Episode #383: Operational clarity that reduces insurance pressure with Kristine Haynes

Intro: This is the Less Insurance Dependence podcast show with my good friend Gary Takacs and myself, Naren Arulrajah.

Intro: We appreciate your listenership, your time, and most of all, we appreciate your intention to reduce insurance dependence in your practice. Our goal is to provide information that will help you successfully reduce insurance dependence and convert your practice into a thriving and profitable dental practice that provides you with personal, professional, and financial satisfaction.

Lester De Alwis: Hello, and welcome to the Less Insurance Dependence podcast. I’m your host, Lester De Alwis. This podcast is here to help dental professionals build strong, profitable practices with less stress and less reliance on insurance. Before we begin, a quick word from our sponsors. Ekwa is offering a complimentary marketing strategy meeting where their experts will help practices attract high-quality patients and grow through strong online visibility. So, if you’re looking to do a health checkup on your online visibility, you can book your session at lessinsurancedependence.com/marketing-strategy-meeting.  If you’re looking for mentorship or guidance on building a thriving insurance-independent practice, you can also schedule a complimentary coaching strategy meeting with Gary Takacs at thrivingdentist.com/csm. 

Now, today I’m excited to welcome Kristin Haynes. Khristine works closely with dental practices to strengthen systems, leadership, and operational clarity so owners can grow confidently without relying on volume or insurance pressure. So, in today’s episode, "Operational Clarity That Reduces Insurance Pressure" is the title, and we will explore how strong systems help practices stay lean, profitable, and in control. Khristine, thank you so much for being here. Be so excited to having you here.

Kristin Haynes: Hi, Lester. Good morning. Thank you for having me. I’m excited.

Lester De Alwis: Exactly. So, let’s start at the foundation. What systems or process gaps do you see most often holding practices back from healthy growth?

Kristin Haynes: So, for me, where I see it, it really is on the insurance part of it, if they do take insurance, just because of the fact of when it does come to the team members, usually they’re not really trained that well. So there’s a lot of time that’s wasted and having things like that. So I will mostly see it on that end if they do take insurances. If they don’t, or all around, what I do notice is new technology that’s been introduced into the practice, but they’re not really fully utilizing it to its potential.

So, for a couple of examples, you’ll have a dental practice, like my dental practice. It has an iTero scanner, and so prior to any cleanings, they will do the scan on your teeth, and then they leave it right there in front of you. And so some dental practices are not doing that.

Kristin Haynes: And I know for me, when I’m looking at it and I’m seeing it, I understand why they’re doing it, but other patients that are not dental trained like me, they don’t, right? So then you’re able to look at it and see, well, you know what, maybe I do want to try something like Invisalign, because they’re noticing their teeth, they’re noticing this, they’re noticing that, and so you’re not able to really utilize that iTero scanner and the fact that you’re doing Invisalign, right?

So that can stall you from that healthy growth that you could have in drawing up more patients with Invisalign and giving them that service. Another example that I can give you is, we call it dental monitoring in orthodontics, and that enables the patients to be able to reduce the amount of times that they have to come into the office.

Kristin Haynes: And I have a client who has fully utilized it, and it has cut down, like I said, the amount of patients coming in, but that frees up chair time. That frees up chair time to be able to do production. And with him not taking insurance, it gives him really complete autonomy of how he would like to be able to treat the patients and spending quality time.

So that’s really where I see that they’re kind of holding themselves back by their services out there that they don’t really fully utilize to help the practice grow. And another one is this, and this is more on the team, which—mm-hmm—you don’t have some people that are cross-trained. So you’ll have a treatment coordinator. Let’s say they’re out and no one’s really cross-trained to do what they’re doing. So the question is, what happens to your new patients? What happens to being able to kind of keep up you getting to your goals?

And so that’s something that I do tell my clients is, in the really important procedures like that, or I should say staff members that are connected to production, do you have somebody that’s cross-trained? Because if you don’t, and let’s say they’re out for two weeks, that’s two weeks without new patients, or you’re hurting the new patient process.

Lester De Alwis: Yeah, that’s a great start for this episode. Now, you work closely with teams and leadership. What breaks down internally when systems are not clearly defined, even in successful insurance-light practices?

Kristin Haynes: So that’s a good question, because the answer to that is going to be communication and trust—mm-hmm. And when your communication and your trust break down, then you start to see cracks within your culture, and then, in turn, it gets to resentment. And then that’s where the beginning of the disengagement for the team members starts.

And so when I do some of my assessments, one of them—I call it the Clarity Diagnostic—the tension that I see most among the teams is revealed in the poor systems, right? But then there’s no clarity around the role, but they also don’t feel like they have an outlet to be able to speak to someone about those frustrations. Or sometimes you’ll have the office manager, they’ll think that the office manager is playing favorites, and then they don’t feel comfortable going to the doctor, and they don’t feel comfortable going to the office manager.

