Many practices keep looking for more new patients when the bigger problem is the gap between what gets diagnosed and what actually gets scheduled, completed, and collected. In this episode, Kirk Behrendt talks with Sameer Bhasin of CareCredit about building reliable, measurable systems that make unscheduled dentistry visible, tighten the diagnose-to-schedule pathway, and improve follow-through so patients get the care they need without adding more chaos to the schedule.
You’ll learn how to create an actionable dashboard, protect procedure time, clean up revenue cycle habits, and use technology to amplify (not replace) your workflow. Listen to Episode 1050 of The Best Practices Show!
Main Takeaways:
- Most private practices aren’t short on diagnosing treatment; they’re short on conversion and follow-through.
- Unscheduled dentistry should be broken down into a dashboard by timeframe, procedure type, value tier, and patient readiness so it becomes actionable.
- A strong diagnose-to-schedule pathway requires consistent handoffs, clear “why now,” and protecting schedule time for the procedures you want to do.
- Production on paper isn’t the same as performance because value is often lost in handoffs, case acceptance, scheduling, and collections.
- Clean revenue cycle discipline includes early benefit verification, collecting patient portions appropriately, and consistent weekly AR and aging-claims follow-up.
- Technology should amplify an existing workflow (analytics, reminders, online scheduling guardrails) rather than replace human follow-up and accountability.
- As a benchmark, about 10% of patients should be applying for third-party financing to ensure financial options are part of the process, not an afterthought.
Snippets:
00:00 Unscheduled dentistry is the opportunity most practices aren’t working.
08:23 How to build an unscheduled treatment dashboard by time, procedure, and value tier.
11:52 Standardizing the diagnose-to-schedule pathway and creating urgency with the “next best appointment.”
15:40 What a “clean revenue cycle” looks like and why write-offs are a major hidden problem.
18:05 Technology amplifies a workflow; it doesn’t replace one.
20:10 The metrics Samir watches, including the 10% financing application benchmark.
23:10 The “Great Wall of China” myth and how misconceptions show up in practice systems.
26:55 Approval rate realities and why you can’t get approvals without applications.
33:00 What a CareCredit practice review reveals and how it’s used to find opportunities.
35:45 A simple action plan: pull the last 90 days of unscheduled dentistry and call the top 20 patients.
Guest Bio/Guest Resources:
Sameer Bhasin, Vice President of Strategic Alliances at CareCredit, is responsible for working with dentistry’s key opinion leaders and educators to gather the latest insights and trends. Previously, Mr. Bhasin held positions as a CareCredit Practice Development Manager and Regional Sales Manager where he acquired more than a decade of front line practice experience. He holds both a Bachelor’s Degree and Master’s Degree in Business and an MBA in Healthcare Administration.
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