How the Patient Experience Will Evolve

In today's modern age, patients are expecting an experience to match the pace of innovation and convenience that technology brings. Paul Reda, CEO of North American Dental Group, discusses the transformative impact of emerging technologies and evolving trends on patient experiences within dental practices. As we explore this landscape, you'll gain insights into how dental care is becoming more comprehensive, convenient, and patient-centric. We'll also discuss essential strategies for dental practices to foster trust and loyalty in a competitive environment, with a focus on continuous improvement through patient feedback and data analysis.

What emerging technologies or trends do you believe will have the greatest impact on enhancing the patient experience in dental practices in the next few years?

We have so many terrific technologies that are enabling comprehensive care within one visit. AI technologies, like OverJet AI, are helping providers diagnose with greater precision and then communicate better with patients about their care. CBCTs with 3D imaging are having an incredible impact on dentistry and facilitating the practice of best in class care. Andm3D printing has given us the ability to provide comprehensive care within a single visit. All of these are facilitating easier, more comprehensive, convenient care for patients which is exactly what they want. We are even starting to measure how utilizing these tools facilitates higher net promoter scores and loyalty.

How can dental practices build and maintain trust and loyalty among their patient base in an increasingly competitive landscape?

No matter how big we become, we can never lose sight of the fact that success is measured one patient at a time through every moment of the customer journey. That’s easier said than done. It requires service models that contemplate excellence and expand access to care throughout the journey from ease of scheduling a visit (online or telephonically) through the visit to bill payment and then on-going, in between visits. And this is never done; we are constantly seeking improvement. If we achieve this for every patient at every visit, not only will we garner loyalty, but we will also build brand ambassadors that will spread positive word of mouth.

In what ways can dental practices leverage patient feedback and data to continuously improve the patient experience?

We have found our patient experience platform, AskNicely, which distributes easy, quick surveys to our patients, incredibly helpful. With it, we are able to address issues immediately and turn lemons into lemonade. It also is a great way for us to uncover any systemic issues and create training to address weaknesses. We feel we are only at the tip of the iceberg in utilization of these tools. We are now integrating with our business intelligence to see how this impacts customer lifetime value, which just creates even more buy-in for the tool and its importance. It is one of the most important technologies we’ve implemented over the last 18 months.

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