Endo Mastery

Designing your year with purpose

ASHLEY HUBERS

PRACTICE COACH

No matter who you are, everyone starts with the same 365 days each year. The difference lies in how you choose to use them. A calendar that isn’t intentionally designed can quickly become overwhelming, with everything competing for your time. The result? Sacrifices, stress, and imbalance.

 

Instead of letting your schedule control you, take a proactive approach by planning your year with purpose. Look ahead month by month, aligning your time with both your personal and professional priorities. A helpful framework for structuring your calendar is: 

  • Special days – Family celebrations, milestone events, and must-attend personal commitments. 
  • Vacation days – Time to rest, recharge, and create space for energy renewal. 
  • Professional development days – Learning opportunities, conferences, and continuing education to fuel your growth. 
  • Practice growth days – Strategic time for marketing, coaching, team development, and initiatives that move your practice forward. 
  • Clinical days – Patient care days designed to help you reach your financial and productivity goals. 

Even for highly organized professionals, tension often arises with clinical days. They demand the most time and are tempting to increase when productivity goals aren’t met. The danger is that more clinical days often come at the expense of vacations, family, or growth opportunities—leading to burnout and dissatisfaction.

 

The real solution isn’t adding more workdays. It’s growing your practice to a level that allows you to meet your revenue goals with fewer clinical days if you choose, giving you flexibility and freedom in your life. At Endo Mastery, our focus is to equip you with strategies that evolve as your goals evolve—helping you build a practice strong enough to support the life you truly want.

 

When you design your calendar with intention, you don’t just fill days—you create space for joy, balance, and lasting success. 

Communicating with referrers about upset patients

DR. DAVID GOERIG

VICE PRESIDENT

Even in the best practices, there are times when a patient becomes upset. Sometimes it’s because treatment is more complex than anticipated, leading to longer appointments, follow-ups, or additional costs. While many patients accept these changes, others may react strongly to the unexpected.

 

There are also factors outside our control that can trigger frustration. Patients may be unhappy with insurance limitations, unclear about the reason for referral, or simply overwhelmed by the stress of pain and treatment. Whatever the cause, emotions can run high.

 

When this happens, I make it a priority to connect directly with the referring doctor. My goal is to ensure they are never caught off guard by a patient’s negative experience. I explain the situation clearly and share what steps I am taking next—whether it’s placing a follow-up call to the patient, scheduling them for additional care, or simply offering reassurance.

 

The way this message is delivered matters. I always keep the tone calm, factual, and supportive. Blame has no place in these conversations—not toward our practice, the referring doctor, or the patient. Often what appears like difficult behavior in our office may simply be heightened anxiety; meanwhile, that same patient could be one of the referring doctor’s most trusted and loyal patients.

 

Open and professional communication is more than a courtesy—it’s a trust-building practice. By keeping referrers fully informed and demonstrating care for both their patients and their relationships, we strengthen confidence in our partnership. Patients may face surprises in their treatment journey, but our referring doctors should never be surprised by how we handle them. 

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