Software is amazing these days. In dentistry, keeping track of patients has never been easier. With many programs out there, you can get all kinds of information and perform many tasks—more than just count the number of patients you have. But are you using the software to its fullest potential? One area where many practices fall short is determining active patients and seeking those who haven’t started treatment. In this blog post, you’ll learn the value of this information and how to maximize it to your benefit with a dental answering service.
Why is it important to know how many patients are active?
You may be wondering what an “active patient” actually means. This term refers to patients who are engaged and visit your office on a regular basis as planned. They have at least started or are on schedule to complete their treatment plan. An inactive patient, in contrast, has not begun treatment and is not currently scheduled to. They may be trying to decide whether to move forward with the procedure or, in many cases, decide whether to spend the money on their smile.
This limbo stage between the consultation for a procedure and actually doing it is a critical time when patients often fall through the cracks. If a patient isn’t engaged and excited about the procedure, they can quickly let weeks or months pass by without getting it scheduled. By knowing who your active patients are and who still needs to have work done, you can focus efforts on getting those inactive patients back in the chair and make the most of your existing patient base.
How can you know how many patients are active?
In all likelihood, your software program has the capability of providing you with a list of active and inactive patients with undone dental work. A thorough chart audit can reveal who requires your extra attention. Then, your team calls up those patients, tries to reconnect with them, and schedules their appointments in order to reactivate them. Although the auditing process takes some time and effort, it pales in comparison to acquiring new patients.
How can Dental Support Specialties help?
Even if your office is well staffed, your team is likely very busy from day to day. Between answering phone calls, processing insurance claims, and checking patients in and out, their in-office duties occupy a good chunk of their time. Adding a full chart audit to their to-do list could affect how well they are able to balance other important tasks. That’s why you should turn to Dental Support Specialties for dental scheduling support. Using your own software, we’ll compile the list of inactive patients for you. Plus, we can reach out to these patients, saving your team significant time and energy.
When you have a firm grasp on which patients may need extra attention, you can make efficient use of your team to bring in as many patients as possible. Instead of spending time and resources getting new patients, you can increase your productivity through a chart audit with Dental Support Specialties.
About Dental Support Specialties
Dental Support Specialties has offered remote administrative services to dental practices across the country since 2008. In addition to answering incoming phone calls and chart auditing, we can also take on special projects for reactivating patients and increasing your practice’s productivity. If you would like to work with us, feel free to contact us by clicking here.