Receptionist training

RECEPTIONIST TRAINING PROGRAM SCHEDULING NEW PATIENTS EXPLAINER VIDEO SCRIPT INTRODUCTION: The purpose of this training program is to teach the Receptionist, or any one who answers the phone, how to properly handle new patient inquiries, and get them scheduled and arrived.

The majority of new patient calls are the result of paid marketing, whether that's from your website, direct mail, a referral, the sign on the building, Google, Yelp, and others. And calls generated from any of these sources all come in through a SINGLE channel: the Receptionist. Therefore, her ability to convert these into new patients is one of the most important factors in the viability and growth of a practice.

Let's do some math. What is the dollar value of a new patient to the practice?

Based on surveys by The Dentists Network, Dental IQ, and Dental Economics, the national average value of a new dental patient in their first year is $1,000. Additionally, the average marketing cost per new patient acquisition is approximately $250. (This can vary depending on your location. For example, in Beverly Hills California the marketing cost of patient acquisition can be as high as $1,000 to $2,000. But $250 can be considered a conservative average). So if a new patient call is not converted, this costs the practice at least $1,250.

After completing this training, it’s not uncommon for a practice to see an increase of 20-30% in new patients scheduled. Even if that’s just 10 additional patients per month, it would equate to $12,500 in additional revenue or, for the year, 120 potential new patients and $150,000 in revenue.

And that’s all without spending one additional dollar on marketing.

So the importance of a Receptionist’s ability to schedule new patients can’t be understated. To put it bluntly, there is simply nothing more valuable to a doctor than NEW PATIENTS. This training program contains everything that you'll need to master the telephone and get New Patients in the door.

There are five parts to a call when converting an inquiry into a new patient.

These are: 1) The Greeting 2) Listen, Identify & Answer 3) The Transition 4) Scheduling 5) Data Capture In this training program, we are going to break down each of these steps for you. Then you will practice each of them until you become an expert at converting and scheduling new patient calls. Remember, Receptionist training consists of constant practice to become truly competent.

Let’s get started!

STEP ONE: THE GREETING The first step of the call is the greeting. This is important because it’s the first impression that you are going to make on the patient. The greeting is simply answering the call by a) identifying where the patient has called b) identifying who the patient is speaking to and c) asking, “How may I help you?”

Here is an example of the above in action with our Receptionist, Sue: USE FEMALE VOICE FOR SUE “Dr. William's Office, this is Sue, how may I help you?”

Or if you don’t want to say the name of the doctor: “Smiles Dental, this is Sue, how may I help you?”

Say each part slowly and clearly. And remember to always end with “how may I help you?” Their response to this question will tell you if you have a new patient on the line.

That's the simplicity of it. Try not to add anything else to this.

New patients should never be placed on hold. But if they are placed on hold for any reason and transferred to you, your proper greeting when you pick up is: "This is Sue, how may I help you?" When coming to a call on hold, your tone should be warm and pleasant without making the patient feel you're rushed or irritated.

One final tip: Always smile when you answer the phone. You want to make sure you always have a positive tone, and the easiest way to do this is to smile!

STEP TWO: LISTEN, IDENTIFY & ANSWER Step two of the call is listening to the person, determining who you have on the line, and answering their immediate question.

Your first task after introducing yourself to the caller is to identify the nature of the call as quickly as possible. There are three types of phone calls that your office will be dealing with: 1. New Patients. This is your number 1 priority. When you have a new patient on the phone, there is no more important use of your time.

DON'T PUT THEM ON HOLD! 2. Existing Patients. Keep your customers happy. Unless your entire team is tied up with new patients, your existing patients should always be given prompt service. Don’t forget that one of your best sources for new patients should always be referrals from existing ones.

3. Other Calls. This would simply be calls that are not new or existing patients, such as insurance companies, other doctors and sales calls.

The most important thing to remember is that a new patient could call at any time, so get all other calls out of the way as quickly as possible.

