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906: Metric Mondays: Patient Acceptance Percentage – Miranda Beeson

Do you want a productive, predictable schedule? Knowing this one number will make that happen! In this episode of Metric Mondays, Kirk Behrendt brings back Miranda Beeson, ACT’s director of education, to break down patient acceptance percentage. By tracking this metric, you can increase case acceptance, improve your production, and help patients get the care they need more quickly. To learn how to fill your schedule with more high-value visits, listen to Episode 906 of The Best Practices Show!

 

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Episode Resources:

Main Takeaways:

  • Start by building value during the treatment presentation.
  • Ensure that your team is equipped to handle objections.
  • Practice using “so that” statements with your team.
  • Ground conversations in outcomes, not just price.
  • Have financial options available for patients.

Quotes:

“There's a clinical and an administrative component to patient acceptance because it all starts with the clinicians building value during that treatment presentation conversation. So, when we are making that new diagnosis, how are we conveying that information to our patients? Are we talking outcomes and building value, versus, ‘This is what I want,’ or working towards my agenda for what I think you need and putting it in the computer behind the patient's head, and then they get up front, and they don't even know what's going on? So, the really cool thing about this metric is it directly influences production because when patients say yes, they end up scheduled in our schedule. That helps us to make sure that we're hitting those goals and we're having that schedule stability.” (5:22—6:06) -Miranda

“Say we're doing exactly what we're supposed to be doing in presenting treatment, but people aren't saying yes. It's a missed opportunity, and it's going to lead to unpredictable schedules. It's going to lead to either holes in the schedule or crazy chaos because we're filling the schedule with anything that we possibly can, not these pre-planned, known treatment plans. Instead, we're counting on an emergency showing up and doing some same-day. Or who knows what's going to happen if we open up that crown that day. So, it's going to help us if we can keep this high.” (6:23—6:57) -Miranda

“That low percentage of people saying yes generally indicates that we have gaps in the way that we communicate the value of treatment. That can happen in the back and that can happen in the front. The other thing to remember is that patients who don't say yes, who delay care, they decline often, they're like, ‘I need to think about it,’ they're going to do one of two things. They're going to drift away from the practice and perhaps end up not coming back, and now we've lost an active patient, or they're going to come back as an emergency because, at some point, that recommendation we made is going to have a significant health consequence. So, how do we help them to understand the value of moving forward, even if it's in small steps, so that we can help not only keep them tethered to the practice, loyal to the practice, mixed into our continuity of care, but also, we're helping them get healthier? Because when they don't say yes, they're not going to get healthier. They're going to be living every day with whatever problem it is that we just diagnosed.” (6:57—7:57) -Miranda

“When it's going well, you're probably hitting the benchmark, which is around 75% to 80% patient acceptance rate. When you're doing a really good job, when you have strong presentation skills, when you have clear payment solutions, financial options for your patients, and they're able to say yes, you're going to see your patient acceptance percentage somewhere in that 75% to 85% acceptance rate range. If I'm working with a client and they're at 75% or above, I know they're doing a good job in building value and in the systems that they have in place for scheduling patients and getting that acceptance. When you can personalize those conversations, that takes it to the next level. Like, we're meeting patient goals. That takes it to the next level. When we can loop the whole team in to be a part of this system, this treatment presentation and patient acceptance system in the practice, then patients are going to be more likely to say yes.” (8:13—9:05) -Miranda

“When [patient acceptance is] not going well, this is when treatment is emailed. ‘We'll send you an estimate. Let's wait till we get that pre-auth back, and then we'll reach out to you. We'll call you and try to set something up.’ Or you print something and send it home with the patient. They want to think about it. You let them hit you with that objection and walk out the door. You don't handle that. You don't counter that. Maybe you're not equipped to. Offices that allow for the patient to drive that conversation and we don't build value on the front end, in the front office when we're delivering that actual treatment plan with the dollar amounts associated with it, we're not going to have the schedule that we need to make sure that we're hitting our goals.” (9:20—10:02) -Miranda

“When you're under 75%, I would say there's a gap. It's either going to be clinically in when we're presenting and co-diagnosing with our patients and the value that we're creating. We're probably talking more about the treatment than the outcome on the other end of that. The other side of that is, it could be our administrative team and the way in which we're delivering treatment plans and/or — again, like I said, I just talked with a client earlier today and they do a lot of pre-authorizations. They bring it up before the patient does, the majority of the time. I'm like, ‘You are creating this problem for yourself because the patient might not even be concerned about the investment. You are assuming that they are, and now they're walking out the door without a scheduled visit because we're waiting for this documentation.’ So, it all points back to our systems, whether it be communication or financial options. But it takes the clinical team and the admin team to really make this work.” (10:02—10:59) -Miranda

