Second consultations and how to schedule them
We have discussed the idea of estimating fees for the patient by proposing the treatment, sending the estimate to the insurance, and proceeding to schedule the patient so you know they’re interested in the treatment.
And if the patients’ only obstacle is knowing what the insurance benefits are, letting them know that we will call them before the next visit with more details after doing more research about benefits.
But exactly what do you schedule the patient for when you propose the treatment and let them know their next step is to come back in three weeks to five weeks to start the next step of that service?
How do you make that second consultation?
For instance, you may not want to schedule a long surgical appointment with the doctor if there’s a chance that appointment may be moved, and we’re not sure if the patient will accept treatment based on the insurance benefits at that time.
Here are just some sample ways of having an easy next step for scheduling the patient when they accept treatment.
For instance, when denture is discussed and planned, the next step could be taking a study model impression.
This does not need to be done in the primary column, but in a secondary column for a short period of time to take an impression.
So a bridge might just need scheduling the initial study model impression or a scan in a secondary column.
Instead of scheduling a longer procedure to start prepping the bridge, we could schedule an appointment in a secondary column to do scan to help make a temporary bridge.
Maybe you’re going to do a scan of the teeth that day and then print the models and put a composite tooth where the Pontic would go and make a putty. We can use this putty to be ready to form the temporary bridge on the day the bridge is prepared.
This initial scan or impression for the temporary bridge could be done in a secondary column ahead of preparing the bridge. For starting orthodontics, the initial visit may not be for putting all of the braces on the first day. It may be to put in spacers to make room for bands. For starting sleep appliances, the 2nd Consult appointment could be as simple as coming back to scan the patient to make the sleep appliance.
For perio surgeries, it may be necessary to return to do a medical history review or to check the blood pressure.
For things like scale and root plan, there’s a couple ways to handle it.
One method may be just to go ahead and schedule the procedure with the hygienist or doctor and just to go ahead and schedule the procedure.
But if there was a lot of uncertainty, you could schedule them back again in a secondary column to review OHI or to recheck some periodontal probing. Most of the time scheduling for the procedure is best as long as we call the patient ahead of time to verify any needed insurance information.
And then finally, a crown. A crown is typically something you would want to go ahead and schedule for the procedure and just be sure everything is worked out as far as insurance copays before the procedure, if that was a question for the patien
But you could also sometimes schedule a crown buildup, if it’s a broken tooth.
In that appointment it could be the crown buildup and the crown, or it could be just to come in and do the crown buildup or a filling and later do the crown when the patient is more certain.
Either way, you know the patient needs to come back to have some treatment to help the tooth, but the finances should be discussed before the procedure is done.
Importance of getting the patient to demonstrate case acceptance
When you present the treatment make it clear what’s the next step and go ahead and offer that opportunity for the patient to demonstrate case acceptance by taking that next step.
Go ahead and scheduling for whatever small next step there is for that procedure.
What we don’t want to do is just tell the patient we’re going to check on benefits and callthem back because there’s so many things that could happen.
We may not be able to reach the patient with a working phone number, for example. And then the patient thinks we don’t care about the treatment.
So let the patient demonstrate case acceptance by taking that next step of scheduling the appointment.
After that, we can make sure we’re getting any insurance information we need before that appointment.