Download What is an Advance Recall Program

What is an Advanced Observation Program and how can it work for you?
An Advanced Observation Program is a “Kids Club” within your practice created to
exclusively enroll the children you are placing in your observation system. This program
was developed to meet the following goals:
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Build a relationship that keeps the patients and parents wanting to maintain contact and be a
part of your practice.
To keep younger patients (not in braces) actively involved in the practice from their first visit
until the day braces are placed.
To educate both the patient and parent on the importance of monitoring physical growth and
dental development along with the benefits of timing treatment accurately.
To maintain a minimum of four contacts a year with the patient/parent.
To provide unique incentives to the patient/parent to visit the office as prescribed.
To market the practice so effectively that when the patient is ready for treatment they would
not consider seeing another orthodontist for a second opinion.
Being a member of a club is appealing to children, because they like the idea of being a
part of a group that one day will give them “those colored rubber bands on their braces”.
Children feel special when mail is delivered to their home with their name on the
envelope. Mail means you are part of the household and it can bring much pleasure and
the beginning of a lasting relationship. This is potentially very powerful and very
valuable to the orthodontist in retaining the patient’s enthusiasm throughout the
observation process with the end result being “starting treatment”.
Your “Kids Club” should create an ongoing relationship with its members, giving them
tokens of the practice (membership cards, newsletters, stickers, tattoo’s bookmarks,
coupons) and participatory activities. Your club should promote good oral hygiene,
regular dental and orthodontic evaluations along with opportunities for growth and fun.
Your “Kids Club” begins with enrolling the patient in your club at the initial exam. The
doctor educates and informs the parent/patient the child is not ready for braces and will
be placed in observation. Typically the patient is sadden, because they really wanted
braces today! However, the doctor looks at the patient and says, “How would you like to
join my Kids Club”? and of course, the child perks up and wants to know what it means.
The doctor empowers the New Patient Coordinator as the expert on the club and she will
give the patient all the particulars of membership once he/she leaves.
The New Patient Coordinator informs both the patient/parent that membership entitles the
patient to an “official membership package” which is mail directly to the patient at their
home. You remind the patient to be watching for the mailman in approximately one
month. The membership package will have a membership card that if brought to your
next visit will give you a chance to “spin the wheel” and win a prize. They will find
stickers, pencils, puzzles, activity sheet and bookmarkers along with a letter from the
President of the club (the orthodontist) with all the rules and regulations required of the
patient. These rules and regulations include; brush your teeth after every meal and floss
once a day, visit your dentist twice a year for a check-up and cleaning, learn all you can
about braces and don’t forget to come back for your observation visit in four months.
The New Patient Coordinator also tells the patient as a club member they will receive
periodic mailed invitations and fliers to participate in practice functions and events such
as; skate parties, fall festival, summer beach bash and internal contest and drawings,
which are typically held every three months. She let’s the patient/parent know they can
stop by the office and participate in all contest at their convenience.
Offering membership in your exclusive “Kids Club” and maintaining quarterly contact
gives your patients a strong sense of belonging and a reason to choose you over another
orthodontist when the time arrives to start treatment. How many times have you heard
about a conversation between two mothers that goes something like this;
Mom 1
“I heard you took Sean to Dr. Smiths for his orthodontic
evaluation, so when does he get his braces on”?
Mom 2
“Dr. Smith told us Sean would need braces in the future, but not for
another year or two.” Sean goes back next year for a observation visit.
Mom 1
“I am surprised, Sean’s front teeth look just like my Shannon’s and her
orthodontist, Dr. Tringas, said she was ready now. Maybe you should go
and get a second opinion.”
Your “Kids Club” should be an expression and extension of your practices philosophy
and culture and of being close to your patient in a personal and caring way. It brings out
the hospitality of your practice to tell your patients they are special and that you care even
though they are not in braces.
This Advanced Observation Program is not an event. It is a process for educating and
changing patient/parent’s behavior towards being placed in observation. Changing it so
they know why they are waiting for teeth to erupt or monitoring their growth patterns and
why your practice is the “best” place to have orthodontic treatment, and because of this
belief, they tell their friends.
