Daily Dental Administrative Schedules Outlined
Daily dental administrative schedules help to keep the train on its tracks! Our dental front office business systems definitely lay out for us how to complete our necessary daily tasks.
But additionally, we need a schedule to guide us on when to get it all done. Otherwise, we may just procrastinate ourselves right into a terrible train wreck!
Statements never do get sent. Unscheduled hygiene patients never do get those calls. And we have the best of intentions! Just never enough time.
Time Management
Time is a funny thing. We have the same amount of it every day. It’s one of the constants we have in our lives.
But it’s up to us how we manage it. I’ve met people who manage time very well. And I’ve also met those who don’t. I’m a predictably punctual person. So, I appreciate others who are as well.
Dental Front Office Weekly Management Systems will support you in the busiest of days.
Dental Front Office Daily Checklist
Early Morning
- Check all voicemail messages first. You definitely want to know if anyone needs to reschedule an appointment. Or if they need to get into see the dentist with an emergency. Then do whatever you need to do to solidify your schedule. Return any calls you need to take care of. And let the games begin!
Prepare to Send Patient Statements
- Previous day balances. What do I mean by that? I mean that you have closed your previous day financially. All your money balances, adjustments are correct, and nothing more needs to be done there. This is important before we send patient statements.
- Send patient statements. This happens every morning! And honestly, it’s no big deal when we do it every day. If the front office team collects payments at the time of service well, this won’t be a big deal.
Prioritize: Today’s Schedule is First!
- Fill any open appointment times for today. Of course! And our first 3 items on the schedule don’t take much time at all. So you will be very ready to move forward with your schedule early in the day. Today’s schedule is always the priority and trumps everything else!
- Re-confirm any unconfirmed appointments for tomorrow. Tomorrow is our next most important schedule to master. We want to be sure all appointments for tomorrow are confirmed and that there are no open appointments to fill. If there are open times, fill them now.
Weekly Management Systems are Pre-Built Into My Dental Practice Operational Manual Template You Can Customize Quickly!
Late Morning - Early Afternoon
- Confirm all appointments 2 days out. And before I make a call, I double check the patient balance. If I need to talk to a patient about a balance, I will do that when I confirm. I will also confirm if a patient needs to bring payment for a procedure that day. Another thing I like to do here, is look 2 weeks out. I like to know what’s coming up. And does everything look okay? I often find something on the schedule 2 weeks out that I’m glad I caught early!
Send Insurance Claims
- Send insurance claims for the morning. I like to give the clinical team time to double check their charges. Sometimes an x-ray was posted that wasn’t taken, or just the opposite. A surface wasn’t correct maybe. Or any number of things. And it’s easier to fix something in the patient ledger before a claim is sent.
Here’s the Magic: Special Daily Assignments!
- Special Daily Assignments. My Weekly Management Systems include a “special assignment” for most weekdays. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday mornings anyway. Depending on the day of the week and where in the month that day lands. They include accounts receivable, and hygiene reactivation. And this is the magic to getting it all done!
Daily Dental Administrative Schedules: Afternoon
- Check voicemail messages after lunch. There may be some schedule changes from the morning confirmation calls. So we definitely want to get to those right away. And my rule is always to return phone calls within the hour. Otherwise, patients lose their trust in us. It’s an easy thing to return calls quickly. And does a lot to improve patient relationships.
Enter Payments Received by Mail
- Enter insurance payments and mail received. Any insurance checks or personal payments that come in the day’s mail are entered in the afternoon. The bulk of the phone calls and schedule preparation have been completed for the next day, and we can focus on insurance payments and personal payments now. And when we send patient statements each day, we see patient payments more consistently throughout the month!
- Double check your schedules for tomorrow. Make sure there isn’t anything left hanging there. Any patients you might still need a call back from? Any lab cases you are still waiting for? Anything you might need from your clinical team for any of the patients on the schedule? Be sure everything is good to go for tomorrow.
Send Insurance Claims
- Afternoon insurance claims go now. Be sure to finish the day up with the insurance claims for the afternoon. You may want to wait to send the late day claims tomorrow morning. Especially if you have any questions for your clinical team. Or even if you just want to give everyone more time to be sure their information is entered correctly. You might need to wait for a clinical note or narrative. It’s okay to wait until the morning to send the late day claims too!
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