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Daily Monitoring System: Better Practice Management
Unfortunately, most dentists don't have an agenda for how they want their office to function. The result is hiring someone who may or may not be qualified and who inputs their own agenda compatible with their own needs. The dentist and the patients end up being secondary. The dentist may have no idea what actually takes place at the front desk or how he or she is being represented.
In order to be represented to your patients and your peers in a way that truly reflects who you are, you must decide who that is and instruct your staff accordingly.
At the end of each day it is imperative that you have a way to determine that each patient was processed through your office completely. By that I mean: were they charged correctly; did they make payment in full, or co-pay, or was their insurance processed; were they given another appointment or set up for recall; and was their chart properly filed?
The best practice is to have check sheets for each staff member that you can easily review at the end of the day. This should take no more than 15 to 20 minutes of your time. At the end of each day you need to be able to leave your office being certain that the efforts you put in all day have benefited your patients, your office and you. The only way that will happen is if each staff member is accountable for his or her specific job.
Without a monitoring system in place and daily reporting, negative situations go unchecked until they become catastrophic. The result is out-of-control accounts receivables, over or underbooked schedules, lost patients and an unhappy staff -- not to mention a frustrated, unfulfilled doctor. Dentistry can be a very rewarding, lucrative profession when the office is structured. The doctor's goals should be the guideline and your management system needs to accomplish those intentions.
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