Jill Nesbitt

Jill Nesbitt is a practice administrator and dental consultant, piloting a comprehensive dental staff training program in Nashville, Tenn., after managing a group practice with seven dentists, 20 staff and 18 operatories for 16 years. Jill has an MBA and writes a weekly blog, Dental Practice Coaching. Jill is passionate about helping other office managers develop their careers and helping their dentists run successful businesses through her consulting practice.

Articles by Jill Nesbitt

• Leadership: The key to running any successful business

  Wednesday, September 09, 2015

  The Global Leadership Summit is a two-day speaker series on leadership sponsored by Willow Creek Association. The original Willow Creek church is based in Chicago, and it has grown under the leadership of Bill Hybels to support hundreds of local churches across the world. The Summit is telecast through 300 member churches and seen by 260,000 people.

• Leadership: The key to running a successful dental practice

  Tuesday, September 08, 2015

  The Global Leadership Summit is a two-day speaker series on leadership sponsored by Willow Creek Association. The original Willow Creek church is based in Chicago, and it has grown under the leadership of Bill Hybels to support hundreds of local churches across the world. The Summit is telecast through 300 member churches and seen by 260,000 people.

• Does your dental office have a system set up for hiring?

  Monday, June 15, 2015

  What is it like in your office when it's time to hire a new staff member? Does your dentist talk privately with a few candidates while the rest of the staff check them out as they walk through the office? Once a new person has been hired, is she asking the other staff about benefits? Who does the reference checks?

• How do you see your job in the dental office?

  Friday, June 05, 2015

  Are you responsible for handling the insurance and billing in your office? If so, I bet you are one busy person. Not only do you process every claim and make sure you have every detail correct so the claims go out successfully, but then you also turn around to enter the payments and send statements when the claims close. Even if you are signed up for EFTs, you are keeping your mailman busy.

• Do you really need that dental software?

  Friday, April 10, 2015

  Recently, I was approached by a new software company that wanted to sell its product to my clients. They were kind enough to send me a video so I could become familiar with their product. As I watched the video, I realized they had a sharp presentation with a good-looking software product, but there was a dirty little secret: You don't need it.

• Listening: A how-to guide for group practice administrators

  Friday, March 06, 2015

  We've all heard it before; we are supposed to listen. We know we need to listen to our staff so we can understand their needs and concerns and then help solve the problems so we can accomplish the practice goals. But knowing and doing are very different. How do you really listen to your team?

• Why your office can handle hiring new dentists and staff

  Friday, February 06, 2015

  In the last week, I experienced two opposite attitudes about the growth of dental practices. On the one hand, I was talking with a small group of dentists who understand that group practices are growing quickly and changing the landscape of dentistry. On the other hand, I talked with a dental office manager who played a significant role in improving her dental practice – she had substantially increased the production thanks to filling schedules and knew the dentist was considering hiring another dentist. However, when faced with the idea that the practice may need to hire additional support staff, this office manager was completely against that kind of growth.

• How to network with other dental office managers

  Friday, January 23, 2015

  Sometimes, being a dental office manager can be a lonely job. The clinical team works together with the dentist in the operatories, perhaps you have a few front-desk team members who have become close — and here you are, sitting in your own little office working away by yourself.

• Are you managing a dental group practice?

  Friday, December 12, 2014

  Dental group practices are formed in dozens of ways. Some are the result of long-term planning where each office is thoroughly evaluated and measured to determine if it is a good fit for the group. Others occur suddenly due to tragic circumstances where everything is in a rush.

• All for lack of a good dental office manager

  Monday, November 24, 2014

  I heard a terrible story the other day about how a dentist began a vicious negative spiral when his well-loved dental office manager retired. When his office manager retired, he hired someone who had slightly less experience to take over. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to grow into the position, and the dentist had to start getting more and more involved in the business side of the practice. Now, instead of just practicing dentistry, he was dealing with insurance and collections and other management issues.

• New career opportunities for dental office managers

  Thursday, November 13, 2014

  Are you the dental office manager for your small practice? Maybe you have wondered about career development but figured since you're already the manager, there's nowhere for you to advance. You may have more opportunity than you realize.

• ADA 2014 highlights for dental offices

  Friday, October 17, 2014

  ​After attending the American Dental Association conference in San Antonio last week, here are a few things I learned that those who work in dental offices might find helpful.

• Compare your dental practice collections with national averages

  Friday, October 03, 2014

  Take a look at your aging report in your dental software. Find the report that shows you the percentage breakdown for each category: current, over 30 days, over 60 days, over 90 days. What are your percentages for each category? How does your office compare with the national averages?

• Customizing your dental practice software for your office

  Friday, September 19, 2014

  Imagine you just bought a new car. One of the first things you will do is set up the seat to fit you in the most comfortable way. Next, you may set up the radio stations to all your favorite music and talk radio. You will save your insurance card in the glove box and stash an ice scraper in the trunk. You might add a bumper sticker.

• Are you the cleanup crew? Discovering the patient accounts are a mess

  Friday, August 29, 2014

  Congratulations! You just got the job as dental office manager for a really nice dentist. This dentist is kind and friendly, the office is beautiful and although you wish you were making a little more money everything is starting out great.

• Finding the needle in the EOB haystack

  Friday, August 15, 2014

  ​Have you had to send money back to a dental insurance company? You may have received a letter informing you that a patient received benefits but turned out to be ineligible. Now the insurance company wants its money back.

