Your dental practice has a variety of moving parts. You’re likely to discover that each works in synch by how your dental practice manager increases practice productivity.
Some consider the practice/office manager to be the “heart” of your practice. If you have one in an official role or someone tasked with the responsibility you understand how vital they are.
Do you recognize their value?
Your dental practice manager’s role is multi-faceted. It’s essential to evaluate them or hire them based on the value they bring to your daily operations.
- Specific skillsets that align with your team, practice culture, and vision.
- Capacity to keep you (the dentist), team leads, and patient care standards on-track and effective towards production and profitability.
- Organizational bandwidth for billing and insurance, team building, scheduling, and patient interaction.
Frankly, it’s not a one-size-fits-all role. If you’re blessed with a practice manager who covers the above mentioned bases (and then some) – value them!
And if you’re looking to nurture the one you have in that direction or hire accordingly – the following insights will be useful.
The “DNA” of a high-value dental practice manager
1-Schedule awareness
Scheduling isn’t their primary role. But being aware of related opportunities and gaps is.
It’s a good idea to confirm – on occasion – that your practice manager has their eyes on the schedule. It’s also important that they maintain awareness about your practice’s scheduling system and protocols.
- Appointment confirmation status (e.g. one, two, or three weeks out)
- ASAP list management for cancellations and no-shows
- Patient communication strategies for confirmations, follow-up, and unscheduled treatment
- Production values attached to available schedule blocks
Again, schedule awareness implies an eyes-on mindset and the ability to guide team energy towards your schedule’s production value.
2-Financial awareness
Profitability applies to your dental practice as it would to any business. And being profitable is the result of managing your revenue streams.
A financially aware dental practice manager sees your “ledger” from a few key vantage points. Collections, account aging reports, and patient and insurance aging data.
On a practical level their financial awareness focuses on the big-three.
Insurance verification
They’re aware that a patient’s insurance benefits (new or current) requires verification prior to their next appointment.
- Assume and verify changes
- Align treatment plans with available benefits
- Affirm coverage max and eliminate billing surprises
Insurance claims submission
They run point on day-of appointment claim “batching.” This helps assure filing accuracy and speeds payments.
The systems and procedures that monitor claims is in the “wheelhouse” of a valued dental practice manager.
Account aging reports and collections
Someone (preferably your practice manager) keeps tabs on unpaid insurance claims. They can provide valuable information about why claims are delayed, if claims input is accurate, and when and if the claim was received.
Alongside insurance collections are patient collections. A valued dental practice manager monitors the benchmark of payment on day of service.
They’re aware that a quality patient experience involves:
- Insurance verification and financial conversations prior to appointments
- Patient treatment acceptance and knowing it follows an understanding of insurance and payment responsibilities
- Transparency about any potential for treatment changes or follow-up relative to patient financial responsibility
3-Operational awareness
Being operationally savvy is common for a high-value dental practice manager. The more they know and can execute on the better your practice productivity.
Delegation is a key to their operational awareness. Even so, It’s common for them to be skilled in the tasks they delegate to others.
- Payment posting and tracking
- Claims creation and follow-up
- Scheduling and schedule management
- Creating reports (e.g. aging, end-of-day, etc)
Overseeing these tasks relies on their capacity to know the ins-and-outs of each. Training your team would also tip in their direction as well.
Leadership awareness
A high-value dental practice manager leads with confidence and by example. This instills your trust in them and outward to your team.
- They exemplify managerial skills and willingness to handle any tasks
- They model professionalism
- They are proactive instead of reactive
- They listen and are teachable
- They develop and leverage the practice culture
A lot rests on the shoulders of your dental practice manager. That makes it all the more essential that they bring high-value skills to your dental practice culture.
Your dental practice manager’s leadership requires the best tools. Data analysis is among them.
The following resources highlight the high-value quality of data analytics for you and your dental practice manager:
How Data-Driven Goals and Strategies Align with Dental Practice Operational Success
Use Data to Inform Your Dental Leadership
Support your dental practice manager with proven data 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!
Or…
Contact us for more information about data tracking that leads to profitability
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