by Front Office Rocks | May 28, 2020 | Ask Laura Dental Office Q&A
Question: We have added about 4-5 hours per week, per hygienist to fit in urgent patients who missed an appointment while we were closed. I’m wondering if you would recommend that we schedule in 6 months with our pre- COVID 19 schedule, or plan on keeping this...
by Front Office Rocks | May 27, 2020 | Ask Laura Dental Office Q&A
Question: What should I have staff do during this down time? The office is slow staff has done a lot of cleanup of supplies and rooms already. Answer: If your team has opportunities (I don’t like using the word down time) available during the day and you feel...
by Front Office Rocks | May 21, 2020 | Ask Laura Dental Office Q&A
Question: “I’m an office manager. I want to see if Laura has a suggestion or a way to keep track of staff when the office manager is not on site? How to still manage and monitor away from the office?” Answer: If you have proper systems in place you...
by Front Office Rocks | May 20, 2020 | Ask Laura Dental Office Q&A
I understand that right now we are all trying to survive and we are just in the moment trying to push through. We are hoping for things to get back to normal soon! You don’t want to change the way we would handle our patients and the care that we provide for...
by Front Office Rocks | May 20, 2020 | Ask Laura Dental Office Q&A
Question: We have an in-house membership discount plan for patients without insurance where the patient pays $400 per year to get 2 cleanings, exams, etc. and 10% off dental work. We need to create a fee schedule for this plan so our books aren’t all out of...
by Front Office Rocks | May 14, 2020 | Ask Laura Dental Office Q&A
Question:When calling a patient to confirm their appointment, what should I be saying? Answer from Coach Missy: Even before the pandemic, we had specific skills we used when confirming appointments -the type of appointment scheduled, repeating the date and time at...
by Front Office Rocks | May 8, 2020 | Ask Laura Dental Office Q&A
Ask Laura: Help I’m afraid to ask my employee… Help! I am a doctor and I am afraid to ask my employee how she feels about certain things at our office, and with her job honestly, because I am afraid of what she will say. How do you suggest I have this...
by Front Office Rocks | Apr 30, 2020 | Doctor Articles
As dentists prepare to reopen their practice, there’s going to be challenges. One thing you can control is how you plan to run your schedule. This post is a continuation from last week. If you missed tips 1-3 you can catch them here. I have outlined 6 things...
by Front Office Rocks | Apr 29, 2020 | Ask Laura Dental Office Q&A
*** Special Edition *** Every week we answer individual questions from offices, but the below answer is a result of multiple offices asking about what a re-open looks like at the front office. Things will not be “typical” in the dental office when we ‘re-open’ our...
by Front Office Rocks | Apr 23, 2020 | Doctor Articles
How to Set Up the Dental Office Schedule For Opening Back Up Wow that elevated quickly, didn’t it? One week we are up and running with a very successful start of the year and the next week we are closed and not seeing any patients or very few, depending on the...
by Front Office Rocks | Apr 22, 2020 | Ask Laura Dental Office Q&A
Question: How can I explain to patients to pay for their limited exam out of pocket so they don’t use up the periodic exam? I would like some tips on how to approach patients when it comes to paying out of pocket. Answer: It is important to know and understand...
by Front Office Rocks | Apr 9, 2020 | Collections & AR
How to Send Statements and collect on Patient Balances – Without being the bad guy? In the dental office, we work really hard to do our best to verify patients’ benefits. We enter the insurance correctly in the system. We get the most accurate estimate for...
by Front Office Rocks | Apr 1, 2020 | Ask Laura Dental Office Q&A
Question: Do you have scripting to use when rescheduling patients? QUESTION: Do you have some scripting to use when rescheduling patients? We have discontinued any non emergent or urgent treatment for the next 3 weeks. My office administrator is fairly new...
by Front Office Rocks | Mar 20, 2020 | Doctor Articles
What Would Laura Do First I have been an office manager during the good times and the bad times, and I can tell you that we always come out of it. I know that this bad time or dip is not like any other, but you will come out of it. Your perception and approach during...
by Front Office Rocks | Mar 19, 2020 | Dental Team Training
How to WOW dental patients with amazing customer service! Have you ever taken the time to see how differently your team members define ‘good’ customer service? This happens all too often with dental teams and we see the effects these differing views can...
by Front Office Rocks | Mar 12, 2020 | Doctor Articles
Dental office checklists: Your key to systems optimization! Checklists in the dental office may not be the newest of ideas, however we do see many teams implementing the use of checklists ALL wrong! There are many trainers, consultants, and speakers, who teach about...
by Front Office Rocks | Mar 5, 2020 | Doctor Articles
Before You Print Another Dental Office Training Manual Try these 5 Alternatives I was recently asked “Should office managers have a training manual?” when chatting with one of our members who was looking to hire their first office manager. They also were...
by Front Office Rocks | Feb 27, 2020 | Doctor Articles
How to Create Amazing Newsletters I had a member recently ask me about communication with patients and what we should be communicating in letters and emails. It made me think about the value of sending newsletters to our patients and how important regular...
by Front Office Rocks | Feb 19, 2020 | Ask Laura Dental Office Q&A
Question: Is Craigslist a viable option to post a hiring advertisement for a new hygienist? QUESTION: Is Craigslist a viable option to post a hiring advertisement for a new hygienist? ANSWER: Yes, you can still use Craigslist to post your job announcement;...
by Front Office Rocks | Feb 12, 2020 | Ask Laura Dental Office Q&A
Question: What is assisted hygiene and does it really work? QUESTION: What type of schedule have you seen work where the doctor incorporates assisted hygiene into their schedule? The reason they want to do this is because they are having trouble finding a...
by Front Office Rocks | Feb 6, 2020 | Office Manager Articles
Dividing Up Front Office Duties What makes a great front office team member? The number one attributed skill is multi-tasking. I know it was one of the first skills I listed when I came into dentistry. In the front office, there are so many things going on at once,...
by Front Office Rocks | Feb 5, 2020 | Ask Laura Dental Office Q&A
Question: We want to offer something to parents/kids for referring friends to our office. Any great ideas you can share? QUESTION: You give great advice to general dentist offices, but I am in a pediatric dental office and have a marketing question. I watched...
by Front Office Rocks | Jan 30, 2020 | Ask Laura Dental Office Q&A
Question: If I have two front office team members how should I divide the duties? QUESTION: If I have two front office team members how should I divide the duties (receptionist/scheduler) and (treatment/insurance/financial coordinator)? ANSWER: How you divide...
by Front Office Rocks | Jan 23, 2020 | Doctor Articles
How to set a new employee up for success at your dental practice Congratulations! Either you have just hired a new employee or have decided that you’re going to hire a new employee. Bad news, the process isn’t over yet. The first week for a new employee is as...
by Front Office Rocks | Jan 22, 2020 | Ask Laura Dental Office Q&A
Question: How do you deal with patients who are requesting a specific hygienist? QUESTION: How do you deal with patients who are requesting a specific hygienist. We just had a patient cancel 5 min prior to their appointment because they were not seeing the...
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