DYNAMIC DATA NEWSLETTER tm October 2002

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 OCTOBER 2002

Dear Doctors and Staff,

As we enter into the fourth quarter of the calendar year I hope your numbers for the year are stronger than the first nine months of 2001. Many of the clients we monitor monthly are having their best year ever in spite of a rocky economy, and the after-effects of 9-11 last fall. The month of September 02, was unusually slower than the previous three months for about half of the practices I monitor personally. Now is the time to advise your patients of the "use it or lose it" for maximizing their employee benefits if their plan is ending on the calendar year. Make the last three months and January (with "split-year cases") your best four months ever.

I started my busy travel schedule again for the remainder of the year with Atlanta for a private study club two weeks ago and a seminar in Orlando on October 4, sponsored by Benco Dental. This week found me at the Three Rivers Dental Conference in Pittsburgh, University of Maryland for the new dentist's luncheon on Wednesday and Dr. Friskey's Seattle Study Club in Houston on Friday. Each audience I've had in the past few weeks reminds me of why I love what I do. Seeing old friends and those who say they have followed my courses and advice for years make me feel good to be part of this exciting profession. Wanza Webb of Orlando reminded me she has my very first audiotapes from the early 80's. A dentist's wife in FL said when she was thrown into her husband's practice after a long term business employee became ill and had to retire, it was my first book that became her guiding light of information. Today their practice is ultra successful and she came up to thank me. In PA I had the pleasure of being hosted by my friend, Dr. Janie Soxman, who worked in my last employer's practice as a senior dental student in the 70's. In Baltimore, I visited the Dental Museum and had lunch at the Waterside Marriott with my kind host, Dr. Bill Schnieder before addressing the senior dental students at U. of MD. Speaking at the NASA Space Center in Houston for the Seattle Study Club was also a highlight of my week. Thanks to Dr. John Garza and his lovely wife, Jayne, it was a whirlwind 24 hours. I have restricted my lectures to 30 per year with about 27 already scheduled for 2003. Next year I will be offering 20 of my autographed books to the meeting planners as part of my honorarium to be used to entice early registrations to their meetings.

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Some of the hot topics today continue to be about HIPAA and their new guidelines. One of the frantic calls received this month was an office administrator who had heard that dentists can no longer send recare cards that are not in an envelope. Checking into this further I traced the source and learned that is not exactly true. If you put anything clinical in the treatment note that is printed by computer generated cards; this could be in violation. HIPAA is a self reporting entity which means if the patient is offended that you printed on his recare card that you would like to check the depth of the 5 mm pocket on tooth #30 and his roommate reads this which embarrasses him, he can cite this as an invasion of privacy.

As far as the routine messages such as: "This is to verify the appointment you made with our hygienist for your preventive care and complete oral health examination……." It is o.k. to send an open postcard as that is not offensive to anyone. The source of my research, Don, of Agent 77 Company in Minneapolis, MN (800-294-2556) said that using the words "oral cancer screening or oral cancer examination might also be subject to criticism or a violation. Our advice is to keep the message clear, but generic. Agent 77 sells a kit called HIPAA for Dummies for $495. When I asked how it differs with the one the ADA sells I was told the HIPAA laws in their kit covers security, electronic claims and privacy, while the one from ADA covers only one area.

Read more about these HIPAA guidelines by going to www.HIPAAdvisory.com

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Registrations are coming in daily for the two day Dental Business Conference I will personally be giving at the Sheraton Tyson's Corner in Vienna, VA November 1-2. This is a limited attendance course for strong group interaction, so call Lee today if you plan to reserve spaces. (800-922-0866). This is a guaranteed must for new staff or a refresher in giving your practice a boost in management from every member of the team's perspective. Heavy on team attitudes, communication with patients and each other, collections, scheduling, marketing, hygiene department improvements, and the reduction of broken appointments. After February 7-8, 2003, in San Antonio, I will be turning the reins of the DBCs over to my six Certified DBC Presenters. It has been my goal for five years to regionalize the DBCs, as they are the most requested course we do. They are extensive, practical, fun and empowering for dentists and the entire staff. I am very proud of the very talented group of certified presenters. Visit our web-site at www.dentalmanagementU.com and meet them!

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As we all know, over the shoulder clinical excellence courses are key to the success of new or experienced dentists who wish to excel in every aspect of delivery of care. Whether it's technique, materials, technology, occlusion, treatment planning or time management, these courses are a must to get on the cutting edge and stay there. I recommend that dentists attend at least two clinical courses each year. In addition to the Pankey Institute, LVI, Pac- Live, Frank Spear, Bill Strupp, Ross Nash, John Kanka, and many others, I hear very good things from my audiences about John Cranham's courses in Chesapeake, VA, about 20 miles from the Norfolk/Virginia Beach airport. Dr. Cranham can be reached at 757-465-8900. Also, the "Hands on Learning" in the private offices of Jimmy Eubank, Dallas (972-596-1811) and Jeff Morley, San Francisco (415-474-1555) are highly recommended. One day I asked one of my very successful clients why 10% of all dentists work effortless and produce well above the norms, while others struggle and sometimes retire still trying to make ends meet? This was a mystery to me as they all had similar training in dental school. His answer was simple: "In dental school they teach the basics of restorative and preventive care. It isn't until you get out of dental school and learn from the masters that we were trained to be "mechanics of the mouth", looking for problems to fix! It isn't until we get out of school and seek out the superior courses and clinicians that we become "artists" who look in the mouth and see the finished Rembrandt"

