Enter Dr. Mayer Levitt, President and owner of Jodena Consulting, a firm that provides vital support and solutions to dental practices nationwide. Dr. Levitt spent nearly 30 years managing his now 12 chair dental practices before becoming a consultant, and during his last seven years in private practice, he balanced both consulting and practice management. Dr. Levitt knows the business of being a dentist and has worked with over 525 practices on everything from creating profitable hygiene departments, to practice transitions and helping doctors optimize their efficiency and effectiveness.

Dr. Levitt graciously allowed us to pick his brain about practice management today, and to let us in on a few secrets:

DB: As a dentist, what was the hardest thing about managing your own practice?
Dr. Levitt: Unquestionably, finding and keeping a talented, caring, customer service oriented staff. It’s still the biggest problem for dental practices now.

DB: What are some of the worst mistakes a dentist can make when managing his or her practice?
Dr. Levitt: Micromanaging the staff and not allowing them to grow and learn from their mistakes is a big misstep. Also, failure to think outside of the box and stifling creativity is an issue. Sometimes you simply have to leave your comfort zone and remain open to a different approach. If you continue to do what you have always done, you will continue to get what you’ve always gotten.

DB: What’s the latest piece of advice you’re giving to your clients?
Dr. Levitt: Get going with Internet marketing. It’s an absolute must if you want your practice to remain competitive. You have to have a great website as well as a social media presence. Google is king!

Dr. Levitt also let us in on another secret. Since he is no longer practicing dentistry, he doesn’t get the satisfaction of seeing patients relieved of pain and happy with their smiles. Now he gets his kicks seeing his clients become more successful as they grow their practices. For more great practice management advice, visit Dr. Levitt’s blog. Be sure to sign up for the Jodena blog RSS Feed to receive lots of consistent, practical advice delivered right to you email (you’ll receive a FeedBurner notice via email, so be sure to confirm after signing up). To learn more about Dr. Levitt and Jodena Consulting, visit his website at www.jodena.com.

DDSMac, LLC was born when a group of dentists who had a common goal –to grow their practices using the best technology available –met on the Internet Dental Forum. For them, Mac was the clear choice. However, they soon found there were extremely limited choices in the dental software department. Something had to be done! Work immediately began on a practice management software program for use on the Mac platform. Now MaxDent Pro is officially on the market.

The front desk, and the schedule, is the hub of any dental practice. A Mac-native solution, MaxDent Pro is built around the scheduler. Created by dentists, for dentists, MaxDent Pro boasts intuitive navigation with powerful tools. These are just a few of the features:

• Reports, reports, reports! Information is crucial, and MaxDent pro is loaded with reports, including A/R monthly statements, daily activity, insurance aging, and more.
• Prescription printing and a full drug database come standard.
• E-claims and digital document storage help move your office closer to your paperless goals.
• A “smile reminder” feature allows you to set up appointment reminders, birthday messages, and much more, via email, text, and other electronic services.
• Fully HIPAA compliant.

MaxDent Pro is offering a free, fully functional demo that’s downloadable to one machine and holds up to 75 patients. Go to www.maxdentpro.com to sign up for your free download copy and take it for a test drive.

With much debate in dental circles on whether or not to Web 2.0, Dr. Dalin, a St. Louis dentist, said in his article that he strongly believed in walking the walk, not just talking the talk. And so, using his own website as a case study, Dr. Dalin dove right into a re-skin of his old, stagnant website, hiring TNT Dental to lead the SEO charge. He also gave the go ahead to optimize his new site into a mobile friendly format for display on smart phones, such as the iPhone, Blackberry, and Droid mobile devices.

Besides being more visually appealing, what is Dr. Dalin’s goal with the new website? According to his article, it’s to place higher in search engine rankings, drive new traffic to his site, generate leads that will become new patient conversions, as well as keep his existing patients consistently engaged. Dr. Dalin also plans a series of follow up articles to appear in DE magazine over the coming months chronicling his website’s success. We’re certainly eager to see the results!

View Dr. Dalin’s new website, read his article about embracing dental search engine optimization, and then tell us what you think.

Does this scenario sound like something that’s happened at your practice? You’re probably nodding your head, “Yes”. Anyone who has handled a dental emergency call knows that patients are not consistent in describing their symptoms, their pain, and can often be uncooperative wondering why they are being peppered with questions when they are in such acute discomfort. Dentists listening to an emergency patient’s symptoms chairside have the benefit of diagnostic tools, as well as years of clinical experience and education, to help determine the condition that’s causing the problem. However, your front office team, who has limited, or no clinical training, relies on asking the emergency call a set of pre-selected questions to determine when they should be scheduled into the day. No matter how well you have trained your team, it’s just not an accurate system.

