A dental clinic's year: what to do, month by month
A dental clinic's rhythm follows that of families, insurance plans and holidays. This month-by-month calendar tells you when to launch which recall campaign, with the help of an agent like Luna who prepares the messages while your team decides. The advice is administrative: the agent never gives medical advice.
August and September: back to school
Families book children's exams and cleanings before or after the start of school. Children under 10 are covered by RAMQ (Quebec's public health insurance plan) for several procedures; check with RAMQ.
To do: a campaign to families to remind the children whose recall date falls in the fall. The "Insurer or plan" field prepares the check at reception.
- List of children whose recall falls in the fall.
- Message to families through their preferred channel.
- Insurer or plan checked before the visit.
October and November: insurance plans reset
Many group plans run on the calendar year, and unused maximums generally do not carry over. Patients therefore want to use their coverage before the end of December.
To do: a "Use your coverage before year end" campaign to patients who have planned or overdue care. Keep the tone informative and pressure-free, and send only to patients whose consent is recorded.
December: year-end and holidays
December slots fill up all at once, then no-shows and cancellations rise with the holidays.
To do: activate the waiting list to fill cancellations and send reminders twice, for example at confirmation and then the day before. Patients who agree to be called on short notice are valuable this month.
- Waiting list active.
- Reminders sent twice.
- Cancellation policy visible in the confirmation.
January and February: a new insurance year
Annual maximums are reset in January for most plans, and patients resume their appointments.
To do: a hygiene recall campaign to patients overdue since the fall. Luna computes the next recall date from the frequency the clinic set for each patient, and a recall task is created at the "To recall (follow-up)" stage.
March and April: reactivating inactive patients
This is a quiet period, good for reaching patients with no visit in over 12 months.
To do: build the list of inactive patients and plan the follow-ups. The message is short, warm and includes an unsubscribe link. An active patient not seen for 365 days is flagged by a task.
June and July: summer holidays
Team and patient schedules vary, and children are free for daytime appointments.
To do: offer daytime slots to families and plan team replacements. Remember to notify patients of schedule changes through their preferred channel.
Habits that are worth it all year
A few habits apply at any time: answer new requests quickly, especially emergencies, confirm every appointment, record text-message consent and update it when a patient unsubscribes, and review indicators monthly such as the no-show rate and first-response time. This advice is general and does not replace your clinical team's judgment.
The clinic's tools fit this calendar: a waiting list to fill cancellations, a hygiene recall calendar based on the chosen frequency, a cancellation policy template to insert in the confirmation, and a text-message consent register (date, method and unsubscribe). The five tracking indicators are the no-show rate, cancellations filled, hygiene recall rate, new requests converted and first-response time.
Before each send from the list, two simple checks: is the text-message consent up to date, and is the patient's preferred channel respected? A patient who unsubscribes receives nothing more, whatever campaign is under way.
A clinic's year is prepared through recall campaigns aligned with back to school, insurance and holidays. Luna prepares the messages; your team keeps the decision and the clinical contact.
General information, not legal advice. Check with your professional order or the official source.
Questions
When should I launch the insurance campaign?
In October and November, when patients want to use their coverage before the end of December. Many group plans run on the calendar year.
Why reactivate inactive patients in March and April?
It is a quiet period, good for reaching patients with no visit in over 12 months, without competing with peak periods.
Can Luna tell a patient what their insurance covers?
No. She prepares the reception's check from the insurer recorded in the file, but she puts forward no coverage data and gives no medical advice.
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