Prepare Your Office for Your Absence to Attend AADOM 2024
You are approved to attend the AADOM 2024 Conference and will attend with your entire business team for the first time!
You are beyond excited to be able to share this experience with your coworkers. You look forward to hearing motivational speakers, attending continuing education workshops, and networking with fellow dental office managers and the many great vendors for three days. The anticipation of team bonding and getting away from the daily routine will be rewarding.
But wait.
Now, you face this challenge: Your dentist wants to keep the office open and productive for the two clinic days while you attend the meeting.
What?
How is this possible? How can they survive without us?
Then “Someone” says, “Anyone can answer the phone and take a payment.” That hurts a little, but you deal with your bruised ego and take a deep, calming breath.
They may think this is possible because your front office crew is an expert at making it look easy. You’ve trained them well. Your absence may result in your coworkers having a greater appreciation for what the business team does all day in the front office.
So, you need to get back to the task at hand: preparing your office to function during the absence of the business team. There are a few areas of daily dental clinic life to consider.
The Schedule
In my office, we decided the hygiene schedule would remain the same. The assistant who usually helps them with room turn-over and sterilization will still be available. They might have some last-minute open appointment times due to patient illness or conflicts that naturally occur, and there will be less support to fill the openings.
This time might be good for the hygienists to place follow-up calls to patients, sharpen instruments, review the schedule and patient charts, lend a hand in sterilization, and clean and organize treatment rooms.
The Doctors’ schedules require more planning. Our regular schedule allows for a mix of big production appointments and shorter appointments like crown deliveries, guard deliveries, denture relines, and emergency care.
During the AADOM Conference, when we are away, we plan to have two of our dental assistants fill in the front office, and are only available for limited assistance for chairside patient care and sterilization.
Our revised schedule allows for daily emergencies, and most appointments, such as molar endo, multiple crowns, bridge preps, and quadrant dentistry, will be longer and more productive, thus utilizing fewer chairside assistants.
Cross-Training
My business team took a “divide and conquer” approach to identify these tasks that would be delegated to the clinical team.
We looked at the basic functions each of us does in a day and wrote out step-by-step systems of how it is accomplished.
You may already have these systems in writing, but be sure to review and update as needed, keeping in mind you may be training someone for a new task they may not be familiar with, so details matter. These tasks may vary for your practice, but the ones we found were:
Incoming Phone Calls
Compile a list of helps to consider when answering the phone, such as:
- Remember to smile before you pick up the call! Your goal is to make a good impression on anyone contacting your practice. It starts with you!
- Look at the caller ID and utilize any integrated services you might have with your practice management software (PMS) to be prepared with who is calling, any account balance due, or any appointments linked to the caller.
- Train how to take a good message. Include the person’s phone number, the time of call, the reason for the call, and the best time to reach them. Let the patient know you may need some time to get the requested information, but someone will follow up with them.
Patient Check-in
Explain the verbiage you use with patients when reviewing their account balance at check-in and how to update any changes to their billing, insurance, emergency contact, or other information you have in their records.
Patient Check-Out
It begins with a good hand-off from the clinical team. What were the services completed, and by which provider? Does every patient have a return appointment scheduled?
As part of your cross-training, review the process of scheduling an appointment, the time the procedure takes, attaching treatment, and any lab cases needed for the appointment. Does the patient understand the treatment plan estimate and your office’s expectations for treatment payment? If there are questions for the business team, take a detailed message to follow up with the patient.
Completing a Payment
If the PMS allows this option, your written system must detail all the steps necessary to select the payment type, record the correct amount, and print, text, or email a receipt.
Cancellations and No-Shows
Keep a list of patients in your PMS to contact who may want to be seen sooner. Be sure your list is current. Your designated substitute should be familiar with using your patient engagement services’ text and email features.
Insurance Claims
Decide if your substitute is knowledgeable enough to sort through the more routine claims versus those requiring attachments and narratives, and write down detailed steps to process the simple claims. You may decide that sending claims can wait until your business team returns.
Processing the End of Day
Write up your system and practice the steps with your designated substitute for a few days in a row before the dates of your absence. This task could also be done after you are back in the office.
Monitoring Systems
Assign someone to monitor your incoming emails, text messages, mail, lab cases, and messages left on your answering service. Write up your step-by-step system to log in to your practice’s email, patient engagement platform, and phone system. Designate an area to place any correspondence, messages, and mail that the business team will handle when they return from the conference.
The Benefits of Cross-Training
As you cross-train, thank your coworkers for learning some of your daily tasks. Let them know you appreciate their help while you are gone. Plan to share with them the new knowledge, ideas, and systems you will gain from the conference. And don’t forget to bring them some dental swag!
Remember, your doctor has approved your business team’s attendance for the AADOM Conference and understands how beneficial it will be to the practice. Seek their reinforcement to motivate your clinical team to work together in your absence. Have your systems in place and begin to cross-train your coworkers.
When you get back, there will likely be mistakes, questions, and corrections. That’s OK! You will return energized, educated, and equipped with the skills to handle it. You’ve got this!
About the Author
Narla Hulstein, FAADOM
Narla Hulstein began her career in dentistry as a Certified Dental Assistant in 1982. She transitioned to office management in 2001.
She has held the practice manager position for Shetek Dental Care in Slayton, MN, since the clinic opened its doors 20 years ago. Under her leadership, the clinic has grown to a team of 14 and eight fully scheduled treatment rooms.
Narla received her AADOM Fellowship distinction in 2017.