Kristin Haynes: And so, you know, there will be that miscommunication, and then, in turn, team members will start to see their colleagues in ways that really are not accurate. And so people might be encapsulated in a way that’s not really true to them. And then when all that tension starts, the doctor doesn’t know what to do with it, or they don’t want to get involved because they just want to focus on seeing their clients, right?

But really, it’s the communication and the trust. And a lot of those tend to turn into the turnover that we tend to see. And interestingly enough, there’s a DANB study—DNAB study, excuse me—and that study came out to say that team members, especially dental assistants, they want to stay in their practice. They want to, but they also feel like they’re not being respected or there’s not really a work-life balance. So open communication and trust really are very much important within a practice, regardless of whether you take insurance or not.

Lester De Alwis: Exactly. I mean, communication goes a long way in the practice, absolutely. Now, many practices feel busy but not in control or feel stuck. From an operational standpoint, what usually creates that disconnect?

Kristin Haynes: So I would really say that it comes from being reactive—mm-hmm. There’s reactive putting out fires and no real clear systems that are there. And so sometimes what can happen is we just want to put a band-aid over it and not really get down into the nitty-gritty of it and really what’s there.

So I do tend to see that the decision-making process would be more emotional than it ends up being logical at times. And the doctors, they’re not really having clear goals or really of what they’re wanting to do or where they want the practice to be able to go. And so it just kind of ends up being a hamster wheel when, once again, like I said, it just lends to a lot of frustration inside the office, and then it turns to end up being high turnover.

Kristin Haynes: And also, too, I try to encourage my doctors and the teams that when they do have their office meetings, instead of it being tactical—mm-hmm—let it be strategic and let people have that open communication there so they can feel like they can. So if they are feeling busy and they’re feeling stuck, they can really talk up and they can really say, “This is how we feel. We feel like we’re setting up fires, we feel like we’re stuck, we feel like we’re not being strategic.” And then that opens up the door for everybody to refocus and really see what it is.

So, you know, sometimes being busy can feel productive, but without that structure, what it hides is it hides the inefficiencies and also the burnout that can come along with it.

Lester De Alwis: Exactly. And speaking about this episode, it’s all about operational clarity now, correct? What does operational clarity actually mean day to day in a practice that wants to stay lean, profitable, and not volume dependent?

Kristin Haynes: So it’s one word, and it’s peace. When you have clarity, and you know even if the day is hard or—mm-hmm—you know you’ll have a day that’s hard, there’s still a level of peace that you can end up having. And so the peace really just means that you’ve positioned your practice, and I say this all the time, positioning your practice from a place of strength and not weakness.

And that’s really going to come when the doctors feel like they can trust their team members, if they really properly delegated the operations and the structure and all of it. And they don’t feel like they’re micromanaging, because no one wants to micromanage. It doesn’t feel good on both ends of the spectrum, right? But then they feel like they can actually start to do what they went to school for, which was dentistry. So I’ll give you a brief example for myself—mm-hmm.

Kristin Haynes: That’s a great question. So if a practice already does not rely heavily on insurance, leadership really needs to focus on three things: culture, clarity, and consistency. Because when you are not depending on insurance volume, the experience that patients have inside the practice becomes extremely important. So that means making sure the team understands the vision of the practice and that they feel connected to it.

Another area is really protecting your margins by being very clear on your numbers. So you want to know your KPIs, your overhead, your production per hour, and also making sure that your scheduling supports the type of dentistry that you want to provide. If you’re scheduling based on value and not just volume, that really helps protect the sustainability of the practice.

And then from an operational standpoint, the first steps that practices should focus on this year would really be making sure that their systems are documented and clear. That includes your SOPs, your workflows, and making sure that the team understands their roles and responsibilities. Also making sure that you have regular leadership meetings and team meetings where you review your goals, your numbers, and where the practice is going.

Because when leadership is aligned and the systems are clear, the team feels more confident, the culture stays strong, and the practice can continue to grow without feeling like it has to depend on insurance or high patient volume.

Kristin Haynes: Yeah, so my suggestion is, and I always love to say this, take a step outside of your office. Take the emotional step and give yourself the objective view. And so that’s going to be able to help you see any type of hurdles or setbacks that you may have that need to be addressed.

And I very much—mm-hmm—like to tell the leadership team, focus on the alignment. Make sure that you have the right team members. Once you do, then develop your team. And then from there, create some level of accountability. Right now, with the high turnover that some practices have, there’s a misalignment. So sometimes it’s a quick fix and you’re bringing on someone that might be in school, they’re not going to be with you long term. And that’s going to hurt your operations, because once they leave, then you have to spend a lot more time.

