Appointment Scheduling PPT PDF

UNIT 4 APPOINTMENT MANAGEMENT THE APPOINTMENT SYSTEM The Appointment System A priority of the dental office administrator is to ensure that the daily schedule is filled and that patients are scheduled efficiently Managing the daily flow of patients in the dental office is the most importa...

UNIT 4 APPOINTMENT MANAGEMENT THE APPOINTMENT SYSTEM The Appointment System A priority of the dental office administrator is to ensure that the daily schedule is filled and that patients are scheduled efficiently Managing the daily flow of patients in the dental office is the most important duty of the dental office administrator The effective management of the schedule affects every staff member in the dental office and can make the difference between a day that runs smoothly And one that is full of frustration  The dental office administrator is responsible for the schedule and the effect that it has on the other team members Keeping this in mind as you schedule patients it will help you understand why this is such an important duty in the dental office The Appointment System The appointment book/system is the control center of the office The practice should be controlled through the appointment system, not by it! Purpose of the Appointment System Organizes the daily schedule of the practice Identifies which provider will be performing which treatment on what date and time Outlines which treatment rooms are available and when Purpose of the Appointment System cont’d Identifies who is going to be seen, treatment that will be performed and amount of time required to complete the treatment Identifies what time is still available Appointment Book Matrix The Matrix should include the following elements: ✔Holidays ✔Lunch hours ✔School calendar ✔Staff meetings ✔Professional meetings ✔Buffer periods Aspects of Matrixing Regardless of the system being used, there must be sufficient space for necessary information in the entries Each day will be divided into columns, 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 etc. depending upon the number of operators / providers per day DDS / RDH / DA11 This is further broken down into the number of treatment rooms used during the day Aspects of Matrixing/ Units of Time Each column will be broken down into intervals or scheduled units of time 10 minute or 15 minute intervals In 1 hour there could be 6, 10 minute intervals or 4, 15 minute intervals Buffer Periods This is a small amount of time set aside to absorb the hectic workload of the day or to allow for emergencies Generally, a1-unit increment of time set aside in the morning and again in the afternoon allows time for unexpected emergencies or buffers an already hectic day. The buffer period should not be inserted during the busiest periods of the day A dentist should always be prepared to see patients of record for emergencies or make provision for such coverage in his or her absence Quick-glance Dentrix screen showing a week at a glance Buffer Periods Appointment Scheduling Appointment Scheduling The appointment schedule is the central focus of all dental offices If the appointment schedule is not filled, the costs of running the practice increase, the overhead expenses rise because revenue is not being generated if patients are not being seen Cancellations that are not filled in are lost opportunity to increase revenue Appointment Scheduling Control of the appointment schedule through effective scheduling techniques will organize client flow This maximizes the efficiency of the office, meets the demands of client care and minimizes stress! Appointment Scheduling Policies and Procedures Every office should have established policies and procedures that relate to appointment scheduling that should be for support staff and should not be quoted to the clients Clients must be educated about what is expected of them with respect to keeping scheduled appointments, but clients are not interested in the offices policies Factors to be considered in Appointment Scheduling  Always try to make the appointment convenient for the client and the office, not just one sided, everyone should be satisfied in the arrangements Prime time appointments – first appt of the day, last of the day, lunch hours (everyone wants these times) Working around cases that need to go to the laboratory and need to be picked up Certain clients are best served at specific time in the day Young Children Very young children should be scheduled so as not to interfere with their routine naps Children may be more active and alert in the morning Seek the caregiver’s advice on the time when the child can best be attentive to such treatment, if it is not an emergency Booking children after school is not always wise, they can be tired and hungry Older Adults May require special attention Avoid traffic rush times Determine whether they will need to be escorted by someone else Avoid drawing attention to their age Teenagers After school Clients with Diabetes After a meal, be sure that they have eaten Update medical history etc. Patients Requiring Pre-medication Anytime in the day, but make sure that they have taken the medication according to the directions Important Factors in Scheduling Appointments EMERGENCY PATIENTS Determine actual problem Query the patient ✔ What type of discomfort are you experiencing? ✔ Where is the discomfort? ✔ Is it a sharp or dull pain? ✔ Is it sensitive to hot, cold, or pressure? ✔ How long has this been bothering you? Emergency vs Urgency An Emergency is a client who needs to see the dentist immediately An Urgency is a client who can be scheduled during a buffer zone or first available opening Doctor’s Biological Clock Generally best to schedule the most complex procedures during the time of day that the doctor has peak energy Schedule for productivity by keeping blocks of time reserved for most complex procedures Habitually Late Patients Only a small number of patients may fall in this category, but they can be habitual! Stress the importance of the time reserved for the patient As a last resort, you might try