A complimentary e-newsletter from Linda Miles for the professional dental community.

For subscription (or unsubscribe) details, as well as Miles & Associates contact information, please see the end of this newsletter.

Miles & Associates P.O. Box 6249 Virginia Beach, VA 23456 757.721.3332 757.721.2892 (Fax) 800.922.0866 Toll-free www.DentalManagementU.com

DYNAMIC DATA

Dear Doctors and Staff,

Happy Valentine’s Day on the 14th. I hope your New Year is off to a great start in spite of the slow-down most practices experienced over the last quarter of 2001. They still had a good year, but compared to the last quarter of years past, it was a down quarter for most.

The seminar I did for our local dentists’ Wednesday night addressed the tell-tell signs of a declining economy and how to use these slower times as a springboard for better economic conditions. The four major signs are:

1) FEWER HYGIENE PATIENTS. Patient retention is the foundation to a solid practice and a solid economy. Because many patients view preventive care as something they can postpone when money is tight, making sure the hygiene department stays healthy is a must. Contrary to what a couple of consultants preach about not pre-appointing, the other 98% of us know that NOT pre-appointing is the kiss of death six months from the time it stops. Who wants to hire another employee to call, call and recall patients, which gives your practice a look of desperation? I wish I could count the number of dentists who have told me in my courses that it will take them two years to get back the losses of non pre-appointing their hygiene patients! As far as the myth that it causes broken appointments, I will gladly match my client patient retention rate with any practice in the country, as will the other consultants who stand by the pre-appointing System. Our theory is “if it isn’t broken, no need to fix it”. Some theories are obviously, “if it isn’t broken, let’s break it, so I can help you fix it!” If your new patient numbers are 200-400 per year and your number of hygiene patients are not increasing year after year; there’s more dentistry on the shelf than is being done. When Hygiene increases $3000 per month, total practice goes up $8,000 to $10,000. When hygiene increases $5000 per month total practice goes up $12,000 to $15,000 per month. Check your patient retention today. Assess your hygiene number of patients monthly in a comparison with the last few years.

2) INCREASED ACCOUNTS/RECEIVABLES. When times get tough, the tough gets smart in A/R management. The priorities of the paying public are; necessities first, which include mortgage or rent, car payments, food, insurance, clothing and entertainment. Their second priority is; those things with interest such as credit cards, and retail stores. Their third and final priority is; the rich dentist or physician who doesn’t really need the money and performs these services out of the goodness of their heart. Having firm yet friendly policies for collections, with the doctor standing behind these policies is a must. Offering creative financing, increasing the staff communication skills in the presentation of fees and discussion of financial arrangements is also key during economic downturns. And finally, giving the staff time during the week to make collection calls from an organized system is paramount. A/R management is easy when everyone in the practice realizes this is not just the Financial Co-ordinator’s job, but a total team effort. A/R balances over one month’s production is a serious problem that only gets worse in a sluggish economic state.

3) CASE ACCEPTANCE PERCENTAGES DECLINE. Are you using your computer-generated reports to track number of dollars presented daily versus number of dollars scheduled or performed? If not, please know that in an economic slump; case acceptance typically declines with people losing jobs or a fear of losing it. In the research I did for this seminar, “When Times are Tough, the Tough Get Smarter”, one dentist on the AADPA Forum actually reported an influx of patients in his city who were having cosmetic enhancement dentistry because they in fact were back on the job recruitment scene. They wanted to look their best while interviewing! In a practice with several hygienists, one was very good at chairside communication and the other two thought that all needed dentistry should be given by the dentist, while their job was to clean teeth. We developed THE HYGIENE DEPARTMENT ACCOUNTABILITY FORM, which each hygienist filled out daily. It was amazing to see that the two who did not participate in setting the stage for case acceptance by enthusiastically educating patients had 38% and 41% acceptance, while the third hygienist had 87% appointed from the dentistry presented that month. Patients accept dentistry because they understand the benefit to the buyer. They also accept dentistry based on being treated special by people they like and trust. Money is only an obstacle when communication skills are poor and enthusiasm is weak.

