. So first look at that piece and then dive into those pieces that Dana's talking about. What is collectible? So maybe even have a spreadsheet. A lot of billing representatives love to work off of spreadsheets. That's just kind of how their brains work. So have a spreadsheet maybe that says this is how many ortho accountants We have this is how many in -house savings plans we have We've got this many patients that are making three months worth of payments, which I am NOT an advocate for I would much rather pay I would much rather you pay the percentage to care credit to be the banker than for you to be the banker and chasing money forever So make and make a good decision for your practice, but that's always what I advocate I know all of us here at the Dental A Team do we don't advocate being the bank or the lender It's just not who you are. You're a dentist not a bank and you don't have a bank a banking facility. So go through and see what is collectible and then go through and see what's insurance and what's patient due, right? So what's outstanding from patients? If you have a high patient outstanding situation going on there, you really want to look into that and figure out what's creating that. Something before the patient statement is creating this situation. So oftentimes it's bad information in our computer. Oftentimes it's not the right Tiffanie (14:21.3) Insurance verifications not the right information and we're not able to give a good treatment plan So we're giving bad information to our patients And so they're not actually truly paying what they should be or close enough to what they should be I'd rather you have credits that have to be ret…
Full show notes at the publisherIn this office autopsy episode, Kiera shares an example of a doctor who's hungry to evolve. After approaching the Dental A-Team with the hope to be a more confident business owner, Kiera and the doctor reviewed the practice's systems with a fine-toothed comb. Improvements to the practice were made by establishing core values, building a more positive team mindset, running effective meetings, overhauling the schedule, and more. Episode resources: Reach out to Kiera Watch DAT Podcasts on YouTube Practice Momentum Group Consulting Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Become Dental A-Team Platinum! Review the podcast Transcript: Kiera Dent (00:00.974) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and I felt like it was time for an office autopsy. It's been a hot minute since I've done an office autopsy and I thought, hey, let's do it. So if you're new to the podcast, welcome. An office autopsy is where I peel back the covers of what we've done on a practice and kind of give you a almost like a case study of a practice. So I hope you guys are ready for it. I hope you love the podcast. I hope you love dentistry and I hope you love you as a person. Today's the day for you just to be a little kinder, give yourself a compliment that might feel awkward, but say, Kiera, you truly are incredible at doing the podcast and genuinely mean it because the kinder we are to ourselves, the more we're able to give to other people. So if you have loved this podcast, please do me a favor and go share it with somebody today. Share this with somebody, put it in a Facebook group, put it on social media, tag us on LinkedIn, whatever you need to do. Because my goal is to get this podcast into the hands of every single dental practice, because I believe that's my way of helping you become a more profitable practice, but also a happier place to work for your team and for your patients. All right, with that, let's office autopsy. So this is going to be kind of a fun one because this is a practice that I've worked with for a few years. I really love this doctor. And just so you guys know, when I office autopsy, I will change a detail here or there, still staying true to the facts, just so that way you can't completely figure out which exact office I'm talking about. So just so you know, this office is incredible. The doctor reached out to me because they wanted to be a more confident business owner. And they just felt like they weren't as confident running the business, even though they knew the numbers, even though that they had been in practice for several years, but just really wanted to be a more confident business owner. And so what's really awesome is this doctor was actually doing a lot better than they gave themselves credit for. And I love that because so often we think that we're missing out on pieces, but we're actually doing a lot of things really, really well. And so just... reminding you guys that you're probably doing better than you think you are but kudos to this doctor because they really wanted to be more confident. They wanted to know the numbers better, they wanted to run the team better, they wanted to be able to have those uncomfortable conversations with the team more and so that's what we worked on. And so in the course of time this office started out as an in -person practice and then they moved to a virtual office with me for consulting and so just know we get results in person and virtually really really well but we started out Kiera Dent (02:22.99) helping this practice get some really good perspective of mindset because I noticed that they were kind of negative. There was a lot of negativity. And so I taught them how to look through different filters and what are we saying? And it was crazy to start to watch this practice morph into more positivity, into seeing how things could be done. And what we ended up doing, the doctor started looking at their numbers, put into place a KPI scorecard so that way tracking the numbers every single week, every single month, reviewing the numbers, looking for the trends over the years. taught this office we put into place core values for them and it's amazing because now they hire for core values and culture. They have their core values that the team has built. They made