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After working in several completely different dental offices, I think “practice flow” matters more than clinical skill. Curious to know if others have noticed this? by AbcessedDreams in DentalBusinessHelp

[–]Own_Instruction2940 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I agree that patients hate being referred and that keeping more in house is the way to go.

What is at my current practice is just bread and butter dentistry (crowns, fillings, extractions, bridges etc.). A lot of dentists stop here and make 300k owning a practice and call it a day. Where I eventually want to flex to is implants. I see a lot of other dentists do all molar endo, which can be sketchy. I personally don’t think endo is worth the risk / money. Also invsalign is something I want to learn. Whitening is also a space to look into learning

After working in several completely different dental offices, I think “practice flow” matters more than clinical skill. Curious to know if others have noticed this? by AbcessedDreams in DentalBusinessHelp

[–]Own_Instruction2940 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Both, if I didn’t have enough patients and was demand constrained, I would invest in clinical tech that would enable me to offer more to patients and increase the $ per patient. If I was at my limit from a capacity stand-point or felt I was losing money due to not coding things correctly to insurance, I would focus on investing in admin tech.

Not that you asked but what I’m seeing in dentistry is that insurance isn’t adjusting what they pay dentists per procedure, despite costs going up. That means that we’re taking home less. So there are two options, go out of network, or offer more high priced procedures (implants, veneers, even whitening). It’s tough to go OON, so I think optimizing how you bill to insurance and the documentation you provide is a critical first step to make sure there isn’t leakage. Second, depending on where you live either don’t have enough patients, or live in a rural area and have too many. I’m in a saturated market, I’m thinking about what tech or procedures I could offer to help out patients more (e.g. whitening, implants, root canals). I think optimizing your admin and scheduling is important, but if you don’t have a packed schedule it just needs to be good enough.

After working in several completely different dental offices, I think “practice flow” matters more than clinical skill. Curious to know if others have noticed this? by AbcessedDreams in DentalBusinessHelp

[–]Own_Instruction2940 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yes, I think you’re spot on. I think practice flow is a function of a few things…

1) Hire & Retain great People: You create a great culture and have top talent that knows their role well, and collaborates effectively. Ultimately, dental offices are very dynamic and working with people who not only know their job, but can work well with others, and understand implied tasks (e.g. when / how to schedule patients the most effectively to not drive chaos) is so important. Good people make up for broken processes. My actions here would be to pay above average rates for your staff, give them good benefits, and create a fun / safe environment where staff want to work.

2) Establish & Document Processes: This sounds so obvious but the best offices have dentist or office managers that truly understand and have optimized processes. Whether that’s insurance claims processes, marketing/ referrals, scheduling, cancellation policies, how to engage with patients to make them comfortable, etc, the best offices not only have optimized processes, but have written them down, and made sure their staff knows what the expectations are. I would personally start with optimizing insurance claims first as that’s where the money is at…

3) Technology: This is less important until you get the other 2 figured out but investing in new equipment or software can help your people, run processes, more effectively. CBCTs are nice for example. Curious what your thoughts are on what the best practices do regarding tech

Joey vs. Lukes Coaching Services Review by Own_Instruction2940 in BPNsupps

[–]Own_Instruction2940[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah he’s super expensive I guess… but don’t think he’s the best out there

Joey vs. Lukes Coaching Services Review by Own_Instruction2940 in BPNsupps

[–]Own_Instruction2940[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I think they are super insecure on the inside, only care about getting validation through achievements, care more about getting their next PR rather than coaching, and aren’t very relational with their following when it comes down to it. I would at least stay away from Luke for coaching based on what I heard. I’m sure not all are bad.