Dental Front Office Checklist
Dental front office checklists are helpful for a couple of reasons. They can be helpful when training new front office team members. It’s also helpful if another team member is filling in.
Checklists Help Anyone Jump In
The checklist gives the new team member a place to start. The dental front desk is a hub of activity. There is so much going on at times. And then there are quieter times. Those quieter moments give the front office team time to visit their checklist. They can remember where they were before the crazy broke out.
Customize to Suit Your Practice
Every dental office is so different. In addition, dental administrative responsibilities also vary. This makes it difficult to create a checklist that fits every office. However, I have created a checklist to give you a place to start. Please feel free to download and customize this Dental Front Office Checklist. It’s here for you.
Dental Front Office Daily Checklist
This checklist starts with tasks that would be completed early in the day. I recommend that you do the same for yourself. Think about what you would want to get done first. And don’t assume that someone would know just what to do.
Create Your Own Checklist!
For example, checking voicemail might be something you would think everyone would know to do. But that’s not necessarily true. You really want your own checklist to include absolutely everything you need to do. Or include everything that anyone would do if they were doing that particular job.
Special Assignments!
Special assignments are listed on the second page. What are special assignments? These are specific tasks that I have assigned to certain days of the week. They are also broken down over the 4 weeks of the month.
Special Daily Assignment. Tuesday through Thursday, I complete specific tasks assigned to those days. The tasks are related to collections and hygiene reactivation. I break it down to make the way to get it done. It works. In fact, it works very well!
Weekly Management Systems Workbook Included With Your Purchase of the Dental Office Operations Manual.
Daily Schedules are Priority
Fill Any Open Appointment Times for Today
The daily schedule really takes priority! It’s all for nothing if the providers’ schedules are not fully booked. If you’ve called through your short notice call list, start looking ahead. See who is scheduled out that you can move forward. What would you say? “Hi, Mr. Smith. This is April at Dr. Brown’s dental office. I’m so glad I reached you?! Dr. Brown has an appointment available at 2:00 today. Would you be available to come in for your crown today at 2:00?”
Re-confirm Any Unconfirmed Appointments for Tomorrow
Once today’s schedule is in place, let’s take care of tomorrow. Any unconfirmed patients need to be called again. If you still are unable to confirm a particular patient, review this with your dentist. It might be best to remove some patients from the schedule.
Dental Front Office Checklist Includes Daily Patient Statements
Patient statements are sent out each and every day. With the filters set so that patients are not receiving statements more than once every 30 days. Sending statements every day will keep this task much simpler. There will be fewer statements you need to review. And you will also see more consistent payments coming into the office every day. Rather than getting a stack of checks all at once. It will spread out your billing questions and phone calls coming into the office.
Create Consistency
I’ve developed and used Weekly Management Systems for years. In both large and small practices. In small practices, I didn’t find the need to call on just the “Over 30” balances. Rather, I could work through the entire patient aging report each week. It was the same with insurance aging reports. In small practices, the entire insurance aging report could be reviewed one morning each week.
