{"id":928,"date":"2022-08-30T15:15:21","date_gmt":"2022-08-30T15:15:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.advancedpracticemanagement.com\/blog\/?p=928"},"modified":"2022-08-30T15:15:21","modified_gmt":"2022-08-30T15:15:21","slug":"fortifying-your-practice-through-a-ppo-transition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.advancedpracticemanagement.com\/blog\/fortifying-your-practice-through-a-ppo-transition\/","title":{"rendered":"Fortifying Your Practice Through A PPO Transition"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Bill Rossi:<\/p>\n<p><em>This article is a follow-up to \u201cIs Your Practice Primed to Drop One or More PPOs?\u201d which appeared in the October 15<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0Newsletter.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p>So you\u2019ve pulled the trigger and decided to drop a PPO. \u00a0It\u2019s important that you don\u2019t just\u00a0<em>leave\u00a0<\/em>PPO participation. \u00a0You have to be working\u00a0<em>toward<\/em>\u00a0something. \u00a0The stimulation of a PPO transition can help create a \u201cPractice Renaissance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019ll be adding thousands to your collections each month \u2013 plow some of that back into strengthening the practice through:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><u>Taking good care of your team<\/u>: Chances are, they have some trepidation about the transition. Let them know that as they make progress leaving a PPO, and on the above, that there are rewards for them too.\u00a0 Give them a stake in the practice\u2019s success.\u00a0 Perhaps they share in, say, 15% of the practice\u2019s increase in collections over the next 12 months.\u00a0 Or, add a group bonus or celebration for collections over a certain target.<\/li>\n<li><u>Continuing Ed<\/u>: Learn new procedures to keep more procedures in house.<\/li>\n<li><u>Team Continuing Ed<\/u>: Keep you and the team psyched up and energized to present the treatment you already can provide.<\/li>\n<li><u>Tune-up your Recall System<\/u>: Do not assume that your team has this nailed down. This is the number one way you\u2019ll keep patient flow strong and your active patient base active. 75% of your hygiene patients should be committed to their next appointment.\u00a0 You have to\u00a0<u>actually measure<\/u>\u00a0 Many offices overestimate how well they are doing.\u00a0 Set up a well-planned pattern for contacting patients due and past due including calls, emails and texts.\u00a0 Put someone in charge of monitoring this, your most important administrative system.<\/li>\n<li><u>Make the best use of your digital communications<\/u>: (e.g., Lighthouse, SolutionReach, RevenueWell, etc.): Set up quarterly email blasts to patients on topics such as implants, Dental Health Month, your team, seasonal events and so on.<\/li>\n<li><u>Have a \u201cClinical Protocol Meeting\u201d<\/u>: Go over all of the procedures your practice does with team members.\u00a0 Refine and reassert your clinical guidelines.\u00a0 See my article on Clinical Calibration (<a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20210416205335\/https:\/\/advancedpracticemanagement.com\/articles\/\">https:\/\/advancedpracticemanagement.com\/articles\/<\/a>). If you do more for the people you see, you don\u2019t have to see more and more people on the PPO treadmill.<\/li>\n<li><u>Ask the hygienists to light up and track use of the intraoral cameras<\/u>: This should be done for the majority of your adult hygiene patients. \u00a0Over half of intraoral cameras are used less than five times per week. \u00a0And make sure\u00a0<u>every<\/u>\u00a0hygienist has a\u00a0<u>working<\/u>\u00a0intraoral camera.<\/li>\n<li><u>Train your administrative team on how to tactfully deal with financial arrangements<\/u>\u00a0for patients\u00a0<u>in<\/u>\u00a0and\u00a0<u>out<\/u>\u00a0of network. They have to know how to do this.\u00a0 Talk them through how they will handle patients\u2019 questions, such as, \u201c<em>Do you take my insurance?,<\/em>\u201d \u201c<em>Will insurance cover this?,<\/em>\u00a0\u201c<em>Why did you drop my PPO?,<\/em>\u201d and \u201c<em>Can I remain a patient?<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 One good all-purpose phrase is, \u201c<em>No insurance covers 100% of recommended treatment, but it certainly helps and you\u2019re lucky to have it.\u00a0 Here\u2019s how your insurance works here . . .<\/em>\u201d<\/li>\n<li><u>Google Reviews matter<\/u>: Pick someone in your office to run the campaign to get these. At least 50 per full time Doctor is a worthwhile goal.<\/li>\n<li><u>Update your website<\/u>: If it\u2019s been more than three years, it\u2019s time!<\/li>\n<li><u>Train your administrative team to tactfully welcome patients into the practice<\/u>, whatever their insurance.<\/li>\n<li>Don\u2019t send letters! (unless the PPO does). It is best to talk to patients face to face.\u00a0<strong>Assume that most of your patients will want to stay and act accordingly.<\/strong>\u00a0I can assure you Doctor, that patients like you for more than your \u201cNetwork Status.\u201d \u00a0You will keep more than you think. \u00a0If a patient does decide to leave, be graceful about it and let them know, \u201cThey are always welcome back if their circumstances change\u2026\u201d Some will come back.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Dentists have spent the last 20 years signing up. Congratulations on starting to \u201cun-sign\u201d up and taking back control from the PPOs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Bill Rossi: This article is a follow-up to \u201cIs Your Practice Primed to Drop One or More PPOs?\u201d which appeared in the October 15th\u00a0Newsletter.\u00a0 So you\u2019ve pulled the trigger and decided to drop a PPO. \u00a0It\u2019s important that you don\u2019t just\u00a0leave\u00a0PPO participation. \u00a0You have to be working\u00a0toward\u00a0something. \u00a0The stimulation of a PPO transition can [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dental-practice-management"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.advancedpracticemanagement.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.advancedpracticemanagement.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.advancedpracticemanagement.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.advancedpracticemanagement.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.advancedpracticemanagement.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=928"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.advancedpracticemanagement.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/928\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.advancedpracticemanagement.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.advancedpracticemanagement.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.advancedpracticemanagement.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}