An engaged dental team can start to predict which patients will cancel or not show up for their dental appointments. . Your  scheduling coordinator should be able to identify these patients so that the dental team can confirm their appointments directly. The practice cannot just send a postcard or text message and assume these people will show up. Many dentists find that these types of patients often cancel and no show:1. Those who have previously broken an appointment—Feel free to dismiss these patients. Or you can put them on a short list after the third no show or cancellation, or put them...

Outside of working hours your voice message should contain: a. Your dental practice hoursb. Instructions for your patients in case of an emergency, i.e., call your cell phone, call 911, or call the on-call dentistc. When the patient can expect to be called backd. What information the patient should leave, i.e., the reason for the call, their name, and a good time to call back.Your message should be clear, friendly, and professional.

There are three or front office positions or functions. Call them what you want, but they break down as follows:   a) Receptionist, b) Scheduling coordinator, c) Accounts Manager d) Treatment Coordinator. In a small practice one employee does all the front office functions.  As a practice grows, two staff should be able to handle these functions up to 80-100K in production espcially if yousource all or part of your insurance processing.  The natural breakdown would be to combine the four functions as follows: In a bigger practice you might have one person for each position or some other combination that...

Should you cross train your staff? Cross training has its place when there is a temporary need. But under normal circumstances each employee should have specific responsibilities, otherwise you lose accountability. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with employees helping in an area outside their assigned responsibilities during peak periods or when another employee is absent. But staff need to stay focused on their specific assigned job and functions once the overload is handled.