So how do you identify if you have a new patient calling? Most new patients will not call and say, "Hello, I'm a new patient and I would like to make an appointment for Wednesday afternoon." Some, however, come pretty close.

If a person calls complaining of pain, it's pretty easy to recognize them as a new patient. But many new patients will not identify themselves as easily, and you'll need to be trained to quickly recognize them.

There are two key thoughts to keep in mind: 1. New patients ask questions. Callers who ask about office hours, rates, insurance, treatment options and related issues are announcing themselves to you as a new patient.

2. People don't call just to ask questions. A new patient doesn’t just call to learn your hours or discuss insurance or treatment, or to kill a few minutes of idle time. His or her purpose is to seek and receive care. Your job isn’t done

when you’ve successfully answered questions. Your job is done when you get the patient scheduled.

It’s important that you don’t cut them off, but wait until they finish their communication, make sure you understand it, and then answer them.

Remember, new patients call for a reason and it is your job to listen to their question or concern and then give them a short, positive and well thought out answer.

Here are the three main categories of questions new patients will ask: a. Questions about cost of procedures b. Questions about office hours and location c. Questions about insurance.

Let's break down for you how to best handle each of these calls: a. Questions about costs of procedures.

When a new patient asks questions like, “how much is a crown?” or “how much is teeth whitening?” you want to avoid price quoting over the phone.

Tell them that, without seeing them in the office, it is very difficult to give a price over the phone because you cannot accurately assess their situation.

You want to say something like this: “Every patient is different. When you come in, our doctor will do a thorough exam and determine the best treatment option for you at that time.”

Some new patients will continue to press for a quote over the phone. At this point you want to reiterate the above, which could go like this: “Again, until we see you in the office, it's difficult to determine what your needs are, but our team will be sure to let you know how much it is going to cost before you incur any charges.”

If they continue to insist on a price, you want to make sure you give the starting price only and not a range. This is because the new patient might think the higher end of the range is too expensive which would prevent them from scheduling the appointment.

So here’s how this would go: USE FEMALE VOICE FOR SUE AND YOUR OWN VOICE FOR VOICE 2 (NEW PATIENT): Voice 1 (Sue): “Dr. William's office. This is Sue. How may I help you?”

Voice 2 (New Patient): “Hi. How much does your office charge for a crown?”

Voice 1: “Well, every patient is different so when you come in our doctor will do a thorough exam to determine the best treatment option for you.”

Voice 2: “Okay, but I want to know, what is the general price your office charges for a crown?”

Voice 1: “Again, until we see you in our office, it is difficult to determine exactly what you need but our team will be sure to let you know the price before you incur any charges.”

Voice 2: “Ok but I don't want to schedule an appointment without at least knowing about how much your office charges for a crown.”

Voice 1: “I completely understand. Just to let you know our crowns normally start around ($ amount) but when you come in our doctor is going to go over specifics with you, so let's go ahead and get you scheduled.” b. Questions about office hours and location.

One thing you want to avoid is listing out all of the days and the hours you are open. You may lose the new patient if you do this. The best way is to say something like this: “We are open Monday through Friday with morning and afternoon appointments.”

This is much shorter and simpler.

Other points to keep in mind when a new patient asks about the office

location is to take note of local landmarks and reference these. For example, if your office is close to a Starbucks you can tell them “Our office is right next to Starbucks.” Make sure to get an acknowledgment from them so you know that they understood where you’re located.

Here are some examples of a new patient calling about office hours and location and how to best handle it: USE FEMALE VOICE FOR SUE AND YOUR OWN VOICE FOR VOICE 2 (NEW PATIENT): Voice 1 (Sue): “Dr. Williams' office. This is Sue. How may I help you?”

Voice 2: (New patient): “Hi Sue. I wanted to know what your office hours are.”

Voice 1: “Sure. We are open Monday through Friday with morning and afternoon appointments. I am sure we can find a time that will work for you.”

Here's another example: Voice 1: “Dr. Williams’ office. This is Sue. How may I help you?”

Voice 2: “Hi Sue. I was wondering where your office is located?”

