Optimizing with Systems and Process

Optimizing with Systems and Process

In an earlier article I wrote about the benefit of documenting your internal operating procedures.  Embracing this effort forces you, as the practice owner, to contemplate the “best” or optimal way to perform every function in your practice.  I would argue that for everything your staff does every day there is a best way to perform each task.  These operating procedures, once documented, have the following benefits:

v  Give you the tools to train new staff.

v  Provides clear performance expectations as to how each staff member should perform their job.

v  Provides a tool to objectively measure performance.

v  Relieves the need to micromanage, staff become accountable for their own performance.

v  Ensures a predictable, consistent result that will facilitate overall success.

One of the chief reasons that owning a dental practice is typically high stress is because most practice owners feel they must have their hands on everything all the time – you know the old saying “things go well that the boss checks”.  The net result is you become a micromanager.  Countless research studies have concluded most employees strongly dislike being micromanaged.  This circumstance very often negatively affects performance, employee satisfaction, and staff retention.  The path to better performance, less stress, and a happier practice and work life seems pretty clear.

The question now becomes – how do I go about getting this done?  I am going to isolate a single process common to every dental practice and pose a series of questions to help you understand how to proceed.  The first point to make is to involve the responsible employee in defining the standards and process for each task.  After all, they are in the trenches all day, every day doing the work and will often have invaluable insights, some which would never occur to you.

The process I am going to use as an example is how the phone gets answered.  This is a critical first point of contact for new patient calls and for existing patients and may make the difference between them reappointing or seeking care elsewhere.  Below is a series of questions to address as you think through this process.  These q1ueswtionsw are by no means meant to be exhaustive, rather to be used as illustrative examples.

v  What is your expectation for the number of rings that are acceptable before the phone is answered?

v  Staff answering the phone are often performing other tasks, how should they prioritize giving all patients the best service possible?

v  Industry statistics suggest that fully 30-35% of incoming calls in the average practice are either not answered at all, go directly to voicemail, or are answered inappropriately.  What is your plan to answer calls when staff are busy with other tasks, or the office is closed for lunch or after hours and weekends?

v  If a call goes to VM, what is the follow-up protocol and script?

v  What is the script for exactly what should be said when answering the phone?

v  What information should be collected from a NP?

v  What is the follow-up protocol for the NP who calls but does not appoint?

v  Should you send a thank you card to a NP making their first appointment?

v  What, if any, information should be mailed/emailed to a NP?

v  What is the decision tree and different set of questions for an existing versus new patient?

Most practice owners will see this as hard work – and that’s because it is!  Consider though how beneficial it would be to have completed this exercise and to have these protocols defined and understood by your staff.  I am going out on a limb here, but I think it would empower your staff and elevate what your patients experience in your practice.

I encourage you to apply this exercise to the full scope of your practice’s operations.  Yes, it will take a lot of work, but once completed, the payoff will be profound.