Do you know why you’re losing Patients?

Reactivation is a powerful tool to identify your Practice strengths and weaknesses

Many see their inactive charts as a loss.  I see them as 100% opportunity.  Opportunity to reintroduce yourself to your patients, as well as an opportunity to find out why they didn’t come back in the first place.  Unscheduled Treatment reports are also an opportunity.  They are your road map to finding out what you’re doing right, and what you and your team can do even better.  What can you find out when you begin on the road of Reactivation and pursuing Unscheduled Treatment?  This is a summary of what is there waiting for you, if you just take a look and commit to working it until the effort is done.

Inactive Patients (patients who have not been seen in your office for over one year)

• Have they gone to another Practice, and if so, why? 
• Did they cancel an appointment and just not reschedule?  How can that be prevented?
• Were they overwhelmed by treatment proposed?  Was there follow-up with them?
• Have they attempted to schedule but haven’t been able to get through, or have a message returned?
• Are there other family members who are coming in for regular recall appointments? 
• Are route sheets utilized to determine if any of the patients on an account are unscheduled?
• Did your patients have an unsatisfactory experience that they weren’t comfortable bringing up directly?

The reason these questions are so important is that the answers are critical to your rapid determination of what is going right, and what is going wrong.   

• If a patient left to go to another Practice because you don’t participate with their insurance, this is an opportunity to find out how that discussion is currently taking place.  Were they under the impression that you are a participating dentist because the discussion was intentionally vague, in an attempt to “get them in and then they’ll like us enough that they’ll stay”?  Did their departure immediately follow a surprise statement?

•  If a patient left because they had a balance that they weren’t expecting, why was that, and how can that be prevented in the future? Are co-payments accurately estimated?  Are insurance limitations clearly reviewed? 

• Overwhelmed by treatment?  How can you and your team develop a way to present that treatment in a way that is easily understood, and where there are opportunities for the patient to review what has been discussed?  If they were overwhelmed by the finances, do you have options available for the patient, and were those options effectively presented?

• When called in a Reactivation effort, do your patients say “I tried to make an appointment, but  nobody called me back!  I just gave up and called Dr. Smith”, check out the following areas-  Does your phone go to voice mail more often than it is personally answered?  Do you encourage email correspondence and scheduling requests?  Do you respond quickly to those messages?  Is this an excuse, and can you determine what the patient’s true barrier is?

• If other family members are coming in on occasion (usually the children), are there systems in place for all of your team members to know at a glance who is due in that family, and know to encourage scheduling at that time?

• Patients are more comfortable talking on the phone or responding to a letter inquiry if they feel that they are genuinely welcome to weigh in with positive and negative feedback.  Their opinions are valuable and you are building your Practice for people just like them.  Many will give honest and direct evaluations if they are asked by somebody they don’t feel has an agenda, or will judge them for their comments.  They particularily don’t want to “make the doctor angry”.  Do you have something in place to identify those patients who have left or simply not scheduled, to find out why they have made that choice?  Do you leave out the welcome mat for them, in the hope they may return knowing that they will indeed be welcome? 

Going through the effort of true Reactivation is valuable even if a patient is “lost” to your Practice.  The information you will receive is just as diagnostic as a radiograph, picture, or clinical examination- it will tell you if your practice is healthy, and if not, it will tell you the areas which need to be addressed.  It will also tell you what your urgent needs are, and what is routine maintenance.  Your old charts and records are the most accurate barometer of the opporunities available.  Not only is the effort wise because of the immediate impact of bringing more production in from reactivated patients, but it is also the best way to move forward. 

 Numbers are easily understood by your team- if 60% of your patients have left because they went to a “cheaper dentist”, building value in your dentistry is the area you and your team must focus on first.  If 60% of them left because they got tired of going back 30 minutes late, your scheduling and efficiency will need to be evaluated.  These are almost always things that can be changed, and many of them can be changed immediately.  Stop the trend, then reverse it.  Make those weaknesses your strengths, thank those patients for their feedback, and let them know that you have made some changes because of it.  Put out that welcome mat, and I’ll bet some of them will return because of that alone.