How to institute and develop a strategic marketing plan for your pediatric dental office

As what may be the most important element in a successful pediatric dental practice, marketing is often misunderstood. It requires careful planning and a long-term commitment. Before implementing your marketing plan, understand the definition of marketing and what it will mean to your practice. To develop your plan, ask yourself several important questions that will help you analyze where you are now, as well as where you want to be. Then, promote your practice by incorporating 12 important qualities into your plan. The plan is the blueprint for your efforts to repeatedly, consistently, and positively communicate with your market for the long term.     

Advanced marketing strategies to build the esthetic dental practice

Esthetic dentistry is truly a major part of the future of the fee-for-service practice. There are still many patients who seek high-quality elective care and these individuals need to be swayed to make an initial appointment with you. Whether you reach them through your present patients or through outreach to the community, the important key is your method of handling each of these patients as they join your practice. Customer service needs to be stronger and more obvious than ever before in order to differentiate your practice from others and to attract more referrals. The days of waiting for patients to arrive have clearly come to an end. Managed care and a decline in the need for traditional services has eroded a significant component of the dental market. When you combine that with the realization that only 50% of the population visits the dentist even once a year (and far less in many countries outside the United States), then it becomes obvious that the total available market for the elective services of esthetic dentistry has declined. Esthetic dentistry programs must be better defined, with an ongoing focus to educate present patients and to attract new patients. As I state in my seminars, I firmly believe that any practice today can still be highly successful. I do not feel that I will be making that statement three to five years from now. The time to begin positioning your practice for future growth of esthetic dentistry is now. As managed-care programs increase, it will become more difficult to turn around a declining practice. Having a quality marketing program already in place will make the difference for your esthetic practice. The new patient phone call is critical. It is there that you will begin to help patients understand fully the overall attitude and policies of your office. Successful management of new patients is to win their trust by giving them ultimate customer service while convincing them to fit your present system and schedule. When a new patient calls the practice, you want to get them scheduled within a reasonable time frame while their motivation is still positive. Remember, you only get one first chance to make a great impression. Each office should decide which questions are appropriate to ask. The front desk coordinator should ask these questions calmly and clearly so that the new patient has an opportunity to answer them without feeling that they are going through the inquisition. At the same time, the more information you have about this patient, the easier it will be to gain treatment acceptance because of your understanding of the new patient's needs. Many offices will ask new patients how they came to choose their particular office. Since many practices gain new patients from existing patients, it is appropriate to know when this has occurred and properly thank the referral patient. By thanking the patient who referred the new patient, you will encourage further referrals.     

Pencil and paper: the simple solution to getting the numbers you need to effectively manage your practice

Once you have mastered the basics by going through the monitoring exercise once or twice, you will find it takes little time and effort to start finding out just where your practice stands. You only solve a problem after you have found out that there is one and you might find that this simple monitoring exercise shows you areas of your practice where a little attention from you will pay big dividends. Monitoring is like a fine wine: it improves with age. As you begin to compile more and more months of data, you will be able to start comparing this month's performance with last month's, or this quarter with last quarter, this year with last year. One of the most useful things monitoring will do for you is to allow you to compare your practice's performance with that of other practices. Averages, norms, and performance survey results are to be found in a range of practice management publications. Using your monitoring information in this comparative way helps you to identify those areas in your practice management that are holding you back from achieving your true potential. This lets you focus your management time and effort on the truly important issues, which, when solved, will help you turn your practice into a less stressful, more enjoyable, and more profitable place to work.     

Images of your future

Would you buy something without seeing it first, and without any real idea of what it was you were buying, or whether you really wanted it? In the past, that is what dental patients have been expected to do when their dentist has offered them restorative dentistry, but now, using a dental imager, you can show your patients quickly and simply just what you can do to improve their appearance; and they can show you exactly what it is they want.     

MSO case study provides insights for Michigan MDs

How do you build a successful physicians' management services organization? MSMS, the AMA and several other medical societies set out a few months ago to learn the answers to this question. What we learned will have important ramifications for the MSO the MSMS House of Delegates has directed your state society to create. The House of Delegates believes your own MSO will provide you with the best possible services and support as you, our members, move toward success in the managed care arena.     

