Managing and organizing a dental practice is often a laborious task. It can get extremely challenging to allot equal attention and care all aspects of the work process. The excellent treatment that your practice provides alone cannot lead to its success. In fact, there are various other factors such as the patient experience, services provided, dental revenue cycle management and patient information that contribute to the success of your dental practice. Here are 6 tips that can help you increase the efficiency of your dental service:
1. Understanding What Makes You Unique
Understand what makes your practice unique among your competitors. It could be the array of dental services or patient treatment that you provide. These days the customers have a series of dental care options to choose from, especially with the intrusion of social media. Many of the patients are even willing to travel a very long distance for quality dental services. At a time like this the efficiency and success of your practice depends on how you separate yourself from the rest of the practices. It is this distinctive factor that makes the patients choose you over the other practices. Therefore, it is very important that you acknowledge and promote your unique trait through the dental services that you provide to your patients. This drives more patients to your practice and helps in retaining them, thus improving the efficiency of your practice.
2. Offering Additional Services
Providing additional dental services undeniably increases the efficiency of your practice as the number of patients starts increasing. When you provide different services within your practice itself, you don’t have to refer your patients elsewhere, thus increasing the cash flow into the practice. It also brings in new patients to your practice. Opting for new dental services or treatments would let people know that your practice is staying on top of the trends in dental care, which would make them want to visit your practice and try out the services provided. This would let them know that you care about their interests and comfort. This doesn’t mean that you should compromise on the quality of the dental services provided. Quality should always be at the forefront.
3. Paying Attention to your patient reviews and Feedbacks
It is really important for the success of your practice that you pay attention to all your patient reviews on the dental services that you provide, whether it is positive or negative. It is the reviews of patients that help a practice grow, as it gives valuable suggestions and points on the improvement of patient care. Be open to negative critiques as well as complaints. Make sure you never let these go unnoticed, as these reviews can only add to the fear or anxiety about dental care that already exists among most of the patients. There are even chances that it could damage the reputation of the practice. That being the case, ensure that the complaints are resolved as soon as possible by interacting with patients privately and answering their concerns. Now there are several online platforms where people can share their opinions and feedback on the dental services availed, which lets the practice know their shortcomings. Be sure to keep your patients informed about any changes that have resulted from their review or complaint. This will help build trust in you and make them want to revisit your practice. When you ignore a patient complaint, it can have serious negative implications for your practice. Patient care and experience should be your top priority.
4. Considering RCM Service Providers
The key responsibilities arising from patient care make it difficult to devote round-the-clock attention, time and concentration to insurance collection and dental billing process, in which case dental RCM service providers assist you in handling your entire revenue cycle, thus providing you with the time and opportunity to maximize your focus on your dental services, patient care and experience, without worrying about anything else. It also helps you in reducing denied claims while staying up-to-date with the changing insurance processes. Managing the revenue cycle on your own can be a really time-consuming job with a greater chance of human error, especially given the complexity of claim processing. With an RCM service provider, you can get professional help in managing your billing process, thus cutting off the number of staff and the additional workload, ultimately increasing the efficiency of your practice.
5. Providing Efficient Front-line Customer service
One of your top priorities should always be providing the best of dental services, as patients are always the primary concern in a dental practice. It is the patients or the customers who influence the success of a practice. If they don’t find your practice up to the mark, they will search for some other practice. The first consideration made by a patient while choosing a practice is their customer service alongside their dental services. It is thus important that you provide superior dental service to your patients, making them want to revisit you. Make sure that you take your patients through every stage of the patient’s journey with love and care. Long waits, difficulties with insurance payment, lack of proper communication on important matters etc. will only cause your patients to leave your practice, so it is important that you give proper attention to these aspects while providing the best treatment.
6. Reducing No-Shows and Cancellations
No-shows and treatment cancellations can greatly affect the efficiency of the dental services and the overall efficiency of your dental practice. Missed appointments can have a series of effects including loss of time, effort, revenue and can also impact your daily schedule. Scheduling patient appointments and following through it, by providing timely dental services could help in reducing no-shows. It would be perfect if the patient could schedule their appointments themselves. Remember that your patient can also have a busy schedule and can forget their appointments. Therefore, it is important that you continue patient contact through calls or texts between appointments, thus giving them reminders. When a patient misses an appointment, be sure to call or text them, encouraging them to reschedule their appointment for the dental services with your practice. Let your patients know the significance of the treatment in maintaining their dental health, and the benefits of following through with it, so that they don’t miss their appointments just because they don’t understand its importance.
Every step that you take towards increasing the efficiency in your practice helps in guiding your practice to success. Running a dental practice can be a hefty task, but by using these tips the dental services your practice provides could be made a lot more seamless. These tips alongside effective dental revenue cycle management, will help you to drive your practice towards success. Always remember to give top priority to your customers as they are ones who ultimately determine your success.
