Hygiene Reappointment

ONE SENTENCE SUMMARY

Making sure patients who are in for their hygiene visits leave with their next hygiene visit scheduled

BEST CASE SCENARIO IF WE ARE 100% CONFIDENT

Our patients continue their care without interruption. We help our patients not to procrastinate. The hygiene schedule remains full.

WORST CASE SCENARIO IF SOME OF US ARE NOT

Their care gets delayed. We have to spend a lot of time on the phone chasing patients to book their hygiene visits when they are due. We get a lot of new patients, but also lose a lot of patients because we didn’t do a good enough job making sure they come back for their recalls.

WHAT DOES 100% CONFIDENT MEAN?

Over 90% of your patients schedule their next hygiene visit before they leave today’s visit.

HOW IT WORKS

3 tips for how to book the next hygiene visit

1. Tell, don’t ask.

2. Use scarcity.

3. This is as much for THEIR benefit as it is for ours.

BAD EXAMPLES:

”So… would you like to book your next visit?”

”Is it ok if I schedule your next visit?”

”When do you want to come back again?”

GOOD EXAMPLES:

”Your teeth are doing great on your current 6 month schedule so let’s keep that up. I went ahead and scheduled your next visit for 6 months, and I wrote it on this card for you. See you then!”

”Dr. Schneider and I would like to see you in 6 months to check on your _______ again. So I went ahead and scheduled your next visit and I wrote it on this card for you. I know it’s hard to book ahead so far in advance, so if anything changes just call or email us and we’ll figure it out closer to then.”

WHAT TO DO IF…

PATIENT: “I don’t know my work schedule right now. I’ll just call you when I know.”

YOU: ”If you want a 4 pm appointment again, these are the most popular appointment times and they fill up way in advance. So let’s just book you for 6 months from now, same day and same time as today. If that doesn’t work for your work schedule, just call us or email us closer to that date and we’ll figure out a better time for you.”

PATIENT: “I need to check my insurance to see if that’s going to be covered.”

YOU: “No problem. I’ve gone ahead and scheduled your next visit on the same day and around the same time as today, since these spots fill up really quickly and if you wait too long it can be hard to get your preferred appointment time. If you go home and check your insurance and need to change your appointment, that’s not a problem. Just call or email us and we’ll help you figure out a date that works better for you.”