Fred interviews Steve Thorne, founder and CEO of Pacific Dental Services. It’s a lively conversation on incorporating technology, the new generation of dentists, the dental plan crisis, and where dentistry is going. Don’t miss the interview with one of the most successful DSO owners in the country!
You can listen to the audio version here:
Hope you enjoy it, and if you do, subscribe to the podcast and you won’t miss an episode!
The conventional wisdom in dentistry has been that we have to physically see the patient. But during this crisis, virtually all practices are only seeing emergencies. And what we’re finding is that a significant percentage of dental emergency patients can be treated with teledentistry. (For a video on this topic, go to: https://youtu.be/_amZ7qjfUxc )
Let me stress this first. It is your civic duty as well as your professional one to see emergency patients during this crisis. I’ll give you three key reasons why:
The ER is not where you want your own patients to be going. You have sterilization procedures to protect yourself, but now you have the ability to do teledentistry, triage those patients and be compensated for it.
There are a number of options out there for teledentistry, and the one I’ve found with the most comprehensive solution is offered by PatientPop. It is a cloud-based system that works directly with your PMS, streamlining the process.
We now have teledentistry codes, D9995 and D9996. You can charge between $75 and $150 for a consultation that may only take five or ten minutes. And then only bring in the patients into the office that need immediate treatment. You can also determine during the telehealth call if the patient is a COVID-19 risk to the practice, and take extra precautions.
You can use your patient communication software such as RevenueWell or PatientPop’s own system to notify all your patients that you are available for emergencies and can do teledentistry. This is powerful. Your patients will feel cared for, and you can keep them out of the emergency room, which is not where they would want to go now anyway.
Treating emergencies during this crisis is also a chance to attract new patients. At this time, 1-800-DENTIST is fielding tens of thousands of emergency calls a day, and have created a temporary membership that is emergencies only. These are people who don’t have a dentist. Take care of them, and turn them into long term patients. For more information about 1-800-DENTIST’s emergency program, go to www.Futuredontics.com.
PatientPop’s program is extremely affordable, and can pay for itself with just a few patient calls. It is also very easy to learn and install. You can be up and running in half an hour. I encourage you to take a demo of PatientPop Telehealth, for the sake of your revenue, your patients, and the medical industry that is so overwhelmed right now.
Full disclosure, I am an advisor to PatientPop. But I only advise companies with services or products that I think bring real value to my friends in the dental industry. I also am an advisor for PatientPrism for the same reason. And I no longer have any financial interest in 1-800-DENTIST.
Thank you for all you do in health care. You can make a huge difference on the impact of this crisis.
To learn more about PatientPop Telehealth, visit https://fredjoyal.com/patientpop/
Coaching: Fortune Management: https://www.fortunemgmt.com
With all the new technologies appearing in dentistry, it’s challenging to sort out what brings value to the practice, both from a production standpoint and by what is most appealing to patients. So next Wednesday, March 8 at 11am PST, I’m doing a webinar with data and insights that can point you in the direction that will work best for your practice, and maximize your technology investments.
The webinar will be based on a survey of 500 dental professionals nationwide. Here’s some of what you’ll learn:
Plus, because I love you all, everyone who attends gets a free copy of our new e-book, “Advanced Dental Technology – Perception vs. Reality.”
Register by clicking here. And yes, it will be recorded, so as long as you register, even if you can’t attend live, we will send you a link to the recording.
Next Wednesday, February 8th, my old friend Dr. Howard Farran and I will take a deep dive into the raging waters of building a dental team! You can be sure that it will be a lively discussion, and will give you some practical ideas on creating a team that will make your practice thrive in this ever-changing economy. It’s a free webinar (retail value $1 million+) so be sure to join in at 11am Pacific, 2pm Eastern, etc. Register here to join the fun!
Also, if you can’t watch at those times, if you register you will be sent a full video recording of the webinar, so don’t miss out, register today!
The moment many of you have been waiting for is here: my latest book, released last
September, is now available on Audible! We have found that Audible is the best medium for an audio book, and you can find it right here: http://amzn.to/1T0YCug.
The price is $19.95, and unfortunately because it is Amazon I can’t discount it for anyone. 🙁
It will NOT be released on CD, as it has become an archaic (and expensive) medium, and Audible accounts are free, and even have a subscription model.
Now that I’ve managed to get this done, I promise to start blogging regularly again!