bracelets for the team of the core values and just kind of made it like really fun for these core values. And the doctor said I made these years ago but they didn't mean anything and so we really broke it back down and when we were building those core values for this office I asked the doctor if you were hiring somebody today to come to your office what would you want them to do? Like what would be the attributes you want them to have and what was amazing is we put it out there and the core values just shifted and I think modernized into what the practice is today. And so it was really fun to watch this practice really just morph into this incredible space and then hire, getting more confident on hiring and onboarding. We helped them create an operations manual so systems were no longer an issue. And then I think the most fun thing that we did with this practice was this office, like I said, they wanted to be a more confident leader and so. We set into place how to run effective meetings together. We put into place, like having agendas and what do we talk about and how do we look at our systems every single month to really dive into the pieces? How do we take numbers to the team and get the team bought in and excited about it? How do we get them all owning their positions and building an org chart for them? And then what we did was this office, I started looking at their production and I looked at how ragged the team was and I looked at the schedule and what was so cool. is as a team, we're able to, like, I heard their issues and I talked to the team and I asked them, you know, what do you guys want? What are you needing? And it was always a schedule, like getting out on time and the schedule and the schedule and the schedule. And so what we did as a team is we actually revamped the entire schedule. So I looked at the production, I looked at the output, we made a block schedule. And what we did is we were able to flip and have procedures where they made a lot more sense. And then I taught the team how to actually guide patients to those blocks. Kiera Dent (04:43.31) And it was, I'm like, I'm talking a whole schedule overhaul. So we were doing certain procedures only in the morning, certain procedures only in the afternoon. Teams started getting out on time. We were able to maximize all the team members way more efficiently. The doctors weren't as exhausted in the practice. Their production went up exponentially, but the stress level went down. And it was this whole rollout. Like I did this over the month of like, here's month one, here's month two, here's month three. Like this is what we're going to do. This is what each person's going to do. And to watch that team who had kind of started out as a little bit sour, we'll say, really embrace and take on. And now the doctor is able to look at the schedule and figure out and optimize as they bring in a doctor or if they lose a doctor, how can they optimize this schedule? Because they know now how to build a schedule and what we looked for. We're looking for productivity. We're looking for how many appointments we needed to have. We looked at what an ideal schedule would be. What time did that doctor want to be out? What time was that doctor the best at doing certain procedures? train the team how to do it and then put these blocks into play and they're able to actually see more patients because they were feeling like they were maxed on space and they wanted to actually expand the practice but didn't know how to expand the practice. And we were able to add in a ton more patients to the practice without even needing to expand it and add more operatories. So just better utilizing the schedule. So, you know, all these things are fun. We were able to grow the practice exponentially. We were able to get the operations manual done, run these leadership meetings, build the core values, build an org chart. But then the doctor said, okay, I want to start rolling out a bonus. And I think this was one of the coolest things that we did because so many people want to roll bonuses, but they don't know why. And they don't know the numbers and I'm very anti bonuses for the bulk of it. But what I did, because you know, you guys will hear how to roll bonuses and oftentimes it's like the poker chip one, which I actually love that bonus where, when we hit goal, people grab a poker chip out of the bag and it's worth X amount of dollars. And either that person gets it or the whole team gets it. But I've also watched offices get into a lot of hot water with revenue when they do this poker chip bonus. I've seen other people pay a percentage of collections, but that oftentimes is really hard for practices because if we don't hit it or is everybody working together? And then there's bonuses on hygienists and if they're hitting production and why did hygienists get a bonus, but the team doesn't get a bonus. And so I think my favorite thing I did with this office was I helped the doctor look at the bonus structure and to see... Kiera Dent (07:08.91) let's figure out our worst case scenario. So let's use the numbers and the metrics before we just haphazardly roll a bonus. Let's figure out one, why do you want to roll the bonus? Two, let's look at the numbers and use it. And three, let's make sure that we're not going to get you into hot water in a worst case scenario. So I remember on one of our calls, we actually sat there and we did, let's, let's go with the poker chip one. So let's say, cause she was like, I was thinking it would be, I don't know, like $10 for this, $15 for this, $20 for this. And then $50 would be the highest one. And I said, well, Let's do a hypothetical. What if they got the $50 every single day that we hit goal? How much would you be paying out in a bonus? And is that something that we actually want to do? Then we ran all the numbers of like, how many days are they going to hit bonus? And let's go back to last month and see rolling this out. How many days