 Hello everybody, Andrew Mayesca here with Dental L. Check out my office, it's coming along. Check out my patient chair, just in case you were curious. I got some new curtains, it's nice, you guys. If you haven't noticed me, well, I guess you haven't really been in my house yet, but if you guys ever come to my house, I'm not a typical boring white and black person. My house, there's patterns, colors everywhere, so I was really excited to get these curtains for my office, just FYI in case you wanted to know. But check it out, you guys. So in the video, I am going to be talking about my dental hygiene clinic, and I'm going to be talking to you guys about kind of, I'm busy, I am busy. It's a great problem to have, and a lot of people ask me, a lot of independent dental hygienists come to me and say, how are you so busy? I've been watching you on YouTube. You're always saying how busy you are doing all of these things. How do you get to be so busy so quickly? So I had opened up my practice a year ago doing mobile teeth cleaning. So that is still the majority of my practice, is where I go to people's homes, nursing home's offices, and I clean their teeth and wet their teeth in their house. But I have since opened up my own studio just a couple of weeks ago. So we had just moved, and this has allowed me to open up my own studio. It's so nice because patients, sorry guys, I just want to kind of close out a bit. Something just fell, what was that? Oh, it was just the end of the curtain run. Clearly I have to screw that in a little bit better. But anyways, so what was I saying? Oh yeah, so we just moved and I am able to see patients now in my house. So they literally walk in, turn left, and here's my office. They turn the other way and there's the bathroom. So it's really, really nice. But how have I been able to stay busy? So let me talk about it. So things have really shifted. When I first started, I was a cash only because I kept hearing from all the dental hygienists, offices, dental offices, it doesn't matter, but everybody said to me, do not accept assignments. So that means when I send the claim forms through to the insurance, the insurance company pays me. And then the patient will only pay the difference. So everybody told me not to do that, which makes sense because it takes forever and a day for us to get paid, I'm telling you. But I was doing cash only, but it just so happened where I was not saying yes, I was seeing patients, but not enough to actually live off of. I was probably saying maybe two or three patients a month, maybe four. So let's say like one patient a week, maybe two patients a week, but that's it. I have since changed that to being able to accept insurance. So I tell all of my patients that I do direct bill to their insurance company, which means they only pay me the difference at the time of their appointment. But this is where it gets kind of tricky guys. So I just recently purchased a dental software, which has changed my life. But you might be wondering, well, how do you know what the difference is for the patient to pay you? That's the thing, I'm taking their word for it. Yeah, I know, I'm crazy. So how I do that is I do ask the patient to send me their insurance card. So I do ask them to take a picture of it for me front and back so that I know that that's the right numbers, right? And they're not just giving me random numbers. And what I could do is I could then call the insurance company and get that information. So are they 80% covered? Are they covered for the full exam? You know, what are they covered for and what are they not? I don't even have time to call these insurance companies. So I don't even do that. So what I do is I tell the patient, I say it is up to you to check your insurance coverage for me. I'm just assuming that they're telling me the truth. I haven't had any issues yet, but I do tell them to check their insurance. So I do ask them to check the percentage that they're covered for plus how many units of Polish scale fluoride in the exam. Yes, it seems like a lot, but I'm putting the onus in on their hands and they're more than happy to do it because it's very easy for them to just make a phone call or log in online. It would take me hours to do that myself. So if they want me to direct bill, that's what happens. So then they give me that information and then I just do the math and see what difference they will owe me at that day. And they pay me the difference. I send the rest of the insurance company done. So I was sending my insurance claims by paper. Oh my God, so annoying. It took so much work. But again, you guys, a good problem to have. I was busy. So yes, I was spending literally like three to four hours a day just doing paper claims. I might be exaggerating, but you get the idea. But since I have purchased a dental software which has saved my life, it is so much quicker, but the only kicker is not all insurance companies allow us to send claims electronically. I know how annoying. Sunlight and manual life seems to be where a lot of my patients have their insurance and they don't allow us to send electronically. How annoying is that? So I still have to send paper claims. So it literally takes me two months to get paid. I'm not even joking. Sunlight takes forever, two to two and a half months to get paid. Yeah, I know. But I'm so busy that I don't even notice. I do notice, but it's not a big deal because I still have checks coming in. And I have recently signed up for direct deposit as well. So that took time. You know, phone calls, emails. I had to fax a couple of things. But to send things electronically, you don't have to pay for it. I'm in Canada, so depending on where you're watching this, but we don't have to pay for that. I always thought we had to pay extra to send things EDI electronically. So I didn't want to do