|
New Articles
 |
As in medicine, it’s because we’re only rewarded for treating symptoms from the managed care world we insist on participating as a profession. And as any dentist can attest, misguided patients only want to do what their insurance will pay for. Insurance payers are usually seen as the “good guys.” They’re the ones paying for treatment after all. The dentist is the one who is being paid. So why would the patient trust you? Finding solutions What is the solution to this conundrum? First and foremost, proper patient education—not random Web searching on their part, and not sensationalizing what may go wrong on behalf of the dentist. Second, if you want to treat the whole patient and get paid for it, forget managed care. All we need to do to treat the whole patient is take the time to assess all of the diagnostic information we can gather. Then, offer a candid explanation of cause and effect, with a realistic sense of urgency for treatment, without regard to cost. Generally, patients have several options. Usually, there is time to decide. Helping your patients to understand their needs and options is the best care you can offer them. They are capable of making intelligent decisions that do not always revolve around cost. They always come down to value—quality of care per dollar spent. What may not be obvious is that properly educating patients often leads to more treatment in the short term, so that a lifetime of remakes can be avoided. This is because it involves the treatment of upstream causes and potential downstream consequences. Why don’t we do this for every patient who comes through the door? Because it takes so much time to gather and study the data, get to know the patient’s pertinent history, consider procedure options and present them to the patient, before we finally get around to providing the actual treatment. The present system only rewards us for the data gathering and provision of treatment, but not the provision of care. Since managed care is unlikely to vanish overnight, our profession needs an efficient system for guiding the rapid assimilation of knowledge and prescription of care with a blind eye on benefits. The biggest consumer of time is treatment planning and the presentation of options. Let your patients be participants in this. How? Avail them of proper information about diagnoses and treatment options. Explain to them the upstream causes (primary diagnoses) and potential downstream consequences (secondary diagnoses). Give them the time to consider their options and discuss them with someone involved in the decisions about their care. Use modern tools to facilitate this process. Once the patient understands, you will have much more efficient discussions about their concerns and questions. You will spend more time treating patients and less time explaining—the part the system rewards you for. And you will have gained patients for life. Dr. Thomas J. Greany is Chief Operating Officer of Symbyos, developer of ToothIQ.com, a peer-reviewed, HON Certified oral health information resource for consumers and health professionals—including dentists. Available on the Web in 35 languages,ToothIQ™ provides unbiased content to facilitate informed choice and guide decision-making for patients and their dentists. Professional memberships are available at ToothIQPro.com, which provide dentists with access to a catalog of dental procedure animations and practice-building Web microsites within ToothIQ.
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
