In observing thousands of patient exams and case presentations, I’ve come across the singular, biggest obstacle dentists have with case acceptance; they assume. They assume patients only want to focus on one thing or they assume patients want to focus on everything. They assume patients don’t have time or they assume patients can spend the entire day in the office. They assume patients don’t have money, don’t like the dentist, understand the importance of oral health, and that the team is creating urgency around treatment.
Assumptions plague the doctor-patient relationship because “dentists don’t feel comfortable talking about money,” [says every doctor]. You’re right, dental school didn’t prepare you for real-world dentistry nor what it takes to communicate with patients the value of your dentistry. Yet the more you ignore the conversation the less dentistry you will complete and less money you make. Can you articulate what you are intentionally doing to work on this skill?
"Yet the more you ignore the conversation the less dentistry you will complete and less money you make."
Here's the Solution
An exercise I’ve been conducting with our clients is to send them their total value of diagnosed yet unscheduled treatment for all patients they have in their chairs for that week. On average clients have over $75K in already diagnosed treatment that is not being completed. The conversation changes when you have a $10K day but your potential was to have a $54K day!
For those of you not wanting to talk about money and also want to stop making assumptions while increasing your case acceptance, we have your step by step How To Guide on exactly what to do.
What it comes down to is you having a clear conversation with the patient and asking them the Magic Question. It sounds like this:
“Are you the type of patient that prefers a tooth-by-tooth approach to your restorative needs that will undoubtedly cost you more time and money or are you the kind of person that is looking for long-term, permanent solutions to your oral needs that in the end will save you time and money?”
The power of the Magic Question gains buy-in from each patient and permission to present to them more of your diagnosis. You can’t collect what you don’t produce and you can’t produce what patients don’t accept. It’s that simple. With the patient’s permission, you can divide the mouth into left/right sides or reduce it down into quadrants. You can talk to them about what is RIGHT for them, not best. You will partner with patients and come up with one treatment plan instead of providing every option for the patient to choose based on price or convenience.
By narrowing the treatment down into the right restorative approach, your Treatment Coordinator can present fees in a clear, decisive, and quick manner.