scheduling the person for an earlier time on the appointment card than is recorded in the book (be careful about this when making a confirmation call!) Habitually Late Patients With a habitually late client, the office policy should be addressed and notation should be made in the client file Depending upon the care being performed and the amount of time the client is late would determine if the client should be seen Series of Appointments When a patient needs to return to the office for several appointments, it is wise to schedule them on the same day and time of the week to avoid confusion Example every Monday Patient Who Arrives on the Wrong Day The error may be the patient’s or the staff person’s Never be defensive! Try to modify the schedule if it is your error Try and reschedule if it is the patient’s error Ask to see the appointment card if they have brought it Block Scheduling Block scheduling is a technique used to place appointments in designated blocks of time It is used to help a practice meet overall production goals Blocking is the process of dedicating a fixed time in the schedule during which the practice strives to book complex, lengthy, or high revenue treatments Block Scheduling An example would be to block off every Monday morning for crown and bridge preps Block scheduling cannot be a rigid system, you must be flexible when scheduling appointments Drop Ins An office policy must be established about walk-in patients These patients should only be seen if it is a true emergency Some offices accept walk-in patients routinely and can compensate for this with multiple staff persons If walk-ins are not accepted, then try to accommodate the patient as soon as possible in the schedule and explain the office policy to the patient Broken Appointments When an emergency arrives, a patient may need to change an appointment, but consistently broken appointments become a liability to the dentist Explain the office policy to the patient and inform him of the importance of keeping the appointment If the broken appointments persist, the dentist needs to take a proactive role by explaining that the lack of cooperation is not acceptable and working to resolve the situation Dovetailing Minor types of treatment can be easily scheduled concurrently with other treatment Usually treatment that requires less than 1 unit of time The second client’s appointment is layered into the first appointment Dovetailing Examples: While waiting for an impression to set a denture, adjustment could be done Minor treatments, suture removal, healing checks, ortho adjustments, bite adjustments New Clients Are requested to arrive 15 – 20 minutes early to get acquainted At this time they will fill out the necessary forms DDS /Office is Clients should be informed Running Behind that the dentist has been delayed and approximately the Schedule length of the delay Must respect the clients time in order to have the clients respect the dentist and the office Most will wait, some will want to reschedule, apologize for the inconvenience EXAMPLE ESTIMATE OF TIME FOR DAILY PROCEDURES: ◼ Adult recall appointment/Hygiene = 60 minutes ◼ Child recall appointment/hygiene = 30 minutes ◼ Extraction Simple (1tooth) = 40 minutes ◼ Extraction Complicated (1tooth) =60minutes ◼ Restorative 4 teeth, upper = 60 minutes ◼ Bridge Preparation = 90 minutes ◼ Crown preparation = 60 minutes ◼ Bridge/ Crown insert = 40 minutes ◼ Root Canal (RCT) = 2 appts x 45 minutes ◼ Denture Adjust = 30 minutes ◼ New Patient Exam (NPE) = 60 minutes  SHORT FORMS/ABBREVIATIONS: ◼ Fluoride- fl or flu ◼ Bridge- br ◼ Post and Core- P/C ◼ Upper Partial denture- UPD or PUD ◼ Perio Charting- Px ◼ Crown – CR ◼ Composite - C ◼ Insertion – INSERT ◼ Extraction - Ext ◼ Prophylaxis – P or Prophy ◼ Scaling – S or sc Amalgam- A, Am Preparation- Prep Root canal treatment- RCT Root Planning- rp Denture- den New Client- NPE Adjustment - adj Lab work- L/LAB Lower Partial denture- LPD Unit- u BW/PA – bitewing, periapical (radiographs/x-rays) Use of an Appointment Schedule List A pre-established list of length of time /units needed to complete common specific treatments / procedures by certain operators Should be provided to the administrative assistant for reference It is an estimate / guideline that may assist in the making of appointments The creation of the list may begin by asking operators what length of time they estimate they would need to complete procedures Appointment Cards Written notification of the patient’s future appointment/s May be for a single or multiple appointments Complete the data and then recheck it from the appointment book Daily Appointment Schedule May be accessed in the electronic system automatically May be distributed to various areas of the office but must not be in vision of the public (protect confidentiality) Update routinely as the schedule changes throughout the day Daily Appointment Schedule Used by all staff so that operators know their schedule and time frames It is a chronological listing of the day’s activities Used by administration so they can check clients in The schedule is placed in the treatment rooms, the labs, reception and the private office Appointment Call List /Short Call List /Cancellation List Can be used as a “will call,” “contact,” or “incomplete patient” list Generally used to place patients who need to be seen and whose treatment for one reason or the other has been delayed Use when a change in the schedule occurs as a quick fill-in appointment Used to place patients who have booked an appointment and want to be seen earlier Confirming Appointments All appointments should be confirmed the day before Research has proven that confirmation calls significantly reduce the numbers of clients who do not attend because they have forgotten When booking the appointment find out the best phone number to use when confirming Confirming Appointments Although it is important to confirm appointments, it also presents an opportunity for the client to cancel their appointment Remember leaving a message on an answering machine is not a confirmed appointment