Providing patient-friendly financial options

Having flexible payment options ensures that patients will have all of the motivation and information that they need to accept care in your office. An HCCC simply offers you the chance to make more expensive treatment available to those who need or want it. The small cost of using a HCCC program more than pays for itself--in fact, it costs less than one-third of what you would spend if you were to bill these patients instead. Having consistent financial policies and flexible payment options can dramatically increase your office's productivity and profitability, while expressing your commitment to customer service and high-quality dentistry.     

Variants of progressive dementias in middle-aged and elderly persons

Today, dental assistants are becoming more aware that a professional image is necessary for putting dental professionals in the best light in the changing health care society. Not only must dental assistants know how to work in the system and how to effectively care for dental patients, but attention to matters such as personal grooming, dress, and body language is necessary if dental assistants are to be a powerful and proud profession in today's society. How you look and act will make a difference in how others treat you. When you act like a professional, others will react to you as one.     

Getting out of the box.

Like an actor who is typecast, each of us has probably experienced the frustration of becoming over identified by a client with one service or product. Often a first, or highly visible, piece of successful work becomes the exclusive way in which our client defines our services. This in turn becomes a limitation and obstacle to broadening our impact. Getting out of the box is important to building a practice. This is particularly true in the service industry where the cost of finding a new client far exceeds the cost of maintaining a current one. While most consultants caution against devoting more than 25% of billable time to one client, selling multiple services to an existing client is a useful way to leverage your business development efforts in those situations where you want to increase your time. There are many tactics for getting out of the box, but one of the simplest is based on good quality practice—asking your client for feedback on your work. The payoff will be apparent in an improved client relationship that will translate quickly to a stronger practice and steadier revenue stream. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Practicing implant dentistry profitably

The success of dental implants has opened up countless treatment possibilities for restorative dentists to offer to their patients. Just as our clinical paradigms have had to change because of this new technology, so too must our paradigms concerning the way we communicate with our patients change if we are to get them to say "yes" to treatment that we know that they need. Success in clinical treatment using implants requires a systematic approach. A systematic approach to communicating with your patients will allow you to have the same high degree of success with treatment acceptance that is possible with dental implants. The key to the systems we have discussed is Relationship Centered Care. A relationship is fostered and enhanced through a Comprehensive Examination Process, a structured Consultation Process utilizing the influencing process and Financial Arrangements that allow the patient to receive what they want while the office maintains the profitability that it needs. A system for calculating rational fees can be utilized that allows the practice to have control over an area that traditionally was controlled by anecdotal factors. The Pride Institute has developed this material and is presenting it to the profession so that restorative dentists can truly practice implant dentistry profitably.     

Doing business — it's a vision thing

Knowing what you want and achieving your goals do not necessarily follow on. Getting to where you want to be often takes hard work and the co-operation of others. One Detroit entrepreneur has developed a vision for the future of metal injection moulding that has brought others on board…     

Evaluating health plans and marketing the gastroenterology practice under managed care

More patients will have managed care in the future. Therefore, every practice should have a strategy for working with managed care organizations (MCOs). Learn how to evaluate an MCO and how to obtain detailed information about MCOs in your area. Know how to market your practice and build relationships between your group and MCOs. Develop a practice profile that outlines all the benefits that your group can bring to an MCO. Plan how you will respond when an MCO says, "No."     

Technical report: CT-guided aspiration of anterior cruciate ligament ganglion cysts

Have you ever wondered if children coming into your dental operatory these days really are fatter, or is it just your imagination? And if they are fatter, how does it relate to what they are eating and what is the approach to treatment? This review article is written for dental health professionals, their own children, and their young patients and families, and will briefly address these issues.     

Preparing obstetricians and gynecologists for capitation

We are indeed facing a changing paradigm in the way medical services are delivered and reimbursed. Physicians are becoming entangled in the business world. Terms such as "medical loss ratio" must be integrated within the physician's existing language. According to Green and Barnett, "No group is so large or so small as to likely survive the next decade without being involved in a capitated contract." The change is not tomorrow, it is today. Do not be lost in the changing world of medicine without becoming involved, and see if it is for you and your practice. Progress of medicine may not be what you would like but do not be passed by without making an impact. Capitation offers an opportunity to regain control of the management of care, to develop innovative and cost-effective approaches to delivery, and to enhance income and revenue in the face of declining health care budgets.     

