Dental One opened its first practice in Cragieburn around five and a half years ago. What started as a single chair, single location clinic has now expanded to three other locations with a total of 19 chairs.
Implementing MyHealth1st Online Appointments
Since the beginning, Dental One has been a forward looking practice when it comes to the digital landscape. As such the practice embraced the need for a comprehensive and well constructed website, Google advertising and being an early adopter of online bookings in the dental space.
According to Shervin Mossammaparast, Managing Director of Dental One, the practice first joined MyHealth1st for online appointments around four years ago. “I think it was one of the key things that we did”, says Shervin.
Implementing online appointments and having a focus on their digital presence set Dental One apart from other dental clinics in the area. “When we opened in Craigieburn for instance, there were no other clinics that even had a website. They didn't have a Google ads presence. They didn't have any kind of reviews coming in or anything like that”, explains Shervin. “For us to be able to offer online bookings was quite unique, not only in that kind of area, but even in the wider catchment. It was definitely something that we thought would help set us apart.”
Practice Management System integration
Ease of integration into their practice management system was the deciding factor when it came to Dental One deciding to join MyHealth1st for online booking. “That was the biggest thing for us”, says Shervin. ”We had another large online booking provider running as well for a while, but those bookings kind of worked on the side. You'd have to drag someone’s booking from their booking platform into your book once they made the appointment, whereas MyHealth1st directly integrates into our appointment book.”
“That direct integration is a huge thing for us”, Shervin continues. “Especially when you're talking about the kind of volumes that we have now. If we had to manually add every single patient then it would not be worth it”. With current booking volume, Dental One would have to employ a new staff member just to manually update the PMS.
MyHealth1st OnlineAppointmentes seamlessly integrates with all of the most popular dental PMS solutions, including Dentrix Ascend, Oasis, Exact, Dental4Windows, Prakitka & more. When a booking is taken online, that booking is entered directly into the PMS, either matching the booking to an existing patient profile or creating a new profile for a first time booking.
That seamless integration has come in very handy for the staff working across all the Dental One locations. “Just last month we probably would have had about 1200 new patients across the board”, says Shervin. Having online booking available helps Dental One give patients the ability to easily make appointments, but the success of the practice also relies upon retaining those patients.
“We really see huge volumes of people coming in”, Shervin explains. “Not only do we get more people coming in, we also do quite a bit to retain them as well, to follow up and make sure they get treatment when needed.” One way that Dental One retains patients is by making it easy for returning patients to book appointments. The practice integrates booking links into most of their marketing messages and includes a direct booking link in their recall notices so that patients can book an appointment on the spot. “99% of what we do online comes from MyHealth1st, and that has helped to give an easier path for our returning patients to book appointments”, says Shervin.
The majority of online bookings are made after hours, but Dental One also goes a step further than a number of other practices when it comes to online bookings bookings. The practice triages each new booking before their first appointment, calling them to confirm their details and check to see if the patient is experiencing pain or other issues that may require a more urgent appointment.
Dental One has a number of avenues for online booking, including through the MyHealth1st marketplace, a booking widget installed on their website, but the phone is still an important tool, both for people that prefer to book in person and for driving people to book online, according to Shervin. “We do still get a fair few people who leave a voicemail or they'll contact us, and then you look through the PMS and you can see 20 minutes later they've made an online booking themselves”.
While a number of practices have suffered this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, especially in Victoria, Dental One has defied the odds and thrived. “This year, even with COVID, has been off the charts for us”, enthuses Shervin. “Even during the quiet periods we were still probably busier than what we were 18 months ago”.
This success can, in large part, be attributed to the forward thinking digital approach taken by Dental One, with serious effort put into digital marketing, an SEO optimised website and leveraging the power of online appointments through MyHealth1st. Another thing that has helped Dental One attract and retain patients, even in the current climate of economic uncertainty is offering a “care now, pay later” facility to patients.
Easy Payment Plans
Payment plans allow patients to integrate what may be a large bill into their budget by breaking it down into a number of smaller repayments that can be more easily absorbed, while ensuring that the practice is paid upfront. Dental One currently utilises Openpay for their payment plans, explains Shervin. “ That's certainly been one of the bigger drivers this year. Openpay has been really good in that regard”.
MyHealth1st has partnered with both Openpay and Afterpay to give practices an easy route to offering patients payment plans.
Dental One is still a relatively young practice, with the Richmond clinic being only just over a year old, so there is still growth to be seen. With a proactive approach to digital presence and marketing and fully integrated MyHealth1st online booking capability, the future looks bright for Shervin Mossammaparast and the rest of the Dental One team.
