By: admin

April 12, 2010

Many dental practices have implemented an assisted hygiene program. Many offices are still on the fence and need to know if this will fit their business model.

The profession of dental hygiene has improved over the past 20 years and if we are forward thinking about how we can benefit our patients and add value to the practice, assisted hygiene (AH) can be a benefit to your patient care and your current business model.

Many dental practices have implemented an assisted hygiene (AH) program but are not utilizing it to its full potential. One of the reasons it may not be utilized at its full potential is because of misunderstanding the concept. What comes to mind when you think of assisted hygiene (AH)? Do you think treadmill or roller coaster? Assisted hygiene (AH) is not about getting more patients in for a “cleaning” and it is not a lower standard of care. The opportunity is to develop optimal care around a preventive patient centered practice.

The challenge is to develop this course of action where the hygiene team can continually strive to develop optimum oral health and preventive patient care with consistency and effectiveness.

Critical Components:

A systematic approach is key to making this seamless. Cross-training the hygiene department and having the operatories set up the same in a systematic manner will promote a system of effectiveness. The hygienist and assistant must acknowledge the benefit of sharing duties which overlap their scopes of practice and contribute to the success of the assisted hygiene program.

Define what assessments are to be completed during the hygiene appointment and which auxiliary can perform these assessments. The hygiene team in particular needs to meet and write down what screenings will be completed and at what intervals. An example may be: “At each preventive appointment patients will receive the medical history review and an oral cancer screening. The patient will also receive a caries risk assessment form and this will be reviewed by an auxiliary. The auxiliary will ask about xerostomia (dry mouth) and give oral hygiene instructions (or a review of) before the patient leaves the operatory.”

“Annually each patient seen for preventive treatments will receive a full mouth periodontal screening exam, a blood pressure screening and smile analysis.” This is just an example so you may want to meet and decide what is in the best interest of the patients and your practice model.

Once you meet with the team and create this model you will nurture and create an atmosphere of optimal patient-centered care.

It is very important that you develop a customized and written protocol so each member of the assisted hygiene (AH) team and even future members of the assisted hygiene (AH) team can acknowledge, accept their role and responsibility within this new business model. The written protocol will include the daily goal(s) for production and may even include how many referrals you ask for from current patients. The written protocol will include challenges and how they will be handled, when to implement new technologies, budgets for new equipment and treatment adjuncts to continue improving the quality of patient care.

Scheduling is very important and the various patient treatments (procedures) need to be categorized into low, medium or high production. Having specific blocks of time pre-scheduled in the appointment book will also help keep the assisted hygiene (AH) program on track for not only a patient centered practice of optimal care but will help the team meet production goals.

Determine your expectations and each persons’ perceptions. Be open to listening to your patients’ perceptions about this change or implemented program. This awareness will help you and the team to proceed with clarity for success and to progress towards peak performance with a patient centered preventive program.

Journey through Peaks and Valleys

These are just a few guidelines to begin your journey for patient centered hygiene care. Possibly you already use the assisted hygiene (AH) business model. There will always be peaks and valleys in anything we do in life.

Even if you have already implemented this program of assisted hygiene (AH) you may consider the expertise of a hygiene coach or consultant as they are the experts who will provide the team with powerful solutions to bring the valleys up to peak performance.
When you become clear about your values and understand everyone’s perception not only will you exceed your expectations but those of your patients.

Happy Patient = Continued Success!

By: admin

March 15, 2010

One of our clients lives in a small town along the coast of Oregon. Small town life style but big time dental practice. It has been a thrill to watch this practice thrive!

The dental team has now been with the practice for 3 years and the patients continue to grow in numbers each month. How can it be that a community of fewer than 20,000 people can generate close to 2,000 active patients? And the revenues – they continue to grow along with the patient numbers. The 2,000 patients mentioned are a true active count because we have counted utilizing the formula we learned from New Patients, Inc.

The philosophy of guiding a dental office is to work smart and not so hard. As a full-service consulting business focused on driving the profits in the hygiene room we know what it means to thrive in the business of dentistry. We are there working on the practice – – with the team and no one person works solely in the practice.

