Dental Sleep Medicine Insider July 2016 | Page 7

KIMMY MOONEY TIME IS MONEY TIME IS MONEY! S WANT S MORE WANT MORE OF IT? OF IT? W hat’s the most valuable, yet scarcest resource in your practice? TIME. I’ve heard it innumerable times from practices. They want to make dental sleep medicine a more integral part of the practice but lack the time. They lack the time to train appropriately, the time to implement systems, and the time to manage all the processes inherent to managing dental sleep medicine patients. I want to give you more time. If you heed my advice, I guarantee you will be the proud owner of more time. More time will generate more patients and increased production in the office. So, what’s the catch? The catch is called a “Sleep Ambassador.” This individual is responsible to define & navigate the flow of sleep medicine treatment from initial contact to completed treatment. So who is this invaluable “Sleep Ambassador” and where do you find one? I’ve worked closely with Sleep Ambassadors that entered practices from numerous different paths: • Existing team members looking for something new and interesting • Hygienists that have tired of prophys, scaling, and root planning planing • Former retail clerks or customer service reps What’s most important is that a candidate for the esteemed title of Sleep Ambassador should possess each of the following traits: • Organized • Goal-oriented • Patient-centric • Self-starter • Committed learner be reYour Sleep SleepAmbasssador Ambassadorwill will be sponsible to ensure thefollowing followinglist list responsible for the initiatives is is executed executed properly: properly: of initiatives • All patients are screened • Testing protocol is fluid • Financial discussions are wellscripted and properly delivered • Other team members firmly grasp their roles in the dental sleep portion of your practice • Patients appointed properly and insurance documentation relayed correctly • And much more Please note that currently these tasks fall within your purview. This prevents you from focusing on patient care. If you’ve been savvy enough to delegate many of the above tasks already, it’s important that each team member firmly understands exactly what they’re supposed to do. Relying on your Sleep Ambassador to minimize most of the obstacles before appropriately delegating to the team is a good idea. Your Sleep Ambassador will ensure that correct documentation is procured, communication is properly relayed to both the patient and physicians, claims are submitted properly, and marketing efforts are ongoing. Hoping and praying that the numerous valued staff members you already have in place will collectively step up to the plate to ensure each of the aforementioned tasks are completed properly is frankly...a waste of time. Send me an email by 8/15/16 with the number of times the word “time” appears in the article and I will send you a FREE in-office Marketing Kit. The TIME is now. KIMMY MOONEY Member Support Expert [email protected]