Dental Office Management Best Practices to Better Support Your Team

View the original article, "OMAM 2024: New Ideas and Insights from Colleagues, Coaches and Consultants," published in the September 2024 issues of Dental Economics.

Office Management Appreciation Month (OMAM), which takes place each September, is the perfect opportunity to celebrate the crucial work you and your management team do on a daily basis. OMAM is not simply about showing appreciation, it also is about practicing self-care.

Heather Colicchio, president of the American Association of Dental Office Management (AADOM), explains why self-care is an important part of OMAM.

“I want to encourage our office management teams to prioritize self-care and self-celebration in September and all year long,” she says. “You pour so much of yourselves into your teams, practices and patients and need to remember to take a moment to recharge and appreciate your own talents and strengths.”

People who work in practice management are acutely aware of just how demanding the job can be, which is why CareCredit, in partnership with AADOM, has given the OMAM website an exciting update this year to include a new feature — a curated list of tips and tricks from colleagues, coaches and consultants that may make your life easier.

Time-Saving Office Management Tips

The list of helpful time- and effort-saving suggestions on the OMAM website has been created with you and your colleagues in mind. Angela Martinez, former office manager and current CareCredit employee says, “One way we can appreciate the management team this year is by being helpful, especially as many practices are still understaffed, leaving the existing team to carry a bit more of the load. So we reached out to some of our practices and partners for real-life advice.”

Here are just two of what you’ll find on the OMAM website.

The first helpful hack might seem like an obvious one, but you’d be surprised by how many practices do not do cross-training as a routine part of their team training process. Beverly Wilburn, Diplomate of the American Association of Dental Office Management (DAADOM) and practice administrator, suggests, “Invest time in cross-training your team. This can make your life a lot easier when you’re down a team member because of turnover, vacation or sickness.”

Life happens, and sometimes situations can arise with little warning, which is why it is so important that you and your team are prepared. Cross-training results in team members who can be effortlessly flexible when necessary.

"Cross-training can be done during morning huddles and weekly meetings," adds Wilburn. "But I’ve found it’s best to set aside an hour or two a week. For example, we cross-trained my dental assistants to present treatment plans. We had them observe one of the front office teams during the treatment and financial conversation, did some roleplaying exercises and then let them try it. 

"I've seen skills in them that I didn't necessarily expect to see," she continues. "They are good at discussing the value of treatment because they really believe in what the doctor is recommending. I also have a ‘floater’ — a Steri-tech person who's got a lot of clinical knowledge but didn't have any front-office knowledge. Now they're able to come up front and help the administrative team out.”

When cross-training is done preemptively, it reduces the opportunity for added stress later on, while ensuring a consistent, quality patient experience.           

The second hack to highlight is from Carrie Weber, president of Jameson Management. “Life is easier when you are intentional about improvement.”

One way she recommends doing this is by frequently creating space for the team to practice new skills or bond as colleagues. She explains, “In addition to daily huddles and weekly team meetings, we have quarterly what we at Jameson call ‘Brain Trust Meetings.’ These meetings are specifically where you and your team work very in-depth and intentionally on a system, a piece of technology, verbal skills or an element of the practice that needs attention. So we can all continue to improve together.” 

In addition to even more ideas and insights, the OMAM website also has social media templates and other resources to help the entire team celebrate this September.                     

Having colleagues, coaches and consultants share tips during OMAM is great. But what about the other 11 months of the year?

Angela Martinez notes, “CareCredit has a wide range of valuable resources to help solve key practice issues – like tips on having financial conversations to help more patients say ‘yes’ to recommended treatment. If you’re looking to dive deeper, practice teams who accept [the CareCredit credit card] can access these resources on the CareCredit Provider Center.”

Debbie Evans, DAADOM and practice administrator, has personally had a great experience using CareCredit’s QR code tools. “CareCredit’s custom link QR code display has made my life a little easier. Patients just scan it and go to a site where they learn all about financing and can [see if they] prequalify without impacting their credit bureau score,” Evans says. “If you don’t have a custom link and you’d like to save some time and give patients a great experience, you really should try it.”

Working in office management requires you to think about a million little things at once, as you already know. So, if there are ways to reduce that number, OMAM is the optimal time to practice self-care and begin to implement new strategies that lighten the load.

A Dental Patient Financing Solution for Your Practice

Want to help more patients move forward with the dental care they want or need? Consider offering CareCredit as a financing solution. CareCredit allows patients to pay for out-of-pocket dental care costs over time while helping enhance the payments process for your practice.

When you accept CareCredit, patients can see if they prequalify with no impact to their credit score, and those who apply, if approved, can take advantage of special financing on qualifying purchases.* Additionally, you will be paid directly within two business days.

Learn more about the CareCredit credit card as a dental patient financing solution or start the provider enrollment process by filling out this form.

Author Bio

Angela Martinez is vice president of strategic associations and dental health policy at CareCredit.

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