Sally McKenzie,CMC President McKenzie Management SallyMcK@mckenziemgmt.com 1-877-777-6151 Ext. 11

The Buried Treasure of Unscheduled Treatment

They are the gold mines, diamond mines, and rich oil fields of the dental practice, buried right there in your office. Many doctors never notice although you look at them every day, dozens of times a day, in fact. Your patient charts, quietly tucked away in the file drawers, are likely holding tens of thousands of dollars in unscheduled treatment. Case after case that was recommended to patients but never pursued, relegated to the dark recesses of the filing cabinet because the office doesn’t have a procedure for follow-up and securing the treatment appointment.

The dollar figures are astronomical. In one dental practice alone, nearly $400,000 in unscheduled treatment was languishing in the patient charts/computer system because there was no system or accountability in place to transfer that $400k from the computer to the check book.

Sally’s Recommended Actions

1. Designate a member of the business team to serve as Treatment Coordinator but also train other members, so that if she is unavailable, others can step in.

2. Use a presentation format, similar to the one below, that is logical and enables the patient to make an informed decision about treatment.

• Review the treatment plan and treatment options before the pursuing the follow-up. This will involve reviewing the patient's progress notes, clinical chart and it may involve sitting down with the doctor.
• Clarify any aspects of the plan with the doctor or other provider including alternatives to the treatment plan to maintain the patient's health that may result in less financial obligation.
• Review over insurance pre-estimates if that is part of the office routine so you are clear on what the patient's portion will be.
• Review over the Unscheduled Treatment Plan Report with the entire team in an hour meeting. Generate the report for the last 12 months.
• Be prepared with all of your financial options, i.e., fee over # of appointments, Care Credit patient financing, Visa, MasterCard, etc.
• Be prepared to send digital x-ray photos to the patient. Many times they have forgotten why they needed to have the treatment. Explain the benefits and possible concerns of not having the treatment.
• Follow up the conversation with educational handouts to underscore the case presented and a cover letter in the mail
• Every month, have the Treatment Coordinator report to the team the $ amount of treatment added to the report and $ amount deleted.
  

As charts are pulled for hygiene and other upcoming appointments, conduct chart “audits” to determine which patients have outstanding treatment and schedule a case presentation in conjunction with those appointments.