would they actually have hit their bonus? And what would that be financially for you? And I remember the doctor after we did the call, They said to me, Kiera, I'm so grateful you did this with me because I would have been paying way more money than I needed to. That was unnecessary because once we figured out, like, let's just say even if it's a $50 bonus a month, what we did is we actually broke that down to see what their hourly would be. And it was a huge uptick for a lot of them of what they would be making daily or hourly. just with a $50 bonus. And sometimes we think we need to go for these hundred or 200 or 300 or $400 bonuses or our team will be grateful. Number one, they should always be grateful if it's a bonus and you're doing above and beyond what like our contract is binding between the two of us. But secondly, I think this doctor was about to roll out so much more revenue than she needed to, or he needed to, you'll never know, is it a boy or a girl, but more than they would have needed to because we actually worked through all the pieces. And then the doctor, once we got done with this bonus system, they actually went through and they said, I feel so confident rolling this out. The team got excited. The team started hitting it. We also knew that we had run it for three months. And then after that, we're going to assess our goals and we're going to reassess and we're going to set new goals because if we're hitting it consistently, it's no longer a stretch goal and we need to raise that goal. And so we just set the expectations with the team. The team loved it. They're able to have a good time with it, but we ran. Kiera Dent (09:22.158) all these different scenarios, but the doctor came to me wanting to know how to look at the numbers. And I said, this is how you use your numbers to look at a practice. This is how we look to see, can we hire a new person? Well, what are we producing? What have we been producing? Bring this new person in. Can we afford it? What is our overhead? What's the cost? Then when it's like, I want to do raises, we then go through and we figure out, all right, if we were to give raises to all these people, this is what the impact would be. This is what we'd need to produce. This is what we'd need to change our daily goal to. and then yes, it works. Other times you look at it and say, okay, could we actually for hygienists, like maybe I don't want to be paying that amount. Could I pay this amount, which is pretty much within market value, but then I add a bonus structure on top of it. But before we even roll that bonus, we actually go back through and we run the numbers to see what would their bonus be? And is this actually going to be something that this office, this is going to incentivize the hygienist or is it just a hope and a wish they're probably never going to hit? because so often with bonuses, the problem I see is that offices rolled them out and it's either a ton of money for the office and they weren't expecting it and then they have to take it away because they couldn't afford it or two, the team can never hit it and they actually get disincentivized by it. And so for this doctor to use the numbers to know, can I hire? Can I not hire? What does this bonus system look like? How can I feel confident in it? And then start looking and going deeper. Let's look at our PNL every single month. Let's look at our supplies every single month. Let's look to see. What are we paying? And so we went through is really awesome. We went through her PNL or his PNL. And we started looking to see, all right, what are we paying for supplies? What are we paying for labs? We put it together. We're every single month tracking this overhead to see where we are with our supplies, our labs, what is running through the practice that is this doctor's actual income, even though it's going through as a tax deduction. Totally fine to do. But we often forget and we think that we're not making as much, but the reality is we're actually making more. It's just running through the practice and we forget that that's actually income to the doctor. So as the doctor saw that they're able to see that they're actually making more than they thought they were able to see the profitability margins. We're able to see where we could cut down and shave off. We got them connected to some partners to have a buying group through synergy. So if you guys are looking for that, be sure to tell them Dental A Team sent you, but able to get the supplies reduced down, looked at the labs, looked at the. Kiera Dent (11:40.462) the cost. And then what was crazy is the doctor looked and they lost a team member and they said, Kiera, I don't think I need to rehire this person because I've looked and I think I could actually have a lower payroll cost, better production increase, and be able to hire this person as opposed to a different candidate that's going to give me everything I want and more and also benefit the practice even better. But they use the numbers to be able to make those decisions confidently and the Crazy thing is like, I'll never as a consultant be able to teach in office every single scenario to look at. Like, that's not…
