Treatment coordinator opt
By Roger P. Levin, DDS

Although orthodontists meet with patients, treatment coordinators (TCs) actually spend far more time with them. The doctor will come in, advocate treatment, and then leave the room. However, both before and after that point, the TC—who should feel like a best friend—works with patients and parents to create motivation for treatment.

The TC has three primary responsibilities:

  1. Overseeing the new patient experience. The TC is the central organizing force during the first visit. She tells the orthodontist when to come in, informs the front desk team when to schedule, informs the financial coordinator when to check insurance, and finally takes the patient through the experience.
  2. Maintaining patient flow. To ensure sufficient starts, there must always be enough time in the schedule for consults. It is not necessary to take up a great deal of the orthodontist’s time during consults. In fact, the orthodontist can spend just 5 to 8 minutes with any given patient and still achieve a more than 90% case acceptance rate.
  3. Tracking everything. Ortho practices should know how many potential parents or patients called, how many came in, and how many patients accepted treatment. The treatment coordinator must carefully track this information. How many adults? How many children? Which parents or patients are making the most referrals to your office? Where are patients coming from? From what high school? All of this is important information that must be collected and analyzed to increase ortho practice growth.

With an excellent TC, orthodontists need not possess an outgoing personality to enjoy extraordinary case acceptance numbers. A well-trained TC can motivate patients and parents to accept treatment 90% of the time.

 

levin Go to www.levingroup.com/orthotc to learn about the Treatment Coordinator Online Study Clubâ„¢, a free educational resource created by Levin Group to promote the professional growth of TCs and their effectiveness at influencing patients and parents to accept ortho treatment. You can connect with Levin Group on Facebook and Twitter (Levin_Group) to learn strategies and share ideas.