that because I'm cheap. I wanted to make some money first, but you don't actually pay for anything. You do, of course, have to pay for your CDHA independent hygiene membership, but that's all included with that. So we do have to sign up with the CDHO and then we choose either the CDHA or the ODHA, and I just decided the CDHA because that's where I kind of need my independent dental hygiene license anyway. But that's another conversation for another day. If you're watching this, I guess it's more for independent hygienists already. So you know all that, but I'm telling you guys how you can stay busy and keep busy. You guys, this week, just as an example, I'm seeing about four patients a day. And that might not seem like a lot to you, but that's a lot to me because remember I do travel. So I could only go to like two households a day maybe. I've done three before, but I'm exhausted because it's a lot of lugging back and forth, but all of these patients have insurance. I would not have had those patients if I didn't accept insurance. It's a lot of paperwork. Yes, if you're able to see patients without having to go through that, good for you. But I guess in my area, it just wasn't working out. I see a lot more patients because I can direct bill to insurance companies. Getting a dental software has saved my life because even if I can't send EVI electronically, I can type up the claim form in the software and then print it out and have them sign it. So much easier than taking books. I was just gonna pick up a pen and I just kind of threw it. I don't have another pen with me, but you get the idea. Picking up a pen, writing the claim form, it's brutal, but it's still kind of annoying to send the paper claims to those insurance companies that we have to because we have to pay for envelopes. We have to pay for stamps. And yeah, it's kind of annoying that way, but it is what it is, right? So if you're sitting there saying I'm not that busy, I don't know why, except insurance. You guys, direct bill to insurance companies. Yes, it's so much time, but I'm so happy because I'm getting a lot of patients. Patients are happy. They tell everybody else how happy they are and then I get more patients. So that has really been the kicker for me, honestly. Yeah, that's truly what it is. And obviously do a good job, be a nice person, do a good job, do a good cleaning. I like to follow up with my patients as well that night. And then a couple of days later to just make sure that they're okay. You know, like just a simple hi. It was so lovely to meet you. Do you have any questions? How are the teeth, how are the gums? We did do a deeper cleaning today, but how was everything feeling? People appreciate a follow-up. Another thing I do is I send them cards. Yeah, I know. So I actually, I found this website or this company where they send out like handwritten, well not handwritten, but they send out cards and you can personalize of course the message to each one. And I like it too, because you can have contacts in your, I guess, page where you can say, well, these people I'm going to send them a birthday card. These people I'm going to send them. Welcome to the office card. Thank you for being like my patient. These people I'm going to send them a Merry Christmas card. So it's really, really, you know, it's just really, really good. And people have thanked me for those cards and they will call me and say, oh, you know what? Thank you for that card. That was very unexpected and so nice, but I actually would like my sister to contact you to book a cleaning because you did such a good job with me. Maybe they would have called me anyway, but without sending that card to kind of remind them and they're like, oh yeah, her. I was going to ask my sister to call her and to book a cleaning, but I kind of forgot. But now I remember. So just those little touches seem to really help. So I do like doing that. It's, I mean, I shouldn't say it's expensive, but I pay about $17 a month for that service. And then I pay 225 per card that I send out, which might seem like a lot, but that's typical. Like I would have to pay that anyway to hand write cards, you know, here and send it out. So I'm technically only just spending the $17 a month for them to do it for me, for them to do the hard work and that has saved me countless hours and it's just a nice personal touch. So I don't know if that helps me get patients, but it helps me keep them, I guess, right? Another thing that I want to mention, sorry that the video's a bit longer actually, sorry guys, but lots of good tips, hopefully. Post on social media. I have a Facebook page. I post every day. Sometimes I do forget. So I might post like two posts the next day, but when I post, people are watching. I have patients telling me like, oh, I feel like I know you already because I've been following you on Facebook. We haven't met, but I feel like I know you. I take that as a good sign. Like I take that as a great sign because when they're on their phones, they might be shopping with their mother or their brother, you know, dad, whatever, right? They'll see my post and then go, oh, look, this Andrea person posted again. She cleaned my teeth a month ago. She's awesome, I don't know, whatever, right? So post, it makes a difference. If you need help with content to post, let me know you guys and I'd be happy to give you some ideas. In fact, I should do another video on that, just on content and what to post. I'm no expert, but it seems to work. So that's it you guys. Thank you so much for listening. I think I included all of my tips. If you have questions, comment below. If you don't mind, make sure to click like. So I know people are watching and make sure to click subscribe as well. So again, I know people are watching. Thank you guys, have a great night and I'll talk to you very soon.