Prior to the Huddle , clinical staff start Steri tests
Each day starts with the Huddle, 30 minutes before the first appointment. The Huddle is a cornerstone of good planning that results in exceptional patient care. It is an opportunity for everyone to get on the same page, identify patient needs, opportunities to help each other, note lab work that is required, and even shuffle the book to help with efficiencies and patient care. Reception can help prepare for the Huddle by printing the book for each clinician last thing each day and giving it to the relevant DA.
The Huddle is broken into three sections:
Clinical focus
Dentists and their DAs meet to discuss the clinician's book, looking at each patient's clinical history to decide on the plan for the day and what might be encountered at each appt. The DA should then know what Xrays, equipment, consumables and lab work is needed, the sequencing of each procedure, and any information specific to the patient, e.g. allergies, fears, hobbies etc. Tea breaks will be agreed. Bottlenecks and potential challenges will be flagged, and workarounds discussed.
Admin focus: The admin team
Checks the Book to see if lab work was ordered yesterday. Is it on the tracker?
Checks lab work needed today, tomorrow and the next day to ensure that it is on track.
Checks the rebooking tracker to see if any rebookings were missed
General focus
The team shares any information that all parties might need to know, e.g. a patient who has special needs, a bottleneck when the practice will be under pressure, a repair being done , etc.
After the Huddle, clinical staff set up the rooms for the day
More detail here
Some dentists / specialists do not attend the practice each day. If they do not log in to Exact remotely, we need to email thema copy of their next day book at least two days prior, and again the day before, in case the day changes. We also need to check the appt notes and the Lab Tracker to ensure that all lab work is on hand, and make a note against the appt in Exact to indicate where it is located.
For instructions on how to create and email a day book, see here.
The lifeblood of the practice is the appointment book. The lost revenue from a missed appointment can never be recovered. Therefore it is imperative that every effort is made to fill the book. The following strategies should be used, in this order, to fill each practitioner's book: It is critical that you use this document of "scripts" as guidance..
Check all appointments for tomorrow. Call everyone who has not confirmed their attendance.
Using the rebooking tracker, prioritise call backs, focussing on patients who did not rebook and cases over $2,000
Pull a list of all patients who cancelled or Failed To Arrive (FTA) in the last month. Unless the patient file notes indicate otherwise, call them.
Pull a list of all patients who have not attended for more than 6 months, and call them.
Examine the book a week from today. Many people have regular calendars so might be able to move their appointment exactly one week earlier. If their appointment is not waiting on lab work, and unless their notes say otherwise, call them
Examine the book any time in the following week. Repeat #3.
Pull the recall list from Exact for the current month and call every patient on it.
Use the Care Manager and Case Tracker to identify any open treatment plans who you can call to reactivate.
When a patient notifies us that they cannot attend, we have an obligation to them and to the business to help them to appreciate the importance of maintaining their treatment plan. There are a variety of ways that we can do this authntically without sounding like a hard sell. See this document for guidelines.
Reception staff MUST complete the rebooking tracker daily, creating a new tab is each month. This is a way to follow up patients who have not booked in their appt – it is good to type a reason if the patient didn’t book their appt in both the rebooking tracker and the pt chart so we know to follow up or not.
Each day the Reception staff are to manage the completion of the Case Trackers. Instructions are in the documents
It is important that the dentist's books have a structure. There are many reasons, including:
Providing opportunity to do examinations in Hygiene while they are not active with their patient.
Allowing steri to catch up
Minimising late starts
For guidance on how to structure the book, see here.
Hygiene appointments generally include an examination by the dentist. This can be logistically challenging if the dentist is busy or absent. Use the guidance below to help manage these bookings.
