Why It’s Important To Follow Up With Dental Patients
Posted by Administrator at 6:53 PM on Mar 28, 2017
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When a patient leaves your office, you may have a tendency to simply move on with your day. Out of sight, out of mind! However, there are many reasons why it’s important to remind yourself or your staff to be following up with the patients who need it.
Following Up With Dental Patients
Below are a few different scenarios and why prompt follow-up would be important in these situations:
- In this scenario, you have placed a crown on a patient and sent him home. Once the anesthesia begins to wear off, the patient notices that his bite seems a little unbalanced, but assumes it will correct itself. By making a follow up phone call the next day, you can let your patient know that the crown may need to be adjusted and can set up a new appointment with him.
- Next, you have diagnosed a patient with a dental problem, but the patient has been avoiding making an appointment for treatment. This is a very common problem and you could have hundreds of thousands of dollars wrapped up in patients who have been diagnosed but not treated. By following up with the patient and letting him or her know how important treatment is and what can happen if the problem goes untreated, you can increase the number of treatment appointments being made.
- Lastly, a patient has called your office with a question about her bill. Your front office staff will need to contact the patient’s insurance company in order to correctly answer the question. Make sure that your team knows that this call now takes priority over the other items on their daily to-do list. If the question is answered promptly and the patient is phoned back in a timely manner, your patient will know she is a priority and is being taken seriously.
We know that following up will require a little extra effort, but we can promise that it will pay off in the end. Your patients will learn to trust you and your staff, and will feel safe and comfortable in your office.
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