Document imaging and the patient chart: envisioning the future for your practice

This plan for computerizing the dental patient record is designed to be implemented in a stepwise fashion. It assumes a fully developed and well accepted practice management system is already present in the business office to ensure organizational readiness and a culture embracing technology and its accompanying changes. Electronic claims submission is implemented next to not only realize the competitive advantages of EDI in the dental office; but also, to introduce the process of multi-user communication. Electronic charting in the dental operatory is first implemented as a stand alone system. This allows users to understand the new workflow requirements and oral exam redesign when a computer is introduced in the treatment room. The dental team must understand that the ultimate goal of this plan is to network the entire system and enhance communication both within and external to the dental office. No specific time requirements were given for this plan because of the variability from office to office. People need time to develop awareness, prepare for, and become skilled in using new technology. Financial constraints may also limit the speed at which the plan can be implemented. Finally, individuals in the practice must work together as a team to assess the practice's level of acceptance and ability at each step in the process. Modification will be necessary along the way as technology is constantly changing. This is a significant paradigm shift, considering that many pieces of equipment purchased for the dental office can last the dentist's entire career. This plan allows for alteration, encourages team involvement and requires a long-term strategic vision for information technology's role in the dental office.     

Review of Strategic marketing: How to achieve independence and prosperity in your mental health practice.

Reviews the book, Strategic marketing: How to achieve independence and prosperity in your mental health practice by Kalman M. Heller (1997). The author of this book believes there is ample opportunity for solo and small group practices not merely to survive but to thrive; you don't have to sell out to big business in order to maintain or create the small but successful practice that is your chosen way to help others. What you do is develop a marketing-driven practice. He promises that if you do, you will (a) become a more competent therapist, (b) increase your referrals and revenues, and (c) have more fun! In an extremely well-organized and concise fashion, he presents what you need to know about strategic marketing and what you have to do in the form of proactive behaviors to succeed. This is a relatively short book of 137 pages divided into 11 chapters. The first eight are devoted to laying the groundwork for the concepts of marketing, accepting that mental health practice is a business, the utility of developing a business plan, and selecting a practice strategy and specialized "products." Heller, unfortunately, has made promises and expressed optimism which are incompatible with the marketplace realities of private practice in the United States and in that sense may be dangerously misleading to the younger practitioner. Like the APA Guidelines for Practice, to follow all of Heller's planning, evaluation, and practice promotion activities would likely leave little time to treat patients, at least not enough hours to generate the revenue to live, which of course is the objective of the book. This is not a fatal criticism, but certainly is one for the reader to understand beforehand in order to avoid a panic attack by book's end. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of the central nervous system in realizing the action of UHF electromagnetic oscillations in the centimeter range on the function of the excited tissues in cold-blooded animals

Marketing is a system. While it is key and the scope of this article to offer 40 internal/customer service, external/community marketing strategies, this is your goal. The combination of programs consistently applied, analyzed and modified makes a difference. Start with your internal/customer service program. Once that is in place you can expand to external/community marketing programs. Creativity and persistence are how strong dental practices are built!     

Project Change Management System

Changes in projects are common and may be deleterious or beneficial—whether you see a change as a conflict or a valuable lesson depends only on your prospective. Project changes affect the cost, the scheduling, and the duration of projects, both directly and indirectly. Despite many articles and much discussion in practice and academic literature, there is a lack of information about systematic approaches to manage project change. This paper introduces a comprehensive project change management system that is founded on five principles: (1) promote a balanced change culture; (2) recognize change; (3) evaluate change; (4) implement change; and (5) continuously improve from lessons learned. By applying this project change management system, project participants can minimize deleterious change and promote beneficial change.     

Unconventional therapies for cancer: 3. Iscador. Task Force on Alternative Therapies of the Canadian Breast Cancer Research Initiative

Unconventional therapies (UTs) are therapies not usually provided by Canadian physicians or other conventionally trained health care providers. Examples of common UTs available in Canada are herbal preparations, reflexology, acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine. UTs may be used along with conventional therapies (complementary) or instead of conventional therapies (alternative). Surveys have shown that many Canadians use UTs, usually as complementary therapies, for a wide range of diseases and conditions. Reliable information about UTs is often difficult to find. Your doctor may be unable to give you specific advice or recommendations, since UTs are often not in a physician's area of expertise. However, he or she will usually be able to provide some general advice and help supervise your progress. For your own health and safety, it is important to keep your doctor informed of the choices you make. This document is intended to (a) provide you with questions to consider when making your treatment choices, (b) help you find information about UTs, (c) help you decide whether a specific UT is right for you, and (d) provide tips to help you evaluate the information you find.