If your office doesn’t have one in place, now is not a bad time to sit together to discuss it. The economy is forcing many dental offices to revisit their policies and make adjustments to their accepted payment options. But what do I mean by the term “living, breathing”? Basically – you have a stringent set of terms under which your office operates. However when you are slow or patients are asking to pay smaller amounts, it may be time for you to take another look at your policy to see if needs tweaking. But here’s the important part – everyone must be aware of the tweaks that you are making.

I say this because I’ve worked with offices where the dentist will tell the patient “You lost your insurance? Okay -just tell Teresa to knock 20% off the fee when you see her.” Then the next patient – the dentist’s neighbor asks for a discount and she is told to ‘not worry about paying for your cleaning today.’ Your front desk employees are thoroughly confused and wondering if they’re going to collect anything today.

So think about these points when you have your next team meeting:

• What are our office’s courtesy adjustments (not discounts) for:
  • employee’s family
  • senior citizen
  • payment in full
  • local businesses (such as Chamber of Commerce)
• How long will we finance payments in-house (without third party such as CareCredit or Springstone):
  • 2, 3 or 6 months
  • will you assess a finance charge?
• In the case of a bounced check:
  • will we redeposit?
  • will we charge a fee?
  • will we ask for cash or credit card only payment from now on?
  • after how many bounced checks will you terminate the patient-doctor relationship?
• How often will we revisit this policy?
  • as needed?
  • yearly?

These are just a few of the points of a good, solid financial policy. When there is any doubt or disagreement, the policy wins. The policy keeps everyone on the same page. It lets everyone do their job because the policy tells them their job. Ready to put one in place for your office?

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A new method of applying the hydroxyapitite to metal prosthetics has been discovered by Professor Noam Eliaz of the TAU School of Mechanical Engineering. It involves an electrochemical process rather than spraying the surface coating on an implant. Prof. Eliaz is reporting a 33% decrease in failures of tested implants. Here’s the link – it’s much easier for you to read it than for me to attempt to explain it!

Source article on Physorg.com

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I have to admit – whitening my teeth is a pain. I’ve tried them all  – chairside, home, toothpaste, strips – you name it, I’ve tried it and always wished there was an easier way. When I read about the NuvoraWhite over on Amy’s List I was pretty excited about it! I plan on getting my hands on some so I can give it a try. Basically it’s a lozenge that uses a patented sustained release technology to deliver carbamide peroxide, xylitol and a few other ingredients as it dissolves. I’ll let you know how it goes – if anyone has tried it, please let me know how it worked out for you.

Here’s some information from company’s site, NuvoraInc.com:

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Study clubs for auxiliaries are becoming more common and I am thrilled every time I hear or read about a new one. At the last ADIA meeting I had the pleasure of meeting the team of Advanced Dental Care of Norton and their wonderful office manager Michelle Kratt. She emailed me to let me know about her new study club that she was inspired to start after attending the last American Association of Dental Office Managers meeting. Judy Kay Mausolf gave a wonderful lecture on how to start and lead a successful study club. Many study clubs were started after that meeting. A Facebook friend that attended ADIA’s hygiene meeting (also in Philly) just posted that she gave her first presentation for dentists – it went wonderfully! Do you see a trend here?

By attending more meetings and seeking out more education, your team members can become leaders. Laurie Sizemore – president of our local study club here in northern Virginia – gained inspiration in a similar manner. I started speaking in front of study clubs – you can’t beat a small crowd for the best interactive experience.  For dentists that may consider team education and empowerment an unnecessary expense, please re-think this position. Your practice will improve and grow when you have dedicated, educated and smarter employees. Trust me on this.

Here’s Michelle leading her first study club meeting – congratulations!

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