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Mine Your Charts for Incomplete Dentistry
Dear CareCredit Practice, Energize and motivate your entire team with this topic for your Morning Huddle. Today’s topic covers mining your charts for incomplete dentistry. Great results can be achieved when you discuss — as a team — ways to implement this concept in your practice. In our office we can work together to make sure all our patients get the dentistry they want and need. When patients delay or decline needed care, it is our obligation to follow up and do whatever we can to enable them to come in for treatment. Here is our process: First, review all charts and identify our patients with incomplete dentistry. Going forward, we can implement an ongoing system to make sure we are using all methods to document complete treatment plans, prioritize needed treatment ahead of wanted treatment, identify next steps toward treatment completion and institute a reminder system for prompt follow-up. Second, when we make contact with the patient, it is our responsibility to determine the status of their condition. If it has gotten worse, the patient should be encouraged to visit the office as soon as possible. If their level of comfort remains the same, we can try to identify other reasons the patient is delaying or declining care. Perhaps it is a scheduling issue or concern with the cost of the care. When possible, we can provide solutions to these barriers to treatment. It is important to establish a proactive process of contacting patients with outstanding treatment to remind them of their needed dentistry and the possible consequences of further delaying or declining treatment. We don’t want to scare them, but it is our responsibility to make sure they fully understand how delaying treatment might mean more extensive treatment, additional costs or functional loss.
Discussion Points:
• What systems can we put into practice that will allow us to proactively and consistently identify and communicate with patients who have incomplete dentistry?
• What questions can we ask that will help us uncover their concerns and hesitations?
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