This session was recorded at the AACS Annual Scientific Meeting on February 3-5, 2022. This is a non-CME course and is approximately 45 minutes.

Registration

• $30 - AACS Member (Resident)*
• $30 - AACS Member (Training Fellow)*
• $30 - AACS Member (Physician or Allied Health)
• $60 - Non-Member Practitioner

*Residents and training fellows - After adding the course to your cart, use the coupon code in your renewal confirmation letter to bring the price to $0. If you need assistance, please email AACS headquarters.

Target Audience

Practitioners in the field of cosmetic surgery including, but not limited to, dermatology, oral and maxillofacial surgery, otolaryngology, general surgery, ophthalmology, and plastic/reconstructive surgery.

True or False: Online Estimates are Inaccurate

Jonathan Kaplan, MD, MPH
Pacific Heights Plastic Surgery, San Francisco, CA

Dr. Jonathan Kaplan is a board-certified plastic surgeon based in San Francisco, CA and founder/CEO of BuildMyHealth, a price transparency-lead generation platform. He's also the author of a forthcoming book on the resurgence of the independent practice and price transparency in healthcare. You can watch him operate and educate @realdrbae on Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok.

Abstract

Data was collected from Dr. Tim Sayed, a plastic surgeon in San Diego, from May 1st through June 22nd, 2021. 

Data included the estimated cost of procedures chosen by patients through a Price Estimator and chatbot on his website. These estimates were then compared to the actual cost of the procedure quoted to the patient once they came in for a consultation.

The perceived inaccuracy of online estimates is often cited as a reason not to provide pricing at all. The conventional wisdom being that consumers don't have enough fundamental knowledge to choose the "right" procedure from a list and are therefore surprised or disappointed to find out the procedure they expected is different than the procedure their doctor recommends.

Dr. Sayed's price estimator generated 86 unique leads over the course of the study. 14 patients came in for a consultation, a lead-to-consultation rate of 16.28%. 5 of the 14 consultations (35.71%) booked surgery during the short timeframe mentioned above. 

All 5 patients that booked surgery selected a breast procedure when using the price estimator on his site and all five were candidates for breast procedures. There were some cases where they also needed a lift as part of their en bloc capsulectomy and implant removal or also needed fat grafting in addition to these en bloc resections. In all, the difference in cost between their estimated online quote and their actual procedure costs varied by 10.62%. This is comparable to being off by $800 for an $8000 procedure. With this relatively small variation, online estimates should be considered accurate enough to be helpful to the patient.

Take Home Message

Online estimates are accurate enough and close enough to the actual cost of a procedure to provide actionable insight to the patient prior to coming in for a consultation.

Schedule Management Mastery

Dan Grantham
YellowTelescope, Miami, FL

Dan has consulted with practices for over a decade to increase patient conversions and improve practice efficiency. He works with YellowTelescope's roster of comprehensive clients, helping to staff new hires and spearheads the training and on-going management of Patient Care Coordinators and office staff to ensure that practice growth goals are achieved. After graduating from Florida State University College of Business, Dan started his own business at the age of 21 that grew to over 200 sales reps. As a Patient Care Coordinator, Dan worked with over 15,000 patients and personally sold $28M in surgery with an 85%+ same day booking ratio. He consulted for and personally developed and implemented sales programs for a medical weight loss company that helped grow the company's revenue from $4M annually to over $80M annually in less than 3 years. Dan has been featured in MedEsthetics as well as served on faculty at the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgeons (AACS) meeting and Florida Combined Otolaryngology Meeting. He volunteers with local organizations benefiting students in at-risk communities and children with autism.

Take Home Message

Simple scheduling tricks can significantly increase the numbers of non-surgical procedures that can be done in a day. Learn how to create a schedule that will grow your revenue and make patients happier.