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Sally McKenzie,CMC President McKenzie Management Sally McKenzie's Weekly Management e-Motivator Click here to print this e-Motivator Article. Missed any past issues of Sally's Weekly or Monthly Newsletters or Magazine Articles? (click an item to view archive) September 9, 2002   When was the last time your TEAM came TOGETHER, away from the office, and really benefited … not only for the practice, but the patients and as individuals? Schedule your next TEAM BUILDING RETREAT at The Center for Dental Career Development in beautiful LaJolla, California. Not only will you have perfect weather, relax, and have fun, we will also help you build YOUR Continuous Improvement Plan for the next 12 months. The Center focuses on one team at a time, by appointment only … so call today to reserve your seat, 1-877-900-5775. www.dentalcareerdevelop.com You have 3 MONTHS ... and 16 days to reach your year end GOALS. Will you make it? Find out here! Sally McKenzie's Weekly Management e-Motivator---Issue #28 Land of the Lost- Without Job Descriptions Dr. Willy Nilly would like nothing more than to practice dentistry, just dentistry and dentistry alone. Forget management. Forget leadership. Forget it all! As you might guess, with this modus operandi retention is down, receivables are up and unscheduled treatment is through the roof. The three hygienists, four assistants, and three business employees meanwhile are scurrying about in feeble attempts to keep the house of cards from collapsing. While the staff buries themselves in perpetual crisis management, ol’ Willy Nilly makes it real clear that he is not to be bothered by those drab, dull details of the business. “If you just do your jobs, everything will fall into place.” The problem – one of many – this crew doesn’t know what their jobs are because – here’s a good one – Doc didn’t want to “rein in their professional creativity.” There are no job descriptions. Helloohhh. Would someone please give these poor people a clue about what they are supposed to be doing! Sally’s Recommended Actions Recruit a Business Administrator/Treatment Coordinator who can establish a management structure and address issues like job descriptions, staff training, performance measurements, etc. This person also is to bring in the unscheduled treatment. Appoint and train a member of the three-person business staff to serve as the Financial Coordinator. Get them busy reducing accounts receivable to 1 x monthly production. Appoint and train another member of this business staff to be the Scheduling Coordinator who will schedule to production goals. Assign and train the third member of the business staff to be the Patient Coordinator. This person is responsible for boosting the abysmal patient retention, which is at a record low of 56%. Provide training to the hygienists to increase their interceptive periodontal therapy programs from the current 3% level to 33% of production. There is no question that dentistry attracts those who prefer to work alone, but if you either can’t or don’t want to lead get help or you may discover all new meaning to the words solo practitioner.   Don't Miss ... McKenzie Management's NEW WEB SITE!!! http://www.mckenziemgmt.com Find out the TOP 5 REASONS why dentists use management consultants. Find out about the Practice Enrichment Programs that everyone is talking about! Discover how practices are increasing practice revenues EVERY YEAR! Visit the Book Store with educational resources for hygiene, personnel, and practice management Find out where to have your next TEAM BUILDING RETREAT Discover if your practice is operating at peak performance … FREE! Technology Tool Box A series of short weekly chores designed to keep the return on investment in technology at its highest level. Mark Dilatush, VP of Professional Relations, McKenzie Management Mark@mckenziemgmt.com • 1-877-777-6151 Ext. 28 Closed Loop Scheduling Purpose: Provide the services your patients need, uncover opportunities to fill and pack your schedule, get closer to your production goal. What to do: Every time you enter a treatment plan and the patient DOES NOT immediately schedule, place them in the tickler file (incomplete treatment file) Every time a patient misses, breaks, or cancels and appointment, place them in the ticker file (incomplete treatment file) Run your tickler file (incomplete treatment) report and clean up any anomalies. Use your tickler file as the FIRST option to fill cancellation gaps. Run and review your tickler file (incomplete treatment) report every week. When: Run your tickler file report NOW and clean up the patients who aren’t coming in, have come in, are inactive, etc., so you have a clean list to start from. Run and review the list every week. It shouldn’t take more than 2 minutes a week to review. How do I keep everything clean and current? Staff turnover and consistency are usually the culprit. If there are multiple people in your office that use the scheduler, chances are, they are not doing the same thing. Get the team on the same page with your scheduler by providing them guidance and training if necessary. 12 Hours CE Credits 1-800-544-9653 Sail the Eastern Carribean on Holland America World's most luxurious Ships the MS Zaandam March 29 - April 5, 2003 - Work with two of the most dedicated knowledgeable experts on Finance and Management in the United States — Sally McKenzie, CMC and Dr.Hugh Doherty, CFP. They will share sound advice on how to develop a profitable practice which will lead to your future financial security. It will be a "one of a kind" vacation where you come back richer!   This issue is sponsored in part by: McKenzie Management - A full service, in-office dental management consulting company specializing in the business, clinical, and hygiene areas of practices nationwide.You can find McKenzie Management at http://www.mckenziemgmt.com CareCredit - More than 30,000 healthcare practices nationwide use CareCredit as an alternative means of helping their patients finance treatment. You can find CareCredit at http://www.carecredit.com The Center for Dental Career Development - Providing Advanced Business Education for dentists and training for business employees as well as Team Building Retreats for the entire dental team in Beautiful La Jolla, California. You can find The Center for Dental Career Development at http://www.dentalcareerdevelop.com DentalTown - Never practice solo again! DentalTown.com is a free community, hosting dentistry's MOST ACTIVE message boards, classified ads and a dental event calendar.The site is open to dental professionals throughout the world, 24-hours a day, 7 days a week. Once you visit, you'll wonder how you ever practiced without it! Log onto http://www.dentaltown.com TODAY! Lares Research - Make Your Practice Profitability Soar! SoftCare ™ boosts your hygiene department profitability to a new level. Treatment of periodontal disease with the Lares' PocketPro Lasers ™ is easy to learn and offers a quick and dramatic return on your investment. Lares lasers will also make your dentistry faster and easier. Visit us at http://www.laresdental.com/products/lsc/default.asp or call 800-347-3289, ext. 1 and schedule an educational presentation. HPSC - Finances, via lease or loan, dental and office equipment, leasehold improvements, working capital and supply contracts at fixed competitive rates, with no points, variables or hidden fees. HPSC also offers a variety of financing programs to dental professionals seeking to set up, expand, buy into, or acquire a practice. http://www.hpsc.com/ INFORMS - Allow InForms to participate in your successful practice by becoming the "ONE STOP SOURCE" for your front office needs. We carry a full range of products including: recall and appointment cards, registration forms, exam forms, statements and envelopes, folders and labels. Call us at 1-800-722-4884 or email us at informs@bellsouth.net today to receive your catalog.     McKenzie Management Newsletter Information: To unsubscribe: To discontinue receiving the Sally McKenzie eNewsletter, click on the link at the very bottom of this page for instant removal, or simply click Reply to this email with the word "Remove" as the only word in the subject line. To report technical problems with this newsletter or to request technical help, please send a descriptive email to: webmaster@mckenziemgmt.com To request services, products or general inquires about McKenzie Management activities please send a descriptive email to: info@mckenziemgmt.com If you would like to have any of your dental practice concerns answered personally by Sally McKenzie, please send a descriptive email to her at: sallymck@mckenziemgmt.com. Copyrights 2002 McKenzie Management - All Rights Reserved.