What may be different about this practice is that we guided them to take away the “drill and fill“and choose not to just extract teeth. The focus here and the paradigm shift in the dental profession is now about prevention. We have also shown our clients that they need to specialize in things no one else specializes in.

Every dental practice needs to have a special proven practice methodology and not just a cookie cutter approach to how they treat their patients. We are here to guide our clients and find out what works best for them and what makes them most profitable.

The assessments with our Oregon Coastal Client allowed us to pick special ingredients for the perfect recipe to increase the revenue. This allows for success to occur quickly and see their practice thrive!

If you understand that the hygiene department is the foundation of each and every dental practice you can step forward with the 4 step process we recommend at Dental Practice Solutions. The 4 steps are the same but how they are utilized specifically in each practice is what varies and allows each dental practice to live their own special successes.

Many dentists we talk to ask us “How are you going to make hygiene profitable?” When you are able to put preventive assessments into place and stimulate the communication process to get a “Yes” from patients you will see your hygiene department contribute to at least 40% of the total practice production.

No matter where you practice in the nation you will find that when you treat 100 of your current patients with non-surgical periodontal treatment this year and they receive treatment utilizing the locally applied antimicrobials in the areas which are 5mm’s or greater your revenue will increase by approximately $120,000.00. You may feel it is difficult to wrap your head around this but we have never stepped foot into a dental office and not found 100 patients in the active patient base who didn’t need non-surgical periodontal treatment. How can a hygiene department average this much? The answer to this that when we communicate prevention properly and patients are able to understand your important information; they will sit up, listen and take action. Action means that they will say “yes” to treatment.

The recipe we put together for this Oregon Coastal Dental Office is one example of how this can work for your practice when you learn the simple steps and how they specifically work with your team and your patients to make a “win-win”.

When the team and doctor are open to learning communication skills with their patients and how to communicate to each patients communication style; patients understand their needs and the value added.

People will buy what they want not just want they need. When patients began to understand about the importance of their oral health and how this plays a role in living a longer and healthier life they will do what is necessary to live a healthier life. Patients who are at moderate to extremely high risk for caries now need to be seen every 12 weeks for oral hygiene instructions, review of oral homecare, biofilm or salivary assessments and a fluoride varnish treatment. This can be done by the dental assistant and takes no more than 30 minutes. When you provide this valuable service it can be completed in a consultation room and the CDT7 codes support this preventive treatment. When you understand that non-surgical periodontal treatment can increase your revenues by $120,000 you will now add this preventive treatment worth $15,000.00 to the annual revenues.

Great results still continue to come from this new CAMBRA* model for treatment of moderate to high and excessively high risk for decay. The benefit to risk value? A lot less money spent in the dental office on restorative treatment and missed work. Now it is $30.00 for the quick visit to prevent caries which includes a fluoride varnish treatment, etc. The periodontal patient comes in every 12 weeks and some who have isolated areas of more aggressive periodontal disease come in sooner.

The success of your dental practice and increased revenues will come with just a few of these ingredients added for a recipe of success.

Your daily practice needs to remain stress-free for the dentist the team. If you have the correct team (one important ingredient) then all you need to do is empower and train them. Appreciation for them is always graciously accepted as well. These are two of the ingredients for a recipe of success. Talking about providing preventive treatments can not only provide you with a smart treatment and business model but your patients will receive improved overall health and added value. Preventing disease is an important role and something to feel proud of. You will love what you do at the end of the day.

Next week we will write to you about a secret to increase your revenue another $60,000.00. Stay tune!

The team at Dental Practice Solutions
* Caries Management by Risk Assessment

By: admin

March 1, 2010

When you see the words “the business of dental hygiene” what do you imagine? Perhaps you see a treadmill where high volume and financial reward are the main focus of the dental hygiene department? Or do you see a hygiene department where quality patient care and profitability are congruent, operating with systems and protocols that would not allow one to compromise the other?

