The document provides guidance on effective schedule management and communication strategies for a dental practice. Some of the key recommendations include: scheduling patients to daily goals for unfilled time; using a team approach for schedule management; respecting patients' time and setting clear expectations; proactively filling schedule openings to minimize unfilled time; effective communication strategies for appointments, reminders and changes; and emphasizing team commitment to priorities like answering phones and minimizing cancellations.

1. SCHEDULE MANAGEMENT

2. PRESENTED BY: ERIN JACK

3. SCHEDULE MANAGEMENT
• Goal: Less than 60 min. unfilled time per day
• Next: Less than 30 min. unfilled time per day
• Next: Less than 15 min. unfilled time per day
• Each provider is scheduled to goal, every day
• Proactive approach

4. SCHEDULE MANAGEMENT
• Daily plan: Morning Huddle
• Team approach
• Team commitment
• Team communication

5. PRACTICE/DR. RESPONSIBILITIES
• Respect your patient’s time
• What % of patients seen on time?
• Time study
• Dr. must set expectations/accountability

6. PRACTICE/DR. RESPONSIBILITIES
• Do not reschedule patients (lab cases, fishing)
• Recall exams/Radiographs (establish S.O.C)
• 18 months average tx start
• Dr. Review every patient for C.C.
• Dr. set example of expected busyness/production
• Dr. guiding patients, same day tx
• Clear treatment planning

7. WHERE DO YOU START?
• Identify who is accountable/Drs. role
• Establish baseline/goals/commitment
• Put it in writing
• Provide training
• Measure outcome/Daily/Weekly/Monthly
• Communicate/Reward success

8. COMMITMENT
• All team commitment
• Appointments, every patient/every time
• Goal 95% active patients scheduled
• Goal 95% of patients have email addresses

9. BLOCK SCHEDULING
• Determine daily goal Dr./Hyg
• 60% by noon
• Helps ensure goals are met
• Requires team commitment/judgement

10. LIMITED EXAMS
• Morning/Afternoon
• 20 Limited Eval/pa $2940/month ($147)
• 20 Periodic Eval/4BWX $4600 ($230)
• Gain $1660/mo. or $19920.00/year
• 20 Comp Eval/FMX ($355)
• Gain $4160/mo. or $49,920.00/year
• Comprehensive care for patient

11. ANSWER YOUR PHONES
• Over 99% of your business comes from the phone
• Ringing phone=opportunity calling
• Ideal phone times
• Second Ring

12. ANSWER YOUR PHONES
• Assign primary/secondary/tertiary responsibility
• Morning meeting coverage
• Stagger schedules as needed/lunch coverage
• Early morning/evening
• Monday-Friday coverage

13. ANSWER YOUR PHONES
• No voicemail/check throughout day
• Never answer and place on hold
• Existing Patient, you can call back
• New Patient, drop everything
• New Patient/Reserved Time Blocks

14. PRIORITIES
• 1. Patient in front of you
• 2. Patient on the phone
• 3. Keeping schedule full

15. COMMUNICATION
• “Smith Family Dentistry. This is Erin, how may I help
you?”
• Simple, friendly, consistent
• Tone of voice
• Smile

16. COMMUNICATION
• Beware the overshare
• Assertiveness
• Practice/Record incoming calls for coaching
• Use NP Intake Form

17. NP INTAKE FORM

18. VOICEMAIL MESSAGES
• After hours messages
• Service to patients
• Opportunity waiting

19. MESSAGE
• “Thank you for calling Smith Family Dental. Our entire
team is currently attending an amazing conference to
learn how we can better serve our patients. We can’t
wait to show you what we learn. Dr. Jones will be taking
care of emergencies while we are gone and can be
reached at 888-8888. If you don’t need immediate help
please leave a message. We care about your smile and
will return your call as soon as we get back”

20. MESSAGE
• “Thank you for calling Smith Family Dental. We are
currently out of the office or are providing excellent care
to another patient. Please leave a message; we care
about your smile and will get back to you as soon as we
can. If it is after hours and you are having a dental
emergency, please call Dr. Smith at 888-8888”

21. ON HOLD OPTIONS
• On hold recordings
• How they are effective
• Options, bio, treatment, education
• Service differentiation
• Payment options
• Minimum: music

22. APPOINTMENTS: BE PREPARED
• Audit appointments: Accuracy/Opportunity
• Always be aware of your next openings
• Continuously check schedule
• Know your patients

23. APPOINTMENT TIPS
• No asking
• State needs, ask preference
• Listen
• Follow through accordingly
• Do not make financial assumptions/insurance etc.