Now there is a better way to repair the disconnect that so often arises between patient, team, dentist, and schedule during dental emergencies: a new dental software program called Crumb’s Cranium. Developed by New York Dentist, Dr. Donald Crumb, Crumb’s Cranium is a simple scheduling tool that “thinks” like a dentist. Easily downloaded and installed on any PC in less than 30 minutes, Crumb’s Cranium works alongside your existing dental software and helps your front office team by:

• Recognizing the most common reasons for dental patients to call your office with an emergency
• Providing simplified, logical sequencing of diagnostic information questions for effective triage and prioritizing of emergencies
• Providing scheduling recommendations, clinical impressions, and a printout system to prepare the dentist and clinical team for the emergency appointment

Crumb’s Cranium streamlines your dental emergency management, smoothes over the scheduling conflicts dental emergencies tend to create, reduces stress, and allows you to spend the time with your patients that they need and deserve. Best of all, it requires virtually no dental knowledge, minimal computer skills, and becomes a great training tool for the team members who handle dental emergency calls. To learn more about Crumb’s Cranium, how it can improve the day-to-day operations of your practice, and receive a free, 30-day trial, visit www.crumbscranium.com .

About Dr. Crumb: Since 1976, Dr. Crumb has practiced quality dentistry for patients in and around Syracuse, New York. He received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Notre Dame in 1971, achieved his DDS at New York University College of Dentistry in 1975, and completed a post-doctoral residency at Northwestern University in 1976. He believes strongly in giving back to his community for all that it has given him and has been an attending dentist on the clinical staff at St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center since 1977.

If your practice is not doubling every ten years, you may have missed opportunities along the way.  How much have missed opportunities cost you?  Where would your practice be today if you had seized a few more opportunities over the last few years? Ken Runkle has uncovered 5 Rules related to the high cost of missed opportunities.  Learn them now and empower your practice to take advantage of opportunities for substantial growth today.

Download the pdf here:

MissedOpportunities

Visit the Paragon Blog!

“Every team works best when the members of the team have clearly defined and understood roles. Some do one thing, others do another. One isn’t better or more important than the other, just different. When teams operate out of their strengths and in their roles, they win”.  These are the words of famous American motivational coach, Chris Widener.  And they are never truer than in the business of dentistry.

We are all very aware of the economic downturn we are facing today and likely feeling the effect in our own businesses.  Many practices are reporting a higher than usual cancellation rate and a plummeting case acceptance rate.  What can we do to combat this trend?

Do we lower our fees?  Do we cut back on our quality? Those two go hand in hand.  Most dental practices have devoted much time and thought into establishing a fee schedule to enable them to deliver only the best quality of care.  So you cannot sacrifice one without the other.  So, this certainly cannot be the answer!

Do we cut back on staff? Possibly part of the answer does lie within the realm of employee compensation, but let’s not be too quick to judge.  What is our number one, greatest asset?  The answer is people!  So, let’s examine this aspect of our organization a little more.  Here are some of the ways we can increase effectiveness and thereby enhance overall practice success through better utilization and management of our employees:

• Honestly and objectively assess each job description, to see if changes can be made to increase employee efficiency and effectiveness.
• Evaluate practice systems to determine if changes need to be made to eliminate redundancy or unnecessary busy work which drains productivity and decreases efficiency.
• Evaluate each team member’s current effectiveness in their given role, and do not hesitate to re-structure positions to emphasize strengths of current team members to increase overall practice productivity.
• Periodically conduct employee performance evaluations, keeping them brief and to the point.
• Communicate corrective feedback clearly and concisely.
• Do not apologize or accept excuses for unsatisfactory performance.
• Set exact parameters and monitor results.
• Offer continuing education to continually improve employee’s knowledge and skills to empower them to produce the desired results.
• “Don’t send your ducks to eagle school.  Good people are found, not changed.  They can change themselves, but you cannot change them.  Hire motivated people. Don’t hire people and try to motivate them.  It won’t work.” ……Jim Rohn (motivational coach)

Do we become more lenient in extending credit? I would venture to say that would be financial suicide given the climbing rate of unemployment, not to mention the other aspects of our failing economy.  Recently I had the opportunity to witness a scenario in which a patient who was in for their recall appointment was refusing to have x-rays taken.  Automatically, the first words out of the hygienist’s mouth were “If you can make payments would you then be able to have the x-rays taken?”  Not once did she stop to explain to that patient why the x-rays were needed.  She just assumed it was the money.  Money is the most common smoke screen used by patients.  Frequently it is not even about the money.  Usually it is a lack of value.  Patients have to understand the benefits of services before they want to pay for them.  Wouldn’t you?