Voice 1: “Of course! Our office is located at the corner of Savory Lane and Pear Road. We are right next to Starbucks.”

Voice 2: “Oh yeah! I know where that is.” c. Questions about insurance.

The number one guideline for insurance-accepting practices is not to ask the patient if they have insurance or what type of insurance they have. If someone asks if you take insurance, simply reply:

Voice 1 (Sue): "Absolutely, we even offer a complimentary benefits check on your first visit, so you'll know exactly what your insurance covers before you incur any charges."

You do not need to ask every patient if they have insurance or find out what type they have unless they specifically bring it up themselves.

If someone asks you specifically if you take a certain type of insurance, absolutely tell them. We are not asking you to lie to a new patient, just don't prequalify them based on what insurance they have. If they ask you about a specific insurance plan that you are not "in network" with or do not take, what you should say is:

Voice 1 (Sue): "Though Dr. Williams is not a network provider with (insurance name) many patients with that insurance continue to come to Dr. Williams’ because of his excellent care."

At that point you can also add you'd be happy to file it for them and do a complimentary benefits check when they come in.

Fee-for-service providers just need to add a little twist to this. If someone asks if you take insurance or a specific plan, you should reply with:

Voice 1 (Sue): "We would be happy to file the insurance for you and we'll do a complimentary benefits check."

Then just go into a transition and the close. This is the best way to handle those questions, not prequalify them, but rather help them see why your practice is the best place for them to become a patient.

Since insurance is such a common question patients ask, and what we just gone over may be a very different approach from you’re used to, we've covered it in more detail later in this section.

Giving too much information in your answer is a common mistake. Some people do this because they believe giving the most complete answer possible is the right way to do their job. It's not. The more information you give out to a new patient, the more questions fill their head, and the more reasons you give them to keep shopping. Answer their question quickly and concisely, and then take control of the call by asking your own question that leads them to a scheduled appointment.

Do not to get caught up in diagnosing a problem or get into details about how the doctor can help fix the problem. Keep it quick and simple.

Remember, the purpose of the call is to set the appointment, not to explain everything there is to know about treatment. For example, if a caller complains of a pain, you could say, "Well, you've called the right place. Dr. Williams can definitely take care of you". Follow it up by talking control of the call, and you're on your way!

STEP THREE: THE TRANSITION We are now moving into the third step of the call - the transition. The purpose of the transition is to help you take control of the call and move forward with scheduling. The best way to quickly take control of the call is to ask a question of your own. Make sure the first question you ask requires a short, easy answer on their part.

The transition must come immediately after you answer the new patient's question. The transition you should use is: “How did you hear about our office?”

The new patient might have already said how they heard about you, such as: “Hi, I got your flier in the mail and I was calling to see what your office hours are”. In that case, you wouldn’t ask them how they heard about you, but ask an alternative transition question such as: “May I ask to whom I speaking? Well, let me be the first to welcome you to our practice!”

It’s important that you don’t pause after you’ve answered their immediate questions. One of the most common mistakes that people make when taking incoming calls is to treat the caller like they just called to ask a couple of questions. Once you've given your answer, do NOT wait around to see if they will ask another question. It's your turn now, so take control of the call.

If they decide to interrupt you with another question, just make your voice sound as though you are so glad that they asked, give them the brief answer to that question, then get back to your own agenda for the call.

Here is an example of the right way to do the transition: USE FEMALE VOICE FOR SUE AND YOUR OWN VOICE FOR VOICE 2 (NEW PATIENT): Voice 1 (Sue): “Dr. Williams’ office. This is Sue. How may I help you?”

Voice 2 (Patient): “Hi. I wanted to know how much a crown costs in your office.”

Voice 1: “Well, every patient is different, so when you come in our doctor will do a thorough exam to determine the best treatment option for you. How did you hear about our office?”

Voice 2: “Oh. I got a flier in the mail.”

Voice 1: “Wonderful! Well, let me be the first to welcome you!”

And that’s how you do the transition.

