Last updated on September 26th, 2024 at 03:44 pm
Many offices have a “morning huddle.” And what’s covered at this meeting varies office to office. And while many offices coordinate the day’s treatment – very few coordinate how the office will actually achieve their production goals for that day or week.
To that end, one of the first things MGE clients implement in their practices is a “Morning Production Meeting.” In this article, we’re going to talk about what a Morning Production Meeting is, how it’s run and what it’s supposed to achieve. We published an article about this a few years ago, we’ve since updated it quite a bit and wanted to share it with you!
(Related: 4 Meetings You Should Be Holding In Your Dental Practice)
Before you get into this, I wanted to mention that while planning is important, the ability to execute is of equal if not more importance. And while the information in this article alone should raise your production, if you were to add better control of your schedule and improved treatment presentation skills to it – the results could be dramatic! To that end, I’d recommend you try the:
- Effective Case Acceptance Seminar or the Art of Scheduling Productively Seminar that we offer all over the US and Canada. And by the way – these seminars are FREE. For more information click here.
- The scheduling and case acceptance training on our online platform: DDS Success at ddssuccess.com!
And with that said let’s get into how to run this meeting! Hope you enjoy it.
(Related: Increasing Production From Your Existing Patient Base)
I. PURPOSE OF THE “MORNING PRODUCTION MEETING”
The purpose of this meeting is to coordinate the scheduled production and case presentation activities of that day. It is also used to “line-up” which patients you will be presenting treatment to (or closing cases that have already been presented earlier) and when they will be seen to ensure that all your patients are moving along on their treatment plans.
II. WHEN TO HAVE IT
The morning production meeting needs to be held at least fifteen to twenty minutes before the first patient of the day. It should take no more than this to get it done.
(Related: Making Time for the “Business Side” of Dentistry)
III. WHO SHOULD ATTEND
All staff should attend. And note, that this meeting is primarily to cover treatment planning and acceptance – as well as any specific patient scheduling and delivery issues. Detailed clinical discussion of cases should not be covered at this meeting. These should be covered in a separate “clinical meeting” accordingly.
medicine, healthcare and oral surgery concept – group of doctors or surgeons discussing jaw x-ray on tablet pc computer screen at hospital or face and jaw surgery center
IV. PRODUCTION MEETING RULES
Several rules should be followed to have an effective “production meeting”:
- The meeting should be kept brief and efficient (no more than 15-20 minutes).
- Every person attending needs to be on-time and come prepared.
- Keep the tasks that you assign simple and doable. Do not set “unreal” or unattainable targets.
- The Office Manager runs the meeting and is in charge of starting, managing, and coordinating activity, as well as when to end the meeting.
(Related: The Scheduling for Production Seminar)
V. PRIOR TO THE MEETING
- The Scheduling Coordinator would listen to voicemails and check office emails to ensure that any schedule changes and updates are accounted for.
- The Scheduling Coordinator would print/copy hard copies of that day’s schedule for all attendees.
- The Hygienists would review their charts for any outstanding treatment and bring this information to the meeting. If the office still uses physical charts, they would bring these to the meeting.
- The Doctor and Office Manager would do the same as #3 above for the doctor’s patients (at least initially as you establish the meeting procedure).
VI. SEQUENCE OF THE MEETING
To begin, the OM, has the Scheduling Coordinator point out any changes to the schedule along with any open time on today’s and tomorrow’s schedule.
The OM covers where the practice is at statistically (for collections, new patients and production) for the week and month to date and how this compares with the overall goal for the month. If below goal, the OM indicates any adjustments or actions that will occur to get the office back on track. This may include adjustments to the schedule or actions to be taken that day.
(Related: What Exactly is an Office Manager (And Why You Absolutely Need One!))
Beginning with Chair 1, review each patient coming in that day. As you cover each, look at the following:
- What is being done with this patient today?
- Are there any peculiarities to or specific requirements for this patient?
- Is there an outstanding balance to collect from this patient?
- Does this patient have any outstanding treatment that has already been diagnosed and not yet accepted?
- If so, who is going to present/discuss this outstanding treatment with this patient?
- Is there time in the schedule to discuss this outstanding treatment?
- If not, is a consult appointment needed and if so, when would we like to get them in for a consult?
- If we can present today, do we have time to begin this patient’s treatment in the schedule? And if not, how can we make time as needed?
Do the above with each chart. For any patients that require action (i.e. collecting a balance, presenting treatment, etc.) determine WHO will be doing this and approximately when it will be done. As you go through your charts, keep the overall monthly goal as well as upcoming open time in the schedule in mind. For example, you might see that patient X who’s seeing the Hygienist at 11:00 was interested in Invisalign. You might have time to get the doctor over to discuss, close and start the case without disrupting today’s schedule. Things like this might make or help make your daily goal.
(Related: 7 Ways to Fill Openings in the Doctor’s Schedule)
Before the close of the meeting, have each person present, note their tasks as applicable — i.e., the Financial Coordinator may need to check on Mr. Jones’ account, etc.
Adjourn the meeting and have the Office Manager ensure throughout the day that everyone is accomplishing what was discussed.
VII. PRODUCTION BUGS
In the event you’ve hit a snag and are having trouble meeting your daily/weekly/monthly goal – a few things to keep in mind:
Be careful to keep the focus on the right things: the purpose of your practice, which is helping patients! It’s easy to fall into the “numbers” trap – i.e “We have to hit a certain number, etc.” The problem with this is that patients aren’t there to help you “hit your numbers.” They are there to get help! If you stay focused on the same thing as they are (help), things tend to work out well.
If you find that you aren’t lined up to meet your goal and there is not enough outstanding treatment on the schedule to hit it, you can look at:
- New patients – While you can never guarantee what the person might need – there’s always a chance, if you have time, to present and start treatment that day. Not a surefire solution but a possibility and
- Future Treatment: You can always pull treatment from the future into today. Some patients might like the idea of being seen sooner. And today as far as the schedule goes, today is THE most important day! Then tomorrow and so on. On the flip side – please NEVER move patients to make room for a “Productive Procedure.” Honor the scheduled time you’ve given people.
(Related: Here’s How You Can Hit Your Production Goals… Every Month)
VIII. SUMMARY
The first step in getting production to occur is to figure out where it is going to come from and getting it accepted. This meeting enables you to plan that intelligently, but it all still hinges on your (and your staff’s) ability to get treatment accepted, paid for and scheduled. And again, if you really want to get the most out of this and boost practice production, I’d suggest the Effective Case Acceptance Seminar or the Art of Scheduling Productively Seminar or checking out our online platform, DDS Success at www.ddssuccess.com!
As always, if you have any questions, feel free to email me at jeff@mgeonline.com