Remember these words:  “No” doesn’t always mean no.  Sometimes it means “know”.  We need to provide more information to create the value for the services we are offering.  Only then will patients accept our recommendations.

Remember we must be more than “order takers”.  We must really be with our patients.  We must listen to them, and really hear what they are saying.  Before we make a recommendation, we must be sure they understand the benefit to them.  We also have to perfect our verbal skills to ensure we are communicating in a way that will produce our desired result and positively impact practice success.

Bottom line: Get back to basics.  Common sense will never fail you!

Written by Elaine Dickson,
Insurance Specialist & Instructor
© 2010 Warschaw Learning Institute
www.WarschawLearningInstitute.com

With today’s immense and growing selection of technological tools, your dental office can achieve or exceed the 3.6 standard productivity increase. DentalBlogs has consulted with some of dentistry’s great minds to bring you a few tips, so don’t miss those to follow. Here’s a list of tools and resources to consider on your quest for new technology and better productivity:

• Networked Computers
• Website with Email & Forms
• Digital X-rays & Panorex
• Digital Patient Forms
• Practice Management Software
• Patient Education Software
• Digital Imaging Software
• Digital Perio Charting
• Laser Cavity Detection
• Soft/Hard Tissue Laser
• Intraoral Cameras
• Chairside Monitors or Laptops
• Digital Photography
• Mobile Communication System
• Automatic Recall Reminders
• In-Office Restoration Milling Unit
• Immediate Dentures
• 6-Month Braces or Clear Braces

DentalCompare.com offers good reviews and fast access to contact information for just about any dental product you want to research. It’s a great place to start. Also, consult your peers to find out what’s worked for them. If you aren’t tech savvy, consider hiring a consultant who can set up your technology and train (or schedule training) for you and your team. You can spend the time and money on fancy tools, but if you don’t know how to use them efficiently, the investment is a waste.

Payment Options
Here are some of the most popular third party financing institutions for dental patients:

CareCredit
CapitalOne Healthcare Finance (formerly Dental Fee Plan)
Wells Fargo
Chase Health Advance (formerly Unicorn Financial)
CitiHealth
All Care

Informative Article on Dental Financing
Dental Compare Doctor’s Perspective

Websites can house forms.

Save time for your staff and your patients by offering either downloadable pdf forms to print and complete at home, then bring to the first appointment – OR interactive forms that can be completed and sent online, stored on a secure server, then accessed by your team before the patient’s appointment. Interactive forms work with some of the major practice management programs to save you time, which saves you money!

Benefit: Online forms give patients the impression that you value their time.

Websites can educate patients.

In addition to marketing information, websites can offer descriptions of services, videos, before and after photos, and articles that educate on topics like diet, oral cancer, TMJ, and sleep apnea. Refer your patients to your website for information about their upcoming procedures, technology, or conditions that affect their dental health. You can also announce new technology or procedures, then offer articles to explain.

Benefit: Online forms can help you increase your patients’ dental IQ, which may increase case acceptance.

Websites can house postoperative instructions.

Before a patient leaves your office after a procedure, you may hand him printed postop instructions so that he can know what to expect during recovery. What if he forgets the paper or loses it? A webpage of postop instructions for common procedures can benefit your patients and your staff.

Benefit: Online postop instructions will make you appear concerned and prepared.

Websites can provide a resource for info about your practice.

Your website isn’t limited to a certain size, most likely, so you can offer as much information as you want. For instance, a map to your office, along with your phone, fax, emergency care policy, and office hours can be helpful to existing patients, as well as new patients.

Benefit: Online practice information makes life a little easier for patients who want to find your office or communicate with your staff.

 

Websites/Emails are a primary means of communication.

Digital communication is here to stay. Many people communicate at work and home by email, and the public expects a technologically advanced field like dentistry to be on the ball with email communication. When you purchase a website, it usually comes with multiple email accounts. You can have one main email account or many accounts for various folks in your office – like your insurance coordinator, hygienist, and doctors. If you say that you offer "personalized service," having an email account for patients to reach you only proves your dedication. But you have to be very careful! IF YOU USE EMAIL ON YOUR WEBSITE, YOU MUST CHECK IT REGULARLY. Not answering emails within 24 hours is like not answering the phone. It gives the impression that your office is closed or that you are too busy.

Benefit: Email communication will make you and your team look tech savvy and genuinely interested in customer service.

To learn more about how your dental website can become an extension of your practice, call TNT Dental today!

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