Creating the Efficient Team - The Front Desk

Peter Gardell

13 years ago

There are many areas where efficiency can be improved in the average office. By creating an all-star team your practice will run with a lot less stress. Everyone who talks with the patient has to be able to answer questions accurately. They shouldn't feel pressure to try to answer every question, but should be well-coached to answer the questions that fall within their area of responsibility. (Just like the B&H experience talked about earlier - see my blog posted here on Dec. 22). You will never master anything if you try to do a thousand things. Give them a few things to focus on, and they can be trained to be experts for those areas. Give them permission to say, "I can't give you the answer; let me direct you to the person who can help you."

The front desk person should be able to answer scheduling questions in an instant. Get them in the book as quickly as possible, because if they called, the issue has to be on top of their "to do" list. Delaying the appointment could allow the issue to drop down the list.

The front desk person needs triage correctly by listening to the patient. They have to narrow down the minor emergencies from the productive emergencies
The front desk person needs to prepare the patient for payment when they come in for treatment. Be well-versed to answer care credit questions. Direct them to the care credit site for information and enrollment.

They shouldn't be concerned with the specifics of the procedure, other than it takes about an hour and 40 minutes, and that the end result will look great. Just have them focus on these areas.

The front desk is the first contact that people reach when they call with an emergency; they are the ones who need to get the patient in so treatment can be rendered.