Office Resolutions For 2021

The end of the year is a notorious time for putting dentists and their patients on edge. With dental accounting deadlines to hit and new financial goals to set, even small tasks seem to get caught up in the whirlwind that is the last quarter of the year. No matter how busy you might be, take some time to plan for next year’s challenges and successes.

Meeting your employees in the middle

Set aside a meeting date with your employees, whether on the phone, Zoom call, or a safe office setting. Start off with some general meeting openers relevant to the tasks at hand:

• What do you need from me before the holidays?
• What do you expect once the holidays are over?

As well as this, put your own best foot forward. Ask your staff to talk with you openly and honestly: 

• “What are the qualities of a good dentist? 
• “How am I doing consistently meeting these qualities for you and our patients?” 
• “How can I be a successful dentist?” 

These open-ended questions will give you an idea about how your employees feel about you as well as their own work. It’s more than a simple “Do you think we’re doing a good job?” Quantify your questions and allow your employees to speak their mind to you and one another in a mutually beneficial way.

Maximize your dental billing prowess

Financial transparency is important to both you and your patients. If you’re falling behind on your dental billing obligations, your patients might be stuck with an end-of-year bill that won’t bode well come Christmastime. However, it’s still important to collect even if it means sending a bill, so ensure that your employees are doing everything they can to get billing statements out quickly and correctly.

Hold your accounts accountable

Do you have outstanding claims that haven’t been attended to in months? Most of that money will be in limbo until after the new year is over unless you act quickly. If you’re not already outsourcing your dental billing, try to schedule blocks of time to have employees double check patient benefits as well as end-of-year billing statements.

Focus on your patients

There’s more to customer service than a simple greeting and goodbye. Have an accountability checklist to review in the coming weeks:

• Are we personally reaching out to patients who have left us negative or neutral feedback, or are we just ignoring it?
• Is our mission statement of care and concern present in our marketing materials?

It’s easy to forget some of the things that represent our practice, whether social media reviews or individual testimonials. Ensure that your voice is always heard by engaging with your community everywhere you can in the coming year.

Staying true to your word

The last few months have been especially difficult for medical professionals. We are assuaged by new rules and regulations meant to keep patients and ourselves safe. By committing to providing quality care and community outreach, your practice will be able to weather whatever comes in 2021 and beyond.