• More than 1 dentist in your practice? Be sure they’re paid correctly

  Friday, July 25, 2014

  I received a phone call recently from an associate dentist wondering if he was being paid correctly. He noticed that although his production was higher than the senior dentist, his collection was lower. This seemed to be a trend over the past several months, and he thought it might be worth taking a look.

• New to dentistry? Jump-start your knowledge

  Monday, July 14, 2014

  I recently received a phone call from a new dental practice administrator of a three-location group practice. She had years of hospital administration experience and management expertise, but was new to the dental field. She accepted the position to manage this group practice and immediately set to looking for resources to help her quickly learn dentistry.

• The big issues facing your dental practice

  Thursday, June 19, 2014

  How's your office going these days? Are your schedules full? Everybody paying on time? Insurance all caught up? Beyond these everyday challenges, there are big changes facing the dental field that affect almost everyone.

• Where do your new patients come from?

  Monday, June 09, 2014

  One of the major factors in how your practice performs financially is how many new patients come through your doors. For many dentists, this is the most important measure in the practice.

• Using an employee file to improve your dental practice

  Monday, May 12, 2014

  What if I told you there was an easy way to cut the staff drama, more consistently enforce office policy and have your team solve their own problems? An employee file serves all these purposes.

• Losing patients to new dental insurance plan?

  Friday, March 28, 2014

  Do you have a large employer in your town? Have you seen what happens when this employer changes dental insurance plans — especially if the company switches to a plan that you have not joined?

• Manage your dental office schedule

  Friday, March 14, 2014

  One of the most critical responsibilities an office manager has is to manage the schedule. A properly-managed schedule keeps the staff busy and reduces chit-chat time. It also keeps the focus on our patients instead of on "what did you do last weekend" conversations. The schedule dictates our profitability and is a visual reminder of our effectiveness.

• Tracking soft-tissue management success rate

  Thursday, February 27, 2014

  For years, I've read in dental journals that 30 percent of people have gum disease. Therefore, dentists should have 30 percent of their recall patients either in soft tissue management programs or perio maintenance.

• Creating a recall system protocol

  Friday, February 14, 2014

  To keep your patients coming back for their dental cleanings, you need an organized protocol to contact them. There are a variety of ways to contact patients these days, from phone calls and letters, to emails and text messages. But when should you use which one?

• Perfect attendance: Reward what you value

  Friday, January 24, 2014

  Do you reward your dental staff for having perfect attendance? This is low-hanging fruit for a way to reward the behavior you want to see in the staff. What happens in your office when your assistant doesn't show up? Do you have a backup who can step in so you can maintain your schedule, or do you have to cancel patients? How does your practice run when your receptionist is out? Who answers the phone and collects from the patients at the front desk? If you want your days to flow more smoothly, setting up a reward for perfect attendance can work like a charm.

• Using dental practice software to make management decisions

  Friday, January 10, 2014

  As the office manager for a dental practice with seven dentists, 25 staff, 18 operatories, I was responsible for the business side of the practice. When I was hired, my first assignment was to select the best dental practice management software for our practice — and then to make the most of this software to run a successful dental practice.

• The end is near: Are you on track to meet your goals?

  Thursday, December 12, 2013

  I assume you have goals — written down, measurable, deadline-driven, goals. At the minimum, you have a goal for what you would like to produce each year, right? Collections as well? How about a new patient goal? Overhead? Recall rate? Case acceptance? Here we are in mid-December, just a couple weeks away from the end of the year — a great time to take a look at all your goals to see if you're on track.

• Re-evaluating your work style

  Monday, December 02, 2013

  A dental practice I know is changing offices — the accounting person, the insurance manager and the daily deposit person are all moving to new offices in their building. As they work through the physical changes — and they get the IT company to relocate all the computers, printers, network connections — the real opportunity for each of them is to reconsider their work style.

• Customized letters: Driving a response

  Friday, November 15, 2013

  How do you follow up with patients who do not schedule the treatment you recommend? Call them? Send an email? Send a letter? Drive to their house? What response are you receiving? Do the patients return the call, reply to your email? Perhaps it's time to look again at the content of your letter.

• Does your dental assistant motivate patients to accept treatment?

  Monday, November 04, 2013

  If you’re not measuring to find out which of your dental assistants is motivating your patients to accomplish treatment, then you could be making a big mistake by managing assistants as if they were all the same. Talk with your assistants about creating a tracking system to find out who is motivating patients to get treatment in your practice.

• Does your hygienist motivate patients to accept treatment?

  Monday, November 04, 2013

  If you’re not measuring to find out which of your hygienists is motivating your patients to accomplish treatment, then you could be making a big mistake by managing hygienists as if they were all the same. Talk with your hygienists about creating a tracking system to find out who is motivating patients to get treatment in your practice.

• Challenges an office manager faces: Managing the schedule

  Friday, October 18, 2013

  ​One of the most critical responsibilities an office manager has is to manage the schedule. The dentist wants it to be productive. The hygienists want it to be full. The assistants want it to have enough time to turn over rooms and catch up on cleaning instruments. The secretaries are busy trying to fill the schedule when it has holes and confirm and take care of patients when it’s full.

• An office manager’s role in preventive dentistry

  Friday, October 04, 2013

  Have you ever heard of the Institute for Oral Health? This organization identifies best practices in oral health and then encourages collaboration between dental insurance companies, physicians, dentists (private practice, academia and public health) and researchers to benefit the public and the profession. This year's annual conference theme was on preventive dentistry, and I was lucky to attend.