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Read this before you do anything else because these are the…

Program Guidelines

Hello,

Thanks for joining the Making It Easy for Patients to Say “Yes” online community. Before you begin studying this program, here are IMPORTANT items to keep in mind and some logistical things you’ll need to manage.

An important part of the online program is update and announcement emails from Dr. Paul Homoly. These updates and announcements add significant value to your experience with the online program. Our students enjoy them!

The Making It Easy for Patients to Say “Yes” online program is presented in six sections;

1. Concepts
2. New Patient Interview
3. Post examination discussion
4. Treatment presentation
5. Leadership
6. Video role-plays

You’ll find a graphic of this program design in your study guide. Within the sections are groups of lessons. Each lesson has;

• A video presentation
• MP3 streaming audio of the video
• A lesson discussion in the study guide
• A quiz

The sections and their lessons are grouped based on the sequence of the new patient experience. Sections and their lessons are designed to be studied consecutively. Ideally, study all lessons within a section in a single study session.

How to Start

To get off to a great start, first, watch all three role-play videos. These videos are located in module six. Excerpts of videos are also included in various lessons. These videos will give you a sense of this program’s destination. It’s always nice to know where you’re going to end up before you start!

Downloads

You’ll notice downloads before the Concepts section. The downloads include;

• Read Me First Letter
• Study Guide – (print one per dentist and team member)
• Discovery Guide (paper and digital form) – (print one per team member)
• Case study Christine – (print one per team member)
• Standard of Caring Map – (print one per office)
• Standard of Caring Flash cards – (print one set per office)
• The Four Chiefs™ Listening Map – (print one per office)
• The Four Chiefs™ Card Game – (print one set per office)
• Lesson quizzes retakes for team members

The downloads are learning tools. The learning tools are mandatory when implementing the methods within this program. Those tools which require printing into hard copy, printing instructions are included.

Implementation

The most successful dentists with this program implement it into their practices one of four ways;

1.Dentists study the program on their own outside of their practice. Then through a process of on-the-job training, train their teams on the strategies in this program. The learning tools in module one facilitate this approach.

2.Dentists lead their teams in the study of this program. They mark off time from the clinical schedule, i.e., Friday afternoons, and dentists and team members learn and implement together.

3.Group practices/study clubs can request Dr. Homoly or Homoly Certified™ coaches to facilitate implementing this online program into their practices. If you have an interest in facilitation, schedule a phone appointment with Dr. Paul Homoly at 800-294-9370.

4.Group practices that have their own coaches and facilitation teams can request a train-the-trainer license. If you have an interest in a train-the-trainer license, schedule a phone appointment with Dr. Paul Homoly at 800-294-9370.

Leadership

For the dentists leading their teams in this program’s study, here is leadership advice for successfully implementing Making It Easy for Patients to Say “YES” into your dental practice.

Leaders provide confidence – Before introducing this program to your team, study it on your own. Discover the wisdom in it, explore its tools’ simplicity, and take a deep dive into its processes; learn them well. Then once you’re confident, show it to your team. Tell them why this program is good for them, your patients, and the profession. Without your confidence and complete buy-in, they will be hesitant to commit to it. When speaking to your team, avoid the attitude of “let’s give this a try and see how it works.” What makes this program work is your commitment. This program’s underlying concepts, tools, and processes have decades of proven successful track records.

Leaders include those they lead in the planning process – If you want those you lead to follow, include them in the learning process. Look for champions of this program within your team. Have them take on leadership roles. Recognize and reward your champions.

Tools of Leadership: I’ve taken care of this for you. You have everything you need in terms of instructional tools; videos, study guides, case studies, job aids, etc.

Process of Leadership: Leading Making It Easy for Patients to Say “YES” is situational; it will vary based on your specific circumstances. When I designed it, I did it from what I’d consider being the optimal process for leading it. Here’s how this looks.

