Since 2020, many dental offices have experienced lower production and reduced revenue because of dental support staff shortages.
An article by the ADA in 2021 stated, “…more than 70% of owner dentists saying recruitment of administrative staff was extremely or very challenging…” Finding quality dental office staff has become extremely difficult.
In the past, getting new patients was a big challenge for dental practices. Today, even if new patients are calling your office, the lack of sufficient dental support staff reduces the number of patients your office can serve
However, for dentists who rely on DPE’s dental support specialists, the issue of front-office staff shortage simply evaporates. Everyone benefits!
Why aren’t administrative dental support staff returning to work?
In 2020, 198,000 dentists and dental office staff were not working due to government-mandated office closures. During this period, students could not attend school in person, either. Parents had no choice but to homeschool, as public and private educational institutions went virtual.
In 2021, a Politico.com article stated: “Nearly 1.8 million women have dropped out of the labor force amid the pandemic and are now grappling with whether and how to return to work in a vastly different landscape…”
Since then, more women are returning to work. However, many mothers (and some fathers) have found that supporting their families by homeschooling and homemaking is preferable to working outside the home. In addition, with the increased cost of living, one parent staying home or working from home (WFH) to reduce expenses, like childcare and dining out, makes good financial sense.
The Best Solution: Professional, Virtual Dental Support Staff
Instead of struggling to find reliable front office staff, in this internet-driven age dentists can opt to hire offsite dental support specialists for administrative office tasks. Besides avoiding the expense and frustration of trying to staff your office, using DPE virtual administration services will streamline patient billing; insurance verification, submissions, and payment; accounts receivable; patient recall; and more.
More Benefits of Virtual Dental Support
As a DPE client, you’ll be assigned a virtual administrator to act as an extension of your front office team. Each of our VAs is trained to perform at a high level of excellence. By not dealing with the day-to-day patient interaction, office hubbub, and hands-on duties, your VA will focus on some of the most time-consuming and least-liked tasks of dental support staff.
Because the DPE VA’s sole job is to focus on administrative tasks, our virtual assistants have well-honed skills. For instance, they work closely with dental insurance providers to cut down on the number of resubmissions required. This means you get paid faster.
As for collections, a patient who receives a call from your front office team about delinquency may feel embarrassed to return to your office, even after his balance is paid in full. Remote collections, by your DPE VA, mean that your patients never have to face the person who contacted them about their past due balance.
If your assigned VA is ever unavailable due to a sick day or vacation, rest assured that DPE has at least one backup VA who’s been cross-trained on your account. You’ll never be without your VA. It’s like having an employee who never gets sick or needs a vacation!
Call Today to Learn More or Get Started
Contact Dental Practice Enhancement today by calling (833) 373 – 3678 ext.1 or emailing us at info@dentalpracticeenhancement.com. Your virtual assistant awaits, ready to offer the administrative dental office support you need so that you can schedule and treat more patients! Isn’t that why you became a dentist in the first place?
