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How to Use Your Dental Practice Data to Increase Your Treatment Acceptance Rate

Nov 09, 2021

No, you’re not a mind-reader. Although the closest you might get to mind-reading is how you use data analytics to increase your dental practice’s treatment acceptance rate.

An “inside” look into how and why your patients accept, deny, and/or follow through on treatment is a core KPI (Key Performance Indicator) of your dental production cycle.

The new era of data analysis

Analyzing data is the new-norm for business. Its application to the healthcare industry – including dentistry – is helping improve treatment presentations and care delivery.

Your dental practice growth and clinical impact can improve as you expand your practice management platform to include analytics. Data analysis helps increase awareness –

  • About your practice’s health and impact
  • About your patient experience, patient acquisition, and patient retention
  • About your team’s workflows, efficiency, and productivity

Each of these, in some way, is connected to patients accepting and following through on treatment. Data is the common thread.

How to use your available data to help drive treatment acceptance

Discover what’s available in your data

You and your team are likely accustomed to creating reports. The same applies to mining your data for treatment acceptance metrics.

  • What is the ratio of treatment presentations to treatment acceptance?
  • What trends can be observed relative to treatment that patients accept or choose not to accept?
  • What can you learn and apply to better prepare for treatment presentations that lead to increased acceptance?

Use your data discoveries to compare and improve your treatment acceptance percentages.

”Drill-down” into data specifics

Certain “seasons,” annual quarters, and general societal challenges (e.g. COVID-19 pandemic, etc) can skew data results. It’s important to not overreact thinking you’re facing a downward trend. In reality, it could be merely an isolated event.

  • Pinpoint date ranges where treatment acceptance is high or low.
  • Learn from measurable (and actual) trend periods and adapt your presentation narrative and expectations.

You might not be able to change what’s impacting your treatment acceptance rates but you can make positive adjustments to the process.

And speaking of trends…

  • Take a “big picture” approach to your practice data
  • Check your team’s “pulse” related to their observations
  • Listen to patient feedback and patient reviews to determine what’s driving satisfaction and/or dissatisfaction

Define your patient demographics

Start with patient information such as age, gender, general health, and insurance. Compare this with appointment frequency, treatment acceptance, and treatment follow-through.

Again, this data could provide key insights into why certain patients are accepting (or denying) treatment. For example, you could discover how and why some new patients require more time than others to accept treatment beyond an initial exam or first appointment.

Determine treatment details

Explore your patient data relative to hygiene and restorative treatment. Hygiene reappointments can give you insight into who’s accepting treatment.

  • Patients who reappoint for routine exams and cleanings
  • Patients who require and appoint for scaling and root planing
  • Patients who require and schedule for periodontal treatment and maintenance

Restorative treatment data (much that perhaps aligns with hygiene appointments) can show you the percentages relative to diagnosis and case acceptance.

You and your team can further analyze your treatment presentation narrative. Acceptance and scheduling follow-through provides you insight into how patients are responding to your communication – what’s working…what needs improvement.

Your dental practice or DSO’s data can appear overwhelming. Segmenting it for the purpose of improving your processes helps eliminate the overwhelm.

Keep in mind that technology plays a major role in navigating and strategizing around your data.

Gather available data, analyze it, and improve treatment communication around your discoveries

The following resources will provide you useful insight into how a data analytics platform gives you an advantage:

How to Refine Your Case Presentations and Use Patient Data to Guide You

Follow Your Data For Dental Patient Scheduling Success

Improve your treatment acceptance rates with an all-in-one dental dashboard

The Jarvis Analytics platform helps assure that you’re tracking the important metrics and staying on-track with your goals as your dental practice and/or DSO grows and expands.

Jarvis…

  • Integrates seamlessly with your chosen practice management software/platform
  • Presents the metrics you want and need in an easy-to-view dental dashboard that reduces data complexity for growing dental practices, dental groups, and DSOs

Experience Jarvis in action. Request a demo today!

Or…

Contact us for more information about data tracking that leads to profitability.

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