Whether you’ve just started out in dentistry or are a seasoned pro, dental patient retention strategies are essential to optimizing your revenue cycle management. Every dentist knows how important that professional-to-patient relationship is. Cultivating it is a must for a successful and fulfilling business. But what are the best ways to retain patients and attract new ones? Let’s take a look at a new game of “20 Questions”, but this time we’re learning about maximizing patient retention strategies.
Types of dental patient retention strategies
We can divide dental patient retention strategies into 4 distinct categories:
- Practice efficiency
- Dental and patient billing
- Practice experience
- Patient engagement
Now, let’s deep dive into some of your most burning questions when it comes to dental patient retention strategies, hitting each of these categories:
Practice efficiency
What is your office culture? How do your staff feel about you? About one another? These are the questions you must ask yourself as a dentist or office manager. Practice efficiency and revenue cycle management can only excel when your team works together. Hitting goals and benchmarks is one thing. Making sure that your team can resolve conflict and create solutions is another. Ask:
- Do I give my staff the “time of day” each day, or am I actively listening to their concerns?
- Are we implementing meeting goals and plans or just talking to one another?
- Do we celebrate achievements or look at them as a simple checklist?
Dental patient retention strategies for practice efficiency FAQ
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Question:
What role does my office manager play in patient retention?
Answer:
Your office manager is essential to fostering new and existing patient relationships. They help to meet and greet patients as well as offer follow up scheduling on a timely basis, making their role essential to your ongoing retention strategy.
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Question:
How do I help my office manager succeed in retaining patients?
Answer:
Ensure that your office manager has the tools they need to be set up for success. Having goal-oriented meetings and establish routine and standard operating procedures.
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Question:
What can I do to help my team meet retention goals?
Answer:
Your staff are on the front lines when it comes to cultivating a winning retention strategy. But strategy is meaningless without communication. Daily, goal-oriented staff meetings, even as short as 10-15 minutes, can be exceptionally helpful in getting everyone on the same page each day.
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Question:
What do you talk about in a dental staff meeting?
Answer:
Staff meetings can be boring or easily sidetracked. Keep a dedicated list of specific topics to touch on. Think “How many new patients from last week have scheduled a second appointment?” instead of “We need to fill the calendar.” This gives you a head start into planning for the day or week.
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Question:
Who is the most important person on my dental team?
Answer:
The patient! While they’re not actually on your team, they are on your side when it comes to providing consistent and quality of care. Your patients are your livelihood, so treat them as friends, not customers.
Dental and patient billing
Practice finances are not the most exciting topic to tackle with your staff, but it’s essential to the dental patient retention strategies. Without efficient dental billing processes, your patients fall through the cracks. They’ll miss more appointments, cancel often, and be unwilling to schedule continual treatment. Make sure your practice is:
- Implementing a Pre-Appointment Readiness Plan that double checks insurance verification and limits
- Standardizing dental billing and coding to achieve maximum collection rates
- Following up on unpaid patient balances and denied or rejected claims
Dental patient retention strategies for your billing department FAQ
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Question:
What is the dental billing process?
Answer:
The dental billing process includes all the steps from gathering clinical information during a treatment, attaching relevant charts or graphs, and submitting a claim for reimbursement to the insurance company.
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Question:
What is the dental patient retention rate?
Answer:
More than half of the new patients who walk through your door don’t come back. Your retention rate is a direct effect of how well your practice operates. This requires implementing accurate billing processes, adhering to scheduling flexibility, and customer service.
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Question:
Why is the dental billing process important for dental patient retention strategies?
Answer:
If you are actively checking insurance before an appointment, your patients could be in for a big surprise. Inaccurate insurance information is a leading cause of staff frustration and lower collections. By streamlining dental billing, your practice can collect more revenue.
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Question:
How do I streamline my dental billing processes?
Answer:
Having a comprehensive Pre-appointment Readiness Plan as well as considering outsourcing is a great way to not have to worry about dental billing. Collecting copays at the time of treatment instead of chasing them down later is a great first step. Also consider daily follow up goals for patient statements.
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Question:
How are my patients affected by my billing processes?
Answer:
If you’re not consistently verifying insurance, patients will be less likely to put trust in your practice. Imagine someone handing you a sudden bill for one thousand dollars. Didn’t see that coming! Without expert vetting, your patients are missing out on critical oral health care, and you can miss out on consistent revenue.
Practice experience
When you walk in through the office doors, what’s the first thing you and your patients notice? Is it:
- Clean, contemporary, and well-kept?
