Need a 500 word answer with references Vincent Valley Dental (VVD) is a comprehensive dental practi ...
Need a 500 word answer with references Vincent Valley Dental (VVD) is a comprehensive dental practice with 37 sites. VVD provides a wide range of services from preventive to specialty dental care. VVD has grown rapidly and is seeing a strong increase in the number of patients who seek its services. The areas VVD serves is also seeing strong population growth. As a result of increasing patient demand and the interest in providing more effective dental care for children, a new process was recently begun—Saturday schedules reserved for children. The benefit of the new Pediatric Saturdays is that the scheduling is highly efficient, allowing families to have all their children seen at about the same time and be on their way in about 30 minutes. In addition, Pediatric Saturdays is also an excellent opportunity to introduce the children’s parents to the practice and meet the doctors. As part of the process, Pediatric Saturdays are planned one year in advance. Special considerations are taken to assure that the majority of the pediatric population has access on Saturdays. The number of Pediatric Saturdays planned is based on the pediatric population in each practice. Staffing for Pediatric Saturdays is also planned in advance. Although dental hygienists need to fulfill their commitment to the practice for Saturday coverage, an effort is made to cover the Pediatric Saturday schedules with dental assistants whenever possible. Pediatric patients aged 3 through 15 years are scheduled in a 30-minute appointment with the dental assistant or dental hygienist. Adult patients ages 16 years and older, if scheduled on a Saturday, are seen by the dental hygienist. Pediatric patients who require scaling of calculus and stain are seen by the dental hygienist. All patient appointments are confirmed two days in advance. Parents are reminded that they must accompany the child to the appointment. After a one-year trial, the management team convened to review this new process. Sally Quinn, chief operating officer, said she felt that, in general, the Pediatric Saturdays were meeting VVD’s goals. However, the team identified a number of problems. Bob Palmer of the West Side Clinic said that in his experience, multiple family members are scheduled at the same time, which is a convenience for the family. However, if a family with multiple children scheduled cancels or fails, large openings are left in the schedule, which leads to inefficient use. Vicki Benz of the Southside Clinic said that she thinks families are becoming less available for Saturday appointments due to activities/sports commitments, and pre-appointing becomes a challenge when parents do not know their kids’ schedules six months in advance. Not pre-appointing creates a need to have staff call patients to try to fill the schedule, which isn’t always successful—and/or a priority. The current scheduling software is cumbersome to use in filling these openings, and most staff are not trained in its advanced features. Dr. Tzano observed that because of all the Saturday appointments and the doctors’ schedules, it is difficult to maintain primary doctor relationships for pediatric patients. Even if a doctor plans his or her Saturdays six months apart (which does not always happen), if the patient is not available (sick, etc.), it is also difficult to keep the patient with the primary doctors. Martha Mackey, director of HR, also commented on employee morale. Team members do not always enjoy working on Saturdays, and it was becoming more difficult to find employees willing to work this schedule. Finally, Bob Martin, chief financial officer, stated that in addition to the scheduling problems, the average procedures (fees) per patient aren’t as high as they could be. For example, a parent generally doesn’t consent to a fluoride treatment when insurance doesn’t cover it, and it is the same situation with X-rays. He said, “We routinely are told that patients will only consent to treatment if it’s covered. We always talk about how we plan treatment based on the needs of the patient, but ultimately patients determine their own needs based on their insurance coverage. Through July revenue is 15.1 percent below plan (budget).” How would you resolve the problems with VVD’s Pediatric Saturdays?