STEP FOUR: SCHEDULING You've introduced yourself, identified a potential new patient, dealt with their questions and asked a couple of your own. Now you are in control of the call and we go into the fourth step of the call, which is scheduling the patient. This is the most important step because this is the whole reason the patient called and is the end result you want to get with all new patients calling your office.

Before we dive into this step, there are some tips you should know: The first tip is never ask them “did you want to schedule an appointment?”

Never ask a question that can be answered with a "yes" or "no" as you do not want to give the option of "no".

Also, don't ask “what days and time works for you?” This gives control of the call to the patient.

The third tip is tell the new patient what they are coming in for. Do not ask the patient unless you need to. You could say something like: “Okay Mr. Jones, let's bring you in for an exam to meet Dr. Williams.” If you absolutely feel the need to ask you should say “Are you having a problem or do you need to come in for an exam?” The bottom line is it is the doctor who needs to diagnose what the patient needs, not you or the patient.

Another tip is, when scheduling an appointment for a new patient, it should be the earliest possible time, but no later than 7-10 days, otherwise there’s a high likelihood that they’ll no show.

Finally, when scheduling you always give the patient two options. This would go something like this: USE FEMALE VOICE FOR SUE AND YOUR OWN VOICE FOR VOICE 2 (NEW PATIENT): Voice 1: “Ok, Mr. Jones, let's bring you in for an exam to meet Dr. Williams. Would Wednesday or Friday be better for you?”

Voice 2: “Friday works”.

Voice 1: “Ok, Friday morning or afternoon?”

Voice 2: “Afternoon.”

Voice 1: “Great. Would you prefer 9:30am or 2:00pm?”

Voice 2: “2:00pm.”

Other tips to keep in mind when scheduling are: Never say “I have” or “we have” because this makes it about you or the office and not about the patient. Instead you should say something like: “What would work better for you? A Wednesday or Friday?” Or you could also say “Would you prefer a Wednesday or a Friday?”

If you run into the situation where you only have one appointment left on that day, you can say something like: “Would you prefer Wednesday at 11:00am or would another day work better for you?” So you still give two options.

Let's say a patient says they can only come in on a Tuesday and your office is not open on a Tuesday. In this case you would offer them the next Tuesday that can be made available. It would sound something like: “Would Tuesday January 8th work for you or would another day be better?”

The key is you are always giving them two options.

When you give the first choice, it should be worded as question. The second choice should be worded as a statement. This is simply done by raising the pitch of your voice on the first choice and lowering on the second choice.

This is another way of controlling the patient call towards the schedule.

Try not to pause when scheduling. In order to move them easily down the path to an appointment, you need to be able to work quickly and smoothly.

So make sure every time a call comes in, you know the next few available times on your doctor's schedule. If you have to search the schedule too long for the next available time (in fact, the next two times), then you risk losing their attention and their business.

Now to integrate Step Four into the previous steps we went over this is what the call should sound like: Voice 1 (Sue): ''Dr. Williams’ Office. This is Sue. How may I help you?”

Voice 2 (New Patient): “I was wondering how much you charge for a crown?”

Voice 1: “Well, every patient is different, so when you come in, our doctor will do a thorough exam to determine the best treatment option for you. How did you hear about our office?”

Voice 2: “I drove by and saw your sign.”

Voice 1: “Wonderful! Well let me be the first to welcome you! Would you prefer to come in this week or next week for your new patient exam?”

Voice 2: “I guess this week would work.”

Voice 1: “Great. Would you prefer a Wednesday or a Friday?”

Voice 2: “Friday.”

Voice 1: “Ok. Would a morning or afternoon appointment be better for you?”

Voice 2: “Morning.”

Voice 1: “Alright. Would you prefer a 8:00am or 11:00am?”

Voice 2: “8:00am sounds good.”

This completes the Fourth Step. Naturally, you would now take the new patient’s information down, which we will cover next. But you must schedule the patient first.

STEP FIVE: DATA CAPTURE This is the fifth and final step in converting a new patient of your practice.

