TOUGH ACT TO FOLLOW by Sally McKenzie, CMC

Time to Press the Panic Button?
The news was announced to you early this morning. Joanne, your office administrator of thirteen years is leaving because her husband got a promotion out-of-state. To add insult to injury, she can only give you the obligatory two weeks, because she has to get the family packed up and moved out by the end of the month. It feels like you just got punched deep in your gut. You're scared stiff that the business side of your practice will go to wrack and ruin the moment Joanne leaves. Considering some of the horror stories we've all heard, you could be right. Like the doctor whose revenues have dropped more than fifty-thousand dollars since his office manager left a year ago. Or the one whose production plunged 28% after he lost his clinical assistant/treatment coordinator, who happened to be a whiz at presenting treatment plans and winning patient acceptance. Alas, comparable situations abound and legions of doctors stand to lose their footing as a result of losing a key staff member.

But if this is such a universal problem, how is it that some doctors can get through the loss of a key employee without feeling serious aftershocks of such a practice-altering event? How can they go so far as hosting a going away party, or casually directing the employee to "keep in touch"…while they, themselves, go forward in their practice and never feel the need to look back? What makes for such dire distress in one instance and such cool calm in another?

It's never easy to lose a great employee, but if there are systems and procedures in place that someone else can pick up and run with, the loss represents more of an inconvenience than a calamity. When a practice has no fail-safe protocol or backup system, however, other than what resides in the brain of the employee who's left, the result of her departure can be catastrophic, rendering doctor and staff like the walking wounded.

Forget About Doomsday
The only solid defense is to take a proactive position, organizing fail-safe systems that will keep a tight rein on the white-knuckle-sweaty-palm-heart-racing routine you go through every time a key employee says, "I need to talk to you."

You've no doubt heard the term, "CYA," meaning cover-your-assets. In the spirit of that concept, and in an effort to make your practice fail-safe through employee comings and goings, I'd like to help you construct a disaster prevention plan. The first thing to keep in mind is that every practice system hinges on the collective synergies of structure, function, and human resources. By way of example, let's have a step-by-step look at a seamless Recall System, which you can use as a model of system protocol.

Step 1
During Hygiene appointment, Hygienist briefs patient on specific need for continuing care and asks patient to address Recall Notice envelope. As noted in the literature, patients pay more attention to self-addressed mail than any other.

Step 2
Immediately following appointment, Hygienist handwrites "clinical need" message on Recall Notice.

Step 3
Hygienist inserts patient-specific educational brochure into Recall envelope.

Step 4
Patient Coordinator files ready-to-go Recall envelope by date to be mailed.

Step 5
Patient Coordinator mails Recall notice two weeks before due date.

Step 6
On the first of every month, the Patient Coordinator deter- mines the number of recall patients due to come in that month.

Step 7
At the end of the month, the Patient Coordinator compares the number of recall patients seen that month with the number that were due.

Step 8
Patient Coordinator calculates monthly patient retention and reports to the doctor and/or office manager on the 5th of the following month.

Step 9
Patient Coordinator calculates new retention goals at the beginning of every quarter, working towards practice expectation of a 95% retention rate.

Step 10
Patient Coordinator makes phone calls following carefully prepared script to those patients due the first week of the month who have not yet made an appointment.

The same procedure should then be repeated for the second, third, and fourth weeks. During each call, the patient coordinator should enter key points of conversation into the Patient Information screen on the computer immediately after making each call. Thanks to the logic, structure and documentation of the above steps, the Scheduling Coordinator can pinch-hit for the Patient Coordinator without much fret or sweat.

Sorry, Wrong Number!
Take any of the above steps out of sequence and you've got commotion rather than retention. It is critical, therefore, to have the steps written down, including what to say (scripts), where to go in the computer, how to measure patient retention, what's expected in a patient retention report, et al. This information should be documented on paper, video, audio, or in the computer, whichever is most appropriate. A videotape, for example, of the clinical assistant presenting a treatment plan can come in very handy for training a new hire. A word to the wise, Doctor, whether it's audio, video, paper, CD or DVD, always have access to a master back-up of such documentation, preferably somewhere off-site. Now you're ready for anything.

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Sally Says: No doubt, 'key' employees often bring something to the table that is hard to replicate. In my experience, though, a new employee–given the right training and equipment–will bring a new dimension to the practice that just might outshine the old. So stop wishing for the kind of employee you could have if you didn't spend your time wishing.

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Sally McKenzie, CMC, has been a practice management consultant for over 20 years, and is President of her dental consultant business, McKenzie Management & Associates. For more information go online to www.practicemanagement-online.com or at www.mckenziemgmt.com or call 1-877-777-6151.