SILKIN MANAGEMENT GROUP: More on the Benefits of Scheduling a Daily Morning Meeting in Your Practice

Posted on January 13, 2012 by

We have written 8 different articles and posted them on our various Silkin Management Group blog sites concerning seventeen different benefits of holding morning meetings in a health care office. The last article on this subject can be found at this Silkin Management Group site: http://bit.ly/yynjfP

Almost all of these articles covered benefits that were applicable to any health care office. Although Silkin Management Group clients are veterinarians, optometrists and dentists, today’s benefit listing will be exclusively for dentists as it covers a unique aspect of their practice.

• Hygiene schedule review: The rule of hygiene/doctor coordination is normally to have the doctor enter the hygiene room to see the patient at a time that works best for the doctor. At the morning meeting this type of coordination can be reviewed and potential “bottlenecks” identified and resolved.

• New patient prophy: A patient telephoning and requesting only a cleaning is often a new patient shopping for a dentist. They are looking for a relationship rather than price shopping. The”prophy only”appointment allows this patient to meet the dentist before committing to a full exam, X-rays and consultation. The solution is to schedule the patient for hygiene only and identify him/her at the morning meeting and on the day’s schedule. Prior to the appointment, the doctor should meet the hygiene patient and allow a quick look in the mouth followed by an explanation that without a full exam he can’t identify or be responsible for any potential problems. This should be done in a very relaxed manner, primarily using the time to establish rapport with the patient so the patient feels comfortable with the doctor. After the prophy is done, the doctor should again meet with the patient and encourage him/her to schedule a full examination or, if both the doctor and patient have time, do the exam while the patient is there. The key here is establishing good rapport with the patient and delivering a top notch prophy so the patient will want to return for further service.

More benefits of morning meetings will be presented in future Silkin Management Group blogs.

Eric Korb
Silkin Management Group Consultant

You can find out more about Silkin Management Group by visiting our website at www.silkinmanageentgroup.com or calling us at 800-695-0257.

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SILKIN MANAGEMENT GROUP: The Benefits of Scheduling a Daily Morning Meeting in Your Practice – Part 7

Posted on January 10, 2012 by

This is part 7 of Silkin Management Group’s multi-part series on why you should hold daily morning meetings in your office. These are points that Silkin Management Group consultants go over with their clients.

In our first 6 parts we covered the following reasons why short morning meetings are beneficial to the efficiency and productivity of an office:

• Scheduling of emergency patients.
• Reviewing the day’s schedule and possible trouble spots.
• Filling openings in the schedule.
• Being aware of new patients.
• Medical alerts or medical issues to be aware of.
• Confirming any lab case interaction.
• Patient/client financial situations.
• Insurance review for patients/clients coming in that day.
• Being aware of any relevant information about a patient/client such as they just got married.
• If a patient/client is a friend or relative of the Doctor or staff.
• What to do if a staff member is absent.
• Reviewing any special needs for tomorrow that need to be taken care of ahead of time.
• Being aware of any “VIP” patients – most particularly patients who refer.
• Reviewing practice goals and status of any bonus/incentive programs.

The prior articles are posted on various Silkin Management Group blog sites including this site and the following two sites: http://bit.ly/ArMZIM and http://bit.ly/zRXfxx

Here is another good reason to hold a morning meeting:

• Post-operative feedback calls: Patients/clients are touched, impressed and generally in awe of an office that takes the time to call at the end of the day to see how the patient is doing after any major treatment. They remember that. They refer friends and relatives because of that. The calls should ideally be made by the Doctor, but at worst case, by the medical assistant, not the administrative staff. The administrative staff should provide the needed information to the person making the call. The appropriate patients can be identified at the morning meeting.

Over the next few weeks Silkin Management Group this series will continue with some more articles and be posted on more of our Silkin Management Group blog sites.