A Paradigm Shift

During the past ten+ years the goal of helping our patients has now progressed from treating infection and disease into good overall health. One thing that hasn’t changed is the cost of doing the business of dental hygiene. It is important that the team understand the cost of running a business and a hygiene department. It is when the team understands these financial aspects of the business that the members of the dental team will be committed to excellence. It is important to have team meetings that educate every team member of the cost associated with the daily operations of running the business of dentistry and dental hygiene.

The Facts

The fact is, the hygiene department is the second largest profit center in the dental practice and provides support for the practice as a whole. Within the hygiene department are several other areas of profitability for the dental practice.

Most of your patients spend one hour–two to four times a year with the dental hygienist(s) and because of this ongoing relationship patients are more likely to remain in your practice, accept treatment recommendations and refer patients to the dental office. This makes your hygiene department a business within a business and it makes the executive in this department held accountable for his/her success. When the dental hygienist is held accountable for the department success and when he/she understands the vision and principles of the dental practice, success will follow. You will find the team working in harmony when they understand the vision for the practice share the same code of patient ethics and take ownership for the way patients are treated.

When every team member takes ownership of their role the patients are sure to experience a caring attitude, an ultimate dental experience, the highest level of care and the profits are sure to follow. This provides a win-win situation.

One of the most important aspects of the dental hygiene treatment that is often overlooked is the list of assessments. Dental hygienists feel as if they are on a treadmill but when the team plans the day effectively these assessments can really make the day run smoothly, allow patients to feel they received the highest level of care and now allows for a more comprehensive treatment plan to occur. The treatment plan now moves to a higher level of care.

New Treatment Heights

There is a list of 10 assessments and patient procedures that stimulate profitability in the dental hygiene department. These ten are all important aspects of the patients’ oral and total health. Not all offices participate in this list of 10 and

If you take a look at the list below and notice a missing piece choose to just implement 1 or 2 within the next month. Make an appointment this month to discuss with your team how to implement these ten successfully into the hygiene patient appointment time. Be patient with these changes and take time to discuss how to effectively implement these with full participation from the entire team.

The most overlooked assessments are the annual full-mouth periodontal screening exam. Still in the 21st century many hygienists who see a patient every six months, neglect to pick up a periodontal probe prior to picking up a curette. Most dental offices have approximately 15% of their adult patients with untreated periodontal disease. If each of these patients continues down this path we know that the research states this disease process will continue and the patient will at some point experience tooth mobility and possible tooth loss.

What will this cost the dental business? Take into account that most non-surgical periodontal treatment plans are approximately $1,000.00 for four quadrants of just scaling and root planing not taking into account the use of antimicrobials or laser therapy. Now take into account the frequency of the periodontal

maintenance appointments that follow about every 90 days. Once a periodontal patient, always a periodontal patient. It is the same as a patient with diabetes or high blood pressure. These patients are seen frequently and always at risk for future disease after the disease have been halted. We are not talking about money lost but improved health!

Another new area of treatment that is overlooked at this time is the pediatric patient – first visit. CAMBRA is a new evidence-based protocol for assessing caries. It is now the standard of care for the pediatric patient to have their first visit when the first primary tooth erupts. This appointment can be done in a consult room with the child seated on the mothers lap. This is an appointment to assess the tooth structure, biofilm and any suspicious areas of the child’s oral cavity. If you are concerned about receiving payment the CDT codes have you covered.

How many patients qualify for this preventive measure? How will this benefit your patients and your bottom line?

When the hygienist and team all understand the need to prevent and intervene at an early stage vs. wait and watch; not only does the patient gain an improved level of health but the dental hygiene production will increase. Establish periodontal and the various preventive protocols today. Now is the time to cease treating the periodontal patient with a prophy appointment and begin to utilize the

preventive measures according to the new CAMBRA guidelines.

Another area in dentistry that has changed in the past decade or more is selling home care products. Many decades ago we wrote a prescription or sent our patients to a pharmacy with names of products written on a piece of paper. Our knowledge and research over the past few decades states that 70% of these patients returned to our dental office and never took time to get the prescription filled. Patients seldom took that piece of paper with them to purchase the specific product recommended. When patients have the toothbrush they are to use and shown in the dental office how to use that new power toothbrush they are more likely to use the brush effectively.

