How should the front office handle a patient who arrives for a dental consultation without completed paperwork?
It depends on whether there is enough time in the schedule to absorb the gap without affecting the next consultation. If time exists, the front office hands over the paperwork, asks the patient to complete it now, and makes clear that normally this would require rescheduling but that today’s schedule has room. If there is not enough time, the right move is to reschedule the patient, even though it feels awkward. The reasoning is straightforward. The paperwork requirement was communicated on the phone and in the pre-consultation packet. The patient agreed to bring it ready. Trying to absorb the unprepared patient anyway puts the practice at risk of running late on the next consultation, which would mean breaking the promise made to a patient who did everything right. Stress travels through the consultation room and patients sense it. The guardrail of rescheduling unprepared arrivals protects both the practice’s promises and its calm.
If the answers you are finding here resonate with you, my team and I work with a small group of clients each year. The next step is a complimentary Discovery Consultation and Practice Review with Dr. McAnally.