• I will deliver all the content immediately upon enrollment. The content is designed to be completed two/three lessons in one hour. It’s important to complete each lesson before going on to the next.
• Academy of General Dentistry Pace Continuing Education credits are earned when all lessons are completed, and quizzes successfully passed.
• Schedule time during regular business hours to go through each lesson as a group. Consider one hour as the minimum interval. At times more than one lesson can be completed during an hour. Look ahead in your schedule and pre-book these hour intervals. If you don’t put them into your schedule, it won’t get done.
• You may want to consider block scheduling lessons in three-hour increments completing three to five lessons at a time. This way, you can complete the program in five half-day study sessions over five months. Consider completing all lessons within a section during a single learning session.
• Don’t get too far ahead in the lessons without implementing each one in full.
• Make learning a priority, and make it fun. A big part of making it a priority is by putting your lesson times into your daily schedule. Everyone on your team knows the sanctity of time in your clinical schedule. Putting lesson times into your schedule sends an unmistakable message that your lessons are important work to be done together. During lesson times, put the phones on answer, put signs on your door saying you’re in a team meeting, and do everything you can to avoid interruptions/distractions. Putting lesson times on your clinical schedule also creates team accountability. Everyone is paid to learn, and with that comes the responsibility to implement. Make it fun by enabling the community.
• Don’t sweat the loss of collections from the time taken off the clinical schedule to learn these lessons. Just do the math. These lessons will quickly result in 2 to 4 patients a month who say “YES” to your treatment recommendations who may have said “NO” before. Don’t look at this as an expense. Look at it as a way of boosting your capacity by continuing to earn revenue many years after you’ve completed this program.

Here’s how I would not lead this learning process.

• Schedule lesson times during lunch or after work. Teams don’t learn well or joyfully when they’re hungry, tired, or rushed
• Require team members to study this program on their own at home. They will resent it. Do you think team members are eager to watch videos instead of enjoying their families and leisure?
• Rush through all the lessons in one session. I guarantee this will not work. Team members will burn out halfway through, and very little of it will be implemented in your practice.
• Do not wait to book the sessions on your schedule when your practice is slow. You’ll never get through all the lessons this way.

Making It Easy for Patients to Say “YES” Logistics

Be sure you have a great way to project the video lessons and amplify its audio. Here are some items you’ll probably need.

• High-speed internet access
• Computer with sound system amplification
• Video projection capability or widescreen monitor
• Flip chart and markers
• 1 inch 3-ring binders for Workbook materials (one per team member)

Download the following manuals and job Aids (PDF files):

• Study Guide (print one per dentist and team member)
• Case Study: Christine (print one per team member)
• The Discovery Guide™ (print one per team member)
• Standard of Caring® Map (print one per office)
• Standard of Caring® Flash Cards (print one set per office)
• The Four Chiefs™ Listening Map (print one per office)
• The Four Chiefs™ Card Game (print one set per office)

Printing instructions for program manual:

• Full-color copies
• Two-Sided
• 24# bond
• 3-hole punch all pages, except for the cover. The cover is inserted in the binder sleeve.

• Purchase 1″ 3-ring binders with pockets and clear plastic sleeve on the cover for each team member. Download and print the study guide full color, one-sided and 3-hole punch all pages (except for page 1). The cover is inserted in the binder sleeve.
• Lesson materials recap key content from the online videos and highlight important concepts and discussion topics that promote learning and action.
• The study guide provides additional content important to learning, practice, and making changes in your office.
• Estimated printing costs for the study guide and all learning deliverables are $475. Included in this estimate are;
  • Six Study Guides (one for a dentist and five team members)
  • Standard of Caring® Process Map laminated
  • Four Chiefs™ Listening Map laminated
  • Four Chiefs™ Flash Card not laminated
  • Four Chiefs™ Card Game not laminated
  • One binder
  • One set of dividers
  • All printing full-color

Some offices prefer to have team members use the Teachable App Digital Study Guide instead of providing printed manuals. See module one for instructions on connecting to the Teachable App. For ease of use and note-taking, a study guide and all deliverables are printed.

Join The Making It Easy private Facebook Discussion Forum by going to https://www.facebook.com/groups/1823388414641862/ (or login to Facebook and search for The Treatment Acceptance Mastery Community Discussion Forum under Groups) and request to join. You will be asked to confirm your Making It Easy for Patients to Say “Yes”! enrollment before approval by entering an access code.

Enter access code: EASY

I know everything in this letter is a lot to take in at once. But you know what; it’s the leader’s job to do the hard work first. It sets an example for your team. Show them how well prepared you are. They will show no more commitment to this process than you do. You have to be 100% full-in on the preparation and implementation of this project. You will run into bumps in the road, team members missing meetings, things not getting done, too many tasks getting in the way, and the normal but unavoidable hassles. If being successful with case acceptance at the level that I teach was easy, everyone would be doing it. It’s not easy. But when it’s fully installed in your practice, you’ll reap its rewards for the rest of your career.

I’ll stay in touch with your progress, successes, challenges, and questions on our private Facebook community. I look forward to our time together.

My best always,

Dr. Paul Homoly