Dental Business Blog - Advice By Kat
Dental Practice Transitions - What are my first orders of business?
Check List for New Dental Practice Owners
Buying a Dental Practice is exciting, and setting yourself up for success is important in the first month. Here is a list that will be helpful in organizing business to-do items that will smooth out the transition from old doctor to new doctor.
When purchasing a practice it's best for the transition to be clean. The old doctor leaves, and you come in and take over the team & patients. This is best because the team will emanate what culture you set, and the patients will connect and create relationships with you. If this is NOT clean, your new team will have a hard time respecting you as the new owner/boss. The other problem that frequently arises... is that patients generally want all of the major restorative to be completed by the old/original DDS. YOU, the new DDS must be the producer for this restorative production to pay for your new practice and financial obligations. Written By: Kat Johnson-Britsch Bought A Dental Practice - What Do I Do Now?
Doctor's give your self a pat on the back for getting this far! Great job!! You've survived school and your ready to take all of that knowledge and apply it to a successful life plan, which includes running your own business. What you might be realizing is that Dental School did not give you the skills to run a successful business, and your trying to figure out HR, payroll, accounting, dental software, successful treatment planning and acceptance, effective communication with your patients, how to manage your new team, and make sure all the systems are in place for your new business to run smoothly and efficiently. Just know that it's ALL possible!
How does my Dental Practice function? Begin with setting up separate weekly meetings with your dental assistant(s), admin(s), and hygienist(s). Also, set up Team Meeting every 2 weeks for 1 hour with an agenda for each meeting. These topics can be gathered from the individual meetings. Make it clear that these meetings are to create a better culture for them, and your patients. Let me be CLEAR, this is NOT a personal attack session. Think brainstorming, and implementation by your highly skilled team. Did you hear that... NOT implementation by YOU, but by your team. Give them ownership of tasks, asking them questions along the way to keep them accountable. They will report to you and the team at the Team meetings. What if my team is in upset and not functioning? Identify the negative person on your team, that causes others to be upset... this person is a CANCER and must be removed, immediately. I do not care how key you THINK they are to your practice. Get rid of them. You say, oh that is so harsh. No, it's not and you are the manager & owner who should set the tone and culture of YOUR practice. It's not fair for the rest of your team to be emotionally abused on a daily basis, and it will infect your culture and eventually you will loose your prized team members, and the patients who drive your practice. Getting off my soap box... Moving forward with a positive, engaging team that knows you have their back, will make your life so much easier as the business owner. Your team will be happy and productive, this will translate into your team's exceptional patient care. What is the MOST important daily task you perform to increase production? What is the 1 thing you should LOVE to do in your dental practice everyday? EXAMS!! When your assistant comes up to you or your hygienist, and asks for you to come and do an EXAM... from now on... you will jump up with a smile on your face and say YES! I will be right there. Now, your thinking... I hate exams, they interrupt me, they are inconvenient, and I just do not have time. REMOVE this quickly or you will not succeed. EXAMS are the key to filling your restorative, and hygiene schedules, and thus creating a successful dental business. How To Fill Your Restorative and Hygiene Schedules?
Written By: Kat Johnson-Britsch Production - How To Fill Your Restorative Schedule
What drives or creates production in your dental practice?
Hygiene Program & Quality Exams - Your hygiene program will drive the most production in your dental practice, and quality/comprehensive exams will fill your restorative schedule. Make sure that you have a very thorough Hygiene Recall/Recare System in place.
250-300 patients are equal to 1 day of hygiene in your Hygiene Schedule. So if you have 1500 patients, then you will need 5-6 days of hygiene. I tend to lean towards the 250 patients to 1 day of Hygiene, so that there will be room for New Patients, and Periodontal root planing and scaling appointments in the hygiene schedule. How long should a Hygiene appointment be in length? I suggest keeping Hygiene appointments to 1 hour in length. This gives the Hygienist time to give your restorative anesthetic (restorative assistant to take the hygiene x-rays, and doctor to do the exam), patient doesn't feel rushed, perio charting, intra oral photos of areas in question, and this time gives your hygienist the opportunity to discuss the treatment plan after your exam. Your Hygienist is then able to answer the patient's questions, thus over coming their resistance to scheduling restorative procedures. Do your best to do the recall/recare exam within the first 10 minutes of the Hygiene appointment. What if I don't have enough patients to have a Hygienist? OK, now if you are building your dental practice from scratch or have less than 500 patients, you will be doing all of your own hygiene appointments. The tipping point is when your schedule is too full for restorative appointments, and your patients are getting scheduled out 2+ weeks for their major restorative work. At this point, hopefully you are up to 800 or 900 patients in your patient base. Then gradually, add hygiene days 1, then 2, then 3, then 4 days, and so on as your Admin team are able to fill them. Written By: Kat Johnson-Britsch Hiring New Team Members In Your Dental Practice
As doctors and business owners this has to be one of the most difficult and important decisions you have to make. Hiring new team members effects your current team, office culture, and your ease of conducting business on a daily basis.
Personality traits you want to look for in an Exceptional team member:
Let your current team help you hire! Say what...? YES, involve them, let them help you get down to 2 candidates. Why...? When you involve your team in making this decision they are able to ask questions you are not allowed, and they will have ownership in the new team members success! The team will automatically take responsibility for their decision, and create a structure for success. When the 2 candidates are chosen that you and your team would be happy hiring. Then YOU make the final choice.
Set up your new team member for SUCCESS!! Meet with them at the end of each day, for 2 weeks to see how their day went, and how you can help them succeed? Let them know that you are there to help them succeed, and are very happy to have them on your team! Emphasize that there is NEVER any dumb questions, and you are here to help them learn how your team culture succeeds, and integrate them as quick as possible.
Verbal Recognition and Praise! "Praise Them & Raise Them", and FYI... this is not a religious statement. Very important! Everyday, make sure you compliment each of your team members on something they did that day! I call this "Praise them & Raise them"! Make this your mantra! As a result your team will go the extra mile for you, and your patients! You will create a positive culture, and your team will be loyal to you! Written By: Kat Johnson-Britsch ***This is advice, and solely my opinion, and we are not responsible or liable for any adverse outcomes due to taking or implementing this advice.
|
|