Cambridge Dental Consultants
Cambridge Dental Consultants
Dental Practice Management Articles
Blog By:
Kevin Tighe
Kevin Tighe

Displaying 26-50 of 82
1 2 3 4
Page 2 of 4
Handling the New Patient
I recommend that your receptionist: 1. Greet the patient in a warm, friendly and professional manner. Be sure to introduce yourself, including your job title. Offer to hang up the patient’s coat. 2. Ask the patient to complete the necessary forms including signing off on your dental...  Read More
Incoming Phone Calls
Income phone calls may lead your dental receptionist in a number of different directions. I suggest the following steps: Business calls should be forwarded to the appropriate staff member. For example, questions regarding insurance, accounts, collections would go to the Accounts Manager if you...  Read More
New Patient Call In Script
Your dental office receptionist will be the first contact new patients have with your office. Her voice is the first one they hear. The way she handles herself over the phone, as well as at the front desk, is key to getting and keeping new patients. Here is a general script for a new patient call:...  Read More
Your Receptionist and Office Communications
Your telephone should ideally never ring more than three times before being answered. If your is on another line or otherwise engaged then one of the other staff should help out. Ideally you have telephones throughout the office, so if the receptionist is somewhere other than at the front desk when...  Read More
New Patient Call In Form
NEW PATIENT CALL-IN FORM DATE CALLED APPT. DATE & TIME PATIENT NAME IF PATIENT IS A CHILD,...  Read More
Job Descriptions and Hiring
You should provide each applicant with a job description summary of the position for which they are applying at the time they are given the application to fill out. You should also use similar descriptions in staff training office manuals for your dental practice. The summary should not go into...  Read More
General Policy Manual: What To Include
A  – regardless of the size of your office - is vital.The following are some basic guidelines when assembling your manual: 1. Make a distinction in your dental offices manual between policies that apply to everyone in the company (general office hours, payroll, vacation, etc.) and procedures that...  Read More
Staff Training, Checklists and Correction
Training The most effective way to lower your overhead is to provide routine and repetitive internal training to your staff. The whole concept of "apprenticing" an employee has virtually disappeared with most practice owners vastly underestimate what it takes to effectively train staff. It is an...  Read More
Guidelines for Dental Staff
records that all offices have a Code of Conduct guidelines for the staff. The purpose of such guidelines is to improve staff relationships and to enhance production. Guidelines should be enforced in a constructive manner. It is important to clearly define and make these guidelines available in...  Read More
Office Manager Job Description
: “To assist dental staff to become more efficient, productive and competent with the result of a more profitable dental practice that delivers excellent service to its patients.” An OM should maintain a high level of competence and integrity that sets a good example for the rest of the staff. If...  Read More
Past Due Dental Accounts: Letters and Patient Calls
The sequence of steps for past due accounts is as follows: 1. Statement 2. Patient Call 3. 2nd Statement with note or letter 4. Patient Call 5. Past Due Letter 6. Patient Call 7. Last Notice – Demand Payment Letter. If no response after last notice, send memo to the doctor for review. 8....  Read More
Dental Office Financial Policy
Establishing a clear and firm financial policy for your dental office helps to see that your practice is paid without the type of misunderstandings that can cost you new patients and referrals so always give a copy of your financial policy to each new patient at the initial appointment. It is vital...  Read More
Verifying Dental Benefits
A hybrid system works best by utilizing a carrier's web site when possible as many now give real time estimates along with a service such as DentalXChange and utilizing your PMS's capabilities. Last option should be to fax/call. When this occurs make sure to enter downgrades and exceptions into...  Read More
Calculating Dental Insurance Benefits
Almost all dental insurance companies work on a percentage basis (this is why you can only estimate their payments). The percentage paid is based on the insurance plan of a particular group or individual and varies widely. I recommend that all insurance should be verified prior to the patient...  Read More
Code of Conduct
All dental practice staff must, at all times, remain level headed, polite and positive in all patient dealings, whether the patient is right or wrong. If the patient is wrong, you can correct him/her and work it out in a polite, professional way. It is not necessary to be rude, uncaring, angry,...  Read More
Confidentiality
Dental patient information, both written in the chart and verbal, is absolutely confidential. Practice and dentist’s business affairs are also to be treated with the utmost confidentiality. The above subjects should not be discussed outside of the office. Office matters must be kept in the...  Read More
Cell Phones, Office Phones and Computer Use
If you haven't already done so many top dental consultants advise that you include in your general dental office manual an up-to-date phone/computer policy. This is the phone/computer policy I recommend: CELL PHONES Cell phone use (including texting, checking Facebook, etc.) at your dental practice...  Read More
Stay Positive With Your Patients
1. Patients' needs are top priority. The practice owner and all staff should leave personal issues and opinions outside of the dental practice. Patients visit your office to improve their dental health and eliminate pain. An atmosphere of warmth, cheerfulness and caring must be conveyed....  Read More
Acceptable Conduct
While it is important to understand what is unacceptable conduct for your dental staff, it is equally important to understand what is “acceptable conduct” in a dental practice so you can concentrate on the positive not the negative. In order to create a positive working environment I...  Read More
Unacceptable Conduct
Groups of people who work together for any purpose require guidelines. The same is true for the management of your dental practice. The purpose for these guidelines is to improve staff relationships and to enhance production. They should be enforced in a constructive manner. It is important to...  Read More
Staff Meetings
Office meetings should be held either weekly or monthly depending on the size of the practice. Over lunch is generally a good time. Whether you hold your office meeting during lunch or not staff still must paid - even if you have the meeting outside of the practice during normal lunch hours. Check...  Read More
Why Do You Need Policy?
Can you imagine baseball without any rules? Or, driving in rush hour traffic with no laws or guidelines governing what to do when the lights turn green or red? The obvious result would be confusion and chaos. This same logic applies to every organization. If there are no guidelines and rules for...  Read More
Confirmation Protocol
  CONFIRMATION PROTOCOL  Auto-Pilot: Do not put confirmation on auto-pilot. Services such as Lighthouse are useful when used smartly but, when you put confirmation on auto-pilot, front desk can sometimes abandon responsibility for the schedule because, “Lighthouse is handling it”.  Customize: Find...  Read More
"How much do you charge for a cleaning?"
When a patient calls your practice asking for a price (“How much do you charge for a cleaning?”) you of course want your receptionist to answer their question(s) but the receptionist will need to ask the patient some questions first in order to give a proper answer. Here's an example...  Read More
Dental Employee Cell Phone Use
Cell phones, Facebook and the like are here to stay. The basic policy you should have in your general policy manual should be that cell phones, checking Facebook, etc. can never be done at the front desk or in front of patients. Staff should use their break time, etc. to do so. Staff should be...  Read More
Displaying 26-50 of 82
1 2 3 4
Page 2 of 4
Total Blog Activity
997
Total Bloggers
13,451
Total Blog Posts
4,671
Total Podcasts
1,788
Total Videos
Sponsors
Townie Perks
Townie® Poll
Have you ever switched practice management platforms for your practice?
  
Sally Gross, Member Services Specialist
Phone: +1-480-445-9710
Email: sally@farranmedia.com
©2024 Dentaltown, a division of Farran Media • All Rights Reserved
9633 S. 48th Street Suite 200 • Phoenix, AZ 85044 • Phone:+1-480-598-0001 • Fax:+1-480-598-3450