Experiencing a few growing pains these days? The schedule is maxed out. The team is stressed out. And it seems that no matter how much you work the money’s always out. While the practice may appear to be booming, in reality it is on the brink of a bust. Take steps to turn things around, starting with the time.

It’s time to make the schedule your servant and not your master, which means scheduling to meet daily production goals, NOT scheduling just to keep the doctor and team busy. Establish a realistic financial goal for your practice; let’s say $700,000 in clinical production. This calculates to $14,583 per week (taking four weeks out for vacation). Working forty hours per week means you’ll need to produce about $364 per hour. If you want to work fewer hours, obviously per hour production will need to be higher.

Use the formula below to determine the rate of hourly production:

1. The assistant logs the amount of time it takes to perform specific procedures. If a procedure takes the doctor three appointments, she/he should record the time needed for all three appointments.

2. Next record the total fee for the procedure.

3. Determine the procedure value per hourly goal. To do this, take the cost of the procedure, for example $900 for a crown; divide it by the total time to perform the procedure, 120 minutes. That will give you your production per minute value – $7.50. Multiply that by 60 minutes – $450.

4. Compare that amount to the doctor’s hourly production goal. It must equal or exceed the identified goal.

5. Start scheduling to meet that goal every hour of every day.

Hi Sally,

I thoroughly enjoy your newsletters and the information you share. I had a phone call this morning and am wondering if a reply to this question might be somewhere in your archives…perhaps you would readily know and save me a search? (Although I will enjoy re-reading past letters).

My patient asks my office manager if I will honor a coupon that a neighboring dental office is offering (free exam and free xrays for a new patient). My OM explained that our practice does not participate in coupon programs. Do you have a wording that sounds more “PC” than “we think coupons cheapen our profession”?

Thanks much!

Elisabeth

___________________

Thank you Elisabeth.

I would have told the patient, “Absolutely we will provide the same offer. Just bring in the coupon with you. Are mornings or afternoons best for you?”

Here you have a neighboring dentist who is doing advertising, paying for the direct mail piece, and you are getting the new patient to call you. What a deal! Instead, this patient was turned away because they have a “coupon”. I’ll bet you two holes to a donut that your OM uses coupons for groceries, toiletries, gas, etc. and she doesn’t think that cheapens her or the business for using them. Unless your office is getting 100 new patients a month, I would say don’t kick a gift horse in the mouth. Your job is to sell the new patient once you get them in the door on what a nice office you are. You should be able to MORE than get back the cost of your time for an exam and the expense of x-rays.

Sally

It’s that time again. Football is in full swing, there’s a chill in the air, the final months of 2012 are upon us. Shore up production before the end of the year by giving patients the incentive to be in the chair now.

This is the perfect time to alert patients to unused dental insurance. It’s also the perfect opportunity to inform your patients about treatment financing plans like those offered through CareCredit. I readily advocate of the use of financing companies because you want to do everything within reason to make it easy for the patient to accept treatment and easy for the practice to receive payment.

Moreover, educating your patients about available insurance funds as well as interest-free financing options can be an essential means of helping the patient get past the financial barrier to receive the treatment they need.

Use scripts to guide financial conversations. Consider incorporating the following points: “Mrs. Patient, we want to do everything we can to ensure that you receive the care you need. We understand that in today’s economy financial options are very important. We can make arrangements that will enable you to make low monthly payments at no interest for a full year. We are able to do this with the help of CareCredit, which is a treatment financing company endorsed by the American Dental Association. If you would like those payments to be even lower, CareCredit offers fixed rate financing options for two, three, even four-year payment plans. More and more of our patients are taking advantage of the payment option these days. And the process takes just a couple of minutes.”

Provide options and make it easy for patients to get treatment.

I bet you don’t really know. You might have some idea, but you probably aren’t completely certain. To better gauge treatment acceptance in your practice, review a few key reports:

The Treatment Plan Report identifies how many dollars are being presented to patients. Utilizing this report effectively can identify your success rate in treatment acceptance. The formula for this is: Dollars recommended divided by dollars accepted equals case acceptance rate. Your case acceptance percentage should be at least 85%. If it isn’t at or very near this level, it’s essential that you and your team evaluate treatment presentation protocols. Consider designating a treatment coordinator and creating specific scripts to ensure that the process of educating patients about treatment procedures and options encourages patients to proceed.

Also take time to review the Production by Code Report. This gives you an opportunity to track how many times a specific procedure is done. It can be used to determine productivity, treatment acceptance rates, and much more. Also, if the practice is offering special techniques or services, tracking the production by code will help to determine effectiveness, i.e.; tooth whitening, periodontal aides, crowns, bridges, and implants. Additionally, the Production by Provider Report allows you to track individual provider production for each dentist and hygienist.

Regularly monitoring these key practice financial reports enables you to have a much better understanding of where treatment acceptance stands as well as your practice financials.

So you’ve had enough of the problems and pitfalls of practice ownership, and you’ve made the decision to work with a practice management consultant. Here are a few things to consider in your selection process.

Has the person you will be working with been “in the trenches”? We see many who claim to be “practice management consultants,” yet they have never worked a day in the dental practice and have zero front office experience. Look for a company with longevity and consultants with legitimate practice management experience.

Does the consultant you are considering come to you, or must you and your team go to them? There is no substitute for what happens on-site, day after day in your practice. Insist on consultants who come to you.

Does the company have a track record of success? You want numbers, data, and references. McKenzie Management, for example, routinely increases practice profitability by 25% in the first 60-90 days alone.

Can this company tailor its recommendations to address the specific needs of your practice? No two practices are exactly alike. You should expect the consulting company to have the experience and breadth of knowledge to address the uniqueness of your practice.

What type of follow-up will this company or consultant provide? Do they spend a day or a few hours with you, hand you a manual to follow, and send you off to implement the recommendations on your own? That’s a formula for failure. McKenzie consultants are on-site for as many days as the dentist would like and work as your partner for a full 12 months.

Finally, remember the old adage “you get what you pay for.” If the services are free and over the phone, they are probably worth what you’ve invested – not much. Give me a call at 877-777-6151 or email sallymck@mckenziemgmt.com and learn more about selecting the consultant who is right for you.