Gina Dorfman
Gina Dorfman is a practicing dentist with her own practice in Santa Clarita, California. She is also an entrepreneur, an innovator, a podcast host, and the COO of a dental software company, YAPI. Most importantly though, she’s a mom to two beautiful kids!
Why use online scheduling for your dental office?
Many dentists have reservations about online scheduling because they’re afraid of losing control of their schedule.
It can be scary, but Dr. Dorfman invites you to look at the other side of it. Patients want the convenience of online scheduling. She also notes that once you set up online scheduling, your patients can’t override an appointment, so you’re never double booked. You can also move an appointment that’s been scheduled and call the patient to let them know their appointment has been changed.
If you don’t use online scheduling, you’re missing out on appointments that could have been scheduled. People tend to visit dental office websites after hours – after they’ve gotten off work. With an online scheduler, clients have the flexibility to book an appointment when they have the time. If your office does not have this option, new clients could decide to go somewhere else that has the ability to schedule online.
You can book a restaurant online, why not your dental appointment?
Scared your new patients will have insurance that you don’t take? With YAPI, they get to choose the insurance they have and if it’s one that you don’t take, they’ll be prompted to call your office.
You also have the option to add online scheduling to your Yelp listing. Some patients never even go to your website since it’s convenient to schedule through YAPI on Yelp.
Dr. Jarod Johnson notes that you can limit how far in advance people can schedule their appointments and YAPI integrates with Open Dental, Dentrix, Eaglesoft, and RingCentral making it very universal and user friendly.
The biggest benefit
It increases the number of new patients and increases the amount of people booking hygiene chairs. Most people don’t want an appointment two weeks out and are unlikely to show up if they have to wait that long because they want an appointment tomorrow. The further away they have to schedule, the less likely they are to show. This actually works in your favor since it fills your last-minute cancellations.
Completing forms
With an online scheduler, the client can complete forms before coming in for their appointment. This makes it convenient for them and saves you time when you’re in the office. You will most likely find that patients do decide to fill them out ahead of time, which makes it easier for both of you.
When scheduling an appointment through YAPI, they get a link to New Patient Forms and you’ll get to see what insurance they have.
ASAP List
Say you have a cancelation on a Monday afternoon and you want to fill that spot. With YAPI, you can send a notification to only people who want an appointment during that time.
YAPI
To learn more about YAPI, go to Yapiapp.com, or call 949-535-1059, or email them at sales@yapicentral.com. If you’d like to contact Dr. Gina Dorfman you can find her podcast “Behind the Smiles” or follow her on Facebook and Instagram (just search Gina Dorfman!)