Calling to action: better phone calls with Amol Nirgudkar

Your stellar new marketing campaign has opened the floodgates of new patient phone calls. What’s next? The front office team member sets the tone during that first call. If they do it well, the patient sets an appointment. Amol Nirgudkar, founder and CEO of Patient Prism, has been privy to countless first calls. His company uses AI to analyze those conversations and coach dental offices on converting calls into appointments. Amol joins us to share his insights on providing a “wow” patient experience from the very first interaction.

Q: What AI trends are you seeing in your space?

A: AI is becoming increasingly relevant in dentistry. At Patient Prism we use natural language processing AI to understand patient conversations and allow dental practices to quickly recover lost opportunities. Companies like Pearl are using computer vision AI to detect disease from radiographs and enable better diagnoses and higher case acceptance. Zentist is using AI and RPA (robotic process automation) to improve the revenue cycle management function.

AI is a branch of computer science that aims to understand and build intelligent entities, often instantiated as software programs.

Q: How does the human element of being a charming/friendly receptionist compare to having analytics-based training on speaking to patients?

A: The human is still at the center of the conversation. The AI is merely analyzing how the human did based on a scoring system that has statistical significance. The AI is able to analyze tone, mood, sentiment, keywords and even context of a conversation and facilitate a better patient journey.

Q: What are some common mistakes that dental teams make when answering the phone that could cause them to lose a potential new patient?

A: The most common mistake is treating the conversation as an "order taking" conversation instead of a sales conversation. The patient is truly looking to be sold and the selling motion requires the receptionist to build trust. Building trust entails that the patient feels safe. When the patient feels that they have called the right place and they can actually afford the treatment, the patient is likely to book at appointment. Another common mistake we see on the phone is receptionists not offering an appointment date and time. Offering two options for appointment often results in patient picking one of them.

Ethical selling in healthcare is about helping people appreciate and value decisions about their health needs and desires for a healthier, happier life.

Q: Tell us your favorite Patient Prism success story!

A: We had an edentulous patient who was scared to call a dentist, but she called one of our clients at 4:40 pm inquiring about All on 4 Dentures. She was quite scared about the procedure itself and secondly was quite concerned about the high cost.

The receptionist rushed her through the call because it was close to office closing time. The patient was also told that the procedure could cost her almost $50,000. The patient, shaken up by the conversation, politely said she would call back if she could afford it. Our Re-Engage Lost Opportunity (RELO) alert reached the office at 4:55 pm, letting them know that they could have offered this patient relevant information about the dentist capabilities and offered a potential 120-month payment plan through one of the patient-financing partners.

Based on the information in our alert, the office manager was able to call the patient at 5:10 pm and actually re-book her for a free consult next week. The patient eventually made a $10,000 down payment and financed the rest and lived happily ever after with fantastic new smile.

Stories such as these are a daily occurrence. This particular one sticks out because of the impact it made on patient health and the practice profit, all because Patient Prism allowed the office to have a second chance to make the first impression.

Q: How are you seeing the evolution of patient communication – is there a significant shift toward texting and online booking over calling?

A: To this date, over 80% of new patient appointments are made over the phone. Even if the conversation starts over text, the appointment is confirmed on the phone. For simple hygiene appointments, texting and online booking is growing in popularity.

One third of consumers prefer phone calls as their preferred method of communication to connect with their bank, healthcare provider or pharmacy.

Q: That first phone call is only the beginning! How can a modern practice management software like Asprodental help create a great patient experience (with tools like electronic intake forms, text messaging, etc.)?

A: PMS systems play a big part in elevating the patient experience. As long we delight the patient at every interaction, the patient keeps moving forward in their journey to getting the care they deserve. Patients prefer to do most paperwork electronically and texting is very effective in quick engagement. Integration of these tools within PMS is also very important. Asprodental mimics the optimal workflow of a patient natively within its platform and that itself allows for an elevated patient experience. In dentistry, if you take care of the patient experience, everything just falls magically into place.

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Amol Nirgudkar helps dentists grow their practices and reach their goals.  

He is in an unusual position to offer practical insights. As a certified public accountant, business consultant, author, entrepreneur, and former owner of several dental practices, he has 20 years of experience working with dental practices, both large and small.  

Through the three companies he founded, Amol has served more than 1,500 dental practices across the United States. Through his work, Amol saw firsthand a growth challenge that all dental practices face. No matter how successfully they may market their practice, almost 50% of new patient calls don’t end in a booked appointment.

To help solve that problem, he founded Patient Prism in 2015. The service uses both A.I. and American call coaches to evaluate the way dental offices handle phone calls, identify the callers that didn’t schedule, and teach the team how to win them back – all within 30 minutes of the failed call.

Amol co-invented the patented technologies used in Patient Prism. One eliminates the need to listen to recorded phone calls by providing the information visually. The other technology details specific words spoken by the patient during the call so dentists and managers know which services callers are requesting and the revenue opportunity associated with each call. Amol continues to work with artificial intelligence and machine learning to empower dental teams to deliver a better patient experience and build even more successful practices.  As of today, Amol currently holds 5 utility patents in the call intelligence space.  

Amol has also written several articles and e-books, and published a paperback book called Profitable Niches in General Dentistry (2014). 

Amol sits on several emerging DSO boards and acts as an advisor to many CEOs around the country.  In his spare time, Amol also runs a quantitative hedge fund and travels the country with his 17-year-old piano prodigy daughter to piano competitions.