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Published by Viva Concepts, 2018-12-06 16:29:17

Cancellation Education.indd

The Masters of Marketing Administration is an educational advancement for training of business owners and their administrative and support staff on the Viva System—a system that puts in place the
ideal residual business model for consumer
acquisition, loyalty and retention.
Copyright © 2018 by Gregory Hughes, Viva Concepts, LLC. All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Printed in the United States of America. Second Printing, 2018.


Handling Hygiene Cancellation
The loss of patients in the hygiene department in practices across the U.S. occurs almost exclusively from cancelled and no show appointments. In the dental industry the cancellation rate of hygiene appointments averages 15 to 17% each day. Here is a typical example:
The average hygienist sees 8 patients a day. At a 15% cancellation rate, this means there is an average of 1 to 1 1⁄2 cancellations per day.
With a 4 day work week, this means the cancellations per week are equal to: 4 working days X 1.5 cancellations per day, or 6 per week. Herein lies the largest leakage or loss of patients. Very few cancelled or no show appointments are recovered. The average recovered cancellations in the industry averages 1 recovered of the 6! This means 5 patients are lost each week.
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Do the math: This means 5 patients are lost per week x 4.3 weeks per months, which is a loss of 22 patients per month!


Stopping the Leakage
If the practice is receiving 25 new patients per month, a loss of 22 per month, the loss is 88%!
25 New Patients
22 Patients Lost
The most critical factor to reduce lost patients is, “how many of the cancellations are RECOVERED back into the schedule?”
Lost Patients Recovery System
The foremost factor in recovery of cancelled or no show appointments is assigning ONE person responsible to oversee and this function being performed.
It should never be 2, 3 or more people “all handling the cancelled or no show appointments.”
There are 5 actions taken on each cancelled or no show appointment as covered on the following pages.


The Cancellation Recovery System
STEP 1
Call #1: The cancellation or no show is called within the same hour of the cancellation and only by the hygienist of record.
STEP 2
Text #1 message: A text message is sent to the patient of record 24 hours after the cancelled appointment, and only by the hygienist of record.
STEP 3
Call #2: A 2nd call is made 24 hours after Text #1, if no reply to Call
#1 or Text #1. The 2nd call always refers to Call #1 and is made by
the Hygiene Coordinator (or designated person that is named as the person responsible for handling all cancelled or no show hygiene visits.
STEP 4
Text #2 message: A 2nd text message is sent 24 hours after Call #2 by the Hygiene Coordinator (or staff member designated as the person responsible for cancellations or no shows). This 2nd text message refers to Text #1 message.
STEP 5
Letter sent to patient: A letter is sent to the patient who cancelled their appointment or had a no show. The letter is prepared by the Hygiene Coordinator so the hygienist of record can sign the letter. The letter
is placed in plain white envelope with the return address and patient address HAND WRITTEN. The hand-written envelope gives a near 100% open rate to the letter, as it looks like a personal letter.


Dialogue For Cancellation Recovery
Call #1:
Hi Robert, this is Alice your hygienist at Premier Dental Care.
Somehow you missed your appointment, please contact me. I always make sure we send a text message ahead of time as a reminder...but you may have just missed it. Okay my friend, remember, I’m in charge of our Wellness program, and my job is to keep you well. Please give me a call and we’ll set up an appointment time that is convenient for your schedule...and as long as you call to reschedule, I will waive the $50 cancellation fee . Okay, see you soon,
Your Caring hygienist!
Text #1:
Hi Robert, I left a message yesterday and you may not have recognized our office number. Somehow you missed your appointment so please contact me. Remember! I’m in charge of the wellness program and my job is to keep you well for a lifetime and help eliminate future dental work! Please contact me to reschedule your appointment! My kindest regards, Your Caring Hygienist!
Call #2:
Hi Robert, this is (your name) the Hygiene Coordinator. Your hygienist (name) called a few days ago and sent you a text message. Our days are busy and there is always lots of phone calls and text messages
so you may have missed them from (name of hygienist). I assist the hygiene department on our hygiene wellness program. Can you please give me a call and we will schedule an appointment that is good for you. Looking forward to hearing from you.
Kind Regards, (name), Hygiene Coordinator.
STEP 1
STEP 2
STEP 3


STEP 4 Text #2:
Hi Robert, this is (your name, the hygiene coordinator) at Dr. (name of practice) Office. Can you please reply so we can reschedule your hygiene appointment?
Your hygienist and myself have left several messages to help reschedule your appointment. Again, we know you are busy and we also know you receive lots of phone calls that are “unknown callers,” so our text or phone messages may go unnoticed. Please contact me and I will assist in rescheduling your appointment. We are dedicated to our wellness program to keep you well for a lifetime!
Kind Regards, (name), Hygiene Coordinator. Letter from Hygienist:
Jasmine Hallaway 2344 Sycamore, St Boise, Idaho, 83703
Robert Smith
226 W. Scott St. Boise, Idaho, 83701
Content of letter is on the following page. Ten days after mailing the letter, if there is no response, there are no other actions taken on the “cancelled patient.” The patient is transferred onto a reactivation list.
STEP 5
Hand-written


