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MailFebruary 2022--Dental expert Amol Nirgudkar sits down with Chris Sands of Pro-FI 20/20 Dental CPAs to discuss challenges facing dental practice owners and managers today that can be overcome by deploying Patient Prism’s AI software. In this video segment, they go beyond the discussion of what gets in the way of new patients making appointments to discussing the potential Patient Prism has for empowering team members, making it possible for the front office to spend more time interacting with patients, and motivating practice owners and managers to make improvements in practice operations.
AI elevates the value & effectiveness of front desk activities that drive revenue
“I think one of the biggest difficulties we have at the front desk is one, two, maybe three team members are juggling five different activities,” says Sands. “They’ve got to greet the patients coming in. They’ve got to collect payment. Those are probably the two most important things while the patient is there but then they've also got to receive inbound calls and schedule. They've got to follow up on insurance. They've got to follow up on patients’ accounts receivable. With all of that being juggled -- five different plates on one person, the work isn’t very effective. And where is the revenue truly made? It’s made on patients being scheduled for treatment.”
Nirgudkar agrees optimal effectiveness comes with the ability to focus. If the front office staff are busy doing other things, patients don’t have bonding conversations. Patients don’t get to express their concerns and ask for assistance. Patients don’t feel genuinely cared for. It’s strategic to create more time to earn patient trust. The way you earn that trust is by talking to them, alleviating their concerns, having small talk, learning what is important to them. Ask about their child’s sports season if that is important to them.
"You’ve got to create time for your team members to have conversations with your patients,” says Amol Nirgudkar.
“People care what they care about,” says Nirgudkar. “People don’t care about what you care about. I had to learn that lesson the hard way. We thought AI software was the greatest thing since sliced bread, but no one cared that it was AI. What was important to them and got their attention was that Patient Prism automated call metrics and alerted them when problems occurred. It saved them time and elevated only the things they needed to pay attention to. Dental offices don’t care that it is AI. They care about new patient growth and what they can accomplish with that growth. Once that sank in, we knew the importance of talking about how it delivers more patients…how it takes away the burden of tracking and analyzing their call data. Psychology is very important.”
AI can determine if you are ripe for expansion
One dental group in Texas and Oklahoma did a million-dollar expansion because Patient Prism analytics justified the investment.
In Florida, Patient Prism helped a different dental group with a different solution. With about 50 locations spread throughout the central part of the state, they’ve been able to schedule new patients at nearby “sister” locations to meet patient needs quickly.
“There is no reason to pay for advertising that drives more leads if you can’t book more patients for weeks out on your schedule,” says Nirgudkar. "You are turning callers off at the phone. Right now, capacity to see patients is a challenge for many dental groups. Patient Prism has helped numerous large dental organizations across the country with this issue. Either they can expand by adding more operatory chairs, dentists, hygienists, and supportive team members, or they can stop marketing until they have open time on their schedule."
Patient Prism gamifies patient conversion to sustain high front desk engagement
By gamifying the number of new patient conversions that a location or specific receptionist achieves in any given month, many of Patient Prism’s clients have continuously aspired to higher conversion and succeeded. With no additional marketing costs, one North Carolina DSO made the process a team sport.
“LeBron cannot win championships by himself. Michael Jordan can't win championships without Scottie Pippin and Dennis Rodman and Steve Kerr,” says Nirgudkar. “They need a team. Patient Prism’s Team Report enables each location in the DSO to compete for silver, gold, and diamond awards. The DSO encourages healthy competition.”
Patient Prism tells its clients’ phone receptionists that they shouldn’t view the AI platform as Big Brother watching them. Rather, they should view it as a coach to facilitate their greatness. In many offices where a team or individual team member becomes eligible to print award certificates from Patient Prism, they do print them, hang them up in the break room, and celebrate their success.
Patient Prism reveals actionable insights into the operation of a dental practice
Patient Prism does more than measure how well patient conversion is going. Its analytics enable you to optimize staff and patient scheduling, wisely set fees, develop employee knowledge where it is needed, fine tune marketing to what best attracts the patients you desire, make smart decisions about insurance plans, monitor won and lost revenue, track team performance, and more. Whether your business is a single dental office or a multi-location group, Patient Prism delivers deeper insights so that the people who are the operating leaders -- whether they're office managers, regional managers, or vice presidents, have clear insights for making decisions and taking actions to supercharge the practice.
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