The Treatment Coordinator

Transcription

1 The Treatment Coordinator Introduction A good definition of an ideal dental Team is: - A group of committed individuals working cohesively towards a common set of goals. Within this Team, the pivotal role is that of the Treatment Coordinator (TCO). This article will explain the important qualities and attributes of the TCO, as well as look at the detailed responsibilities of this person. What is a Treatment Coordinator? A TCO is the person that is largely responsible for the ideal New Patient experience. The TCO should handle the New Patient enquiry on the telephone and build the initial rapport. She should then welcome the patient to the Practice, and carry out the all-important initial interview. A well trained TCO can also then take a full set of digital photographs, and also take the appropriate radiographs (if she is adequately trained in radiography) after the dentist has sanctioned the radiographs to be taken. Following the full assessment by the dentist, the TCO has important responsibilities in treatment planning, and preparation for the Case Presentation. She will also take care of all financing and scheduling issues. In summary, the TCO is vital in the selling process in a dental business. How do I find an excellent Treatment Coordinator? Surprisingly, a good TCO is probably within your Practice already! The key is to identify the main qualities of someone in this role, and perhaps promote an existing Team member that is willing to take on this responsibility. Alternatively, you can recruit a suitable person. What are the requirements of a TCO? The following are the key requirements of a TCO: - A good listener: Active listening is vital in effective communication. A good TCO will do 20% of the talking (asking the right questions) and 80% listening. Good people skills : A TCO should be able to get on with people and make them feel at ease. Patients are often nervous when they go to a dentist, especially on their first visit! 1

2 Excellent organizational skills: A TCO needs to be well organized. There are important duties in patient follow up, preparation of consents and dental reports, creation of accurate estimates, etc. Confidence: Being able to talk confidently about large fees for bigger treatment plans is essential. Talking about money is a sensitive subject in the sales process and requires special skills in overcoming objections and also an empathetic understanding on the patient s financial situation. Belief in the Dentist and the Practice: The TCO must fully support the Practice philosophy and the fees being charged. This sounds obvious, but we have come across Team members who feel that the fees being charged are too high. This is NOT a healthy situation for the business. Good clinical knowledge: A TCO must be able to explain in simple terms the main treatment offered at the Practice. This requires a detailed understanding of dental procedures and systems. Commitment to improving sales skills: Selling in an ethical and nonpressurized manner is a sophisticated art. Reading books on selling and going on appropriate Courses is important for Practice Growth. The main responsibilities of a Treatment Coordinator I will now clarify some of the important roles of a TCO starting on the day of the comprehensive dental assessment at the Practice. (a) Digital Photographs, Radiographs and JVA A trained TCO can take a full series of standard digital photographs with an SLR camera. These pre-operative photographs are immediately downloaded on the computer, and are then available for the dentist to review together with the patient during the dental examination. The TCO can take appropriate radiographs (if the TCO is trained in radiography), thereby saving the dentist time. It is essential the dentist first looks in the patient s mouth and decides on the relevant and appropriate radiographs required for diagnostic reasons. We also use equipment called Joint Vibration Analysis (JVA). This involves recording data on the computer allowing the dentist to carry out a differential diagnosis of TMJ health. Again, this simple record can be taken by the TCO even before the New Patient sees the dentist, who can then interpret the data for accurate diagnosis. (b) Treatment Planning Stage After the full assessment, the patient is normally scheduled for a separate Consultation (or Case Presentation) appointment within a week. The TCO has to carry out the following duties before this appointment: - 2

3 1. Update all the patient records on the computer (we use Software of Excellence which we believe is the gold standard for Private Practice). 2. Review the patient notes with the dentist after he or she has made the ideal treatment plan. The TCO can then formulate the treatment plan on the computer. 3. Ensure that the dentist has checked the treatment plan on the computer for accuracy of appointment sequence, times required for each appointment and the fees. 4. Print the estimates and collate appropriate consent documents. 5. Carry out image correction of the digital photographs (we perform color correction and image sharpening on Adobe Photoshop. This does NOT alter the content of the photographs in any way, but simply improves the image quality (making it similar to film standard). 6. Creation of a PowerPoint presentation with the image corrected photographs. It is useful to put in a comparison case of a patient treated in the past with a similar dental condition. 7. Ensuring all the records are ready (i.e. study models, printed photographs that may be required, etc) 8. Preparation of the Consultation Room on the day of Case Presentation (i.e. clutter free, patient records ready and available, PowerPoint ready, and demonstration models and Software ready). Being organized in the above manner really helps take away all the stress from the dentist, thereby allowing him or her to be more relaxed and do an excellent job at Case Presentation. (c) Case Presentation Appointment The dentist carries out the clinical presentation to the patient explaining the ideal treatment plan with suitable alternative options. A careful discussion should also occur to explain risks involved as part of the informed consent. The dentist then presents the total fee for the treatment in the following way: - So, Mrs Smith, the investment for the entire treatment that I have explained to you which includes ABC will be 10,000. How do you feel about this? This is a great question because one can get a reaction or feedback from the patient as to what they can actually afford. Some patients may say: OK let s go ahead. Another reaction might be: Oh dear, I didn t know it would be that expensive. I thought it would only be about 4,000. The conversation can then follows on like this: - 3

4 Dentist: OK Mrs Smith, I totally understand how you feel about this. May I just ask you apart from the financial aspect of having this dental care, is there anything else that would stop you from going ahead with this type of treatment? Mrs Smith: No you have really explained it all very well, and I would love to have a new smile, But I have only got savings of about 4,000. Dentist: OK, so as I understand, you could pay 4,000. How about if we spread the remaining part of the treatment fee over a number of years so that you can make small monthly payments that would make it affordable for you; how does that sound? Mrs Smith: Oh, can you do that? That would help me a lot. Dentist: Would you mind sharing with me how much per month you could budget without too much difficulty? Mrs Smith: I suppose I could pay about 200 per month. Dentist: Well, that is really great news. We offer finance plans with a company that specializes in dental care and many of our clients that have been in your position, have found that they can go ahead with the treatment that they really want straightaway and afford the care by flexible monthly payments. I will now leave you with Petya (TCO) who will explain to you more about this So, in this manner, there is Case Acceptance and a win-win situation. There are a number of companies that offer financing for dental patients; our preferred choice is Medenta ( Once the patient decides to go ahead with the treatment, then the dentist can leave the Consultation room and hand over to the TCO. The next thing at this point is for the TCO to check if the patient still has any questions about any clinical aspects. Often patients need clarification about some points to do with the treatment. After this, the consents are reviewed and signed. Agreed estimates also need to be signed. There should be one copy of each document for the Patient and the Practice. After sorting out fee collection (or financing), appointments are scheduled and confirmed. It is also important to remember that if the patient has questions or objections after the fee has been presented, this is actually a positive sign! It 4

5 shows that they are interested and simply have some queries that need clarifying in their mind before they say Yes. Other duties of the Treatment Coordinator There are other vital duties that a TCO can carry out to ensure a Practice thrives: - Dental Reports (e.g. patients that have been presented with treatment but have not yet gone ahead). Follow up of patients is important. Recalls. Typing professional reports for the patient (as part of the full assessment, it is a good idea to do a professional report for the patient on clinical findings and treatment options). Monitoring New Patient sources (i.e. tracking the marketing efforts). Responding to enquiries from potential New Patients (i.e. for New Patient enquiries from the Website). Summary To become an excellent TCO requires a lot of training and commitment. However, for a Principal of a Private Practice, once this is achieved, the TCO will become a significant asset for success and growth of the business. This article was written by Ashish B Parmar of The Academy By Ash ( 5