Now regardless if the patient schedules or not, you always want to get their data, and that is important so that you can follow up with them if needed.

You should ask the patient for their full name and best contact number after you close the appointment. Getting their full name is best because the patient may have given you their first name during the beginning of the call, and if you ask them again it may sound like you were not listening to them. So always ask for their full name and their best contact number.

If your office sends an mail or email to new patients prior to their appointment, you may ask for their email and home address. Otherwise, there is no reason to ask for this and you can get it when they come in.

If the patient doesn't schedule for some reason and says that they need to check their schedule and call back, make sure you say: “May I have your full name and best contact number so that I can follow up with you to make sure you have been taken care of?” Patients usually appreciate this customer service.

We also suggest that you ask them if there is anyone else they’d like to make an appointment for, such as a family member or friend who might need to see the dentist. We’ve found that, just by asking this question, 10-15% of new patients will schedule additional appointments, even though they weren’t planning to when they called.

Now all you want to do is wrap up the call. There are two phrases for you to use. The first is called the confirm. It goes like this: “Terrific, Mr. Jones. Your reserved time is Monday afternoon at 4pm. I look forward to seeing you then.”

The second phrase is called the commitment: “If your plans change, will you call me? My name is Sue. Let me know at least 48 hours in advance.”

You should then pause and let the patient respond to you with a “yes” or a “no”. Notice that she didn't say: “Please call me.” Instead she said, “Will you call me?” You then wait for the patient to answer. This is important because they are more likely to call if they commit to you. Also never say the word “cancel”. It’s just phrased “if your plans change”. We do not want to make it sound normal for the patient to cancel an appointment.

So this is what the full call would sound like, from start to finish with all five of it's parts.

Voice 1 (Sue): “Dr Williams’ office. This is Sue. How may I help you?”

Voice 2:

“Hi I was just wondering, what are your hours?”

Voice 1:

“Well, we are open Monday through Friday with morning and afternoon appointments, so I’m sure we can find a time to accommodate you. How did you hear about our office?”

Voice 2:

“I was driving by and I saw your sign.”

Voice 1:

“Wonderful! Let me be the first to welcome you. Would you prefer to come in this week or next week for your new patient exam?”

Voice 2:

“Next week.”

Voice 1:

“Next week. All right. Monday or Tuesday? What would work better for you?”

Voice 2:

“Tuesday.”

Voice 1:

“Tuesday. Morning or afternoon?”

Voice 2:

“Afternoon.”

Voice 1:

“All right. Would you prefer a three or a four o’clock?”

Voice 2:

“Four o’clock.”

Voice 1:

“Perfect. May I please have your full name and best contact

number?”

Voice 2:

“Absolutely. It’s Joe Jones and my number is 999 867-5309.”

Voice 1:

“Terrific, Joe. Well, your reserved time is Tuesday afternoon at 4 p.m. I really look forward to seeing you then. And if your plans change, will you call me? My name is Sue and let me know at least 48 hours in advance.

Voice 2:

“Absolutely. I’ll be happy to do that.”

Voice 1:

“Fantastic. We look forward to seeing you, Joe. Bye.”

You want to spend the minimum of amount of time on the phone and just get the new patient scheduled. Some offices take 10-15 minutes to schedule a new patient, and sometimes to no avail. With this proven process you can do it in 2-3 minutes and, more importantly, get the patient scheduled and into the office. Just remember, by keeping things short and simple, you are less likely to build barriers that would prevent a new patient from scheduling.

Finally, let’s talk again about the importance of controlling the call. What does control mean? It means the ability to start change and stop something.

If you answer the phone and the patient tells that they will only come if you accept so and so insurance and they will call you back and tell you when they want to schedule and then hang up, well, you aren’t controlling the conversation, are you? The patient started it, they changed the conversation to what they wanted to discuss or talk about and they ended the conversation. Failure to convert calls into new patients stems ultimately from lack of control. Good control here means you are directing the conversation towards scheduling the patient.

