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Game Changers: Systems Will Make or Break Your Orthodontic Practice by Dr. Roger P. Levin

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Categories: Practice Management, HR and Accounting;
Game Changers: Systems Will Make or Break Your Orthodontic Practice 

by Dr. Roger P. Levin

If you want to understand business success, just look at how successful businesses operate. One of the key principles is that they have developed exquisite systems for everyone to follow. Whether it is a defense manufacturer, car company, or orthodontic practice, they all have precise systems that ensure consistent quality. In fact, systems will most likely determine the level of success over the course of an orthodontist’s career.

What is the system?
A system is a step-by-step defined method of handling and completing a task. When you create a system, here is what you want every team member to know:

What to do. In general, team members know what their responsibilities are, but they don’t always know how those responsibilities impact the orthodontic practice. Some actions have a much greater impact than others. For example, identifying overdue patients and contacting them to get them scheduled using the right scripting is a critical activity that helps orthodontic practices avoid a higher number of debonds. When patients are overdue to finish treatment, they become pure overhead with no profit left in the equation.

When to do it. Many team members can tell you what they need to do, but not when they need to do it. For example, Levin Group teaches orthodontic practices a concept called One Day Rules as part of our orthodontic systems. Any patient who is one day overdue for their appointment or payment is contacted that day. This means that time must be allotted each day to make these contacts. The longer the practice waits, the more difficult the situation becomes, especially in regard to payment collection. However, we rarely see orthodontic practices that are this diligent. Most will wait to contact patients who are overdue for appointments or payment when some magical time opens at the front desk, which rarely occurs. This is not in the best interest of the practice. If the system says contact every patient when they are one day overdue for their appointment or payment, then the system has defined when it must be done, which is daily.

How to do it. Knowing what to do and when to do it is important, but you also must know how to carry out the action or task. Unfortunately, many team members have never been fully trained in the steps or systems to ensure the highest levels of efficiency and effectiveness. The good news is that once the systems are in place, team members can go from medium performance to superior performance almost instantly. All they need is a quick training session on how to follow the system. Too many orthodontic practices rely on how the team would like to do it, which is much more about what they feel like doing and what makes them comfortable than what needs to be done. A system explains how to carry out a task and it must be followed to get the best results.

What results are expected. In many orthodontic seminars I explain that every team member should have numerical goals. We recommend between one and three numerical goals per team member depending on the job. When team members have goals, there is a much greater chance that the entire practice will have excellent achievement. For an orthodontic assistant, the goal may be to stay on time. For an insurance coordinator, it may be to collect all insurance due within 60 days of the due date. For a scheduling coordinator, it may be to contact any patient that is not scheduled for their next appointment and have a clear follow-up system. The system itself will tell them how to do it, but they also need to be able to self-measure to determine if it was effective. Keep in mind that team members should not be the ones deciding what the goals are. It is the job of the orthodontist or office manager to set staff goals, measure them, and review them regularly with each team member in a positive way to help them achieve the best performance.

How to correct and improve performance. The first step in helping anyone to improve their performance is to be positive. All too often, orthodontists wait until they’re frustrated, and they then come across as overly critical. This approach often leaves a staff member feeling defensive, unappreciated, and even angry. A much better approach is to always discuss improvement from a positive standpoint. Start by sharing a story about a challenge you faced and how you improved or learned from it. This helps team members become more open to what you have to say. Remember, you now have performance measurements for team members to work with. If the collection rate is not at the right level, it needs to be discussed. The same is true for new patient flow, treatment coordinator start rates, etc. The point is not to let a measurement that is off track go for too long. The sooner you address it, the better position you will be in to work in a team-oriented mentality to improve performance. I personally view helping a staff member improve performance as a great opportunity to build a wonderful relationship rather than having to give critical and negative feedback.

The second step is to give specific guidance. Follow the above list and determine what you want the team members to do, when do you want them to do it and how you want it to be done. If you have the right system, it will achieve the right results. Perhaps not in the first week or month, but these are proven systems that work in hundreds of the best practices and will work on yours. The goal is to keep team members motivated while helping them understand that their current approach is not achieving the desired result. Following systems is essential, not optional. This is a critical concept that will help team members rise to the highest levels of performance.


Summary
Levin Group has the only 31-year ongoing study of top 10% producing orthodontic practices. Over the last 31 years we have used this study to help answer the question as to what makes a top 10% producing orthodontic practices successful. In that time, we have identified 17 key principles that most of the top 10% orthodontic practices have in common and have included those principles into our consulting recommendations and systems. One of those key principles is that the top 10% of orthodontic practices have the best systems and update them regularly. It’s a proven fact that orthodontic practices that take the time to develop excellent systems that meet the new competitive era of orthodontics will excel.

Author Bio
Roger P. Levin, DDS Roger P. Levin, DDS, is the CEO and founder of Levin Group, a leading orthodontic practice management consulting firm that has worked with more than 30,000 practices to increase production. A recognized expert on orthodontic practice management and marketing, he has written 67 books and more than 4,000 articles, and regularly presents seminars in the U.S. and around the world.
To contact Levin or to join the 40,000 dental professionals who receive his Practice Production Tip of the Day, visit levingroup.com or email rlevin@levingroup.com.
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