Jono LoBue
Silkin Management Group Consultant

You can find out more about Silkin Management Group by visiting our website at www.silkinmanageentgroup.com

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SILKIN MANAGEMENT GROUP: How to Lower Your Health Care Costs – Part 2

Posted on January 9, 2012 by

We started a series of articles last week on our Silkin Management Group blog sites about some ideas for small businesses on controlling health care costs. As we all know, health insurance premiums are going up and up every year. Therefore any ideas on reducing these costs can mean a difference in the bottom line of any business, whether a Silkin Management Group client or not.

The ideas in these Silkin blogs came from an article in Forbes magazine which you can link to here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/roblynch/2012/01/05/ten-ways-small-businesses-can-lower-healthcare-costs-and-hire-more-people-in-2012/

In our Silkin Management Group blogs we are summarizing the points brought out in this article. You can link to Part 1 at this Silkin Management Group blog site: http://bit.ly/yDfj1e

Here are two more ideas on how to control your health care costs:

• Institute a health conscious program: Also called “wellness programs” this can vary from simple to complex. As the above mentioned article points out, it can be simple things like on-line calorie counters to more involved activities such as in-office seminars and workshops that educate your employees on healthy life style and eating habits. The article quotes a four year study by Highmark, a health insurance company, which showed a wellness program can slow health care costs by 15%. That is not insignificant given that premiums are often increasing by 8% to 10% per year.

• Smokers beware: If it is not illegal in your state, refuse to hire smokers. The amount of lost productivity and higher health care expenses for smokers is enormous. If you can’t legally not hire smokers, it may be possible to charge them more for their health care premiums. Again, check with your attorney before implementing either of these ideas. As pointed out above, a good employee health education program might lead to the elimination of smoking by many of those employees who do smoke.

In following articles on our Silkin Management Group blog sites we will offer up several more ways to control health care costs.

Jack Hennessy
Silkin Management Group Consultant

For more information about Silkin Management Group, visit our website at www.silkinmanagementgroup.com

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SILKIN MANAGEMENT GROUP: How to Fire a Patient

Posted on January 5, 2012 by

Silkin Management Group clients are primarily health care practitioners in the dental, veterinary and optometric fields. Most doctors are not trained in practice or business management during their years of professional schooling. But once they own their own practice they quickly come to realize that a good part of what they have to handle on a day to day basis is the managing of the people and systems involved in making a profitable practice. That’s where Silkin Management Group comes in. We provide the missing education having to do with the business side of the office.

One matter that Silkin consultants often get asked by their clients is what to do with non-compliant patients – i.e. patients who frequently miss appointments and thereby cause problems in the schedule. Very few patients fit into this category as most patients keep their agreements and only on rare occasions cancel or don’t show.

But what about that one in a hundred patients who is truly a pain in the rear-end? How do you diplomatically go about getting rid of them? Below is an example letter for a dental practice that can be used to “fire” a patient. It can easily be adapted for other health care professions.

Dear Ms. Jones,

You have had a difficulty keeping your appointments with my office and have missed a number of appointments since you began treatment.

I have not been able to have a continuity of treatment for you. Therefore I feel it is in your best interest to seek treatment elsewhere. I will be available to treat any emergencies for the next 30 days.

You do need the treatment begun to prevent further development of oral infections. If you do not seek dental care, your existing oral infections may worsen and additional oral infections may develop.

By written request, copies of your dental records and x-rays will be available to you or to another dental office.

Sincerely,

Lawrence Smith, D.D.S

Again, this letter can be adapted to most any health care office without too much difficulty and is an easy way to part company with a problem patient.

For more information about how Silkin Management Group can help you with the management of your practice, contact us at 800-695-0257 or visit our website at www.silkinmanagementgroup.com
Eric Korb
Silkin Management Group Consultant

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SILKIN MANAGEMENT GROUP: The Benefits of Scheduling a Daily Morning Meeting in Your Practice – Part 6

Posted on January 4, 2012 by

Over the last week we’ve presented several articles on our various Silkin Management Group blog sites that listed numerous reasons to hold morning meetings in a health care office. Yesterday’s article went over two points of coordination: a) what to do if a staff member is missing for the day and b) confronting any special needs for the next day or days. You can access that Silkin Management Group blog site here: http://bit.ly/zRXfxx

Today’s article will go over 2 more relevant coordination points that can be gone over at a morning meeting.