- Consistent in décor without eccentricity and over-the-top styling?
- Easy for your patients to find out about new treatments or technology that you offer?
Dental patient retention strategies for the best experience FAQ
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Question:
How do I improve the dental patient experience?
Answer:
Have you sat in your waiting room lately? Go ahead, give it a try. Are the chairs comfortable? Is there a TV with family-friendly programming? Are any magazines or educational material up to date and relevant? Start with the basics. Replace old furniture, make small repairs as needed. Create the first impression that you want to see.
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Question:
Why is the dental patient experience important?
Answer:
You might think that your patients don’t pay mind to your décor choices. They may, however, judge the fact that you don’t have available face masks or hand sanitizer available. Post pandemic, some patients prefer having that extra bit of security when they walk into the office. Make sure that it is available to them when requested.
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Question:
What do my patients need from the dentist to have the best experience?
Answer:
Being able to explain each aspect of treatment to patients is crucial. If someone is nervous to get a filling, explain the process to them step by step. It may take a few more minutes out of the day, but now your patient is informed and more comfortable than before. This all leads directly to increased case acceptance.
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Question:
What is the best way to follow up with my dental patients?
Answer:
Follow up after treatment is essential and doesn’t need to be complicated. Ask patients if they have any questions about the healing process. Be sure to see if they successfully scheduled their next appointment, and if not, you could do it while you have their attention. Simple, personalized messages can be the difference between a “hit-and-run” appointment, or continual scheduling and treatment.
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Question:
How do I tell my dental patients that they’re important to me?
Answer:
One of the easiest ways to show your gratitude is to be there for your patients. Make feedback forms or surveys available and take them into consideration. If you notice multiple patients speaking up about the same thing, try changing it and see how they react. For returning patients, thank them for their continued visits and any potential referrals. You should also be sure that the dentist greets every patient by name before and after treatment as a final “thank you”.
Patient engagement
This is your bread-and-butter for dental patient retention strategies, whether that’s:
- Treatment planning and acceptance
- Appointment scheduling and follow up
- Communication before and after treatment about concerns and questions
Dental patient retention strategies for engagement FAQ
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Question:
How do I engage my patients to keep them coming back?
Answer:
Continual treatment acceptance is the goal of any practice. Your patients need trust from you to achieve that. Engagement includes regular check ins after treatment, even if they’re simple cleanings. As well as this, making sure that patients are aware of their payment portion after treatment helps establish consistency.
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Question:
What if my patients don’t want to come back to the dentist?
Answer:
Patients can be nervous around dentists for a variety of reasons. Start from the bottom up. Is the practice clean and sanitized? Are there a variety of pain relief options available, even for minor treatment? Do we have soft blankets to provide comfort and warmth? Don’t assume that your patients “hate” you by default. Most likely, there are incremental steps you can take to make the office more inviting and comfortable.
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Question:
How do you build relationships with dental patients?
Answer:
Whether they just stopped by for a cleaning or have been visiting for years, building relationships with your patients must evolve throughout the years. Are you sending newsletters? Congratulating newlyweds and newborns? Consider a personalized letter of congratulations for a job promotion or big move. Each of these will work wonders in building and maintaining patient relationships.
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Question:
How do I contact my patients to get them to come back?
Answer:
Everyone has a preferred method of communication. Phone calls, emails, and text messages should all be utilized to contact patients. However, it’s best to ask them what their preferred method is. No one wants to call a phone number that never answers or returns a voicemail. A friendly appointment reminder via text message a couple days prior can jumpstart consistent appointment adherence.
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Question:
What is the best way to get my patients to trust me and my staff?
Answer:
In the end, trust comes from accountability and transparency. Are you involved in your patient’s lives and health goals? Do your patients feel as though they have a say in their treatment options? No one wants to come off as a know-it-all, but it’s important to have real, personal conversations with your patients about their oral health.
Outsource dental patient retention strategies to the leading solutions platform
The science of dental patient retention doesn’t need to be difficult. All of the moving parts of revenue cycle management, dental billing, and retention all work toward one goal: increased revenue. Is your practice ready to implement strategies that work? The eAssist Dental Solutions platform hosts the scheduling and recall experts your practice needs to succeed. Plus, we can help with putting your dental billing and processing on autopilot, without the need for hiring or firing staff. Schedule a no obligation consultation below and speak to a Business Development Specialist who is ready to help you achieve the peace of mind you deserve.
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