This is the one area of your dental practice that has a net profit of about a 70%. You can spend hours preparing a crown or bridge and you have lab fees to pay at the end. The ROI (return on investment) for home care products sold in the dental office is about 70%. We want patients to buy their home care products from the experts, the people who know which toothpaste, toothbrush, mouth rinse, etc. is appropriate for the individual patient to use at home. The sales person at the local drug store and even the pharmacist is not the person to educate a patient about xylitol and its benefits let alone what type of silica is appropriate to use on the expensive restorations the dental patient just paid for.

By engaging and empowering the entire team your dental business is certain to excel. You will create a cohesive team and a dental practice based on excellence and the extraordinary. Realizing the potential of the dental hygiene team and creating a thriving profit center inside this valuable department of your business is essential to building the dental practice you have always dreamed of. This assures you long-term relationships along side your success.

Your team and the dental hygiene department are all very important assets to the health, profitability and success of the dental practice.

The 10 FACTS for Profitability:

1. Perform oral health care assessments that include the review of patients’ health history, dental charting, oral cancer screening, periodontal assessments, biofilm assessment, saliva pH test, smile analysis, xerostomia, etc.
2. Expose and interpret dental radiographs (x-rays); co-diagnose
3. Non-surgical periodontal procedures, antimicrobial agents, laser therapy, etc.
4. CAMBRA
5. Apply cavity-preventive agents such as fluorides varnish and sealants to the teeth;
6. Administer local anesthetic and / or nitrous oxide analgesia;
7. Educate patients on proper oral hygiene techniques to maintain healthy teeth and gums and recommend home care products
8. Discuss whitening treatment and take impressions when applicable
9. Administer smoking cessation programs; and
10. Counsel patients on the importance of good nutrition for maintaining

Debra Seidel-Bittke, RDH, BS is founder of Dental Practice Solutions an evolutionary full-service dental consulting and speaking business. Ms Seidel-Bittke is considered a leader in the field of dental hygiene. Dental Practice Solutions is an evolutionary business focused on increasing the profitability of your dental practice through 4 areas of the dental hygiene department. Research and technological advances have created more opportunities to deliver a higher level of non-surgical periodontal care. An important component of any successful dental business is the function and profitability of the dental hygiene department. Dental Practice Solutions offers a complimentary hygiene department analysis and also provides free bi-monthly webinars to increase profitability.

Ms. Seidel-Bittke can be reached at debrabittke@comcast.net or 503-970-1122. www.https://dentalpracticesolutions.com

By: admin

February 15, 2010

Case in point:

Dr. Patterson is a client of Dental Practice Solutions and he has experienced a significant growth in his profits since January 2009.

At the same time, due to the economic climate the office became stagnant in its new patient numbers. During the last 9 months of 2008 he began to see a decline in his production as well as his new patient numbers. He took action and asked a dental expert why this might be happening.

Dr. Patterson’s practice statistics prior to January 2009:

• Averaged $100,000/mo in collections
• Doctor producing $5,900/day in gross production
• 2 Hygienists who together average $2,200/day with an assistant
• Averaged 25 New Patients per month
• Collections 95% of production

Improved systems and training during the first six months of 2009:

• Average Monthly Collections increased 34% to $134,000.00
• Doctor’s daily average increased 7% to $6,300.00/day
• The 2 hygienists now exceeded their new goal of $1,600 per day each for a total production of $3,200.00 for 2 RDH’s each day.
• New patients increased to 30/month
• Office is now collecting 105% of the production; including past due collections from 2008

Many of you are reading this and wondering why Dr. Patterson wanted to ask for our guidance. You are thinking “what is the problem?” He is the type of person who you may hear people call an “over achiever”. He is always looking to improve whatever he does in life. So with his open mind let’s take a closer look here at what this did for his dental business:

• Collections are up 10%
• Doctor’s daily average increased
• Hygienists experienced a 45% increase in daily production
• New patients are up
• The team at the front desk is now collecting 105%.

How did this happen?