Full show notes at the publisherRereleasing one of DAT's most popular episodes! Kiera is joined by Tiffany at eAssist to talk all things outsourcing. eAssist is a remote dental billing company that offers a variety of services (like dental billing, patient billing, insurance verification). Together, Kiera and Tiffany touch on the following topics: How outsourcing can help increase your front office's success The best tip for following up on outstanding claims How often billing is touched in a healthy practice How to get buildups paid The rate of appeals And a ton more! Episode resources: Learn about eAssist Email learnmore@eassist.me Reach out to Kiera Practice Momentum Group Consulting Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Become Dental A-Team Platinum! Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:51.47) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera. And you guys, I don't know about you, but billing was my absolute arch nemesis in a dental practice. So I'm super excited with our guests today. They run one of the companies we actually recommend and refer all the time, eAssist. If you guys haven't heard about them, they are fantastic. You can outsource your dental billing. And I am always pro doing that. You can call me lazy. You can call me efficient, whatever you want to call me. Honestly, I'm so jazzed to have Tiffany, Tiffany with E -assist on the podcast today. Tiffany, how are you? I am so good. Thank you so much for having me on here. It's awesome. Yeah, absolutely. We were just chatting about a good old Kansas city. What took you to Kansas city? I should have asked you, but like, let's just air it to the whole team or the whole podcast crew. What took you to Kansas city? I actually was born and raised in liberal Kansas. It's a small town, Southwest Kansas. and then went to school at K state and then moved here. I lived in Denver for a little bit and then ended up coming back. Do you miss Denver? I worked in Denver for a while. Or are you like, Nope. Cause Kansas city has way better sports. mean, you guys just crushed the, you know, March madness. So kudos to you guys. Happy. I'm sure the whole city was like, that's something I do love about Kansas city. It's like a raving city when it comes to sports, you guys love your sports team. So do you miss Denver? You happy with Kansas city? Like, how does that work? I love Colorado. It's gorgeous. When I lived there, my kids were little, so I feel like I didn't really get to, I don't know, explore and, you know, really be involved with all the things that I would like to do. But, and, and one of my best friends lives there, so that's kind of sad to be away from her. But I do love, I love me some Kansas City. We've got good people here. Good people, good food, good sports. I mean, you got the whole shebang. Guys, if you're looking for a good place to go, Kansas City, appears is a great place or Denver, but real topic, Tiffany, kind of walk us through, like if people haven't heard of eAssist, kind of just give us a background on what eAssist is. And then I really want to talk today about how outsourcing billing can help with admin teams because right now we are in the great resignation. Hiring is probably one of the hardest things. And so I think it's a really, really pertinent topic. So tell us a little bit about who eAssist is, what they do, just so people know about what your company The Dental A Team (03:07.864) Yeah, so eAssist is a remote dental billing company that offers a variety of different services. So we do dental billing where you'll have a dedicated team for your office that remotes in and submits all of your claims and attachments and whatnot, and then comes in and posts all of your payments. We also have a patient billing, which then handles things from that point on. where they are sending statements and following up on past due accounts with patients. We also offer insurance verification, which anybody that's It's been so long. I've been waiting for you guys to get to insurance verification. like to hear this, I'm just jazzed because that takes so much time. So thank you. Yes, it's amazing. For some reason, there are unicorns out there who actually enjoy doing insurance verification. And thankfully we have them. It is a weird - talent to obsess, but I'm glad that they do it. I mean, you can really crank that stuff out if you're like on it and that's what you do. I had a girl that I used to work with and she's like, Kiera, I get paid like for all of my, I've just learned how to do it. She like was so fast at it. And I thought, wow, there you go. Like you can have a free day and get all your insurance is verified. She was so quick. So I'm glad you guys have that now. That's awesome. Yeah, well, and it's a easier when that's your only task that you're taking care of, you know, and you're not having to answer the phone or schedule new patients and get all that information or checking patients in there out or working up treatment plans and you know, the list goes on. So insurance verification does, it can be a huge time sucker if you will, but it's also literally the number one missed dental billing And in my opinion, it is one of the most paramount pieces of dental billing because if we don't verify, then patients ask us questions. We're not as confident when we treatment plan, even though everybody knows we do not treatment plan based on insurance. But if they're going to ask me what their insurance is estimated to cover, and I haven't found that information out, I get fumbly. I'm not as confident. Patient's not as confident. And good information in, good information out. You can send cleaner claims, get paid faster. The Dental A Team (05:22.126) it's just, yes, I'm such a pro. Like don't, don't skip it. It does. Yeah, it, has, actually the number two reason why patients leave a dental practice is, because they have lost their trust because they've gotten an inaccurate treatment plan. So insurance verification is the way to, really make sure that the, the, the quotes that we're, giving to patients are as close, as close to true as possible. I mean, with insurance, you know, anything can happen, Yeah. What is the number one reason you've got me like questioning? You number two is due to loss of trust on treatment. What's the number one reason people leave practices? it is because they feel neglected. Interesting. Okay. They don't feel taken care of. Yeah. I talk to people about that all the time. Like what, what can we do today to help our patients, feel safe, seen and heard. Interesting. I like it. I like it a lot. There you guys go like I feel like that was like Dettol Tidbit 101, Tiffany. Thank you for that. But yes, so I am a huge proponent of eAssist. And the reason why I've just fallen