Morning Huddle Preparation

What triggers this workflow: This workflow runs every day the practice is open, starting at a defined time before the practice opens (typically 30-60 minutes before the first appointment, depending on schedule size). It runs whether or not a morning huddle meeting is held, because the output, the annotated schedule, is useful even if the team reviews it individually rather than collectively.

Prerequisites:

• PMS access for the person preparing the pack
• A defined huddle pack template specifying what information to include and how to format it
• Agreement on the delivery time and delivery channel
• A list of which reports to run and where to find each data field in the PMS

Step-by-step procedure:

Log into the practice management software at the designated prep start time. Open the day’s schedule.

For each appointment on the schedule, complete the following checks in sequence:

Unscheduled treatment: Open the patient’s treatment plan. Identify any procedures that have been diagnosed, treatment-planned, and presented to the patient but not yet scheduled. Record the procedure name, the tooth or area, and the approximate production value. Flag whether the patient has remaining insurance benefit that makes scheduling before benefit-year-end relevant.

Family recall: Check whether any members of the patient’s household (linked in the PMS) are due for recall within the next 60-90 days and do not have an appointment scheduled. Note the household member’s name and due date. The clinical or administrative team can use this information during the visit or checkout to offer to book the family member.

Account balance: Note the patient’s current outstanding account balance. If the balance is above a defined threshold, flag it so the checkout team is prepared to address it. Do not attempt to interpret the balance, simply report the number.

Insurance benefit remaining: For insured patients, record the annual maximum, the amount used year-to-date, and the remaining benefit. If the patient has unscheduled treatment and remaining benefit, flag both together, this is the same-day scheduling opportunity that benefit expiry makes time-sensitive.

Overdue diagnostics: Check when radiographs were last taken and whether they are due based on the practice’s protocol. Flag overdue radiographs so the clinical team can take them at today’s appointment.

Special notes: Record any open questions from the previous visit, pre-medication requirements, or other information that affects how the appointment should run. Source this from notes in the patient’s file.

Compile all findings for the day’s patients into the huddle pack template. The template should organize patients in appointment order and use a consistent format so the team can read it quickly.

Deliver the pack to the designated channel by the defined deadline, before the first appointment.

What to do if information is missing or unclear: If a patient’s benefit information is not current, note “benefit status unverified” and flag for the front desk to confirm before the appointment. Do not guess or estimate benefit figures.

After the huddle: If the clinical or administrative team generates action items during the huddle review (for example, “call Mrs. Santos to schedule the crown today”), log those items and assign ownership. The huddle pack is the input; the action items are the output.

SOP requirements before this workflow is delegated: The practice must document: which PMS reports to run and how; what threshold triggers an “outstanding balance” flag; what radiograph interval triggers an “overdue” flag; the huddle pack template with all fields; the delivery deadline and channel; what to do when information is unclear.

How to measure whether this workflow is working: Track whether the pack is delivered before the first appointment (process metric) and whether same-day treatment capture increases over the 30 days after implementation (outcome metric).