Getting new patients, keeping the patients you have and building on your observation
system is an every day occurrence in the orthodontic practice. The cost in both time and
money of acquiring new patients is expensive usually much higher than getting referrals
from existing patients. Existing patients require less attention, they already know you and
your staff. They understand your care of patient service and because of this
understanding, they are likely to bring siblings, spouses and tell their friends and
neighbors about your practice with less incentive and motivation than it takes to get new
patients. It costs less to take care of what you already have in your observation system
than to find new patients. For these reasons your Advance Observation Program will
work!
Here are 5 tips to develop your Advanced Observation Program
Tip 1
Integrate the “Kids Club” into your existing marketing plan and into your practice’s
culture. Personalized relationships with the recall patient is not a ‘here today gone
tomorrow’ until their next observation visit. Repeated contacts by phone or mail with
educational orthodontic literature, office contest announcements and fliers, birthday cards
or article of interest to either the child or parent. The idea is to keep your practices name
in front of the patient and parent consistently until the day you enroll the patient in
treatment.
Tip 2
Use the knowledge you collect about your observation patients (surveys and one-on-one
conversation) to learn from them what they really want from you. Talk to them and then
listen! They will tell you how to be better at meeting their needs. Example: The parent
may feel they need a handout to show her husband taking about the benefits of waiting on
treatment and why it is normal to have a space between your front four teeth prior to
cuspids erupting.
Tip 3
Target specific and appropriate messages to the observation patient/parent. Not all your
observation patients are created equal. Some need to be seen in three months to start
treatment, others may not be ready to start for 1-2 years, and some may need braces only,
while others need expansion and a Herbst. Some need more attention than others do. This
includes sending the right information to the right patient at the right time. In others
words don’t just send out a postcard with a computer generated label to all patients on
observation, make it personal!
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Send a letter with photographs of the patient’s specific problem (excessive overjet,
spacing, crowding, lower jaw deficiency) as a reminder to the parent as to why
orthodontics is necessary. A single photo can be worth a thousand words.
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Another idea to use; if you don’t have photographs of the patient, send an article on
their specific malocclusion or anything having to do with growth and development.
The AAO has free literature at your request. Many major orthodontic suppliers have
information and brochures on early treatment that can be used. It is our role to
educate the parent on “timing” and “interceptive” procedures to help them understand
the effectiveness and efficiency of getting started at the right time.
Tip 4
Set realistic achievement goals for developing and maintaining your “Kids Club”. Know
you can expect some bumps in the road. Your expectations (4-6 contacts with the patient
during a year and 95% conversion from observation) these numbers should be as high as
you would like to make them ... as long as you provide the resources of staff, money and
time to make it all happen.
Tip 5
Gather statistics, plan from the beginning to measure and track the results of your “Kids
Club”. Why is this important? As you develop and grow your “Kids Club” you need to
know what is working and where you are spending your resources both staff and
financial. Gather statistics, measure and track everything from day one so you make the
right changes at the right time for your practice and the “Kids Club”.
Budget for the Kids Club Program
$____
 Cost of your initial membership packet
$____
 Cost of additional mailings
$____
 Cost of incentives
$____
 Cost of additional educational materials
Observation conversion (monthly basis)
 How many patients placed on observation
 How many observations went to contracts
 How many observations were placed back on observation
 How many observations are on will call or pending treatment
 How many observations transferred or moved
 How many observations did you inactivate
Referrals from observation
 How many patients were referred from your observation status patients
The overall success of your “Kids Club” is dependent on several things:
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The commitment of the doctor and staff to the program (time and money)
The design and execution of its components
Your program must be simple to manage by your team
It must be easy for your members/patients to understand how they benefit
It must offer rewards that will motivate increased response and build retention
Yes, these are "basic" things. Yet, it is amazing how many practices do not think through
this list as they embark on a Advanced Observation Program.
The primary objectives of any Advanced Observation Program are these:
1. Increase enrollment in the practice
2. Increase referrals from satisfied patients/parents
3. Improve patient retention -- to discourage defection to the competition -- by offering
an incentive for being a member of your “Kids Club”.
This Advanced Observation Program “plan” -- this “strategy” of marketing to kids,
works much like compound interest. Your “Kids Club” is like money in the bank. Would
you say your practice is banking and investing in the future with your current observation
program? The results of a new improved observation program will increase with each
contact and so does your success!