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Cabins are still available for our 4-Day W. Caribbean Team Appreciation Cruise March 27-31. We had an overwhelming response to our first 4 months ads in Dental Practice Report and Dental Products Report and had to go back to the cruiseline for additional cabins. Thanks to all of you who are registered, and those of you who are contemplating a celebration of this year, call our SunFun hotline today! (877-673-4270). My two senior Dental Consultants, Susan Kulakowski and Janelle Kent along with our four Dental Business Conference Presenters will be on board to join me in doing mini-consultations with individual practices. It will be fun, educational and a rewarding trip.

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Exciting news on my new book, "Dynamic Dentistry" which will be released in January 2003. The American Dental Assistants Association will be offering 5 CEUs for all dental business staff and clinical assistants who complete the post book test. This will be a free service to all ADAA members and there will be a nominal fee for the test and suitable-for- framing certificate of completion for non-ADAA members. As we all know, in today's dental world management is a total team effort and is no longer the dentist or office administrator's job alone. Self-directed modern teams all know management inside and out and have great owner attitudes about the success of their doctors' practices. Staff members who don't belong to their professional organizations have jobs. Those who do belong and are active have careers. Encourage your hygienist(s) to join the ADHA and your clinical and business assistants to join the ADAA today (312-541-1550 and ask for membership). Order an autographed copy of my new book (pre-release offer) at $35 plus S&H for one book. Save $100 by ordering 10 books for $25 each plus S&H. (800-922-0866) 9-12 noon ET M/Th.

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If you have heard me lecture in the past few years you know that one of my topics is Assisted Hygiene, or AH, as my friend Anastasia Turchetta, RDH from NC refers to it in her consulting and speaking on the subject. Assisted Hygiene is the wave of the future. It is two chairs one hygienist; one designated (not borrowed) assistant, and the Dynamic Duo mind-set. The adult patient is scheduled for 50 minutes total chair time. The assistant sees the patient the first five to ten minutes updating the health history, personal data, and taking films if indicated. The hygienist has the next 30-35 minutes to scale and educate the patient. In some states the dental assistants can do coronal polishing and OHI. The assistant then stands by the examination and charts, re-appoints the patient, tears down the room and resets it for the next patient. The assistant does all the trays and instruments allowing the hygienist more direct patient care time in the allotted appointment. This zigzag schedule allows for 14-16 patients per day.

For those nay-sayers out there, think of how frustrated and how fast a dentist would burn out if they had to be confined to one chair with one patient right after the other with no help. Hygienists working with an assistant report a much higher degree of productivity, less stress with someone else doing all the important peripheral duties, and the patients are now being cared for and "spoiled" by two professionals, not one. The key to this arrangement working well is the relationship of respect between the hygienist and their assistant and the cohesiveness of the rest of the team to support the new system. For more information on having Anastasia as a speaker for your study club or meeting or as a consultant to your private practice to help you implement the system e-mail Anastasia at abturch@aol.com

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Watch for the November issues of Dental Practice Report and Dental Products Report for our ads on the two-day Regional Dental Business Conferences, the 2003 7th Annual speaking/Consulting Network and our weeklong Couples/Family Cruise to Alaska June 28 to July 5, 2003 aboard the Holland America line. This will be a sell-out cruise of 400+ people so call our cruise hotline today to get your name on the early registration list. (877-673-4270). For those of you who do not like to cruise, join me at the 4th Annual Dentsar Cayman's Island Seminar November 6-8. Don and I will be celebrating our 41st wedding anniversary that week! Call Christine at (800-321-9927) for a brochure.

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If you did not see the front cover of the October issue of Dental Economics insert, please review the entire write up on the CEREC Symposium in May. CEREC is not for every practice, only those that place over 40 porcelain inlays and posterior crowns each month or those that wish to get to that level of excellence. Also, attention all practices that may not have seen the nice write up in this months' Contemporary Oral Hygiene (COH). Beth Thompson, Editor, highlighted her experience at the 2002 Speaking/Consulting Network in Vegas. Thanks, Beth for the recognition. Your entire editorial was outstanding.

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Jump-start your New Year by making plans for a staff retreat during the next four months to discuss the year 2002. (What was good, what needs to improve, and how you will go about doing just that?) As Norman Schwartzkoff said last year at the Discus meeting in Vegas: "A good leader recognizes there is a problem, for only then can he go about fixing it." If you need a facilitator for your annual retreat, call Lee at 800-922-0866 (9-12 ET) and one of our consultants will be glad to work a nice resort setting into their busy fall/winter schedule.

Hope to see you real soon,

Linda

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 - October 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