We all have asked this question at one point or another in our dental office. However, the real question is, what is causing the open time? In order to address the challenge of unfilled time, you need to understand what is causing it. The easiest, most efficient way to do that is to track the number of last minute cancellations/failed appointments and the amount of unfilled time at the end of the day.
If you have one late cancellation/no show and four unfilled hours, that allows you to easily see that the schedule wasn't full to begin with. If the number of cancellations and unfilled hours are equal, then the schedule was probably full until the patients cancelled/failed. If you have two cancellations and zero unfilled hours, that shows that your team has been successful in filling last minute openings in the schedule!
As you can see each scenario would require a different action plan. It is essential to understand the cause to begin to change the result.
Action Plan: How are you tracking schedule statistics in your dental office? Re-evalulate the information you track and celebrate your success or create an action plan to address the challenges.
If you have one late cancellation/no show and four unfilled hours, that allows you to easily see that the schedule wasn't full to begin with. If the number of cancellations and unfilled hours are equal, then the schedule was probably full until the patients cancelled/failed. If you have two cancellations and zero unfilled hours, that shows that your team has been successful in filling last minute openings in the schedule!
As you can see each scenario would require a different action plan. It is essential to understand the cause to begin to change the result.
Action Plan: How are you tracking schedule statistics in your dental office? Re-evalulate the information you track and celebrate your success or create an action plan to address the challenges.
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