Fitting Patient Engagement into Everyday Life: A Storybook
We know how painstaking it can be to research and understand all of your options for patient engagement. Reading through a list of features is a great start, but how do all of those features actually work together? What does the practical application look like in your day-to-day business operations? How do things look on the patient end of these interactions?
We created this illustrated storybook to give you a comprehensive understanding of how Modento handles the entire appointment cycle on both the patient and staff ends. Plus, who doesn't love a good storybook? 📚
Modern life can be hectic. Take Kim, an architect with a local construction firm. Her work demands long hours and a singular focus.
On top of her job, Kim’s always on “mom duty,” shuttling the kiddos to practice and playdates. Her aging parents require help on occasion, and in between, she tries to find time for herself. Needless to say, Kim’s world alternates between insanely busy and crazy frantic.
She rarely has a moment to breathe, and whenever something unexpected happens, all of her scheduling goes out the window. So when her daughter Nylah comes home from school complaining of tooth pain, Kim needs to know she can reach her dentist quickly and conveniently. The same goes for the family’s regular cleanings. They need high-quality service, a responsive dental practice, and appointment feedback that’s available 24 hours a day.
Kim was referred to Dr. Morris last year by a friend happy with the office’s modern setup. She saw they had far more positive online reviews than other offices in the area, and made the switch. To keep up with her busy life is a tough ask, but so far, Dr. Morris’s modern, patient-centric office has been up to the task.
This story will take you through Kim’s experiences with Dr. Morris’s practice and the Modento platform. You’ll see the process from beginning to end and learn how the software makes her life easier, creating a lifelong, happy patient relationship. We’ll also examine the software’s key benefits for the practice, and for that, we’ll check in with Erica, the dental office manager.
Modento Improves the Pre-Appointment Process
Meet Erica, Dr. Morris’s office manager. Erica’s been with the practice long enough to remember what things were like before Modento. Patients suffered long office waits and faced a flurry of paperwork, especially if they were new. Erica and her staff were drowning in busywork, which prevented her from focusing on managing the practice as closely as she would have liked.
Modento is a pre-appointment powerhouse. Erica relies on it’s feature-rich nature to get patients from the parking lot to the dentist chair as quickly as possible.
To see it in action, let’s check in with Kim again.
Automated Scheduling and Notifications
Two months ago Kim, while cheering on her son’s soccer team, the Ramblin’ Rhinos, received an automated text (her preferred communication method) from Dr. Morris’s office reminding her to schedule her biannual hygiene appointment. The text included a link to the online scheduling area within the practice’s patient portal.
The portal provided a simple form that allowed her to input her patient information and send an appointment request directly to Erica’s Modento inbox. If Kim were a new patient, she could use the form to create a new chart quickly.
With just a few clicks, Kim was able to request an appointment without missing any action on the field.
Once Erica sees the appointment request, it’s a simple matter to transfer information into the office’s practice management system (PMS) and offer a few available appointments using Modento’s convenient two-way communication system.
The process is convenient for both Erica and the practice’s patients, and it’s about to get even better. Very soon, patients like Kim will have access to full online scheduling. Modento will present a schedule that shows all available appointments, letting them choose one that works for them directly within their patient portal.
Easy Two-Way Communication
No matter how patients prefer to communicate with their dentist, Modento supports it. Kim loves to get text messages because she has her phone with her at all times. But if she changes her mind in the future, the platform’s settings allow her to switch to email or the Modento app at any time.
In this case, Kim had a few questions for the dentist ahead of her visit, so she sent a quick text message. Erica’s Modento inbox displays text messages as well as email and app communications in one location. She was able to get back to Kim quickly without the need to pick up the phone.
Simple Patient Management with Patient Net
One of Kim’s questions involved adding her son, Jayden, as a patient. She felt he was old enough now to switch from his pediatric dentist.
Erica set up a patient profile for Jayden right inside of Modento. The software will automatically set one up for patients that request an appointment, but otherwise, Erica can quickly and easily create and manage patients whether they contact her by phone, text, email, or the app. These profiles can remain in Modento until the person becomes a patient, at which point it’s easy to create a chart and automatically import info into the office PMS.
Voicemail Drops
Later that day, Kim receives a voicemail welcoming Jayden to Dr. Morris’s practice. She’s extremely impressed by the speed of the communication and the thoughtfulness of the message. Kim often thinks of high-tech offices as impersonal, but thanks to Modento, Dr. Morris’s is both high-tech and personalized.
Voicemail Drops allow Erica and her staff to automatically send pre-recorded messages directly to patients’ voicemail. They use them for new patient welcomes, appointment reminders, post-op instructions, and even happy birthday messages! Voice messages can be sent individually or in bulk. Their patients get personalized attention without a lot of extra work for Erica.
Automatic Reminders
Erica loves this feature. She was never fond of having to call patients to remind them of their appointments. It wasted so much time, and it was frustrating when she couldn’t reach people.
Modento generates automated reminders at whatever intervals the practice chooses. They can be sent via email, text, or the Modento app. Patients can also choose how they prefer to be reminded and change their preference at any time. Kim got her reminder a week ago while on a job site. It came via text and allowed her to confirm her appointment immediately with a quick response.