in love with you guys is because you do it really well and you have to keep people hired and staffed and I don't have to deal with it. So I think especially right now, so many offices are just realizing like we don't have manpower out there. mean, I ran up, oh gosh, I could be totally lying on this number, but it was about this amount. I'm thinking I'm a little erring on the side of less than more, but I think I ran up a bill of over 12 grand last year on Indeed ads, trying to hire people. And I think that's a pretty hefty cost to try to hire people that weren't out there. Now it's starting to kind of shift, but at the same time, people get sick, people have kids, people have work problems, people have car problems, people get COVID, people get COVID exposures, people The list goes on and on and I just love that e -assist. Like you guys have to deal with that. You guys, I'm sure struggle with it, but me as the client and the practice, I don't have to deal with that turnover when I outsource. So let's kind of talk through this about how outsourcing really can help increase your front office's game and make it easier for them and just have more consistency on the billing side. Sure. mean, you know, it really all, like we said, starts with insurance verification and that takes up so The Dental A Team (07:41.486) time. And we really want to do everything that we can to really create that ultimate patient experience, which as I said before, it's making them feel seen and heard. And you can't, they don't feel seen and heard when you're on hold with the insurance company and the patient walks in and you're not standing up to greet them or see how they're doing because you don't want to hang up because you were just on hold for like 30 minutes. And then it's like, there's no Right? Like you just, it's like, you're weighing the pros and cons. Like what's it worth right now? Because I know that they can't really work up a treatment plan unless I get this done. does the patient even want to go back and be seated if I don't look at them and smile when they walk in the door. So yeah, that's for sure. And then really helping to submit clean claims. So a lot of times, claims are generated and they're put in the queue. And if you're sending them electronically, know, they go out the, they go out and over to insurance to be adjudicated or whatnot. But people are opening up those claims and looking at all the information to make sure that it's accurate, that the codes that are being submitted are actually the correct codes, that there are radiographs attached, intra -oral photos, narratives, clinical notes, period charting. There's just so many things that go into that, in making sure that that click, that claim that's going out is clean and it looks good and everything is being sent the very, very first time. Otherwise, you know, it takes time for claims to be processed and that's just longer and longer that there's money that's not going into the bank. So for sure. And I think it's interesting how you talked about this. Cause I remember I was consulting in a practice. And the gal who was over billing, I said, okay, perfect. Like our AR is really high. Let's look at this. Like why are our accounts receivable so high? And a lot of it was actually insurance. And I said, Hey, we're having like a lot of these insurance claims come back. looks like. And she said, Kiera, it takes way more time to actually check my claims before I send them out. So I just send them out and then I wait for them to come back and then I fix them. The Dental A Team (10:01.998) No! That was due. response was the same as mine. I was like, it actually will save you lots of hours, like tons of hours, if you'll make sure your information's clean before it goes out. That way when it comes back in, we have less and less and less. Dirty claims is what I call them. Like if you have to resubmit, I call that a dirty claim. We like we want clean claims, always clean claims, only clean claims. We want to get paid quickly. I'm like a one and done type girl. do one take podcasts recording 99 % of the time. Like that's how I feel your insurance claim should be. So people who say, oh, that's too much time, Tiffany. I don't want to actually take the time to make sure everything's attached correctly. I'm just going to send it out to get it done. And then whatever comes back, I'll deal with it. And I'm like, oh man. That just like gives me anxiety. I know it's like making me want to throw up a little bit, but yeah, it's a really big deal to make sure that those are going out as clean claims. Now things can happen, right? Like sometimes things will get kicked back. So another really good thing that ESS does is they make sure that you're following up on those outstanding claims on a regular basis. So I can't tell you how many dental offices that I've gone into and I'm running that outstanding claims report. And it's massively long. And I'm asking them, when's the last time, you know, that you looked at this? And sometimes they've never run the report to begin with. I didn't even know that it existed. Or they say, oh, I do that once a month. I print the report like at the beginning of the month and then I work through it. So yeah, best practice is to follow up on every single outstanding claim every 14 days. You gotta touch everyone. Yeah. Yes. So I'm gonna ask because let's just like, let's give offices like above and beyond today. What are your favorite billing reports to run? Like what do you suggest? What's kind of the frequency you suggest? So in case an office is like, no Tiff, I've got this. I'm gonna just call you Tiff because we have a Tiff. I hope that that, like that just got real close right there. But they're just gonna say, you know, I think I can do this in my practice, which I'm all for. If you guys can do this in your practices, rock on. The Dental A Team (12:10.958) I just think outsourcing can free up a lot of manpower to do other things. So what's