24. APPOINTMENT TIPS
• Multiple Family members
• Ask for their help
• Ask for commitment
• Do not reschedule if broken

25. COMMUNICATION
• How you say vs. what you say
• Offer 2 positive choices
• Focus on patient, not “we have” “I have”
• “Would you prefer morning or afternoon”
• “How would Tuesday at 2:00 work for you?”
• Scheduling challenges/educate and train
• Avoid yes or no questions

26. COMMUNICATION
• “Hi Mary! Let’s reserve an appointment to get that root
canal done. How would you feel about Monday the 10th
at 9:00?”
• “Great! I have reserved 90 minutes with Dr. Smith just for
you. Please do me a favor and give us at least 48 hours
notice if you need to make a change to this appointment,
that would really help us”

27. WHAT NOT TO SAY
• “Mary do you want to schedule that appointment before
you leave?”
• “Oh, just call us when you are ready to get that
scheduled”
• “Just wait until next year when your insurance rolls over,
it will be fine”
• “You can probably wait, it won’t make a difference”

28. COMMUNICATION/1ST CALL
• “Bob, I have reserved a 90 minute appointment for you
on the 8th at 10:00 with Dr. Smith. Our office really
appreciates a 48 hour notice for appointment changes.
Please do me a huge favor and give us plenty of notice if
you need to make a change to this appointment. We look
forward to meeting you!”

29. APPOINTMENT REMINDERS
• Appointments are confirmed when reserved
• Initial expectation set at first call
• Calling to remind you of reserved appt.

30. APPOINTMENT REMINDERS
• Third party resources and personal calls
• Multiple forms of communication
• Do not use robo-calls: exceptions

31. REMINDER COMMUNICATION
• “This is Erin calling from Dr. Smith’s office to let you
know we are looking forward to seeing you for your
reserved appointment on Wednesday at 10:00”
• “…Do you have any questions about your estimated out
of pocket cost for this visit?”
• Message: “…please give us a call to let us know we can
count on you to be here”

32. WHAT NOT TO SAY
• “This is Erin calling from Dr. Smith’s office to make sure
you are coming to your appointment”
• “This is Erin calling from Dr. Smith’s office to confirm
your appointment”
• Message: “…Please call us if you need to reschedule
this appointment” NO, NEVER!

33. NP ABOVE AND BEYOND
• Dr. call all NP 2 days prior to appt.
• “This is Dr. Smith and I wanted to be the first to welcome
you to our office. Is there anything you would like me to
know before your first visit?”

34. COMMUNICATION: CHANGES
• “Dr. Smith asked me to call and see if you could do her a
huge favor and come in at 10:00 instead of 11:30, she
would really appreciate it”
• “We were wondering if you would be able to help us by
coming in today instead of Thursday, we would really
appreciate it”

35. COMMUNICATION: CHANGES
• “I was wondering if you might want to sleep in and come
at 10:00 instead?”
• Enthusiastic thank you!

36. SHORT NOTICE CANCELLATIONS
• Impact of short notice cancellations
• $1000+/Day,
• $4000+/week
• $16,000+/month
• $192K+/year
• Team frustration/Dr. frustration

37. SHORT NOTICE CANCELLATIONS
• Educate and re-train
• Team commitment to new handling
• Always communicate, don’t lecture
• Dr. support is critical

38. BROKEN APPOINTMENTS
• Post broken appointments on your schedule
• Add documentation
• Post to patient ledger/account
• Broken Appointment Policy
• Send warning letter

39. BROKEN APPOINTMENT POLICY

40. MOST EFFECTIVE
• “Oh no! Have you had an emergency? Dr. Smith has
reserved 90 minutes of his time just for you and is really
counting on you to be here. Is there any way you can
keep this appointment as scheduled?”

41. LESS EFFECTIVE
• “Oh no! Dr. Smith had 90 minutes of time reserved just
for you and is really counting on you to be here. Is there
any way you can keep this appointment? He would really
appreciate it”
• What comes next
• Good judgement supersedes

42. EXCUSES
• Over 80% are lies
• “I am so sorry to hear you have a cold, Dr. Smith has
reserved 90 minutes just for you and would prefer for
you to go ahead and come in if you aren’t too
uncomfortable”

43. EXCUSES
• “I’m sorry to hear that. Dr. Smith has 90 minutes
reserved just for you and is really counting on you to be
here, is there any way you can keep your appointment?”
• Respond with empathy

44. SERIAL APPOINTMENT BREAKERS
• Review ledger
• Respond accordingly
• Schedule accordingly
• Confirm or break appointment

45. SERIAL APPOINTMENT BREAKERS
• 1st Broken Appointment, admin
• 2nd Broken Appointment, admin discuss w/Dr.
• 3rd Broken Appointment, Dr. decides

46. OPTIONS
• Appointments same day only
• Require a non-refundable deposit
• Dr. speak directly w/patient
• Patient sign appointment commitment
• Agree to dismiss
• Document

47. COMMUNICATION: BROKEN APPTS.
• “It looks like this is the second appointment you have
broken in the last two weeks. When we reserve an
appointment, we are counting on you to be here. Is there
a certain day or time that will allow you to keep your
commitment to Dr. Smith?”