During Dr. Patterson’s time spend with our coaching he gained knowledge about improving the treatment recommendations to patients. He learned how to add value to his existing patient base. Systems were put in place for a seamless day and harmonious team. As a result, 95% of all new patients as well as the large majority of hygiene patients now respond “yes” to treatment. These are a few of the added tools which increased production and collections significantly. As patients returned for their subsequent professional hygiene appointments there was no additional treatment diagnosed. The restorations and non-surgical periodontal treatment was now complete. They did however have new patients in the practice over the past 20+ years that were now receiving non-surgical periodontal treatment and were on the schedule for the 90 days of periodontal maintenance which needs to follow the initial phase of non-surgical treatment. The office and all the team members were on board with the new CAMBRA protocols and patients who are considered moderate to high risk for caries came in more frequently for the appropriate treatment which is now the standard of care.

The entire team was implementing home care systems for their patients individual needs. It used to be that patients left the office but now they were able to purchase and take home these products. It saved time going to a drug store and they were offered the appropriate product for their needs. These products were also professional grade, very high quality products which can be necessary for specific types of restorations and also post –op care.

With the newly implemented treatment protocols patients feel an added value to their treatment. These patients became the disciples for Dr. Patterson’s dental business. Previous to implementing these protocols and systems, the practice’s number of new patients was beginning to drop off significantly. Was this due to the economy? This, most likely, didn’t help any. What made the change was the internal marketing done with the current patients through added value and various tools. Some of these added tools they had available but were not utilizing to their full advantage.

This is one of example of why your hygiene department is so valuable to you; it provides passive income that is dependable. If you have a solid hygiene recare system in place you will retain approximately 95% of your active patient base.

New Patients are important

As in this illustration with Dr. Patterson; approximately 50% of a doctor’s production comes from the hygiene department during the hygiene exams. The remainder of treatment will come from your new patients once all the treatment plans are completed for the existing patients. You will also find that treatment production will exist due to emergency patients and new patients. If the number of new patients is less than 20-25 per month, on average per doctor, production is going to decline compared to the practice production when it is closer to 30. Dr. Patterson just added an additional 5 new patients each month which also helped increase the profits.

Another example of what happens when adding just a small percentage of new patients each month to a dental office is that it will create a much more mature practice with unimaginable growth over just a 10 year period of time. This is how you can retire and have a valuable asset as well as many other golden nuggets.

When talking about new patients and a healthy number of new patients; you are keeping not only the hygiene department practice alive but your entire dental business will thrive. The statistics here will make or break your dental practice when you want to sell and/or retire. These are the tools which will increase your bottom line and profitability year after year.

Lessons learned

What did Dr. Patterson do differently? It is this phrase “Take action”. Don’t wait around until you have a declining schedule and profits.

“If you have always done it that way, it is probably wrong.” Charles Kettering

By: admin

February 8, 2010

You may notice your practice is running along smoothly for the past two or maybe five years. Things can just hum along feeling very nice for quite some time. Perhaps you have just come back from a CE course or hired a new consultant. You just found out that what you thought was the number of active patients in your practice was not a true number. If you consider yourself a leader and like to stay on the leading end than periodically you will call in a dental expert or consultant to look at your business of dentistry in a different light.

Last week I wrote about 5 tips to have patients enter through your front door and shared 5 internal marketing tips. This week I will share some external marketing tips.

There may be times in the life of your dental practice where some attrition will occur. What can cause this type of situation to occur? Maybe some reasons are because dentistry changes rapidly and it is difficult to constantly keep up to date. It takes a lot of effort to do this alone. I can give you a long list of reasons why this can happen. The fact is – it happens to the best of us!

The outlook you can take is a positive one. Be open to change and open to taking a look in the mirror at your dental business. It may be time and very important to now re-focus your attention. Now is the time to work on your dental business not just in it. You will need to reach out to patients – new and old- in a different manner. You will now need to find out how to reach patient’s specific needs, wants and desires. You will need to find out who wants and can afford the type of dentistry you enjoy providing people in your community.