kind of the cadence of reports that you guys recommend people run? How often, like you just said, run your unsent claims report or all your claims. Like look at those, like every 14 days. But what else do you guys run? What's the cadence? What's the frequency? Just so people get an idea of how often their billing should be touched in a healthy practice. Yeah. So you're, you're going to want to run your, uh, production and collections and look at those numbers. I like to do that every single day. I wanna look and see what has come in and like what production has been done, how much we've actually collected on. And then definitely on a weekly basis, if you have weekly team meetings, I know there's different schools of thought on that and I don't wanna get into the practice. I'm pro weekly, you're good. Okay, good, I love it. So I would always touch bases to review all the numbers with the team on a weekly basis. I think it's important for the team to know what the numbers are. That's how they cash their paychecks. That's how they get paid. And I think it creates incentive to help them work a little harder and kind of have some buy -in as far as that goes. And then definitely on a monthly basis. So the average dental practice has a collection ratio. of 91%. So that means they're only collecting 91 % of money that is rightfully theirs to be collecting to begin with. Whereas - just that a quick personal connection. If your paycheck, if I decide to only pay you 91 % of your paycheck, you wouldn't be super happy about that. You'd be like, what the heck? You ripped me off. Pay me right. People get pissed because they have to pay taxes all the time. I'm like, so that's like rightful money for your practice that's going to help your practice grow and evolve. And it's just because we didn't like look into it. I agree. Like my, I get it. I don't expect people to be perfect. I did just interview a girl and we give scenarios for a consultant. And I said, we asked the question of like, what do you think is a healthy collection percentage? And she wrote back and she said a hundred percent. And yes, it can be done. And I'm like, dang, watch out guys. If she gets hired. The Dental A Team (14:21.934) that those offices are going be pushing 100%. I'll give a little bit of grace. do 98%. I don't know what your number is, Tiffany, but. 98%, right? Yeah. I don't expect perfect, right? 90, I mean, we always say, like at ESS, we say we want to help you collect 100 % of what is rightfully owed to…
Full show notes at the publisherBritt reviews the July book club selection, You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay, by touching on the principles that most stood out to her: clearing out your limiting beliefs, knowing the power of the present moment, applying a positive narrative to your life, and more. Find the full book club rundown here! Episode resources: Reach out to Britt Practice Momentum Group Consulting Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Become Dental A-Team Platinum! Review the podcast Transcript: Britt (00:00.436) Hello Dental A Team listeners, this is Britt and you're here for Britt taking over the book club podcast today. I'm super excited to be with you, privileged to get a chance to talk about our book for this month, spend a little time together, talk about it and hopefully learn a little bit from each other. So I'm a big book club fan. I love that it's just a chance for us to come together, talk about ideas, talk about things that are discussed in the book. And I love even hearing your feedback on the podcast on how it goes. Welcome to Book Club Podcasts. Let's get into it. This month, the book for Book Club is You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay. Now, this is a book, she wrote it back in like mid 80s. So back around the time that self -help was kind of getting started, she was one of the first that kind of gained some popularity in the self -help realm. And this is one of her books that she started that out with. I love digging into these books. When it comes to self -help, I'm a big fan. One thing I love about it though is kind of reading through it. And when we read through these books, it's kind of like challenging ideas of what are they saying? Do I agree with it? And ultimately kind of like picking out what are the pieces that are helpful to you and like taking those pieces along the journey with you. So with this book, Louise talks about some good concepts in here. really a lot of it comes back to like we manifest what we think, right? So our brains are extremely powerful and they have a big impact on our life in a lot of different ways. And so throughout the book, she's kind of talking about how our minds can impact one, our health on some things, right? And it can also impact just kind of our happiness and our mental health. And I think there's some things that have been learned since she originally wrote this book, but I think some of the core principles within it stand true, even to this day. We know, right, in this day and age, we know stress can definitely impact our health, right? So the better we are at managing stress, the stronger we get mentally more resilient, then it's gonna help us to be healthier than if we let that stress ultimately impact us. So really a lot of those principles do ring true. Some of them might be a little extreme on her end, in my opinion. Britt (02:16.656) But there's a lot of good things to take away. Like I said, I love reading these types of books and kind of picking out the pieces that I agree with that I'm like, yep, that's something that I definitely, you know, can implement within my life or like something really good to think about. So let's hop through some of the really kind of big main points that I found super useful. You guys, if you've read the book, awesome, great job. Good job on reading it. If you haven't, that's okay. We'll give you a recap. You can decide if it's something you want to go and spend the