48. COMMUNICATION: BROKEN APPTS.
• “Unfortunately you have broken 3 appointments in the
last month. We really count on our patients to keep their
appointments as scheduled. Please let me discuss your
situation with Dr. Smith and get back to you”

49. THE ART OF RESCHEDULING
• Possible, not easy
• Teach to value time
• Decide minimum reschedule time

50. COMMUNICATION: RESCHEDULING
• “I would be happy to help you re-book this appointment
would you prefer the last week of August or first week of
September?”
• Exceptions: immediate empty time, valid reasons

51. COMMUNICATION: PUSHBACK
• “I know! So many of our patients have been pre-booking
their hygiene appointments, we are booked out for
weeks! Especially for these late afternoon times, I
recommend you reserve a late appointment well in
advance when you come in next. Let’s get you booked
for September 3 and then I can add you to our priority
call list”

52. THE ART OF RESCHEDULING
• Commit as a team
• Offer priority call list
• Never lecture/never condescend

53. FILLING EMPTY TIME
• Assign responsibility/accountability
• Put it in writing
• Know your schedule, have a plan
• Develop priority call list
• Know your patients

54. TAKE ACTION
• Team communicates when schedule changes
• Call patients 5 min. into appointment
• Make 5 calls to fill each empty appt.
• Document

55. COMMUNICATION: NO SHOW
• “This is Erin from Dr. Smith’s office. We reserved an
appointment for you at 10:00 and you aren’t here. We
are concerned and want to make sure you are on your
way”
• “This is Erin from Dr. Smith’s office. We are concerned
because we had reserved time for you at 10:00 and you
aren’t here”

56. FILLING EMPTY TIME
• Move patients earlier
• Same day treatment
• Use C.C. list, unscheduled tx list, quick call list
• Communicate w/ team, ask for recommendations
• If all else fails, condense the schedule

57. COMMUNICATION: FILLING HOLES
• “Oh! It looks like we have had a change to our schedule
tomorrow, how would 3:00 work for you?”
• “Dr. Smith wanted me to give you a call to see if you
might be able to come today at 3:00 instead of next
week. Would that work for you?”

58. WHAT NOT TO SAY
• NOT: “The Dr. has no patients tomorrow, you can come
anytime”
• NOT: “Our schedule is wide open, what works for you?”

59. CANCEL W/O RESCHEDULE
• How to handle
• Establish system
• Decide who is responsible
• Goal: 3 calls, 3 days, 1 week, 3 weeks
• Email any specials happening
• Document

60. PATIENT CALLING IN ADVANCE
• “Before we go any further let me tell you how much we
appreciate that you took the time to call us well in
advance to make this change to your reserved
appointment. Dr. Smith truly appreciates it, thank you”

61. ABOVE AND BEYOND
• Reward the behavior you want repeated
• Consider sending a coffee card occasionally
• Consider sending hand written thank you note

62. TEXT/EMAIL CANCELLATIONS
• Respond with same
• Then call
• “Our office has a 48 hour cancellation policy. Please call
us for further information”

63. HYGIENE DEPARTMENT
• Pre-reserving appointments required by Hygienist
• Goal 95%+ patients are pre-booked for Hygiene
• Determine baseline/measure progress

64. HYGIENE DEPARTMENT
• Schedule the interval + 2 weeks
• NP Time Blocks Reserved
• Continuing Care Types
• Schedule time based on pt. needs

65. COMMUNICATION: HYGIENIST
• “I know it seems so far away but I see you prefer to
come in the late afternoon and I recommend you reserve
your appointment now so you won’t have to postpone
your care”
• “…don’t worry, we send plenty of reminders, we do have
your email address right?”

66. HYGIENIST: WHAT NOT TO SAY
• “Give us a call when you get your reminder card”
• “You probably don’t know your schedule 6 months from
now, just give us a call in October”
• “Someone from our office will call you when you are due
for your next cleaning”
• “You can just call and cancel if you can’t make it”
• “Do you want to schedule your next appt.?”

