Athena Consulting: Dental Practice Solutions

I recently had the experience of sitting in my dentist’s waiting room and hearing an all-too-familiar exchange between a patient and the new receptionist.

Mrs. Smith had just come out of the operatory. After scheduling her next appointment, the receptionist very politely asked her for the fee due for work done that day. “My husband pays the bills," said Mrs. Smith. "Send us a statement.”

I was stunned – and still am – by the receptionist's response: “OK, see you next visit.”

And Mrs. Smith left.

“See you next visit?” Doctor has just completed hundreds – possibly thousands – of dollars worth of dental work, and the recipient of this service is walking out of the door without paying a penny?

I begin to wonder: Would this work at the hairdressers? Could I just say, "See you in four weeks and send my husband the bill”? Or could I possibly leave the grocery store with a couple of bags of groceries and a cheery, “See you next week”? Of course I couldn’t!

Then why does this happen in dental offices all over the country, all the time?

Dentistry is a business. It’s certainly a wonderful, caring business that draws people who are passionate about helping other people, but it’s a business all the same.

Years ago, when I said that to a lady who had been a fixture at the front desk of a very large dental office for many years, she gave me a withering look and informed me, “Dentistry is a profession, not a business.”

Your attorney is in a profession also, but you not only don’t get your legal work done now and pay later but you usually even have to pay some money up front just to get him to put pen to paper or fingers to computer.

The inability of front-desk staffs to ask patients for money is an issue that invariably makes doctors crazy. And yet, doctors continue to set up scenarios that perpetuate this problem.

When we choose staff, especially for front-desk positions, we always try to find sensitive, kind and caring individuals who will develop a great rapport with the patients. This is definitely as it should be. The problem arises when this very nice person is given no preparation or backup to handle financial issues. This is when collections drop and doctors start to wonder if they chose the wrong staff member. What they should really be wondering is why they didn't set the wheels in motion properly for that new staff member.

By setting up a few procedures and properly training staff, the collection of payments can be much easier for the staff and patients:

1. Be sure all new staff members are clear and onboard about the value of treatment. A staff member who thinks of dentistry as a yearly cleaning and “fix only when broken” treatment cannot be successful when it’s time to ask the patient for payment. Train all new staff members completely regarding the severe problems that can develop when small problems are ignored and become huge, expensive problems.
2. Use effective team-building techniques to get all staff members involved in understanding the value of great patient care, and the ability of the entire team to provide that care.
3. Make the staff aware, by scheduling to goal on a daily basis, that they are in the business of dentistry as well as the profession of patient care. Would they expect to go to the department store and leave without providing any form of payment?
4. Have a very clear payment plan, created by the treatment or financial coordinator, so you can remove the first part of the stress of asking for payment. When the front-desk staff knows beyond a doubt that money has been thoroughly and completely discussed, they are not hesitant to ask for payment.
5. Provide the front-desk staff with a clear script to use when asking for payment; this removes the second part of their stress.
6. Finally, by being absolutely sure that the occasional patient who “forgets his checkbook” at the appointment time is closely followed with bi-monthly billing and phone calls/letters (when needed) you can set a completely comfortable stage for requesting payments.

No doctor ever wants to have to send a patient’s account to a collections agency or small-claims Court. This is a time-consuming, distasteful procedure for the office and creates a vocally dissatisfied patient. The good news is that with proper training and good systems in place, these steps never need to be taken – and the dentist never again needs to hear, “But, Doctor, I don’t like asking for money!”