Learn the business skills of case acceptance.

The Real Reason Both Spouses Don’t Attend Consultations

Case acceptance improvement is not the TC’s job, it is a process, and my current course in case acceptance training covers all of the skill areas spanning the respective roles of the front desk, the TC, and the doctor in that process. However, nothing that I teach you and your team members will have more impact on your case acceptance rate than having both (or all) decision-makers attend your consultation.

In spite of its importance, most of you employ no effort whatsoever to make this happen. This responsibility is the domain of the front desk, and this week’s topic addresses both why they don’t attend and how to change that outcome.

The first thing that you and your team must do to improve this area is to set aside your assumption that the reason the other spouse isn’t attending is because they have to work. Having a job is not, of itself, a barrier to attending this meeting – not by a long shot. The real problem is that you allow the scheduling family to assume that this meeting does not warrant the time investment of the person working, which is what they will do unless you explain otherwise.

Put another way, if the family realized that the decision for treatment (a) involves a substantial financial investment and (b) has life-long implications for the patient’s health, it is quite likely that the working spouse would make time for this meeting. The fact that they don’t is your failure, not theirs. So the solution is to educate the incoming caller – usually the Influencer – on why the other parties involved should attend the meeting.

How to do this? Two steps for the front desk, both after the appointment has been set:

  • First, ask the caller if there are any other individuals besides themselves who will be involved in the decision process (before you can invite others, we need to establish that they do indeed exist) and
  • Second, give the caller a good reason for bringing the other, working spouse (or relative) to the meeting, and ask if both (or all) can attend. (I provide scripting for this step in my training program).

The most common response to this request is “I will need to check”; offer the flexibility of rescheduling the appointment just set, if need be, to accommodate the other person’s schedule.

Does this always work? Of course not, and yes, some spouses really do have to work. However, even a modest improvement in having both spouses attend your consultations will have a very positive impact on your case acceptance

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