Principles of Practice Management: Why are some practices more successful?

There are many ways to measure the success of a dental practice, but I would argue that production is the most accurate. There are three key factors that determine the production potential of a practice.

1. The schedule.
   The starting point is always the schedule. In many cases, dentists do not realize that their schedule is actually holding back their ability to reach new levels of production goals. The same schedule that allows a practice to grow becomes restrictive when the schedule is no longer viable. If you want to have reasonable growth over time, you will need to mathematically construct the schedule using procedural time studies to determine the correct intervals for time blocks, scheduling techniques and scripting. With a properly constructed schedule in place, the practice owner can utilize that schedule to achieve production goals.
2. Case acceptance.
   The best schedule in the world doesn’t matter if patients are not accepting recommended treatment. The bulk of general dental appointments are still for single tooth treatment, and in that situation a much higher volume will be necessary to grow production. If more medium-to-large cases can be added to a baseline of single tooth cases then not as much volume will be necessary and practice production will grow every year. That is, if patients are accepting treatment. Dentists need to refine their case presentation skills. For example, something as simple as always reminding patients about interest-free financing allows patients to understand that they can afford treatment and lets them focus on the value of the recommended care and the benefits to their health, rather than the cost.
   
   
3. New patients.
   New patients are always a key factor in the success of a dental practice. In their first 12 months with the practice, the average new patient has a production level two or three times higher than the average current active patients. Practices should determine how many new patients are necessary each year to help reach the annual production goal and implement a system for introducing new patients to the practice. That system, called the New-Patient Experience starts with the first phone call, carries over to the first visit to the office and hopefully evolves into a lifetime relationship between the patient and the practice.

So, what makes some dental practices more successful than others? They focus on the essentials and increase production every year.

Editor's note: This article originally appeared in DE Weekend, the newsletter that will elevate your Sunday mornings with practical and innovative practice management and clinical content from experts across the field. Subscribe here.