Now we will continue the list we started last week:

Step 6: Paid Media Advertising

The local newspapers and magazines that feature the city where you live offer various types of print and even electronic information about businesses in the area where your dental office is located. There are many avenues that will help focus the public attention on dentistry in general and on your practice in particular. Become familiar with the various areas of media in the area of your dental office.

The subjects you write about must be of interest to people, not just an advertisement for your practice. Examples of captions that may catch the eye are “Dentist Says Needle and Drill Nearly Obsolete”. This is a great headline if you want to talk about air abrasion or use a laser. “Cosmetic Dentistry Demand Running High” is good if you want to talk about the increased interest in cosmetic dentistry. Be creative and find something that fits your personality and business brand.

Whenever the national media focuses on dentistry, take advantage of it on a local level. Write something about the focus for the local publications in your area. If the FDA recently approved the use of lasers for more than just curing composites you can write about how you can accommodate patients who desire this type of treatment. Maybe write something to educate the general public about the benefits of laser treatment. If you have a laser, this exposure affords you an opportunity to call attention to your practice. A nice headline might be “Tampa Dentist Goes High-Tech with Newly Approved Laser”.

If you don’t have a laser, you can still take advantage of the media exposure by promoting what you do have and relating it to what you have that may be important to others in your community. Maybe you can use this line “Star Wars Era Comes to Dentistry”. This article you have written or personally write can talk about the laser and continue to mention advances such as new composites, air abrasion, intraoral cameras, multimedia presentations, or computer smile design. These are all ways people will show interest in what you have to offer them. You will never know until you open the door.

Writing for the local media can create very positive effects for dentistry and for your practice. This is not one of the more cost effective ways to increase your name and recognition but it is a way to really make something look good. Last week I wrote about more cost effective ways to market your practice utilizing social media.

Step 7: eNewsletters

Develop a newsletter because there are pieces of information about dentistry that can easily be added to your dental office newsletter. This is a newsletter that can in the 21st century be sent electronically. There is no longer a need to spend money on postage. If you still want to send mailings through snail mail than I recommend that you are cost effective with this and mail it along with a statement. I also recommend that if you can do this electronically post it on the internet as many places as possible. Twitter, Facebook Fan Page and even Linked in can be great places to post these newsletters and when done they can attract a lot of positive attention to who you are as a dental office.

Tip 8: Offer Your Professional Knowledge

Give and get help from people in related fields by establishing a cross-referral arrangement with a cosmetic surgeon, chiropractor, upscale spa-type salon, athletic club, or talent agency will help you connect with the type of patients you are seeking. Most of these places will be using a software like SalonTouch Studio which facilitates these processes tremendously.  Some athletic clubs will allow a professional to have a table and actually meet the clients to educate the club members about their services and leave business cards and brochures with the people who come to the athletic club. My local athletic club has a special going for the members when they seek tooth whitening procedures at the dental office near our gym.

Establishing these types of relationships inevitably requires that you and your alliance partner become friends. You each need to have a genuine interest in helping the other.

Step 9: Educate Others Unrelated to Your Profession

Be available to educate others when your office is located near other types of businesses, meet the people that work there and offer your services. Your office is located at an area convenient to their place of employment. This means less time off work depending upon what type of hours your office is open. Some offices during this depressed economic climate now have their extended hours so patients don’t miss work. Now is the time to make a dental visit convenient for patients. The special times you have opened for your patients convenience is a point to make whenever you are sending a letter, invitation to an open house you may hold. If you have something printed have one of your team members deliver it personally. Let everyone know about the special hours and services you have arranged for their needs, wants and request.

If you know there is a 10k or marathon in your neighborhood offer to be a sponsor and have a booth to spread the good word about your services. Have a contest or raffle where people can enter to win the contest. The benefit is that you educate potential patients about your dental practice and they receive a chance to win a whitening session or some service in your office. You are giving them the 411 necessary to become a loyal patient.

Become involved in the local schools and/or PTA. Offer educational programs in your community. Give a gift to a child who will write a special paper about dentistry. Maybe it’s not about dentistry but be creative with something a child can do and be rewarded for with a gift from your office. This is something important to write about and have published in the local newspaper, etc. February is National Children’s Dental Health Month. Think of something creative to do in your community to let everyone know what a great dental office you have. Celebrate what you do for patients old and young!