Step 5: Content of Letter from Hygienist
The letter below is an example of what should be written in the letter for Step 5 of the Cancellation procedure system. You can modify
the content to fit your office, however, always include the subject of “Wellness” and reducing and even eliminating your future dental needs.
Keep a high care factor in your letter.
Dear Robert,
Wellness for Life
I sincerely missed you for your last hygiene appointment! You very likely got busy and it somehow missed your attention.
As you know I am in charge of the Wellness program here at (name of office) and my entire purpose is to assist you with regular visits that will quite honestly reduce or eliminate future gum problems and your dental needs.
I look forward to seeing you! Please give me a call and we will set up a convenient time for you.
Wishing your Wellness for Life, Your Caring Hygienist,
Jasmine Hallaway
www.abcfamilydental.com • 888 - 334 - 4423 • 2344 Sycamore, St, Boise, Idaho, 83703
(day, month, year)


Measuring and Controlling Patient Loss
A “metric” is a measurement of an activity. Metrics inform one of information that aids in bringing about higher production and gives one an understanding of why certain things happen!
For example, there is a metric, or average percent of patient cancellations that occur in the hygiene department across the entire industry. The cancellation rate, as earlier mentioned, is 15% to 17% per day. Your office may be a bit higher or lower than this “average” as the 15% to 17% is an average!
The factor being addressed in this course is on the subject of cancellations and no shows, which have been the “invisible influence” in the dental industry for decades. It is called “invisible” because the lost patient, and how they are lost, cannot be readily seen!
Once exposed, it is extremely easy to see the problem of how patients are lost from the practice.
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C” in the industry of dentistry is the “lost patients”
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Inactive Patient Metric: The average dental practice metric (measurement) of lost (inactive) patients is over 90%, meaning 9 out of every 10 patients go inactive.


The Recovery Statistic
The Recovery List
A cancellation and/or no show list is used to keep track of the 5 Step Recovery system. The form used is diagrammed below.
Cancellation and No Show Recover Grid
Patient Name
Call #1 Date
12/2/19
Text #1 Date
12/3/19
Call #2 Date
12/4/19
Text #2 Date
12/5/19
Letter Date
12/5/19
Recovered Date
Place on Reactivation List
James Joyce
12/2/19
12/3/19
12/4/19
12/5/19
12/5/19
Alice Smith
12/2/19
12/3/19
Betsy Hall
12/3/19
12/15/20
Bob Allen
12/3/19
12/5/19
12/6/19
12/7/19
12/17/19
12/3/19
12/4/19
Cheryl Penn
12/4/19
12/5/19
12/6/19
12/7/19
12/17/19
Garth Adams
12/4/19
12/5/19
12/6/19
12/7/19
12/8/19
12/18/19
Robin Helms
Cathy Swaz
12/5/19
12/5/19
12/6/19
12/10/19
12/6/19
12/6/19
12/7/19
12/8/19
12/17/19
Jerald Keen
Alicia Hugh
12/6/19
12/6/19
12/7/19
12/7/19
12/8/19
12/8/19
12/9/19
12/9/19
12/10/19
12/10/19
12/10/19
12/20/19
5 5 Lost Recovered To Reactivation
Note: Cancelled appointments or no shows, when they do not respond to the first 4 Steps of the system, are sent a letter. After a period of 10 days from the date the letter was sent, if there is no reply to the office, the patient is then placed on the “Reactivation List” for future handling.
4 Days of Hygiene


Tracking Your Result
The recovery of lost patients from cancellations and no shows is measured by using the “Cancellation and No Show Recovery Grid.”
As seen in the grid to the left, there were 4 days of hygiene. The recovered cancellations or no shows was 5, while the lost patients to reactivation was also 5.
The calculation is extremely simple:
# of Recovered Cancellations per week divided by # of Total Cancellations.
The above statistic is the number that tells the Hygiene Department, the Office Manager and the doctor, if the practice is “closing the back door” and increasing the ACTIVE PATIENT COUNT!
This means:
• More hygiene days in the future
• An increase in case acceptance from returning patients not complete on treatment
• An increase in residual income
• An increase in patient referrals due to the increase in the number of patients in and out of the practice.
As mentioned earlier, the above statistic is utterly vital to retention and must be assigned to one person, who is held fully responsible for the
# of Recovered Cancellations: 5 # of Total Cancellations: 10
=
50% Recovered



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