Is your dental practice making money?

It is a fact that the most profitable dentists are financially successful because of the team. No one person in your dental practice is responsible for increasing profits and revenue. It is achieved by the office receptionist making sure the patient is confirmed to show up to their appointment. The dental assistant who takes in the patient must make sure that the patient is promptly sat in the dental chair at the designated appointment slot. The dentist must be available to start work on the patient on time and finish on time. The dental assistant who ushers out the patient after treatment must remind the patient to schedule the follow up appointment with the office manager. And lastly, your accounting department should be on top of all outgoing invoices to the patient and insurance companies. Of course the team and their functions may vary from practice to practice, but what is more important is the way the team operates to make sure every aspect of the “business” and “service” are taken care of and that the accounts receivable have nothing to hinder the cash flow.

Dentists have to be the leaders of the system so each team member knows their role in the profitability of the practice. Many dentists would prefer to be doing dentistry than managing staff. Dentists would gladly spend continuing education hours improving their clinical skills rather than managerial skills. Dentists didn’t go to dental school looking forward to challenges with the staff, such as when someone quits suddenly, the computers die, or how to get more patients. Nobody goes into practice for those reasons.

But what is interesting, is that by putting a good management system into place, dentists actually have more time to do the dentistry they want to do. Dentists need management skills that are as precise as their clinical skills. I advocate managing by statistics, a method that enables the owner to measure the effectiveness of each individual staff member. This, in turn, will result in the practice making more money.