• Identifying VIP Patients/Clients: There are often two types of VIP patient/clients – the ones who are and the ones who think they are. The ones who think they are, but are not, tend to have big egos and think they are doing the practice a favor by coming to you. The VIP people who you need to identify and give special attention to are those who go out of their way to actively refer their friends, relatives, neighbors and co-workers to the practice. Nothing surprises and pleases these outstanding patients/clients more than to have the doctor and or specific staff thank the person for their referral and let them know how much that new patient appreciated the service of the office. Make sure you capture this information in your computer and train everyone to routinely look for such VIP patients and bring it up at the morning meeting. This personalized way of customizing your “thank-you” would be in addition to the doctor sending a brief hand-written thank-you note to the referring patient/client.

• Monitoring practice goals and incentive/bonus programs: Spend a few minutes going over where the office production figures stand relative to the month’s and year’s goals and how they relate to any incentive and bonus programs that are running. Keeping staff informed and focused on these points helps keep the staff working together as a team and focused on reaching goals.

This series will continue with several more points in our next Silkin Management Group blog.

Scott Barnard
Silkin Management Group Consultant

You can find out more about Silkin Management Group by visiting our website at www.silkinmanagementgroup.com or calling us at 800-695-0257.

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SILKIN MANAGEMENT GROUP: The Benefits of Scheduling a Daily Morning Meeting in Your Practice – Part 4

Posted on December 30, 2011 by

Here is a continuation of Silkin Management Group’s multi-part series on why you should hold daily morning meetings in your office.

In our first three articles on various Silkin Management Group blog sites we presented 8 reasons to hold morning meetings in your practice. These are suggestions that Silkin Management Group consultants go over with their clients to improve efficiency and productivity. The first 8 reasons given were coordination on 1) scheduling emergencies, 2) making the day’s schedule work, 3) filling openings in the schedule, 4) identifying the day’s new patients, 5) coordination on medical alerts, 6) confirming lab work is done, 7) coordination on financial matters, SILKIN MANAGEMENT GROUP: The Benefits of Scheduling a Daily Morning Meeting in Your Practice – Part 4 coordination on insurance matters.

Here are two more reasons to hold morning musters:

• Knowledge of Patient Information: A practice should not only be capturing each patient’s clinical and management information but also their relevant personal information. Gathering and updating personal information prevents the doctor and staff from committing social errors. Carefully listen to patient’s/client’s conversations when they are chatting with you in the office. For example a patient may tell an assistant that they are getting married. After cheerfully acknowledging the patient and finding out when the happy occasion will happen, note the information in the computer and on the chart and share it with the necessary staff. A card or gift could go out to the patient near the time of the wedding. Any relevant personal history that you can find on the patient to help increase the office’s rapport with the patient is great to have and will cement long term office relationships with the patient, as long as you use the information properly. Sharing important information at the morning meeting will help staff in their interaction with a patient/client that day.

• Personal Friends or Relatives of the Doctor or Staff: Use the morning meeting to identify scheduled friends and family members. If it is a friend or family member of the doctor, the doctor should advise the staff of any previous financial arrangements made with the patient. As an obvious example, if it is the doctor’s spouse, financial arrangements are ignored. But what if it is the doctor’s sister? Find out if separate financial arrangements have been made by the doctor so the person is treated appropriately. Friends or relatives of staff should be shared at the morning meeting so they can be properly addressed.

Keep an eye out for new Silkin Management Group articles that will continue this list and be posted on one of our Silkin Management Group blog sites.

Jono LoBue
Silkin Management Group Consultant

You can find out more about Silkin Management Group by visiting our website at www.silkinmanageentgroup.com

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SILKIN MANAGEMENT GROUP: The Benefits of Scheduling a Daily Morning Meeting in Your Practice – Part 3

Posted on December 28, 2011 by

In today’s Silkin Management Group blog we will continue our multi-part series on why you should hold daily morning meetings in your office. You can access Part 1 at this Silkin Management Group blog site http://bit.ly/uBBlBh and link to Part 2 here http://bit.ly/sphqso. Over the next few days we will continue this series through posting articles on our various Silkin blog sites.

