Dental Law - What You Need To Know

A summary of what every dental practice owner should know and implement in the day to day operations of their practice.

Blog By:
dentalattorney

• Talk with and listen to your patients. Make sure each patient's treatment expectations are realistic.
• Encourage your patients to ask questions.
• Eliminate excessive waiting time for patients in the office.
• Monitor staff courtesy; discourteous staff may be costly to attracting and retaining quality patients.
• Maintain a clean and pleasant office. The physical condition of the office may be perceived as an example of a practice owner's quality of care.
• Maintain patient confidentiality at all times.
• Never disregard a patient's complaints.
• Remember that most patients will not necessarily evaluate their care by its technical quality, but by the quality of their relationship with those who provide the care.
• The same courtesy that is extended in face-to-face conversation should also be extended to telephone conversations with patients. Every message for the dentist should be delivered to him/her, and calls should be returned in a timely fashion.
• All staff members should keep patients informed as to their fees and costs associated with treatment

Hopefully, implementing a few of these ideas can help a practice owner do what they do best, practice dentistry, and not continuously put out fires. Patient communication is often times the best risk management tool. Many times, simple measures can be taken or improved upon in order to avoid a disastrous patient relationship.