3 Factors That Influence Case Acceptance in Your Dental Practice

What’s changed…what hasn’t?

That’s a good question especially as relates to factors that affect case acceptance in your dental practice. You might be surprised at the answers.

No doubt, production is the goal along with team productivity that helps drive it. And while treatment acceptance is a substantial piece of your revenue stream – dentistry has less to do with it than you might think.

The “80/20” rule applies here

”80 percent of the reason your patients choose your care has nothing to do with dentistry…”¹

Shocking? Perhaps.

To clarify: the 80 percent revolves around getting a “yes” from your patients following a case presentation.
But what about the 20 percent? That percentage involves factors such as:

• Your facility
• Your location
• Your reputation, reviews, etc.

Consider how much energy and investment you put into the 20 percent zone. While it’s not wasted effort you could be missing the greater benefit of the 80 percent focus.

Here’s where the 80 percent pays off…

”The main reason patients choose a dental office – and your recommended treatments – is the relationship.
The relationships patients have with you and your team form their decisions about your practice.”²

We could talk about having superb “customer” (patient) service. And for your purposes – the patient experience.

All things considered – case acceptance is influenced by how personal you make patient engagement.

Good relationships + effective case presentations = production (and profitability).

Without sounding too simplistic there are keys to building good patient relationships. The kind of relationships that result in hearing “yes” more often.

Three factors that have a positive influence on dental patient relationships around case presentations

1-Create a positive vibe

Dentistry is about improving oral health. A good portion of time is invested diagnosing and treatment planning around pain or problems.
It’s essential to stay on the solution side of things. You can do this while being realistic about their condition and the treatment required to solve the problem and improve their health.

• Believe that your diagnosis and treatment plan is precisely what they need.
• Instill belief in your care through the narrative you use to present their diagnosis and treatment recommendation.
• Carry the positive vibe into your patient handoffs to assure your team stays in alignment throughout the case presentation process.

2-Train yourself and your team in “the art of case presentations”

There’s an art to getting agreement on treatment. It’s not as much about persuasion as it is about the presentation itself.

Think of the presentation like a color palette. Each facet of the treatment presentation recognizes the patient relationship and its value to their acceptance.

• Take the lead role in treatment presentations. As the dentist, your expertise is key to the patient’s acceptance prior to any team handoff.
• Speak the patient’s language. That means avoid dental-speak.
• Illustrate your diagnosis and treatment plan with visuals. And maintain eye-contact throughout the conversation.
• Create urgency for the treatment and give them time to process your diagnosis and presentation.
• Attach benefits and positive outcomes to the treatment being presented.
• Present payment options that align with the treatment benefits you/your team presented.

3-Monitor your patient relationships around their treatment data

Data analytics can be useful to your patient relationships. It helps to have a dental practice management platform that provides somewhat of a “story” behind the numbers.

• Track and monitor your new patient numbers. How many per month? Who had a treatment presentation? Who/how many accepted treatment?
• Leverage your patient data to strengthen your patient relationships. Create clear, thorough patient notes and use the insights within your follow-up communication.
• Determine your case acceptance rate. Review patient notes to uncover trends, timing, payment related insights, etc.

Case acceptance success isn’t limited to these factors. But focusing here is a good place to start.

Your patient data is a “gold-mine” of opportunity to understand patient behavior and build lasting relationships with them around their treatment.

Use the following resources to build good patient relationships while improving your case acceptance ratio:

How to Use Your Dental Practice Data to Increase Your Treatment Acceptance Rate
Create Long-term Relationships with Data-Driven Dental Patient Communication

Good patient relationships and effective case presentations are supported by proven analytic tools

The Jarvis Analytics platform helps assure that you’re tracking the important metrics and staying on-track with your goals as your dental practice and/or DSO grows and expands.

Experience Jarvis in action. Request a demo today!