Here are two more benefits achieved by holding daily morning meetings. These points are written from a dental office perspective, but can be translated to other health care offices as well.

• Financial Constraints: Dentists are often taught in school to always treat the most clinically involved teeth first. However, sometimes a patient’s scheduled treatment doesn’t reflect the doctor’s clinical priority. For example, the patient at 4 p.m. needs five crowns, but today’s schedule shows a three unit appointment for cavity control for that patient. The patient had shared with the staff that because of budget constraints, he/she is unable to move forward with the crowns today. Therefore today’s appointment for cavity control is just an interim appointment. The good news is that the crown appointment has now been scheduled for 3 months out. The morning meeting is where the dentist is advised of the facts and reasons for treatment change.

• Insurance Limitations: To many doctors, insurance can be a mixed blessing. As noted in the example above, the patient’s financial limitations determined why the treatment order was changed. Insurance limitations often cause the same change in treatment planning. For example, the patient at 4:30 needs a 4 unit bridge, but today’s appointment shows something different planned. The patient had shared with the staff that their insurance policy had a waiting period of 12 months for crown and bridge coverage. By delaying the bridge appointment for another month, the patient would receive 50% coverage rather than no coverage at all. The appropriate staff took care of this and scheduled the bridge appointment for a month out with today’s appointment being an interim appointment. The morning meeting is where the doctor is advised of these facts and understands the reason for treatment change and can therefore be in good communication with the patient about it and solidify the next month’s appointment.

Future Silkin Management Group articles will continue this list and be posted on one of our Silkin Management Group blog sites.

Jack Hennessy
Silkin Management Group Consultant

If you would like more information about how Silkin Management Group can help increase the efficiency and productivity of your office, visit our website at www.silkinmanagementgroup.com or call us at 800-695-0257.

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SILKIN MANAGEMENT GROUP: The Benefits of Scheduling a Daily Morning Meeting in Your Practice – Part 1

Posted on December 22, 2011 by

Silkin Management Group consultants continually work with their clients on various practice management systems and activities that increase the efficiency and productivity of their office. Many of these have been discussed in previous articles on our various Silkin Management Group blog sites. Today we’ll begin a series of articles on the benefits of holding morning meetings or musters in any health care practice.

The morning meeting is a very effective tool to increase efficiency and reduce stress in an office. The meeting shouldn’t last more than about10 minutes, but is intended to produce four overall products: a) eliminate surprises, b) identifying and planning for potential scheduling problems, c) enhancing communication and teamwork in the office and d) improving patient service and care.

Below are the first three reasons and benefits to holding morning meetings. This is the beginning of a long list that will be added to in future Silkin Management Group blogs.

1. Scheduling Emergencies: This point should be asked of the clinical staff by whoever coordinates the patient schedules. The clinical team prepares the treatment rooms and makes the adjustments needed to accommodate emergency patients. The clinical staff should be given the power to decide when to schedule emergency patients.

2. Making the Day’s Schedule Work: This point should be gone over by the scheduling coordinator with the clinical team. This allows everyone to be coordinated and working together and avoid any bottlenecks. Addressing this issue at the morning meeting rather than addressing it while the doctor is in the middle of an appointment eliminates potential problems and the accompanying stress.

3. Filling Unexpected Openings: Before everyone goes home in the evening, make sure that the next day’s schedule has been planned. If you then get a short notice cancellation you have, in a dental office, 4 potential sources to fill a short notice opening: a) check the hygiene schedule. Can a patient be scheduled with the doctor after a hygiene appointment? b) Use of a “quick call system”. Keep a list of patients who have offered to come in when there is an unexpected opening. c) Ask staff if they can think of anyone in need of immediate care who may have been overlooked in the quick call system. d) See if anyone on staff needs any treatment.