This sums up your portion of the training. Be sure to stick with it and keep practicing because no one expects you to remember all of this the first time through. You need to practice and make it your own so that you are able to comfortably do it over the phone and convert every new patient. Doing this right you will increase your new patients dramatically and in turn grow your practice to never before seen heights!

ADDITIONAL CONTENT RESCHEDULING MISSED APPOINTMENTS Yes, it does happen - even to the best of us. Some of your patients will fail to arrive for their appointment. It's easy for you to believe if they don't show up, they must not want to come and just let them disappear. That is wrong thinking and will cost you money. You need to have a strict program for calling missed appointments and getting them through the door, whether they are New Patients or returning.

This is what you should say when calling a patient who has missed an appointment: "Hi, Mrs. Jones, this is _____ from _____________, and I was calling for Dr. _____________. She/he wanted to make sure that everything was okay."

Pause, and allow the patient to talk. They may take the initiative to reschedule by themselves. If they hesitate or do not attempt to reschedule, this is an indicator of a potential future problem with this patient.

"Mrs. Jones, while I've got you on the phone, I can reschedule an appointment for you for this afternoon? Or tomorrow morning. Which would be the most convenient for you?"

Then proceed with standard close.

COMMON QUESTIONS NEW PATIENTS ASK Here are some of the most common questions new patients ask, with similar questions grouped together: • • • • • • • • • • •

I am in pain, how can you help me?

What are your office hours? What days are you open? Do you make appointments after work?

What's your earliest appointment?

Do you offer second opinions?

Where are you located? How do I get to your office? Are you located near a certain area?

Do you take insurance? Will my insurance cover treatment?

How much does it cost? What options do you have for payment?

How log does a certain procedure take?

What takes place during an exam? What kind of treatment do patients receive?

What kinds of tests do you do?

Do you see children?

ANSWERS TO SOME COMMON QUESTIONS (Make into PDF) This section will go through some sample questions and their answers: TOPIC (Line one) OFFICE HOURS COMMON QUESTIONS What are your office hours? What days are you open? Do you take appointments after work? What's your earliest appointment?

ANSWER "We're open five days a week and we try to accommodate as many different schedules as we can. How did you hear about our office?"

TOPIC (line two) OFFICE LOCATION COMMON QUESTIONS Where are you located? How do I get to your office? Are you located near ___?"

ANSWER "We're located at the _____. Would you like me to send you directions?"

How did you hear about our office?"

TOPIC (line three) INSURANCE COMMON QUESTIONS Do you take my insurance? Does my insurance cover dental care? Does my insurance cover (certain care)? Do my insurance cover (certain procedure).

ANSWER Yes we do. We even offer a complimentary benefits check when you come in for your first visit, so you'll know exactly what your insurance covers before you incur any charges. How did you hear about our office?"

TOPIC PRICE SHOPPING COMMON QUESTIONS How much does ___ cost? What options do you have for payment?

ANSWER "Every patient is different When you come in, the Doctor will determine the specifics of your case, and our team will estimate the cost before you incur any charges on that treatment. We have multiple options and when you come in, we can establish which one is best for you."

TOPIC SERVICE OFFERED

COMMON QUESTIONS Does your office do _____ (certain procedure) ANSWER "Absolutely! It's one of our specialties. Doctor Williams gets great results.

Have you ever been in to see us before?"

PDF Handling Insurance Questions We just discussed in the earlier video under Listen, Identify & Answer that one of the common questions new patients will ask is about insurance. In this document, we’ll cover how to smoothly handle questions about insurance so that this is not a barrier to them walking into your practice.

The first thing you and your practice needs to realize and fully embed in everyone's mind is that your office is not working for insurance companies.

You are there and working 100% for your patients. By accepting patients with insurance your office can do everything possible to maximize their benefits. However, you need to understand that the treatment that is going to be recommended is specifically designed for the patients individual needs and not based on what their insurance covers or not. This is a totally different approach because a lot of offices are “insurance-driven� where they try to first see what their insurance will or will not cover and then present the treatment based on this rather then seeing what the patient actually needs.