time to read. I'm a big audiobook fan, so for those out there who love the audiobook, I'm with you. I like to listen to it. You can get a lot in and crank up that speed and listen to it pretty quickly. But we'll give you a little recap. We'll talk about some of the ideas, and then you can go dig in from there. One of the big principles from the beginning that she hops into is that really we're responsible for how we feel, right? Things happen in life. Things are gonna happen in life, but we get to choose how we respond to it. And that can really shape how we view the world, that can help to shape our happiness, and ultimately can impact our health. I think it kind of comes back to the principle of you find what you're looking for. Kind of that first thing of we manifest whatever we think, we find what we're looking for. If we're always looking and saying like, I'm just waiting for the next shoe to drop and waiting for the next shoe to drop, the next shoe is going to drop at some point. So where you focus your energy and especially that mental energy that's really powerful and strong. you know, is where we're gonna kind of manifest things and see those things come to life. So that's one principle that I really liked from this book is we manifest whatever we think. So look for the good, you're gonna find the good, right? Look for the bad, you're gonna find the bad. And also manifest whatever we think. If we see something as an opportunity, right? We view challenges as something like I can overcome this or I am strong. Those are all things that are gonna help us when it comes to life to have a little bit different outlook and tackle it in a different way. which can impact maybe like how much we stress about something or can ultimately impact our health. So that's one thing that I take away from it is absolutely there's something to be said for like a gratitude journal. It trains your brain to look for the things that you're grateful for. And I surely believe that that has a positive impact on our lives. So number two big takeaway that I found from the book was the first step on the journey to loving yourself is to clear away your limiting beliefs. Britt (04:38.974) So this is a big one. I was actually just in physical therapy yesterday. I had shoulder surgery, right? So I was chatting with some of the physical therapists over there and just talking about how strong our minds are and helping us even when it comes to healing something, right? If I think my range of motion is limited or I can't do this thing, the chances of me actually doing it are pretty slim. But if I believe, yep, I can do it, I'm gonna get healthier, I'm gonna get better. and I don't kind of guard that injury as much and I work through and I push through and I get the range of motion back, it's a very powerful thing. But if in my mind I'm sitting there thinking, it's not gonna get better, I'm not gonna be able to do that, right? Those are the limiting beliefs that are gonna keep me from improving or healing over time. And it's truly a powerful thing. You can apply that to a lot of things in life. think I was... super like scared shy child and so I had a lot of limiting beliefs on myself and it was getting to the point where like hey like I can try it or I'm a strong person or I can overcome it or you know I'm smart why why can't I go and try that thing so trying to kind of switch that narrative a little bit to challenge some of those little limiting beliefs and see what's possible within yourself So I really loved that in this book, which I think is always something that's a good reminder that we're capable of a lot more sometimes than we think we are. And I think in dental practices, right, for those leaders that are listening, our doctors, our office managers, our leads within their position, or just those team members who are the natural leaders, I think we can help to support each other in that way, right? When we know our team, we know each other really well. we can help to challenge some of those limiting beliefs and help our team grow and help them feel empowered to where maybe they're able to do something that they didn't think they were able to do before. And it's amazing and it's so fun to see those things happen. So another principle that I found really interesting from the book was your power really lies in the present moment and each thought creates your reality. This for me, I kind of think of right in the moment, Britt (06:49.17) sometimes we have to build up the courage, right? And I think like that's that internal, that mental toughness, that's what's our internal dialogue that's helping us to be in the moment to do the thing, to have the courage, right? To live in that moment of strength or do the next thing. That really that present moment is so important and each that creates that reality. And so what do we tell ourselves? I'm a big sports fan. So I think sports, I think of this right now knowing Paris Olympics are coming up pretty soon right now. And I just, I don't know, I love the stories, I love the journeys, and I love the mental power that comes from those athletes and that you see them create that power in those moments where they're present in the moment and their thoughts are ready for them to be able to succeed in those moments. And I know those elite athletes do a lot of work to get themselves there and to mentally get themselves there so that they can. perform in the way that they know that they can and perform to the best of their abilities. And you guys, if it's good for Olympians, it's good for us too, right? We can incorporate those same things within our lives in those times where we need to be present, right? Create the reality in the moment that we can accomplish those amazing things and go for it. So I love it and I love how it relates to a lot of different things and Olympics, I'm ready for you, summer's my favorite, so. Another principle within the book that I think is important to cover is that