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.   Kevin Tighe, Cambridge Dental Consultants, Senior...

For a team to operate at a high level of efficiency there must be a high level of trust between the practice owner and staff.  Part of accomplishing trust is for everyone to know the "rules of the game" including policies on: Vacations Paid Holidays Paid Time Off Seminars Maternity Leave Bereavement Pay Unacceptable Conduct Acceptable Conduct Cell Phone, Office Phones And Computer Use   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,...

You want to be sure to receive a proper ROI from any employee you hire. For example, if you hire someone at $15 per hour (times 8 hours), you increase your overhead by $120 per day. You then need to determine how much increased production (or reduced hours off if that's what you value) you need to justify the added expense.   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...

A lot of production can be "lost" to due to incorrect codes being used i.e. D4910 vs. D1110. Sometimes the hygienist and front desk person do not know how to comfortably explain the difference between D1110 vs. D4910, so they opt for the path of the least resistance because they're afraid they'll upset or lose the patient. For this reason it is vital that your hygienist and front desk be able to comfortably educate patients on the necessity of regular periodontal maintenance visits, and how that is different from a prophy. This is done by using effective case presentation techniques. Start by...