Dental shelf · Companion page
The Inactive Patient List
Count, Value and Reactivate the Patients Your Dental Practice Hasn't Seen in Years
Book coming soon
Everything the book points to is here, chapter by chapter. The page is free, has no forms, and doesn't need an account or an email address. It stays at this address after the book is printed, and it's where corrections go.
Coming soon
Provisional cover
Chapter by chapter
Each chapter's resource callout points here. The worksheets are free PDFs that print on US Letter, with no form to fill in first. The same blank sheets are printed in Appendix A of the book.
Part I · The list in dollars
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Chapter 1: What Counts as Inactive
- PDFA1. Active and Inactive Definition Sheet (175 KB)
- In reviewDefinitions and the ADA link
- In reviewReport steps per practice system, dated
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Chapter 2: Why Patients Drift Off the Schedule
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Chapter 3: What the List Is Worth in Year One
- ToolInactive-patient value estimator
- PDFA3. Value-Estimate Sheet (372 KB)
Part II · The system
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Chapter 4: Clean the List Before Anyone Calls
- PDFA4. Cleaning Log (178 KB)
- In reviewExclusion steps in more detail
- In reviewReport steps per practice system, dated
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Chapter 5: Four Cuts of the List
- PDFA5. Segmentation Sheet (168 KB)
- In reviewReport steps per practice system, dated
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Chapter 6: Chairs, Phones and the Order of Work
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Chapter 7: One Plain Request
- PDFA7. Message-Structure Grid (114 KB)
- In reviewA7b. Consent-Prerequisite Checklist
- In reviewCall and text consent (federal)
- In reviewState calling and texting rules
- In reviewMarketing versus treatment messages, and what not to put in them
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Chapter 8: The Returning Patient's First Visit
- PDFA8. Returning-Patient Intake Checklist (129 KB)
- In reviewIntake steps with a dated benefits section
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Chapter 9: Counting Who Came Back
- ToolInactive-patient value estimator
- PDFA9. Reactivation Tracking Record (206 KB)
Part III · Running it
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Chapter 10: Stop the List from Refilling
- PDFA10. Monthly Inactive-Flow Record (117 KB)
- BookThe Overdue Patient List: booking at checkout and working the overdue list, so fewer patients reach the inactive line
- ListThe other books in the series
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Chapter 11: The First Ninety Days
- PDFA11. Ninety-Day Plan and Weekly Review Agenda (222 KB)
Chapters 3 and 9 · Appendix B
The inactive-patient value estimator
It runs the book's formula for each segment of your list and prints every line: returners before and after the baseline, value per returner, first-year collected, outreach cost and net, plus the floor with every old treatment plan set to zero and the capacity-limited case. It runs in your browser and takes totals only. Load the Kestrel Park example and it reproduces Appendix B to the cent.
Worksheets and records (Appendix A)
Blank versions of the sheets built in each chapter. Each one takes counts and totals only; none needs a patient's name. Each is a free PDF that prints on US Letter and holds up in black and white. There's no form, no email and nothing to sign up for. A7b, the consent checklist, is in review: it touches call and text consent, so it waits for the regulatory reviewer, as the rules pages do. Its blank is in Appendix A of the book.
- A1 Active and Inactive Definition Sheet Chapter 1 PDF, prints on Letter · 1 page · 175 KB
- A2 Drift-Reasons Tally Chapter 2 PDF, prints on Letter · 1 page · 176 KB
- A3 Value-Estimate SheetFilled example: Kestrel Park, the book's invented composite practice (PDF, 470 KB) Chapter 3 PDF, prints on Letter · 2 pages · 372 KB
- A4 Cleaning Log Chapter 4 PDF, prints on Letter · 1 page · 178 KB
- A5 Segmentation Sheet Chapter 5 PDF, prints on Letter · 1 page · 168 KB
- A6 Capacity Work Order Chapter 6 PDF, prints on Letter · 1 page · 162 KB
- A7 Message-Structure Grid Chapter 7 PDF, prints on Letter · 1 page · 114 KB
- A7b Consent-Prerequisite Checklist Chapter 7 In review
- A8 Returning-Patient Intake Checklist Chapter 8 PDF, prints on Letter · 1 page · 129 KB
- A9 Reactivation Tracking Record Chapter 9 PDF, prints on Letter · 1 page · 206 KB
- A10 Monthly Inactive-Flow Record Chapter 10 PDF, prints on Letter · 1 page · 117 KB
- A11 Ninety-Day Plan and Weekly Review Agenda Chapter 11 PDF, prints on Letter · 1 page · 222 KB
Dated and planned pages
Anything that changes after printing lives on a dated web page instead of in the book. These are the ten pages the book routes to the web. The estimator and the two benchmark pages are live. The rest have a page at their address that says what they will carry and who is reviewing them, and nothing more yet.
The rules pages and the guides need a qualified reviewer. No page about consent, calling and texting rules or privacy will go up until the reviewer named below has read it, and each will carry its review date and reviewer. This page doesn't summarise those rules in the meantime.
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/tools/inactive-patient-value-estimator/ Live
The calculator (browser-only, aggregate inputs)
Reviewer: None needed
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/rules/texting-consent/ In review
Call and text consent (federal)
Reviewer: Regulatory reviewer
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/rules/state-calling-and-texting/ In review
State calling and texting rules
Reviewer: Regulatory reviewer
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/rules/hipaa-patient-communications/ In review
Marketing versus treatment messages, and what not to put in them
Reviewer: HIPAA privacy reviewer
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/benchmarks/dental-visits/ Live
Dated national visit, coverage and cost-barrier figures
Reviewer: None (dated sources)
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/benchmarks/dentist-capacity/ Live
Dated reading of the national dentist-capacity poll
Reviewer: None (dated source)
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/software/list-pull/ In review
Report steps per practice system, dated
Reviewer: Office-manager reviewer
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/guides/active-vs-inactive-patients/ In review
Definitions and the ADA link
Reviewer: Dental reviewer
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/guides/inactive-list-cleanup/ In review
Exclusion steps in more detail
Reviewer: Office-manager reviewer
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/guides/returning-patient-visit/ In review
Intake steps with a dated benefits section
Reviewer: Dental reviewer
Errata and updates
None yet. The book isn't published. Corrections will be listed here with the date and the exact change, as the editorial policy describes.
What's next
The current list of books in this series, kept up to date. See the catalogue.
The Letter
Occasional news of new books, tools and corrections. About The Letter.
Help with the work
If you'd rather have someone help make the change, see Services. Any business connection to the author is disclosed there.