I recently received this question from a busy dentist and wanted to share it with you in our Strategic Planning week to hear your feedback and advice, based on what works and has worked for you in the past.
“I am spending a great deal of time in the evenings and weekends, at home writing up qoutes, patient reports, letters etc and I can’t help but think to myself that this is not the smartest way to run this side of my business. I’d be very interested to find out the following from other successful practices what they do in this area, particularly…..
1. Do you charge patients for
a) copies of their notes and x-rays (if so, how much?)
b) a report following a new patient exam or a consultation for larger work?
2. Who writes up the quotes, patient reports in your practice? If not a dentist, how is this information communicated to whomever is writing the letter, e.g dictaphone, short hand, drafts etc?
3. Does anybody have any templates for terms and conditions etc that they use to attach to quotations, for example when emailing a patient regarding a tooth needing an RCT, is there an attachment explaining the risks and benefits? If so where did you find it, or did you make it yourself?
4. How many quotes do you estimate you send out per week and do you follow these up?
Any advice is appreciated!”