When you are converting an inquiry into a new patient and getting them on the appointment book you do NOT want to ask your patients if they have insurance.

Why is this?

You don't really need to know what their insurance covers. The Doctor will diagnosis and recommend what the patient needs regardless of insurance.

The Doctor's best interest is the patient and their dental health, not what insurance will cover.

Also, when you get into insurance conversations over the phone, all that accomplishes is more confusion for the patient about their coverage and more barriers to them coming into the office.

If a patient is really interested in finding out what their insurance will cover or if we accept their insurance they will definitely ask.

If a patient does ask what their insurance covers, you can say something like:

“Absolutely. We’ll be happy to do a complimentary benefits check when you come into the office.”

The majority of the time you want to wait until the patient comes into the office, but there are circumstances when the office does extended hours and the office is open until 8 PM, or they may even open at 6 AM If that's the situation. If you're scheduling the patient after 8 PM or after an insurance company is closed or even at a time before they open, you want to ask for the insurance information when you schedule them. This is however not the main purpose of the call and is more of an afterthought. You do not want to come across as an insurance-driven practice. This is just a “Hey, let me do this for you since your insurance company will not be open”. That way you’ll be ready for them when they come into the office.

The reason you don't ask for insurance on every call is that you want to take the focus off insurance. Once the insurance questions start, the patient will ask more and more questions, when the entire job you are trying to do is get them into the office and have them receiving the very best of care from you.

You want all patients to come in and experience a great personalized visit.

If you think that this won’t work because there’s not enough time to check their benefits when they come into the office and you are concerned about having the patient wait, that is a valid concern. We never want the patient to be unhappy or waiting a long time. So you want to start checking the insurance benefits when they come into the office and while you are checking this the patient can have their exam and x-rays taken. This is generally something that will be covered by most insurances so there is no reason they couldn't start with this as the first step. For whatever reason, if an exam or x-ray is not going to be covered by insurance I am sure the Doctor will have no problem making this a complimentary part of their visit.

You want to give the best of care and again take the focus off insurance. The back office should never be worried about when they can take x-rays or not and should only be focused on providing the best care.

If, while you are scheduling a patient, they ask if you accept their insurance and you don't, you want to tell them something like: “We do work with all insurance companies.” This is true, because if you are not in-network or don't accept that particular insurance, your office still does have other options for them. The point is you never want to create a barrier that would keep a patient from coming into your office, where they would be able to

experience the exceptional care that you provide. So the above is a true statement. You really do work with every insurance company because your office can always offer other options for payment.

What about patients that want to see if their insurance covers 100% of the charges? Remember, again, you don't want to create any barrier that would keep patients from coming into the office. You want to have the opportunity to have everyone experience the exceptional care that you have for all patients. So let's say a situation happens where the patient comes in and the insurance does not cover 100%. You always want to start with the positive.

You can say something like, “Mrs. Jones, the good news is that your insurance is going to cover 80% and that means that you only have 20% out of pocket expense. We also accept cash, credit cards or other payment options for you.”

You might be thinking that you’re deceiving a patient or that a patient might be upset with this. But that isn’t the case.

Yes, you have to be honest with your patients and I am sure you want every patient to be able to experience the very best care you can provide in your office.

So what about the patients that do get upset that they have to pay the 20% and end up leaving the practice and never coming back? This is a valid concern. Because in the medical field, you do care about your patients and want to do what's best for them. What has actually been found is that there is only a small number of people that this will come up with. You may get 1 or 2 out of 100 patients. If you look at it you are still getting the majority of your patients staying in your office. Of course it is a source of frustration which is understandable. How many times have you gone into a medical office and something that you thought would be covered is not covered?

These things happen on a daily basis in the medical field.

You main concern should always be to make it your priority to take the best care of the patient, be positive about it and maximize their benefits. People basically just want to know that you know how to deal with insurance and that they are actually getting what they paid for with their plan. Your role is to make it all about the patient, not about the insurance. That's really what patients care about – great care and someone that knows their insurance plan

and makes sure that they get what they deserve from their plan as the primary goal and concern.

