There are four dental front office/front desk positions/functions. Call them what you want but they basically break down as follows:

Receptionist

Scheduling Secretary

Accounts Manager

Treatment Coordinator

In a very small office one employee does them all. 

As a practice grows two staff handle the jobs/functions. The natural breakdown would be to combine the four jobs/functions as follows:

Receptionist/Scheduling Secretary

Accounts Manager/Treatment Coordinator

Then in a really big 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.

Cross training has its place but it is vital that each employee has a specific job and function assigned to them or you lose accountability. Each employee can assist on an as needed basis when one of the positions is overloaded at any given time, then get back to concentrating on doing their specific job and functions when the overload is handled. I would compare this to a running back in football. Normally he mostly runs, catches and blocks but sometimes, such as when there is a turnover, he must temporarily become a defender and tackle but then he doesn't stay on the field and play defense once the play is over. 

Kevin Tighe, Cambridge Dental Consultants, Senior Consultant, got bitten hard by the business and marketing bug during long summer days working at his dad's Madison Avenue ad agency. After joining Cambridge as a speaker in the mid-1990s, Kevin went on to become Cambridge’s senior consultant and eventually CEO. Cambridge Dental Consultants is a full-service dental practice management company offering customized dental office manuals. Frustrated? High overhead? Schedule a chat with Kevin at