By now, we are in the thick of this pandemic. Instead of loathing over reduced hours or gaps in your schedule, spend your energy focusing on moving forward. Once you reopen your practice doors, there will be a need to make some schedule adjustments to best meet patient needs and the practice needs. Many offices have been out of commission for several weeks or more. So, today on the blog, we are sharing 10 tips for preparing to reopen your practice after the pandemic.
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Prepare your Hygiene Schedule
Reschedule appointments for after the shutdown. Many offices are booked out in their hygiene schedules and have very limited openings for their preventive patients. Go ahead and create a strong plan for reopening.
Things to think about:
- When are we going to see our patients that were scheduled during the COVID 19 virus?
- What days will we open up for hygiene to reschedule these patients?
- Do we need added hours in the schedule on specific days? Every day?
- Do we have room to add a column of hygiene into our schedule and bring a hygienist in to help us? If so, what does that plan look like?
- DO NOT schedule over your new patient appointment blocks or your periodontal appointment blocks (except for your first day or so back in the office).
We recommend that you reschedule your patients now. It’s easier to call and move them out again if forced to, rather than risk losing them and overworking your team when your return! Let’s count on the income coming in rather than guessing at it.
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Prepare your Operative (doctor’s) Schedule
We all know doctors are not booked out as far as the hygiene department, so this should be much easier to plan. First, consider relocating any non-productive procedures on your schedule and move those into May. This will allow you more opportunities to meet your production and collection numbers when you return. Next, go through your schedule and add any additional production blocks that you can to your schedule. You will be nice and rested, so this should be fairly easy for you to do. Now let’s consider any added days or extended hours to open up for your patients.
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COVID-19 Relief Payment Options
You were closed, we know, however, it’s important that you connect with your patients in a caring way as we were all going through this pandemic together. Everyone else is offering relief, so let’s talk about your relief plan for patients. Some ideas to consider:
- COVID-19 relief balance payments (maybe split up their existing balance into three payments to provide relief and prevent them from defaulting on their account).
- How about a COVID-19 Same-Day 10-20% Courtesy to get your books back to full speed. Whatever gets you drilling at full speed again. Maybe you do this for three months. You decide.
- Always remember to use the word courtesy, we do not provide discounts. If you are a network provider, you cannot discount dentistry, so use the word courtesy!! (Don’t forget to make a COVID-19 Courtesy code in your practice management software so you can keep up with this relief plan for your patients).
- Finally, maybe you consider implementing an in-office payment plan so you can provide patients with more options for care.
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In-Office Dental Plan
Now is the best time to get your in-office dental plan fired up and in full swing. Many Americans have lost their jobs, and that means they lost their benefits from their insurance companies, too. That doesn’t mean that they have to lose their teeth. Give some options. We love Boom Cloud, a dental membership software program. We also have some of our own plans that we provide dentists if you are interested in doing it yourself.
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Third-Party Financing
It’s time to call in the troops right now. Before you get started back up, get your virtual training done from your CareCredit rep. It’s time to brush up on all the new features they have available to their cardholders and their providers. We are in love with the “Pay My Provider” feature, are you?
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Clean Up The Office
Sterilize your entire office and get ready for work. Set a day on your books to get the gang back together and get the office ready for business. While you’re at it, get your spring-cleaning done. Time to release the clutter in your life. Now that you have been quarantined at home, socially isolated for so long, you have come to realize that your life has a lot of clutter in it. Clean it out, clean it up, and get ready for business. You should consider testing all your equipment that has not been used, run all lines in the office, run your autoclaves and check them to ensure they are properly working, and check your computers as well. Many things happen when we are not around to oversee them.
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Team Meeting
Get your team scheduled to come in and go over the office action plan. These would be any new changes that you have come up with for your business while you have been closed, new schedule, phone verbiage for patients, plans for marketing, promotions, dental plans, or some refresher training. Some of you may want to get everyone in a few days earlier to train if you’re missing team members or have had turn over during this time. A few helpful hints for training: always have an icebreaker, have paper and pens for everyone to take notes with, video it for future reference, and post some minutes from the training. Anyone on your team can take “company notes” and post them in a common area or send out in an email.
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Marketing Plan
Turn the hoses back on full blast if you delayed your marketing plan or adjusted your ads during this time. Get on a call with your marketing team and discuss some actionable items to rev up your phones post COVID-19. Don’t wait until you get back to work to get a plan. While you’re on that call, discuss any website updates you need to make and get going on them. Now is the time to add new content to your site to attract new leads.
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Reminders and Automation
Update your reminders and automation so your patients will know what to expect. If you have been smart during this time and turned off your outgoing automation until you know what you’re doing, then now you will want to add new information to them and get them ready to go back on once you get the go-ahead from your state.
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Opening Day
Have something fun and exciting ready for your team and your patients on opening day. Maybe breakfast is waiting when they arrive, fresh flowers in the rooms, or a fun boomerang for social media, do something fun!! You made it, and your team is all here and ready to go. Add some fun post-COVID-19 photos to your social media showing “Proof of Life.” Let every one that follows you online know that you are back in the saddle.
There isn’t a single business or family that wasn’t affected in some way by the coronavirus pandemic. But, like everything else in life, we have to pick up our boots and keep moving forward. You and your practice will be better for it. Bryant Consultants has more than two decades of experience partnering with dental practices across the country. We are here to help you and your practice get through this global crisis by offering a complimentary one-hour consultation to dentists looking for answers or help during the pandemic. If you have any questions or want to set up a free consultation, please contact Bryant Consultants by calling (877) 768-4799 or directly connect with a consultant. To ensure that you receive the latest updates during the coronavirus pandemic, please follow us on Facebook and Instagram.ctice
