Orthotown May 2020 - 10

embrace progress

As much as we'd like
business to be "as usual,"
it's safe to say that
potential patients will
tiptoe slowly back into
the elective dentistry
marketplace-all the
more reason to be
reasonable with fees,
conversion from one
phase to the next and
re-treatment requests.

10

What changes are you implementing?
Just for starters, my team and I are:
*	 Organizing our supply area with
an updated inventory system.
*	 Redoing our office binder system
(actually a series of training manuals).
*	 Creating new binders to detail every
procedure in each department.
*	 Getting all the new information
stored digitally and in the cloud.
*	 Gathering before-and-after photos
for Instagram, the website and
Orthotown message boards.
For a brief time, I offered hours and work
projects to staffers who were willing to take
a cut in hours. Some accepted, while others
elected to take advantage of the expanded
unemployment benefits.
We had an "all hands on deck" plan
where phones were manned to reschedule
patients for the return. Most patients were
given extra time to accomplish their next
appointment-we're assuming that there
will be plenty to do when we're able to see
them again, and I also want every visit to be
as positive as possible, indicating to patients
that we're taking extra care to move their
treatment along. Often, I set up appointments
to rebracket teeth or add appliances.
Instead, we are just going to do it! This
will mean long hours and lots of work, but
the job needs to get done. The untimely
and unscheduled delay presents a great
opportunity to move patients from Phase I
to Phase II (assuming, of course, they are
financially fit).
During this period, the delay in finishing
Phase I treatment means that some patients
are watching permanent teeth erupt ahead
of their anticipated finish date. What a
great time to extend the contract, reprice
the treatment and create some goodwill by
offering a special fee for continuing.
(I can already hear in the background
those shouting, "That's why you shouldn't
do Phase I!")

But what about the future?
There's no doubt that things are changing
and will change forever. This generation will
remember the sacrifices, new workflows and
issues of the moment like never before, and
will no doubt tell their children just like my
parents told me.
It's not enough to say "virtual consultations are here to stay," because they were
already taking place before the pandemic.
Like other transformational times in our
history, the crisis only accelerated what was
already happening. Kind of like insurance
reimbursement becoming standard, lower
fees and the adaptation of 3D X-rays.
Office requirements and lease structures
most probably will change to reflect the
uncertainty of pandemics and other acts of
God. With virtual consultations and other
telemedicine, dentistry and orthodontics will
probably need less of a footprint in society
from the standpoint of square footage and
number of dental chairs.
I'm told that a billionaire investor we're
all aware of has shorted the commercial real
estate market by a sizable amount. With all
the work from home and videoconferences
going on, expansive offices will most probably
be scaled down. How are $100-per-squarefoot luxury offices buildings justified when
on the turn of a dime, you tell your employees
to just do their jobs from home?
Fees are anybody's guess, but in the
interest of access to care, I do think that
there will be a justified downward pressure
on fees. Staff will probably be reduced as
practices scale up at a slower, measured
pace. As much as we'd like business to be
"as usual," it's safe to say that potential
patients will tiptoe slowly back into the
elective dentistry marketplace-all the
more reason to be reasonable with fees,
conversion from one phase to the next and
re-treatment requests.
To those fresh out of school and feeling
uncertain: The golden era is still here, just
reinvented. n

MAY 2020 // orthotown.com

OT0520_EmbraceProgress_MM.indd 10

4/27/20 1:51 PM
http://www.orthotown.com
Orthotown May 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Orthotown May 2020
