CONVENIENT PATIENT COMMUNICATION AND GAMECHANGING PATIENT REVIEWS
Lighthouse 360 is a patient communication software that’s designed to be a member of your dental staff. It reduces no-shows, keeps schedules full, saves time, and helps practices build better relationships. Grace Billman had worked with Lighthouse 360 at a previous employer and decided to seek it out again at her current practice. Here, Grace tells us why she doesn’t want to work without Lighthouse 360.
When I get to the office in the morning, I open up Lighthouse 360 at the same time I open up our software, and it confirms appointments for us. It’s automatically synced to our software, so it tells me right away who isn’t confirmed. As I organize my day, it alerts me to what I need from whom. It will tell you every piece of missing information patient by patient—things I wouldn’t be alerted to ask the patient unless somebody prompted me to do so. It’s very valuable. For example, I would say as of right now, after using it for more than a year, we have 70% to 80% of our patients’ emails.
Two-Way Texting
I don’t want to answer a phone call to confirm my dental appointment; I’m busy like everyone else. Within the Lighthouse portal, I can push a button to send a text message reminder to the patient, but I can personalize it and put my own content in it. We’ve had patients think that I have a cell phone and I’m getting paid to text them all day—I tell them they’re crazy! Lighthouse is so convenient; I would not work without it.
Patient Reviews
My favorite feature of Lighthouse is that it sends a patient review email at the end of every appointment, which has been a complete game-changer for us. If you were to Google “Florida Keys dental,” from Marathon to Key West, we’re going to be the only dentist that pops up that has Google reviews, and we have a 5-star rating. Every single one of those reviews is a result of Lighthouse prompting the patient to complete one.
When people call here, they will say, “I read your reviews and I saw that you will see me, and I’m on vacation.” We would never get those patients in the door if we didn’t have Lighthouse and those positive reviews. If that was the only feature that Lighthouse offered, we would use it just for that and still pay the same monthly amount.
Ease of Workload
I would recommend Lighthouse for the simple reason that it will take some of the workload off your plate, which gives you more time to spend with your patients in person and deal with finances…I don’t think there’s anything that’s better for a dental office coordinator than Lighthouse—it hits all the key areas. And they’re always trying out new features, which I volunteer to test. They recently sent texts and emails to patients to book short-term appointments, and we really don’t get many of those. I’m not exaggerating—within 20 minutes, I had more people wanting appointments than I could give…I think Lighthouse is going to keep advancing, expanding, and offering more features, and it’s only going to get better.
Excellent Customer Service
The customer service at Lighthouse is exceptional. I’ve never had a problem that was not fixed in the snap of a finger. That says something to me because I have to call people about software and other issues all the time. Poor customer service makes the experience so frustrating and difficult. I’ve never had a customer service experience at the level Lighthouse offers—ever.
About Grace Billman
Former Minneapolis resident and Washington state native Grace Billman graduated from Billingham Technical College nearly 12 years ago with a degree in Dental Assisting. She has spent the last 9 years managing dental practices and is currently the office manager for Thomas M. Kiefer, DMD, a dentist based in Marathon, FL. Grace believes her current patients are the best she has worked with in all her years in dentistry, and it may be because many are visiting or living in paradise.
