Quickly Scheduling Appointments Using Initial Reasons and Treatment-Planned Procedures

When scheduling an appointment in Dentrix you can select procedures from the Initial Reasons list or from the Treatment Plan Reasons list—all from within the Appointment Information dialog box. Here’s how I use both of these options and why.

The Initial Reasons List

I use the Initial Reasons list to schedule routine procedures. For example, exams, X-rays, adult and child cleanings can all be set up as options to choose from the Initial Reasons list.

This is a fast way to schedule routine procedures. This can also be a great way to schedule appointments for team members who aren’t familiar with individual procedure codes. The Initial Reasons list can be customized with the routine procedures you often do in your office in the Dentrix Office Manager. 

Another great way to save time when scheduling using the Initial Reasons list is to set up multi-codes and include them in the Initial list. For example, you could create a multi-code that contains all the procedures for a child prophy, periodic exam, x-rays and fluoride. By adding the multi-code to the Initial Reasons list, you can now easily schedule all those procedures in just a couple of clicks. Multi-codes can be created and edited in the Dentrix Office Manager. 

The Treatment Plan (TX) Reasons List

The other way to schedule a patient appointment is using the TX button, which contains a list of all of a patient’s treatment-planned procedures. This includes treatment-planned procedures that are tooth- or surface-specific, for example, a filling or a crown.

These procedures can be treatment planned in the Patient Chart and then scheduled using the TX button in the Appointment Information window. 

Note: I don’t recommend treatment planning routine procedures (such as cleanings or X-rays) because if a patient cancels their routine procedure appointment, those procedures will be considered an unscheduled treatment plan and will affect your unscheduled treatment plan reports and case acceptance reports. 

Using these appointment scheduling options in Dentrix can help save time and ensure your Unscheduled Treatment Plan Reports are accurate. 

Please e-mail me with any questions vectordentalconsulting@gmail.com.

Charlotte Skaggs, Certified Dentrix Trainer

Charlotte Skaggs is the founder of Vector Dental Consulting LLC, a practice management firm focused on taking offices to the next level. Charlotte co-owned and managed a successful dental practice with her husband for 17 years. She has a unique approach to consulting based on the perspective of a practice owner. Charlotte has been using Dentrix for almost 20 years and is a certified Dentrix trainer. Contact Charlotte at vectordentalconsulting@gmail.com.

A Few Remarks about Claim Remarks Templates

Do you find yourself writing the same narrative over and over on insurance claims? I’ve found that for some procedures I tend to write the same narrative for many patients. For example, scaling and root planing is a procedure I find myself writing similar information for every patient.

In Dentrix you can set up templates for claim remarks to add narratives to claims with a single point and click. This can save time so that you aren’t always re-typing the same notes. And by having a note template set up, it takes the guesswork out of what to write in the claim remarks.

Insurance companies are constantly changing the information they want to know about a procedure and providing them with that information when initially filing the claim can help to avoid delays in payment.

I’ve set up claim remarks for the following procedures:

• Crown due to cracked tooth
• Crown following endodontic therapy
• Crown due to large filling with recurrent decay
• Nitrous Oxide
• Scaling and Root Planing

I also have a claim remark setup that states that a primary EOB is attached, to use when filing a secondary claim.

Pre-written claim remarks can be added to a claim and can also customized within the insurance claim window in the Dentrix Ledger. These notes can also be set up and customized in the Office Manager. You can choose to select one or multiple claim remarks on each claim.

Delays in insurance payment for insufficient information can be avoided by providing insurance companies with any and all information they may request when initially filing the claim. Receiving insurance payments in a timely manner helps to maintain healthy accounts receivable and cash flow.

If you have questions about how to set up claim remarks or why it’s important to add them, please e-mail me at vectordentalconsulting@gmail.com. Let me know what procedures and situations you create claim remarks for!

Charlotte Skaggs, Certified Dentrix Trainer

Charlotte Skaggs is the founder of Vector Dental Consulting LLC, a practice management firm focused on taking offices to the next level. Charlotte co-owned and managed a successful dental practice with her husband for 17 years. She has a unique approach to consulting based on the perspective of a practice owner. Charlotte has been using Dentrix for almost 20 years and is a certified Dentrix trainer. Contact Charlotte at vectordentalconsulting@gmail.com.

6 Tips for Confirming Patient Appointments

Making sure that patients come for their appointments and arrive on time is an important part of the front office team’s job. Having patients miss or forget appointments can be costly to the office, resulting in lost production and lost revenue. One way to make sure that doesn’t happen is by having a method in place for confirming patient appointments.

Here are some of my best tips on confirming appointments: 

1. Confirm appointments two days in advance. On Monday, confirm Tuesday and Wednesday’s appointments. That way if a patient cancels the appointment during the confirmation call, you have given yourself additional time to fill the opening on the schedule. Call Monday appointments on the Friday before to confirm them.
2. Consider using a service to confirm appointments by text and e-mail. In today’s world, many people prefer reminders this way and it saves your office time by not having to contact these patients by phone. Patient Engage offers options for these services.
3. Request a confirmation call back. When leaving a voicemail, I find it beneficial to request the patient call the office back to confirm that they will be coming their appointment.
4. When creating or updating patient accounts in Dentrix, request more than one phone number for patients. When possible, get an alternate phone number such as a work number in addition to a mobile number. This gives you more opportunity to reach the patient directly.
5. Use appointment statues to indicate how the appointment was confirmed or if you had to leave a message, so you know which patients to attempt to contact again. Appointment statuses can be customized in the Dentrix Office Manager.
6. If you want to make note of anything unusual that transpired during the confirmation call, the Dentrix Office Journal would be a good place to do that. An example of something unusual I would make a note of would be if I left a message with a person, such as a caregiver. 

Successfully confirming appointments can help to ensure that patients make it to those appointments. Broken appointments results in lost production and revenue. Minimizing broken appointments is beneficial for your practice. 

If you have questions about confirming appointments, email me at vectordentalconsulting@gmail.com.

Charlotte Skaggs, Certified Dentrix Trainer

Charlotte Skaggs is the founder of Vector Dental Consulting LLC, a practice management firm focused on taking offices to the next level. Charlotte co-owned and managed a successful dental practice with her husband for 17 years. She has a unique approach to consulting based on the perspective of a practice owner. Charlotte has been using Dentrix for almost 20 years and is a certified Dentrix trainer. Contact Charlotte at vectordentalconsulting@gmail.com.