What do you do when the schedule is out of
control? When there’s a two-hour opening, but then you work through lunch for
five hours straight?
Here are some general guidelines to follow,
which can put you on the right track:
1. Create a scheduling policy if you don’t already have one.
If you have one and it isn’t too hard to follow, then go to the next step. If you don’t have a scheduling policy, sit down at the end of the day and make one! Here’s what I’d include:
1. What hours patients can be scheduled for (i.e. don’t schedule patients earlier than ___ or later than ___ on these days).
2. What procedures you want to see and when (i.e. primary production in the morning at these times, secondary type procedures, such as fillings, during these times and so on).
3. A general guideline as to how long each procedure takes. Use your fee schedule to ensure you don’t forget anything as all of the procedures you deliver should be listed on this.
4. Make sure all your staff understand this policy.
In the MGE Scheduling System, we recommend 19 specific scheduling policies that are all vital for running an efficient, predictable schedule. This system allows you to maximize your production without running late or working over hours. You can learn this system on our online training platform at www.ddssuccess.com.
2. Figure out who is responsible for the schedule.
In the conventional front desk set-up everyone does “a little bit of everything.” While I’m for cross-training, I recommend assigning specific duties or functions to individual staff.
Failing to do this can create a lot of trouble. If no one is specifically assigned to be responsible for the schedule, who do you talk to when something goes wrong? Who’s accountable? Or on the other hand, if things go well, who’s behind it?
Make one person responsible for the schedule and ensuring it stays productive, full and that patients are properly scheduled per the policy you set up in #1 above. Sure, others can help, but this person is ultimately responsible.
3. Lastly, how good are your staff at dealing with people?
Dentistry is a service business – a people business. I’ve seen doctors go from having an empty schedule to a full one by doing nothing more than changing WHO was scheduling. If the person you have has the basic skill set to make it on this position, get them trained.
We’ve made this easy for you with our online training platform ddssuccess.com. Signing up gives you and your entire team instant access to training on systems to increase production, run your schedule efficiently, raise case acceptance and collections, build a profitable hygiene department, get more high-quality new patients, and much more! It’s the easiest and most affordable way to train your entire team and get everybody working together on effective systems for practice growth.
And if you’re really serious about improving organization and profitability, give us a call today at (800) 640-1140 and do a free Practice Potential Analysis.
I hope you find this helpful! If you have questions about this, please feel free to contact me at sabri@mgeonline.com or call us at (800) 640-1140.
MGE: Management Experts is a dental practice management training and consulting firm headquartered in St. Petersburg, FL. Over the last 25 years, MGE has helped thousands of dentists become more productive and improve organization and profitability. Learn more at www.mgeonline.com.