Angela:  Every year I look forward to fall.  Cooler weather, pumpkin spice and all the fun holidays.  And one of the most exciting celebrations that happens in September is Office Management Appreciation Month.  It is a month of recognition and celebration of office management teams and what they contribute to their practices and patients.  Having worked in a busy dental practice, I know that everyone on the team has an important role to play for the practice to be successful and all deserve to be recognized.  And I’m glad in September CareCredit in partnership with the American Association of Dental Office Management or AADOM is able to bring this celebration into the dental community.

Heather:  It’s definitely a month I look forward to, too.  We have our annual conference and when I’m surrounded by these amazing professionals, I am so glad we’ve come together as a dental community to celebrate Office Management Appreciation Month.  Everyone in the front office deserves time in the spotlight for their hard work, resiliency, positive attitudes and leadership skills.

Angela:  I agree.  I have found people drawn to healthcare and dentistry in particular are nurturers and prefer to celebrate others while staying humbly in the background.  And that is not a bad thing.  We often celebrate big successes, but it’s the small wins like having no cancellations (win!), no holes in the schedule (win!) and finding a great candidate to add to the team (win!) that are the foundations for the big wins which could be meeting production goals and patient retention.  Small wins all add up. 

Heather:  The success of the dental practice is truly made up of a series of small wins.  And those wins increase exponentially when the team, as a group and as individuals are recognized for their efforts and contributions.  Celebrating the office management team doesn’t mean that everyone in the practice doesn’t contribute to the practice success, because they certainly do.  It’s just an opportunity to celebrate the people who I’ve found are some of the hardest working professionals in healthcare.

Angela:  In past years dentists and dental teams have celebrated their office managers with flowers, cakes, parties and more.  This year, OMAM is going to be bigger and better than ever before.  CareCredit has refreshed and updated the website (https://omam.carecreditvirtual.com) where teams can get free resources and ideas to help them celebrate their #AwesomeOMT.  And on the same site, the office management team will be able to access an amazing virtual celebration created just for them that includes daily affirmations, fun, and appreciation from industry leaders.  There’s a new section dedicated to helping make the busy lives of the office management team just a little easier with tips from colleagues, leading consultants, AADOM, and CareCredit. For example, with the new CareCredit Custom Link QR display, office managers can save time and improve the patient’s experience by putting the power of financing simplified right into the hands of patients so they can see if they prequalify for the CareCredit credit card without impacting their credit score. 

Heather: The virtual celebration is really something all #AwesomeOMTs should see. You mentioned cakes, parties and flowers.  Here are a few more ways to celebrate OMAM dentists and their teams may want to consider.  The team could write “love notes” to their office manager/administrator that share what they love about them – like their sense of humor or ability to handle stress.  Or have an “our office management team makes patients and us happy hour.”  Or put up a “We have an #AwesomeOMT” banner or sign in the reception area so patients can get in on the fun, too.

Angela:  I think we both agree there are a lot of big and little ways to show your office management team that they are appreciated.  And we would love to see all the practice celebrations so make sure to add the hashtags #OMAM and #AwesomeOMT.  And go to the OMAM site to get the free resources to use through the month of September.

Heather:  And a big thank you to all #AwesomeOMTs from AADOM and CareCredit.  We appreciate all you do!