Digital Forms
One of the platform’s most popular features, Modento can send and receive digital forms and help practices go totally paperless. Never again will patients have to spend time in Dr. Morris’s waiting room hastily filling out paperwork, backing up the patient flow.
The platform allows Erica to set smart parameters that automatically detect when paperwork is required, pushing it to the patient’s preferred communication channel. Common forms include health history updates, COVID questionnaires, and insurance detail updates.
In this case, Modento forwarded Kim all of the forms she needed to fill out to add Jayden as a patient. This gave her the option to complete the forms digitally from the comfort of her home using either her phone, computer, or tablet. She signed and sent them back...no clipboard needed! Modento automatically saves completed forms as PDFs directly into the patient’s chart.
Modento's Role During an Appointment
Now we’re caught up. Today is Kim’s appointment. She received a second automated reminder yesterday to be sure she didn’t forget.
Let’s see how Modento improves appointment processes.
Virtual Check-ins
No more awkward waiting room visits. Kim can check in right from her phone. When she arrived in the parking lot, a click of a button is all it took to get her signed in. The system detected that she had not yet completed her annual health history update and prompted her to review and finish it. Once she walked into the waiting room, she was ready to go.
This feature is convenient for the patient and an efficiency builder for the office anytime, but it’s particularly useful during the pandemic. Patients can check in and fill out required forms while waiting safely in their cars. Kim took full advantage, listening to her favorite podcast while she waited.
LiveOps™ Dashboard
Through her LiveOps™ dashboard, Erica is notified when Kim checks in. Through the interface, Erica has access to the day’s schedule and can see who’s running late, checked in, seated, and ready to check out. It tells her if patients have forms they need to complete, which operatory they’re assigned to, and everything else she needs to know from the moment they enter until the moment they leave. She can follow each patient’s journey in real-time.
Team Chat
Erica lets Kim know that her hygienist is ready for her through Modento’s integrated communications system. Kim gets the message as she sits in her car. From there, Erica uses team chat to alert the hygienist.
This integrated chat feature keeps everyone in her office on the same page. They can send messages to individual employees, specific groups, or the whole practice. With emoji and GIF support, team chat is both eminently useful as well as fun.
Erica decides to tack on a GIF featuring her favorite animal (a koala), because who doesn’t love koalas?
How Modento Helps After an Appointment
Kim’s cleaning goes well. No cavities! She mentions to Dr. Morris concerns over her yellowing teeth and he recommends a treatment plan that involves several office whitening sessions. In the past, getting these visits scheduled would have involved several back and forths between Kim, Erica, and her staff, but no longer.
Convenient Treatment and Payment Plans
With Modento, the process is simple and convenient. Dr. Morris simply enters the treatment plan into the practice’s PMS. Due to Modento’s direct integration with their PMS, Erica can automatically work to customize the verbiage and payment plans to make the treatment clear and easy to understand for Kim.
She selects specific payment options to include and then transmits the plan directly to Kim via email and the Modento app. Once Kim accepts payment terms and signs, the plan is automatically saved into her chart.
Mobile Pay
When it comes time for Kim to pay her balance, Erica simply sends her a link to the easy-to-use mobile pay portal. She attaches a personal message for Kim as well as a downloadable statement. Kim receives a message with her balance due, clicks the link to view her statement, and opts to pay her balance with Apple Pay. Kim loves that she can easily pay from her phone, and Erica loves that 98 percent of payment requests sent through Modento are fulfilled same-day.
Incentivize Patient Behaviors with Loyalty Points
One of Erica’s biggest headaches before Modento was bad patient behavior. When they missed appointments or didn’t pay their bills, it created more office work for her. With Modento’s loyalty program, she can now offer rewards when patients satisfy their responsibilities.
The platform can award points for on-time check-ins and payments, form completions, referrals, and more. Erica has the flexibility to design a loyalty program that works for her practice. She can also use points to thank long-time patients. For example, if the practice is overbooked, she can offer points in exchange for a willingness to reschedule.
Erica can determine what patients are able to redeem their point for — branded swag, electric toothbrushes, gift cards, or discounts on whitening services.
She finds that the program inspires loyalty with current patients and generates new ones through referrals.
Direct Mobile Access with the Modento App
Once home, Kim pulls up her Modento app to check on her rewards. She sees that she’s accumulated enough points to receive a free whitening session, which is perfect considering Dr. Morris’s recommendations.
While inside, she can also review paperwork, appointments, reminders, and messages.
Modento Go, the app for dental staff members, lets them view their daily schedule, pull patient information, and send and review messages. It puts essential practice details in the palm of their hand.
Swell Integration
Swell is a service that helps businesses grow by assisting patients in posting online reviews, referrals, and positive feedback. Modento offers direct Swell integration, making it easy for your patients to leave you reviews on your Google My Business page, Facebook, and more.
Erica has set up automated review-requests via Swell to send post-appointment based on the appointment type each patient is scheduled for. Kim receives a request to leave a review for her hygienist. Happy with her hygienist’s work and giddy about her free whitening reward, she jumps at the chance to leave a glowing review. She doesn’t need to sign in or do anything special. Clicking the link is all it takes.
Another successful patient interaction, thanks to Modento!
