There are four front office/front desk positions/functions. Call them what you want but they basically break down as follows:   a) Receptionist  b) Scheduling Secretary  c) Accounts Manager  d) Treatment Coordinator In a small practice one employee does them all.  As a practice grows two staff handle theses jobs/functions. The natural breakdown would be to combine the four jobs/functions as follows:  a) Receptionist/Scheduling Secretary  b) Accounts Manager/Treatment Coordinator.  In a bigger practice you might have one person for each position or some other combination such as two Receptionists, a Scheduling Coordinator and a Treatment Coordinator/Accounts Manager.

Your hygiene department can make or break your practice, yet most hygiene departments underproduce. Here is a list of the top five concerns I've heard and questions I've been asked over the years. 1. What percentage of production should come from hygiene? The "industry standard" is 30% to 35%; however, the percentage of a practice's production that comes from hygiene will vary, as dentists have different treatment protocols, and their definition of "ideal dentistry" and "ideal hygiene care" will vary. As an example, I have one client who produces $5,000 a day and whose hygienist produces $1,200 a day. Another client...

Insurance is the patient’s responsibility. It is their insurance after all however, quickly and accurately verifying insurance is an opportunity to provide patients with excellent customer service.  Staying on top of insurance every day is crucial. It is vital that insurance does not backlog. Backlogs cost you time and money and reflect poorly on your practice.  When a patient receives a bill from the practice due to insurance denial it can cause an upset. Sometimes it is a front desk error, however the upset is often partially or fully due to the bill being unexpected because the patient had not been effectively educated on how...

Value The key to effective case presentation is to get patients to understand by raising their dental IQ, which results in patients who place value on their treatment plan. This way when you send someone up to the front desk, the treatment coordinator will have a patient who is more willing to figure out the financing of their needed treatment. Whether the patient can pay or not is another story, but at least you've given the front desk staff a fighting chance. Your case presentation skills (or lack thereof) come into play for only about 20% to 30% of your patients. This...