So, you might ask what would you do if a patient calls and says: “Are you in network with Aetna or Blue Cross?”

The first response is that you work with all insurance companies, because this is true. If they push that issue and they insist and say, “I really need to know if you're in network,” you should say something like, 'We're actually considered out of network with that particular company. However, we have a lot of patients that also have that type of insurance, and they come to us and we work with them on other payment options.”

If you are a fee-for-service practice you still want to do a complimentary benefits check as a courtesy for the patient. Think about it. If a patient pays you, you would want to assist in helping them get their money back.

Now what about HMO and DMO practices? What happens what a patient calls in and says, “Do you take my HMO plan?”

The truth is you really do see all patients. You can work with all insurance plans. What you don't want to do is exclude that patient. The bottom line is that patients are always willing to pay for better care.

There are two things to keep in mind: 1. You don't want to exclude them for becoming a patient simply because of the insurance plan that someone else chose for them (90% of people with insurance are getting this through their employer).

2. Your patients should always have the option of going to whatever office or doctor that they desire. Don't let the insurance plan dictate who provides the care for these patients.

This might be a big change for your office but honestly patients love this because it shortens the new patient phone call. Time is such a critical issue in the practice, in the front office and in the back. Once you get used to this process, it will flow much better for you because you're happy to answer the call, take care of the patient, and get them to the office so that they can experience how truly extraordinary your office is. The process goes really

smoothly. Once the office masters this method, they love it because it takes the phone conversation and makes it go much better, and it's just a matter of adjusting to the change. If you resist, it is going to be hard. You cannot try it.

You need to commit to it.

If you get 20 new patients currently and you change your verbiage to use what has been laid out here and you increase your new patients to 35 or 40 and let's say out of that 15 or 20 increase 2 patients walk out or get upset, this is still 13 or 18 MORE new patients than what you were getting before.

I am certain and the doctor would say that they will take all the new patients that they can get!

The most important thing to remember is patients pay for what they think is valuable. Create a great patient experience and you cannot help but have your patients continue to come to your office for years to come and refer family and friends.

These are the most common insurance questions asked and the suggested answer: Patient: You:

"Do you accept insurance?"

"Absolutely, we work with all insurance companies and we will be happy to do a complimentary benefits check for you when you come in to our office."

Patient: You:

"Do you accept ____ insurance?"

"We work with all insurances. When you come in we will be happy to do a complimentary benefits check for you."

Patient:

"Are you IN NETWORK with ____ insurance?" or "Are you a PREFERRED PROVIDER for ___ insurance?"

"We are considered out of network and we have plenty of patients who have that insurance and choose to come here because of the quality of care our doctor(s) and team provide."

You:

Patient: You:

"Do you take ___ HMO/DMO?" “We have plenty of patients who have ___ HMO and come here because of the exceptional quality of care our doctor(s) and team provide. We have flexible payment options we can discuss with you when you come in to our office."

If your are a fee-for-service practice who DOES file insurance for your patients and they ask: Patient: You:

"Do you take my insurance?"

"Our patients pay for their treatment at the time of service and we'd be happy to file your insurance for you so you can get your money. Dr____ does great work and I know you'll be pleased.�

If you are a fee-for-service practice that does NOT file insurance for your patients and they ask: Patient: You:

"Do you take my insurance?"

"Our patients pay for their treatment at the time of service using one of our payment options. Dr____ does great work and I know you will be pleased."

Patient: You:

"Do you take Medicaid?"

"We accept all patients! Our Medicaid patients choose one of our payment options for their treatment."

If you are in a state that DOES NOT allow you to accept cash or any other type of payment option for Medicaid patient: Patient: You:

"Do you take Medicaid?"

"Though we do not accept Medicaid, I'd be happy to refer you to someone who does. If your circumstances ever change please let us know and we would love to bring you in as a new patient.