Feedback
Archive Index
Cathy Jameson
Cathy Jameson is President of Jameson Management Group, an
international dental consulting firm. An accomplished speaker, writer and workshop leader,
Cathy holds a bachelor's degree in education and a master's degree in psychology. As a
certified Effectiveness Trainer, Cathy integrates her academic background and her
knowledge of communication into the management of dental teams and practices. Her 25 years
of "hands-on" experience in the practice of her dentist husband, Dr. John H.
Jameson, make her strategies workable and effective. She has been a featured speaker for
the major dental meetings throughout the world. Pennwell Books has recently released
Cathy's newest book Great Communication = Great Production. For more information
call 405-369-2501 or 405-369-5555.
You can also visit Jameson Management Group online,
or email Cathy Jameson at jameson@brightok.net.
Current Lecture Schedule
August 5
"How to Get Dental Clients"
General Business Services
National Convention
Las Vegas, NV
August 8-10
Profitable Dentist
Keystone, CO
September 8-9
Heath Dental Health
London, England
September 20
"GC=GP, Double Your Practice from Within"
Schein Joint Lecture
Chicago, IL
September 27
Americus Continuing Education Center
New York, NY
September 29-30
ADA w/ FDI
Team Building/Production
Orlando, FL
October 11
TBA
Greater Milwaukee AGD
Milwaukee, WI
October 12
American Society for Dental Esthetics
Las Vegas, NV
October 18
"Maximize Your Market Share"
Illinois Valley Dental Society
Ottawa, IL
October 20
TBA
University of Buffalo
Buffalo, NY
October 25
American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry
Scottsdale, AZ
October 26
GC=GP
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis, MN
October 30
Alpha Omega Lecture
New York, NY
November 1
"GC=GP, Double Your Practice from Within"
Schein Joint Lecture
Boston, MA
November 8
"GC=GP, Double Your Practice from Within"
Schein Joint Lecture
New York, NY
November 9
Americus Continuing Education Center
New York, NY
December 6
"GC=GP, Double Your Practice from Within"
Schein Joint Lecture
Los Angeles, CA
Broken Appointments
and No Shows:
Reduce These Devastating Scheduling Glitches!!!
Broken appointments and no-shows can turn a well scheduled day into a wreck. Right! Scheduling is one of the most difficult management systems in the practice. When you work hard to access a well scheduled day only to have it fall apart at the last minute, frustration results. Filling unexpected voids in the schedule takes time and effort--time and effort that you would rather dedicate to other projects, like practice building. The cost of broken appointments and no-shows to a dental practice is major!
Spend a bit of time analyzing your own broken appointment and no-show ratio. Go back through the last month. Calculate the scheduled production. Then, calculate the amount of production that was canceled. Divide the amount of canceled production by the originally scheduled production and you will get the percentage of broken appointments each day. Add this up over the month and see what percentage of your scheduled production is deviating.
In addition to the above mentioned calculation, determine how many of those changed appointments were rescheduled and how many of the voids were filled. This information will prove vital as you continue to move your practice to a healthy state. Even if most of those changed appointments are filled, I think all of us will agree that the time spent on filling those voids can be enormous--and stressful. Therefore, let's study ways to eliminate changes in schedule so that your valuable time and money is maximized.
Unfortunately, there is no way to totally eliminate broken appointments and no-shows. However, they can be reduced. Reducing these scheduling glitches--even by one per day--can reduce your costs of operation as well as your stress! Let's look at some proven ways to reduce the number of no-shows and broken appointments. You practice preventive dentistry. It's important to practice preventative management at the same time.
Preventive Management
Prevention is the best way to reduce broken appointments and no-shows. Communication skills are the key to reducing these scheduling glitches. When the entire team practices excellent communication skills, the impact is astounding. Communication is the bottom line to your success--regardless of what aspect of patient care.
The reduction of broken appointments and no-shows starts in the clinical area by the clinical team. "Linkage communication"--or coordinated communication--between the clinical team and the business team is imperative for scheduling success and for moving a patient from the initial to the final appointment.
Has a patient ever visited your office for an emergency, been reappointed for the next phase of treatment but failed to appear for the next appointment? Usually this happens when the importance of necessary treatment has not been communicated well. Weak communication skills probably contribute to more than half of the lost appointments in a practice. Offices where the entire team discusses comprehensive care with the patient are the most successful.
Communication skills/verbal skills will have an impact on whether or not a patient reacts positively to your requests, arrives on time for appointments, accepts needed treatments, pays as agreed for services rendered, and participates in regular maintenance programs, etc. Communication skill is the bottom line to your success.
Feedback
Archive Index