4) PATIENTS WANT ONLY THE DENTISTRY THEIR INSURANCE WILL COVER. When times are tough, those practices with insurance co-dependency will notice the problem worsens in a weak economy. While I think going insurance free is the ideal model, many practices pull the rug out from under their solid foundation by listening to a speaker or reading an article that states “there is no other way in which to practice dentistry”. Making it easy for patients to do business with you is key and collecting all co-payments if you are accepting assignment, is a must. I do not advocate being on plans that do not allow co-payments unless you enjoy working about 10-20 days for free for the insurance companies! In our monthly client monitors, the red line is gross production, the blue line is net production and the green line is collections. All three lines are very close together in a healthy practice. The farther the space between red and blue, the more you work free, The farther between the net production and collections line, the more you are not collecting. We also know that “people who owe you money don’t like you”, something I learned from Omer Reed in 1976, in my first practice management seminar in Williamsburg. We can also add to that, “people who owe you money break appointments”, and “people who owe you money do not refer to you, and if they do, they refer others looking for free care”. Let your patients know their benefit plan covers basic care, (basic preventive and restorative). Let them also know that 95% of all adults need more than basic care. If the insurance companies had kept up with inflation, patients allowable benefit today would be between $5000 and $7000, not the same as it was 30 years ago!

If you have new staff or would like to refresh your practice management skills, register today for our two day Dental Business Conference in Virginia Beach at the Virginia Beach Resort and Conference on March 22 and 23. The class is limited to fewer than 100 attendees, so call 800-922-0866 from 8:30-12:30 Mondays through Thursdays to get your names on the list. An overflow class is planned for late August. This two-day experience can fast forward new staff to excellence, which would take more than 6 months in-office with a busy schedule. Our breakouts will be for the Exceptional Dental Assistant, and Assisted Hygiene. One of our March attendees from Dr. Desiree Palmer’s office in NC couldn’t wait to get back to NC to try out her newly acquired telephone skills. She immediately started doing “courtesy calls” rather than confirmation calls by saying, “this is Tonia from Dr Palmer’s office, this is your courtesy call to let you know we’re looking forward to seeing you tomorrow at 10″. She said one of their new patients told her husband that she was anxious to go to the practice tomorrow, as from the call she knew they were nice people who cared.” It’s amazing how small changes in communication result in big dividends. Sounds so much better than “I’m calling to remind or confirm”.

During a five-day break in Cancun last week I put the beginning touches on the extensive workbook for our 6th Annual Speaking/Consulting Network. From the many inquiries we’ve had over the past few months, this will be the most power packed of all six. In addition to the regular format, which brings people back year after year, we will be doing hands on speech writing, and group consulting with actual cases in practice management. Don’t miss the fun and excitement of Las Vegas and this 3-day Network May 17th to 19th. One of our members, Kathy Metaxas will be coming back from Perth, Western Australia for her third year. Kathy is an independent consultant who owns Platinum Management of Australia, and is a certified presenter of the LLM&A Dental Business Conferences throughout Australia.

Watch for our full-page corporate ad in the March issue of Dental Economics introducing our two newest consultants, Susan Kulakowski and Janelle Kent of FL. Also check out our Menu of Services. We will be setting the dates soon for our 2003 SunFun Seminars, so get those continuing education incentives started now so you can learn and play at sea in 03.

Over the summer I’ll be writing my 3rd book with a release date by the fall. This is something I’ve wanted to do for years and my overly busy travel schedule did not allow it. Now I work hard January through May and September through October so I can enjoy the creative side of my business and spend more time with my family in Virginia Beach in the summer and around the holidays. My typical office day consists of 7-8 hours of telephone calls and 5-6 hours per day of computer time. I really must travel to get away from the work! But I love it, so it really isn’t work. My thanks to my meeting planners and clients in Toronto, Chicago, York, PA, Charlotte, NC (in St Thomas), Las Vegas, Houston, Virginia Beach and D.C. for keeping me busy the past 8 weeks. Until next month,

Linda

LLMiles and Associates P.O. Box 6249 Virginia Beach, VA 23456 800.922.0866

Visit us at www.DentalManagementU.com

Please keep in mind this newsletter is being offered complimentary in response to the many requests to stay in touch with our clients and followers. If you wish to unsubscribe to Dynamic Data please send an e-mail message to lindamiles@cox.net to let us know.

Miles & Associates’ corporate headquarters may be reached at 800.922.0866. Fax us at 757.721.2892. On the web at www.DentalManagementU.com, or via email at lindamiles@cox.net.

Miles & Associates – Feb 2002

Miles & Associates Linda L Miles & Associates P.O. Box 6249 Virginia Beach, VA 23456-0249 Phone: 757.721.3332 FAX: 757.721.2892 800.922.0866 Toll-free