Contact Patients Now to Schedule Treatment Before the End-of-Year Rush

Three ways you can contact patients with outstanding treatment plans now and encourage them to maximize their unused annual insurance benefits.

Updated 10/20/21

As the end of the year quickly approaches, the race for patients to complete their outstanding treatment plans in order to use up their insurance maximum begins!

You can help your patients by proactively contacting them to remind them that they have outstanding treatment. This can be done by calling them on the phone, sending them an email message, or sending them a letter. By contacting patients now, you can better manage your schedule instead of having to jam everybody in during the last two weeks of December.

Contacting Patients by Phone

Although calling patients who have outstanding treatment plans is time consuming, it also gives you the opportunity to schedule their appointment while you have them on the phone. Use the Treatment Manager to generate a report of patients with outstanding treatment plans who have remaining insurance benefits. Contact those patients and make detailed notes in the Office Journal of what was said on the phone call. From the Treatment Manager, you have direct access to the Treatment Planner, so you will be able to easily access treatment plan information if the patient has any questions.

Contacting Patients By Email

Sending patients an email message is an easy and convenient way to communicate. With Patient Engage, you can create an email message in the Campaign Studio to remind patients that most insurance plans renew January 1st, and any unused benefits will be lost. Encourage them to contact your office to schedule an appointment. If you’re using Dentrix Communication Manager, you can create a similar email campaign reminding patients to schedule an appointment to use their benefits.

Contacting Patients By Letter

In the Dentrix Office Manager, under Letters & Custom Lists there’s an option for Misc. letters. Here you’ll find the Treatment Plan Reminder letter. This is a great letter to use to contact patients because it has a merge field that informs the patient how much of their dental insurance maximum is remaining. When creating the letter, use filters to find specific patients to send this letter to, such as patients who have been seen this calendar year, with remaining insurance benefits between $200 and $2000, who have an outstanding treatment plan. If you decide to send letters, I would suggest including a copy of the patient’s treatment plan to remind them exactly what needs to be scheduled.

By contacting patients with outstanding treatment plans and remaining insurance benefits, you can encourage them to schedule an appointment to maximize their insurance plans. Scheduling their appointments now will help you to control your schedule instead of everyone calling at once in December to try to get an appointment.


Learn More

Get more ideas about contacting patients to schedule before the end of the year by reading A Win-Win Situation: Help Patients Maximize Insurance Benefits & Increase Your Year-End Production.

For more information about scheduling patients for hygiene visits, read How to Fill Open Time in Your Hygiene Schedule.


By Charlotte Skaggs
Certified Dentrix Trainer and The Dentrix Office Manager columnist

Charlotte Skaggs is the founder of Vector Dental Consulting LLC, a practice management firm focused on taking offices to the next level. Charlotte co-owned and managed a successful dental practice with her husband for 17 years. She has a unique approach to consulting based on the perspective of a practice owner. Charlotte has been using Dentrix for over 20 years and is a certified Dentrix trainer. Contact Charlotte at vectordentalconsulting@gmail.com.