235 How To Make Your Front Office Rock with Laura Hatch : Dentistry Uncensored with Howard Farran

•Importance of training •Morning Huddles  •Hand offs •Great Staff Communication  •Staff support doctor and doctor support staff  •Use of headsets in the office  •Much more     I have a bachelor’s degree in human resources and a master’s degree in organizational development. What is that, you might ask? Basically, I have spent years learning how to deal with people in the context of an organization. Before entering the dental field I was a retail store manager, outside sales person, and technical recruiter. After graduating dental school, my husband Tony asked me to help him run is scratch dental office.    We opened our first practice in January 2003 outside of Baltimore, MD. With some more advanced training from a great dental training company, we took our practice from $0 with 0 patients in 2003 to about $120K a month in collections in 2007.   In January 2007, we took our entire staff to Carlsbad, CA (north of San Diego) for hygiene training and fell in love with Southern California. We sold our house and our practice and moved across country with our two young kids. For about a year, I worked in another dental office and quickly realized that without good management, working in an office is not fun. My husband and I opened our second scratch practice in June 2008, in San Diego.   My point in sharing all of this is that I have had experience as an observer of dental offices, an employee in other offices, and finally as a manager for my husband’s practices. (I use the phrase “my husband’s practices” because I believe these are (or were) his practices, 100%. He’s the one that went to dental school for four years and he is the owner of our current practice. I am his Office Manager and as such, view my role as helping him reach his goals as the owner. It is not my practice! I do, however, understand the importance of the Office Manager’s role in kicking her doctor in the butt every so often! And you’ll see that theme time and again in my training and website.)   The first time we opened a scratch practice was in 2003, in Maryland, when the economy was stronger and selling patients on treatments was much easier. We opened our second scratch practice in 2008—right after the recession. And we are only 20 minutes from Mexico, where patients can go to get much cheaper treatment. So we have had out share of challenges getting a new practice to succeed, just like many of you.   Several years on, I’m happy to report that we are generating over $200K a month in collections as a fee-for-service office, with an average of 60–100 new patients a month. I run a staff of over 15, which includes three doctors, four RDHs, three dental assistants, and four employees at the front desk.   I am now the founder and owner of Front Office Rocks. I created this company with the goal of helping other dental offices train and learn new policies and procedures that my team and I have proven are very successful in making dental offices work better.       www.FrontOfficeRocks.com   (800) 914-3595    10755 Scripps Poway Parkway Suite 413 San Diego, CA 92131