your body is trying to communicate what's going on inside. So take the time to listen. I believe a lot in listening to your body, right? In those moments where it's like, hey, my body needs some rest, right? My body needs some mental support. I need some, you know, if it's family time or I need some time around those people that help to really bolster me I think it's listening to our body and also listening, part of our body is like our minds, where are we at and what do we need? And I think it's really important to take note. think sometimes we can get running so quickly on all the things and that we're just sitting there distracted, we're not really listening to what we need. And I think those are some of the times where we really get run down. So take the quiet moments. I think sometimes I've had to learn to be able to sit in some silence sometimes to actually. Britt (09:05.138) work through my thoughts or know kind of where I'm at. So I'm a big supporter of meditation. like sometimes it's that or sometimes it's just sitting outside in the quiet and giving yourself some time to breathe. But really listening to your body and what you need and taking the action on it. Some people it's to manage stress, right? That when you can really feel that within your body, you need to get out, you need to exercise. If that's the case, then let's make that something regular so that you can take care of yourself, right? Everyone these days, right? There's those moments we get run down. So building it into a routine to take care of yourself and then listening to your body on the times you need a little bit more, I think can really help to make us happier humans overall. I really enjoyed that one. One where I kind of maybe see a little bit different than Louise and maybe shows the time that this was kind of written in the 80s are, think listening to your body is super important. 100 % I think research even modern day shows that stress can impact our health. Some of the ties she makes to specific things as far as mental or struggles, things like that resulting in a specific physical ailment. I'm no doctor, I'm no psychologist, so like I will own that 100%. But I think it definitely can impact our health, but maybe not in like the direct linear way that she kind of describes on a few things. So I don't know, read it, see what you think. That's where with these type of things, I'm always like question it, see what aligns with you, read other things, do some research, and then take the things away from it that you feel like are beneficial for you. I also thought a good thing within the book to cover was that resistance uncovers the problem and the problem uncovers the need. So let's dig into that a little bit. Some of the areas where we feel resistance to something, right? We're hesitant on something, we're not confident in something. Where we feel that kind of either that mental resilience that we're coming up against means that there's something there that's holding us back. And I think this ties a little bit to our, right? Like our reality and what we're in and being in the present moment. Britt (11:17.992) And that reality can be that resistance. So sometimes it's passing those limiting beliefs and moving past them. So that can be the resistance we feel that there's something there that's holding us back. What is it that's holding us back? And if we can uncover what's holding us back, then we can either evaluate and say, like, all right, like, that's my limit, I'm good there, or no, that's just a limiting belief. I need to reframe that, restructure it so that I can move past So I think that's something that's helpful and useful as well that can come in those quiet moments where you're like, all right, why am I feeling resistance to this? How can I work through it? Is it something I want to work through? And what's the solution to it? And then I think that in order to change, must really release the past in what you were. And that's part of releasing, I think, those limiting beliefs. And look for the future. I think all of us as human beings, for ourselves and for others, allowing the opportunity to change and to grow as human beings is something that I always love. It's so much fun to watch in people. It's great that we are adaptable human beings and we can grow and develop in a lot of different ways. And so I do enjoy this book. It's kind of digging into, all right, what are the things that are holding us back? What are the things mentally, are there some physical showings of the stress or the mental things that are going on that we want to address? and knowing that you can make some changes, whether that's individually, can make some changes, right? Listening to books are a great way, taking that quiet time, being able to evaluate or whether you need to like talk to someone and work it out and have them help you work past some of those limiting beliefs. But human beings are adaptable and that's one of the amazing things and we can definitely change. So I think there's a lot of good things to gain from here and whenever we're talking about. especially our mental shaping our physical, the impact that our mental can have, some good ways to help us reframe things or some good ways to get us on the right track mentally of thinking in the way that we want to, our positive affirmations or something, some sort of statement, something that's getting you thinking, I am strong or I can do hard things or life is fantastic. I'm so grateful for the life that I have. Britt (13:35.132) It's kind of what's that narrative that you have running in the background, that real that's running in the background of your mind, and is that reality or do we need to switch some of it? And that's where some of those daily affirmations or positive affirmations, however often you say them, can help us just to retrain that. Doesn't mean we're not acknowledging what reality is, but it's challe…
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