“The average American has $600 to $1,000 for emergency expenses. So, there are a lot of people out there who are literally price shopping. They're thinking like, ‘It's this or my hot water heater that needs to be replaced.’ That's the reality of our customers on a regular basis. If all we're talking about is that dollar amount then, yeah, they're going to have to measure that against these other things in their life that may have a higher value. But if we can help them to see the outcome on the other side, help them to understand, ‘What is your goal?’ ‘Well, I want to make sure I keep my teeth,’ and if we explain and help them to understand that, ‘The outcome of this treatment we're recommending is going to fulfill that goal of keeping your teeth. Actually, not doing it is going to put you at risk of losing your teeth. How would you feel about that?’ and letting them think through the outcome — we have to put the value there before the price tag.” (11:32—12:28) -Miranda

“If you're tracking [your patient acceptance percentage] and then you find out, ‘Hey, we are off track,’ you have to look at the two components that play a role in this diagnostic measure, which is the clinical piece and the administrative piece. So, clinically, you want to ask yourself, are the conversations that we are having in the back when we see these things, when we make the diagnosis, are the conversations grounded in patient outcomes? Are we using photography? Are we walking them through the radiographs? Are we showing them other cases? Perhaps you have a folder on your desktop of an old, nasty amalgam, a broken tooth, and then the beautiful porcelain crown that came after, and you can help them to see because they don't know what we know as trained professionals. So, in the clinical realm, you want to make sure that those conversations you're having around that diagnosis are grounded in patient outcome. The value is front of mind, and it's not just the need or the treatment itself.” (14:07—15:08) -Miranda

“Select the top five treatments that you perform on a regular basis, especially if they're ones that you feel like people aren't saying yes to, and create some “so that” statements. I've talked about this a lot of times before . . . This came up for me when my daughter used to want to borrow my phone, and it would annoy me like crazy. Finally, she's like, ‘I want to check my grade. I want to see if my teacher put my grade in.’ I'm like, ‘If you had led with, so that I can check my grades, can I borrow your phone, I would have been much more likely to let you borrow my phone versus, can I borrow your phone, and I'm immediately annoyed, like, no.’ So, the same thing happens in our practice. If you can develop these “so that” statements, say, for example, around a crown, and we're not just saying, ‘Mr. Jones, you're going to need a crown on that tooth.’ Even if you end it with, ‘So that we can protect your tooth from breaking,’ they heard “crown”, they heard “money”, “time”, and they're already shut down. So, we've got to lead with, ‘So that we can protect that tooth from breaking and keep you from having emergencies, which you shared was really important with us, we would do a full-coverage restoration and change that filling out to a crown before your tooth breaks.’” (15:16—16:28) -Miranda

“On the administrative side, you want to make sure that the people presenting treatment in your office are equipped to handle objections. Without value, there is only price. We talked about that already. So, if we're leaning into price and we're getting a lot of objections, we're getting those, ‘I'm going to need to go home and think about it. I'm going to need to check with my husband. I need to check my calendar,’ there's something there that is lacking in value, more than likely. If we just say, ‘Okay. Well, give us a call if you change your mind. Here's the treatment plan,’ and we print it and send it home with them, that's a missed opportunity. Instead, if you can lean into the concept of your team getting really comfortable with managing probably just time and money — those are the biggest objections people share with us — they're going to be more confident in being able to handle those conversations.” (18:02—18:47) -Miranda

“A simple [way to handle objections] — and I did not come up with this one. This has gone around for a long time — is feel, felt, found and getting them to make some feel, felt, found statements to manage those objections. So, if somebody says, ‘This is more than I was expecting. I'm going to need a little time to think about it.’ ‘Mrs. Jones, I totally understand how you feel. So many of our patients have felt the same way. What we have found is, usually, there's still a question about the clinical outcome, or perhaps options that we may have to help you find this more affordable. Would you like to talk about any of those before you go home to consider this today?’ A lot of times, that opens the door for them to maybe ask a question that they were nervous or ashamed to ask, and saying like, ‘Oh, yeah. Can I pay you in payments instead?’ Now, that leads us into the last trick here, which is, have some financial options on hand because it's going to be easier for people to say yes if they have a way to break it up into smaller payments over time. We just talked about $600 to $1,000. That's about what anybody has for an emergency need. So, if we can provide an option for them to make it more attainable month over month, they're going to be able to say yes more often.” (18:48—19:56) -Miranda

Snippets:

0:00 Introduction.

2:13 Patient acceptance percentage, explained.

5:17 Build value during treatment presentation.

8:08 What high and low patient acceptance percentages mean.

10:59 Without value, there's only price.

13:13 Use the “so that” method.

17:27 Eliminate the word “need”.

17:57 Equip your team to handle objections.

19:58 About ACT’s BPA, TTT, and Pro Coaching.

Miranda Beeson, MS, BSDH Bio:

Miranda Beeson has over 25 years of clinical dental hygiene, front office, practice administration, and speaking experience. She is enthusiastic about communication and loves helping others find the power that words can bring to their patient interactions and practice dynamics. As a Lead Practice Coach, she is driven to create opportunities to find value in experiences and cultivate new approaches.

Miranda graduated from Old Dominion University, and enjoys spending time with her husband, Chuck, and her children, Trent, Mallory, and Cassidy. Family time is the best time, and is often spent on a golf course, a volleyball court, or spending the day boating at the beach. 
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