Future Silkin Management Group blogs will continue the list of the benefits of morning meetings.

Eric Korb
Silkin Management Group Consultant

For more information about Silkin Management Group and how it can help increase the efficiency and productivity of your office, visit our website at www.silkinmanagementgroup.com

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SILKIN MANAGEMENT GROUP: Optometry Inventory Control, Part 2

Posted on December 20, 2011 by

Silkin Management Group delivers practice management consulting and training to optometrists, veterinarians and dentists. We are an educational company in that we help fill in the missing business education that doctors did not receive in professional school.

Many of Silkin Management Group’s clients are optometrists so we thought we’d provide some information concerning inventory control to our clients and any optometric readers of our various Silkin Management Group blog sites. Part 1 of this series can be found at this Silkin blog site: http://bit.ly/sI1HQl

Inventory control is essential in running a profitable optometry practice. Below are some questions and answers on this subject.

What criteria should one use to evaluate potential frame vendors?

Here are the key points to look for with vendors that we recommend to Silkin Management Group clients:

• Stability and reputation
• Commitment to service
• Product availability
• Warranties
• Prices relative to your market
• Direct discounts
• Buying group support
• Delayed billing programs
• Product variety
• Favorable exchange policy
• Styles
• Updated catalogues

What should type of analysis should one do to develop an effective frame inventory?

Look at the percentage of men, women and children in your patient files as well as demographics of your area. Look at typical household income for your patients and your demographics. Look at the average age and ethnic make-up of your market area. Look at what your competition is successfully selling.

What are the ratios of women’s, men’s, unisex, children’s and sunglasses frames?

Here are average numbers based upon a 600 frame inventory:

• Women’s 225 frames
• Men’s 125 frames
• Unisex 80 frames
• Children’s 60 frames
• Sunglasses 80 frames
• Misl/Specialty 30 frames

These guidelines take into consideration the latest national industry statistics for each product segment. Sunglasses represent a billion dollar plus market and as much as 14% of your board could be devoted to this segment depending on what part of the country you are in and your demographics.

In our next Silkin Management Group blog we’ll present some more questions and answers regarding inventory control.

Scott Barnard
Silkin Management Group Consultant

Visit our website at www.silkinmanageentgroup.com for more information about how we can help your practice.

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SILKIN MANAGEMENT GROUP Year End Tax Planning Ideas

Posted on December 16, 2011 by

Last year at this time we presented some year-end tax planning ideas on one of our Silkin Management Group blog sites. As those ideas still have excellent relevance this year we decided to repeat those ideas again this year.

Here are some very basic tax breaks that are available that can often be overlooked. Our consultants recommend to all Silkin Management Group clients to look over this list and make sure that they are taking advantage of every legal tax break around. Whether you are a Silkin Management Group client or not, these points shouldn’t be overlooked.

• Have you made any charitable donations? If so, check with your accountant on the best way to make the donation. Would it work out best for you tax-wise if the donation was made by you personally or from your business?

• Does anyone owe you money that they are not paying? Any uncollectable debt can be a write off. Patients who refuse to pay could fit into this category.

• Do you drive your vehicle for business? If so, keep proper logs for this and you’ll be eligible for some significant deductions if your mileage adds up.

• Have you made any capital expenditures this year or can you do so before year end? We’ve written about this in previous Silkin Management Group blogs as the depreciation rules are extremely favorable right now on many purchases of business equipment. This could include improvements to any buildings you own.

• Do you have interest on business loans? If so, those amounts are deductible. This could include any money you lent to your business. Just make sure you keep good records.

• Do you have other expenses related to business activity? Attending seminars, conferences, client meetings, meeting with your attorney or accountant, buying software, etc. are all deductible items if you keep proper receipts and records.

We tell all Silkin Management Group clients to keep good records throughout the year on anything having to do with tax deductible items, to review the above list frequently and insure they are getting every legal tax break possible.

If you’d like more information about Silkin Management Group, visit our website at www.silkinmanagementgroup.com or call us at 800-695-0257.

Jonathan LoBue
Silkin Management Group Consultant

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