67. COMMUNICATION: HYGIENIST
• “…please do me a favor and give us 48 hour notice if
you realize you do need to make a change to this
reserved appointment. I would really appreciate it”

68. RECALL POSTCARDS
• Automate using third party patient communication
• Customize/personalize postcards
• Office generated postcards/pt. writes
• Team photographs

69. CONTINUING CARE REMINDERS
• Assign responsibility/accountability
• Put it in writing
• Combination reminder approach

70. CONTINUING CARE REMINDERS
• Schedule time to make calls
• When to call
• Know your patients

71. CONTINUING CARE REMINDERS
• Successive communication
• 3 phone calls
• Prior: 1 month
• Due current month
• Past due 1 month
• In addition to emails, texts and postcards

72. HYGIENE SCHEDULE/TEAM EFFORT
• Hygienist pre-books every patient
• Every team member checks every patient
• Dr. checks/encourages every patient

73. HYGIENE SCHEDULE/TEAM EFFORT
• Morning Meeting
• Clinical handoff to admin. team
• Hyg. checks for due family members

74. COMMUNICATION
• “Susan, this is Judy. Today we completed 2 fillings on
teeth 13 and 14. Judy has completed her treatment and
Dr. Smith would like to make sure she has reserved an
appointment for her periodontal maintenance. Judy, do
you have any questions?”

75. COMMUNICATION: CALLS
• “This is Erin from Dr. Smith’s office. Dr. Smith asked me
to call you because it has been over 6 months since we
have seen you. I would like to help reserve an
appointment for you. Would you prefer the morning or
afternoon?”

76. PATIENT REACTIVATION
• Assign responsibility/accountability
• Develop plan/incentives/deadline/goals in writing
• Develop review protocol
• Identify target patients

77. PATIENT REACTIVATION
• Create spreadsheet/divide
• Weekdays
• Saturday
• Team effort

78. ACTION PLAN
• Schedule time dedicated to Patient Reactivation
• 3 Phone calls: 1st call, 2nd call, 3rd call
• Track on spreadsheet
• Measure and discuss

79. COMMUNICATION
• “Dr. Smith asked me to call because we haven’t seen
you in over a year and he is concerned about that upper
right tooth that is decayed. He doesn’t want it to turn into
a larger concern for you or become infected. I would like
to help you reserve an appointment would you prefer
morning or afternoon?”

80. COMMUNICATION
• “Dr. Smith asked me to call you because it has been a
year since we have seen you and she is concerned
about your smile. Would you prefer a morning or
afternoon appointment?”
• “This is Erin from Dr. Smith’s office. Dr. Smith asked me
to get in touch with you. Please give me a call at 232-
2242. I look forward to hearing from you!”

81. COMMUNICATION
• “I am sorry to hear you aren’t quite ready to schedule.
Keeping your smile healthy is very important to us. When
would be a good time for me to call you back?”

82. COMMUNICATION
• Make follow up notes
• If pt requests to call the office, make notes
• Don’t alienate with stalker calling

83. UNSCHEDULED TREATMENT
• Assign responsibility/accountability
• Put expectations in writing
• In addition use to fill empty time

84. UNSCHEDULED TREATMENT
• 3 calls then transition to Unsch. TX Calendar
• Ensures patients receive succession of calls
• Educate, encourage, guide
• Schedule time to call

85. COMMUNICATION
• “This is Erin from Dr. Smith’s office! When you were in
for your exam Dr. Smith noticed decay on your upper
right tooth and I would like to help you reserve an
appointment. How would Tuesday at 9:00 work for you?”
• Be prepared to answer financial questions
• Do not answer questions out of your range

86. ASK FOR REFERRALS
• Morning Huddle: Assign patients
• Every team member accountable
• Compliments are ideal time
• Track NP referrals
• Small token of appreciation
• Handwritten thank you

87. COMMUNICATION
• “Bob, I want you to know how much I enjoy having you
as our patient. If you have friends or family who need a
dental home, I’d appreciate it if you’d recommend our
office, it would really help us”
• “Thank you for that compliment! Please be sure to tell all
of your family and friends, we would love to take care of
their smiles too”

88. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
• Email slides
• Discussion/questions

89. RELIABLE PRACTICE SOLUTIONS
• Practice Assessment
• Patient Reactivation
• Revenue Cycle
• Private coaching/training
• Associateships
• Crisis Management
• Insurance Billing/Claim Management
• Temporary Management
• Risk Management/Compliance
• 15+ years Dentrix Experience

90. CONTACT INFORMATION
• Erin Jack, Reliable Practice Solutions
• Phone: (907) 232-2242
• Email: reliablepracticesolutions@gmail.com
• Website: reliablepracticesolutions.net