So really make sure that you have the right team members in place. Now it’s the beginning of the year. Take that time. Do it. And teach your team the business side of dentistry. You don’t have to teach them the ins and outs. For example, if you have a TC, if you’re in an ortho practice and you have a TC, teach them how to give multiple options to the patients.

For instance, if the patient wants to pay upfront, that’s great, but teach your team member the benefit in that is we don’t have to keep paying credit card processing fees—mm-hmm. Now that may sound like something small. However, you’re teaching them the business side, and so then they can start thinking about what’s best for the business, but also what is best for the patient and being able to give the patient multiple options in what they can do.

And another one I strongly believe in is creating a structure and a business that, as you as the business owner or the leadership team, you can step back at times and nothing’s really going to fall apart, right? Your team can operate when you’re outside of the office and they know what you are thinking. They can always be 10 steps ahead of you.

So those are some things that I really say—teach them now before things get really, really busy. Because once the summertime hits, it’s going to get busy. And really, to get someone fully trained, it takes a good two to three months for the implementation of it. Because like I said, practices can get busy and you’ll have little setbacks and hurdles and things like that.

So those are suggestions that I really like to give. Focus on your team and really see where the breakdowns are in the flow and your workflow. Then work with your team on efficiency and making sure that everything, as a whole combined together, works endlessly and flows.

Lester De Alwis: Exactly. I mean, the right champions will help you get there, where you want to go—your destination.

Kristin Haynes: Correct, correct. Absolutely.

Lester De Alwis: Yes. Now, last but not least, what is one thing practice owners assume they’re doing well but often are not doing well?

Kristin Haynes: Oh, that’s a really good question. They think they know what their team members want or feel—mm-hmm—or they think they may understand their team members’ experiences. And so when they think that they know, there are a lot of misunderstandings that can happen and go on.

For instance, I had a client and she was going to terminate a new hire. And with that new hire, she had excellent work ethic. She just wasn’t clicking and really picking a lot of things within the practice up. And once we did the assessment, it came to find out that her previous employer was a toxic work environment. And so her confidence was really low and she had a lot of fear.

And when I say toxic, she was telling me a story where her previous boss, while she was pregnant, was throwing instruments. And so it really put a—yeah, seriously—and this does happen to team members—mm-hmm—and it’s also an unspoken thing, but it does happen.

And when I relayed that to the doctor, she was mortified because it never crossed her mind. It never crossed her mind that a team member would come from an environment like that. And so then her heart just sunk because she realized, “I was potentially going to let this person go because I’m thinking that she’s underperforming,” but really what it was, was just fear.

And then that gave her the opportunity to really build up and work with her and bring her confidence back up. So I just say sometimes before you make a decision or you feel something, really just communicate with your team members, because you’ll really be surprised what they’re coming in with or what they’re carrying that you as a doctor—it would never cross your mind.

A team member doesn’t think about being in dental school. They’ve never been in dental school, right? They don’t know what they don’t know. They don’t know what it’s like to be in anatomy and all of that, but it’s also the other side.

Lester De Alwis: Exactly. I mean, some great advice, some great nuggets in this episode. So, Khristine, if anyone wants to get in touch with you or get some advice or want to have a chat with you about their practice, what is the best way that they can reach out to you?

Kristin Haynes: Oh, yeah. So they can email me at kristen@khpromanagement.com. So they can email me that way, and we always try to respond to anyone within 24 hours. And we love to talk to anyone, even if it’s not bringing you on as a client. I just love to impart help, knowledge, anything that would benefit somebody or anyone. And my website is khpromanagement.com.

Lester De Alwis: Amazing, amazing. So anyone listening, if you’re listening to this episode and if you want to basically get more advice, you can also go to our website and go to the show notes of this episode and click on the link to Khristine’s website, and you can reach out to her from that.

Now, Khristine, thank you so much for joining us today and sharing so much practical insight on systems, leadership, and clarity.

Kristin Haynes: Thank you. It was my pleasure, and I appreciate everything that you guys do.

Lester De Alwis: So the key takeaway of this episode is practices that understand their operations and lead with clear systems gain control. That control makes it easier to protect margins, support the team, and reduce insurance pressure over time.

So this podcast is about taking action. And first of all, if you are looking to do a health checkup on your marketing and your online visibility, schedule a complimentary marketing strategy meeting with Ekwa Marketing at lessinsurancedependence.com/marketing-strategy-meeting. 

Secondly, if you’re looking for mentorship and you’re looking to get advice, book a complimentary coaching strategy meeting with Gary Takacs at thrivingdentist.com/csm. 

Now, all these resources, all this advice, and the nuggets that were shared on this episode are all here for you to take action. These resources can help you build a stronger and more independent practice.

Now, thank you for listening in. We look forward to seeing you in the next episode of the Less Insurance Dependence Podcast.