Fill that Empty Dental Chair!
Empty dental chair syndrome leaving you down and out? Do you have patients canceling appointments with little notice? Do you pay staff salaries whether or not you have a patient in the chair? This situation can create a significant financial burden to the practice.
To lessen this financial burden, look no further than your Easy Dental appointment lists. Most of these lists are accessed through the Reports screen (some are available through the Schedule module). 
ASAP List – An appointment is placed on the ASAP list by changing the appointment schedule option from FIXED to ASAP. HINT: The appointment note field is an ideal location to document specific requests (i.e., Tuesday @ 4:00 -OR- after 06/26/2017)
Generate a printable ASAP list from the Reports module to find those patients you have marked as willing to come in for an ASAP appointment with little notice required. The Select Appt Date range you choose is the time frame that Easy Dental will use to locate an appointment as ASAP. HINT: The longer the time frame, the more appointments will generate on this list.
Generate a workable, on-screen ASAP list from the Schedule module. Once you have accessed the ASAP list window, click to choose the magnifying glass icon to narrow your search by provider, operatory or
time span.
Unscheduled List – Ever wonder where an appointment goes when you give it a status of broken or wait/will call? The unscheduled list is your answer for locating those patients who did not make a recent appointment. Similar to the ASAP list, you can print the unscheduled list from the Appointment Lists category in the Reports module -OR- you can generate an on-screen workable list from the Schedule module.
Recall List – Do you keep track of when patients are due for routine care? The Recall module allows you to generate this list to find those patients due for their routine recall visit. Custom views may be created using the magnifying glass icon. Both printable and on-screen reports are generated from within this module.
Unscheduled Treatment Plans – The Unscheduled Treatment Plans Report will generate a list of patients to contact who have delayed treatment for one reason or another. This report is run from the Schedule Reports section of the Reports module. The Select Date Range associated with this report is to find procedures that were treatment planned within the time frame specified. By default, this date range will set itself to one year in the past, but you can modify to a shorter time frame once you are regularly reviewing this report.
You can now take back your schedule by implementing these few scheduling lists. Convert your manual tracking system (tickler list, follow-up list, Excel table or sticky notes) to an electronic system accessible by any staff member. It’s simple to track patients of record in need of appointments. Implement your scheduling remedies today—they are just a few mouse clicks away!
David Broom is Senior Director of Product and Business Development. David has a master’s degree in Information Technology (IT) from the University of Texas in Dallas and has more than 35 years of experience from many global companies such as Hitachi Vantara, Methode Electronics, and Keane, Inc. In his current role, he is responsible for all aspects of the product management and field service teams at Henry Schein TechCentral, which identifies the ideal advanced technologies to meet the unique needs of the dental market and ensure that dental offices are using the right IT to be more efficient and effective.
