To scale a Dental Support Organization (DSO), you must overcome many challenges. One significant challenge is to expand without a proportional increase in your front desk headcount. In this article, we’ll explore strategies to help your DSO thrive while optimizing staff resources.
Understanding the Role of the Front Desk
The front desk team is the heart of the dental practice. These busy employees handle critical tasks like registering patients, scheduling appointments, addressing patient inquiries, dealing with insurance providers and collecting payments. Some front desk teams also handle Human Resources functions for both clinical and non-clinical employees.
What are the Limitations of Increasing Front Desk Headcount?
While you might think that hiring more people for the front desk is necessary when scaling your Dental Support Organization, it’s not that simple. Consider that a DSO scales in three main ways:
- Acquiring established practices
- Opening new practices under the brand (called “de novo” in DSO-speak)
- Attracting more patients to existing practices
Many DSOs use all three strategies. The goal is to grow without a comparable increase in overhead. That’s because expanding front desk teams at the same rate you expand the business limits an increase in EBITDA. This is due to multiple factors. Consider the following issues:
Not Enough Space
If you want to hire more people for the front desk, you’ll need more room in your offices. This can be expensive, and it might not always be possible, especially if your offices are already small.
Training
Every new person you hire for the front desk will need training. This takes time and can hamper how the current team does their work. Plus, you have to retrain as processes and policies change.
Costs
Adding staff costs a lot of money. You have to pay their salaries, benefits, buy more office equipment, and give them a place to work. You need to think about how this will affect your budget.
Management Complexities
Managing a larger front desk team is not easy. It takes good leadership and planning. For example, communication becomes more difficult as you add employees to the team.
Limited Hours
Usually, front desk staff work during regular office hours. If your DSO wants to stay open longer – perhaps for emergency cases – hiring more front desk staff might not help if they’re not willing to work evenings and weekends.
Employee Turnover
The dental field can have a lot of staff turnover. This means that the time and money you spent on training new staff are wasted if they leave.
Fewer Resources
If you spend more money on front desk staff, you’ll have less for other important things, like patient care or better technology.
Clearly, hiring more front desk staff might not be the best way to make your DSO grow. Instead, you can use a smart mix of technology, process improvement, and staff development. Let’s discuss these strategies in more detail.
The Role of Technology in Scaling Your DSO
Well-designed technology can streamline administrative tasks. Dental-specific applications contain various combinations of tools. Here are some of the most common platforms:
- Practice management software (PMS)
- Electronic health records software (EHR)
- AI-powered patient communication software
- Online scheduling platforms
- Patient self-service tools
Successful DSOs use these technologies to automate manual tasks and enable patient self-service.
AI Communication Software
These platforms can handle a variety of tasks, including appointment scheduling and rescheduling and answering common patient inquiries. The platforms operate 24/7, reducing the need for additional front desk staff while improving patient service. And they are extremely cost-effective, some with a monthly cost less than a week’s wages for a receptionist.
The Power of Patient Self-Service
Conversational AI also enables patient self-service which can reduce front desk workload significantly. Consider various self-service options and how they’ve successfully integrated into DSOs. For example, patients can learn which insurance providers you contract with on your website. In addition, they can check in for appointments and fill out paperwork digitally. As mentioned previously, an AI-powered chatbot can enable patients to manage appointments via SMS or with an online scheduling platform. They can also answer patient questions on your website or through texting.
AI-powered systems enable patients to schedule appointments online without the need for phone calls or manual coordination. By integrating with dental practice management software, AI algorithms can check dentists’ availability, suggest suitable time slots, and book appointments seamlessly. This eliminates wait times and simplifies the appointment scheduling process for both patients and dental practices. (Dhopte A., Bagde H., June 2023)
Optimize Appointment Scheduling
Implement efficient scheduling practices to maximize patient volume without overburdening front desk staff. If you have an AI communications platform, you can customize it for scheduling policies. For example, the AI chatbot can present first appointments, sometimes called “moving scheduling forward.” This can help fill the schedule for maximum productivity.
Centralize Administrative Functions
Centralize administrative functions at a DSO level whenever possible. This includes billing, insurance verification, and appointment scheduling. This lets your DSO benefit from economies of scale and reduces the need for front desk staff at individual practices.
Outsource Non-Core Functions
Outsourcing non-core functions, such as billing and insurance verification, can reduce the workload on the front desk. And it is often cheaper in the long run.
Standardize Processes
Successful businesses are built on good systems. Create standardized processes that can be applied across all DSO locations. Standardization reduces the complexity of training and managing front desk staff at each practice. Moreover, it ensures consistent service quality.
Once you’ve created standardized workflows, it’s time to optimize them. First, map workflows. Then analyze the functions one at a time. Scrutinize them for weaknesses like duplicate work or manual tasks that could be automated. Set goals and create a timeline for completion. Improved efficiency leads to increased productivity using your existing staff.
Staff Training and Development
Investing in staff training and development is crucial. Upskilling and cross-training existing staff can help them handle increased workloads effectively.
Final Thoughts
In this blog, we’ve explored strategies to help your DSO scale without adding front desk staff. By optimizing processes, leveraging technology, and investing in staff development, you can achieve growth while maintaining quality patient care.
Dhopte A., Bagde H., “Smart Smile: Revolutionizing Dentistry With Artificial Intelligence” NIH, June 2023