Each day we must reconcile the money collected with the work recorded in Exact. This requires the following reports to be printed:
a. Allocated payments
Reports / Allocated payments
Multiple providers
From yesterday to yesterday
Simple summary
b. Cashing up
Reports / Cashing up
From yesterday to yesterday
Highlight relevant providers and payment methods
Create new payment bundle
c. GST Summary
Reports /GST Summary
From yesterday to yesterday
a and b should show the same total
Each machine will automatically settle overnight and prints settlement. This does not need to be done manually. EFTPOS + HICAPS should equal a (above)
Separate ‘NAB EFTPOS Settlement’ from ‘HICAPS Totals Today’ on the settlement receipt that is printed overnight
To reconcile EFTPOS amounts on cashing up report, add the EFTPOS settlement amounts from each settlement receipt and compare against the cashing up total
If they do not match, check both settlement receipts for AMEX payments, as these are not included in the grand total settlement amount
To reconcile HICAPS amounts on cashing up reports, add the ‘HICAPS Totals Today’ amounts from each settlement receipt and compare against the cashing up total
There may be more than one ‘HICAPS Totals Today’ section on a single settlement receipt
Section of the settlement receipts ‘HICAPS transaction listing’ is not needed and can be thrown away
Person cashing up should sign off on EFTPOS, HICAPS and grand totals if (and when) they show same total
If the amounts match, staple individual receipts collected from previous day together, and file in monthly envelope kept in reception cupboard
Staple the separated settlement receipts (EFTPOS and HICAPS) to the back of the cashing up report
Scan all printed reports (cashing up [including back page with receipts], allocated payments, GST summary) > these will appear in the ‘Scans’ folder
Open all 4 scans in Adobe and select ‘Organise pages’ to collate them into one PDF
Save as ‘yymmdd - Cashing Up’
This will create another PDF and the single scanned files will need to be deleted
Copy the PDF to the Google Drive under: accounts (found in bookmarks bar, or Bite, TSD > year > month > cashing up
Delete from scans folder
Staple hard copies together in order, hole punch, and file in ‘Day Sheets’ folder above reception
What to do if the settlement receipts do not match the cashing up reports
You need to go through each individual receipt and the patients account history to see why it doesn’t correlate.
Once you find the mistake, you need to fix this in exact and backdate payment method to day of cashing up
You then need to “ view existing payment bundle” in cashing up
Highlight incorrect cashing up and delete
Then restart the process to create a new cashing up report and reprint allocated payments report, as this should now be correct
Switch on the water and compressor
Turn the TV’s in waiting room on and cast powerpoint from one of the reception computers
Powerpoint is saved on Bookmarks bar
Open two separate tabs for each TV
Activate the autoclave test
Take the phone system off "answerphone"
Unlock the back door and turn off the alarm using your personal passcode
Switch on the water compressor and aircon
Activate the autoclave test
Turn on all lights in the practice and unlock the front door
Check the bathrooms and waiting area is clean for the day
Turn on the TV, press the Home button, select Media and select the TSD screen file
Take the phone system off "answerphone"
Switch off the water and compressor
Turn off music
Turn the TV’s off and stop chrome cast of power points
Turn the phone system to "answerphone"
Check that all computers are locked
Switch off the water and compressor
Turn the phone system to "answerphone"
Turn off the TV
Turn off music, air cooler and all lights
Check that all computers are locked
Lock front door
Turn on security alarm
Lock back door and padlock metal door.
As patients depart, we should attemt to gather feedback so that we can improve our service
If the patient has already been sent a review request in the past a pop up alert in Exact will tell you. Do not do another.
If the patient is in the middle of a large case, wait until the end of treatment
If no pop up shows, ask the patient if they are happy to receive a review / feedback request.
Fill in the form and add a pop up alert to their Exact chart “Review request sent through Birdeye".
The patient will receive a text and can fill it in on their mobile phone.
The amount of reviews we send out are tracked for huddle next morning
These tabs are used throughout the day when in the Bite login
Rebooking tracker
Reception task structure
Cash transaction tracking (for parking tickets, till money, petty cash)
Bite email
Birdeye
Roster
Calculator
Vendor contact and password list
Percentage calculator website (good for discounts etc)
Treatment Quote Estimate
TV slideshow (2 tabs, 1 for each TV screen on level – select slideshow you want – cast onto selected tv) >