Appointment Protocols

Wednesday, June 01, 2005

  1. Emphasize when making appointment that we need 48 hours notice to cancel or change. “Please don’t make an appointment you are not sure you can keep.”
  2. Check recalls due for other family members on the routing slip of the family member who is in the office
  3. All appointments for patients in the office are made in the operatory not at the front desk. The appointment label or page is printed from the operatory, not at the front desk. The only exceptions are for appointment’s that need financial arrangements; these patients are seated in the tray-prep area until Linda, Terry, or Julie can discuss the financial arrangements with them.
  4. All treatment plans and clinical charting is completed in the operatory before the patient leaves the chair. Under no circumstances are patients to be “dropped off” at the front desk with incomplete treatment plans, “set order” not indicated, or lack of charting of the “plan” with time units
  5. It is the responsibility of the hygienist to discuss with the patient any treatment that was previously recommended but has not been completed unless the treatment was “set order 8, 9, 10” (ie, vs. watch); chart the conversation.
  6. When a patient fails an appointment or cancels at the last minute, mark them as an “AA”unless the exception is personally approved by Bruce.
  7. Do not pre-appoint “AA” patients; we will send them a recall card or put them on the quick call list in 6 months
  8. All patients are sent either a confirmation postcard or a confirmation email three weeks before their appointment (Linda to either do or delegate each Wednesday)
  9. Recall cards will be sent three times: 1) month the patient is due 2) 3 months after the patient was due 3) “dusty chart” letter one year after the patient was due (Linda to either do or delegate each Wednesday)
  10. All hygiene patients are confirmed by the hygienists 72 hours before their appointment; mark appt as confirmed on schedule. We are checking to see that they got their confirmation notice, we are not “calling to confirm your appointment.”
  11. Any patient who fails an appointment or does not give us 24 hours notice to cancel an appointment is sent the “we missed you” letter, even if they have already rescheduled the appointment; Hygienists will print letters for their patients and assistants will print letters for doctors’ patients; after printing, bring each letter to Bruce for his signature.
  12. Julie and Terry will spend a total of 4 hours each week (two hours each) “working the schedule” to ensure both hygienists’ and doctors’ schedules are full. These time blocks will be marked out of the schedule and will not be used for any other purpose.