It’s all about the connections in your community and people noticing a special group of kind and caring group of people. Attract the types of patients who will be life lasting to your dental business.

Step 10: Stay Current

Stay current because people want to know that their health care professional is up to date and on the leading edge. Services such as laser treatment, whitening, antimicrobials, quality, and natural home-care products are a few of the important services you need to be open to offering your patients.

Staying current also means that you attend special advanced training, continuing education and take advantage of the tools available to be on the leading edge and on top of what you do professionally. Not only do you want to be on top with clinical skills but your management skills as well. There are many ways you can easily stay on top of the ever changing world of dentistry. It doesn’t mean that you need to spend a lot of money to travel somewhere but there are now courses available via your home computer: home study courses, live and on-demand webinars. Take advantage of these tools which are available now in our high tech lifestyle.

Of course, these ten tips are not a complete list of ways you can attract the type of patient you enjoy treating. These are only a few of the effective, relatively inexpensive ways to keep patients coming through you front door. Keep the back door closed and locked at all times. Keep the old and bring in the new. One is silver and the other is gold. I learned this motto in Girl Scouts and it holds true in our great profession of dentistry

Debbie Seidel-Bittke and all the team at Dental Practice Solutions

By: admin

February 1, 2010

By: Mark Dilatush

Intro
The purpose of this article is to help you identify a portion of your marketing circle. A marketing circle is a new customer (patient) from initial interest & inquiry, all the way through until they leave your practice (for any reason). Every dental practice has a marketing circle. Many practices have breaks in their marketing circle. Breaks are costly. Most breaks are completely avoidable. It is my hope that this article helps you indentify and improve (close) some of those breaks.

What are the most common breaks in dental marketing circles?

1. Not understanding the potential long term value of each new patient.
2. Not understanding the hygiene department role in that value.
3. Not doing the “little things”
4. Improper promotion mix

Let’s take these one at a time.

Long term value of each new patient

The long term value of every new patient is measurable, although it is different from practice to practice and market to market. Would you be surprised to learn that a typical average revenue per active patient ranges from $800 to $1,200? Well, don’t be surprised. I’ve seen them as high as $2,600! Now consider that this is just a one year measurement. The value of each new patient over the life of the practice can be 10 times this! Do the math yourself. There are dental practices out there that produce an average of $2m/year for 20 years. That’s $40,000,000. If over the life of their practice, they saw 2,000 truly “active” patients – this equates to a lifetime revenue of $20,000 per active patient. I know what you are thinking, “how can a practice produce $2m on just 2,000 active patients?” Simple, it happens every day, all across the country. What is confusing you is the realistic definition of an “active patient”.

Short sighted dentists may not really worry too much about the patients that are leaving the practice. If those dentists understood the value of those patients leaving, it is very likely they would be motivated to look for breaks in their circle, and fix them! That’s why the long term value of each new patient is the first section of this article.

If you want to calculate and track these leading indicators for your practice, Mark has graciously offered to share the instructions and a spreadsheet that you can use to personally calculate the leading indicators for your dental practice. You can find the instructions here, and the spreadsheet is here.

Not understanding the hygiene department’s role in the overall value of each patient

What dentist’s need to realize is that the time spent in hygiene isn’t just about the revenue generated at that one visit. The big payback for the practice is when that patient continues to be compliant to re-care, requires additional restorative dentistry in the future, requires periodontal treatment in the future, has the time/confidence/trust necessary to refer their family & friends, and so on and so on. If you think the big deal about your hygiene department is the $85 you are collecting for the cleaning – you are making an enormous miscalculation and creating the subsequent break in your practice’s marketing circle.

In many cases, the primary relationship between patient and dental practice is not between the patient and the dentist. I know it probably pains you to hear that but if you are honest with yourself, you know it to be true. Good quality new patients value relationships. Many would never go to another dental practice just because they value their relationship with your hygienist with such high regard.

If your hygiene department is not running on all cylinders, it can/will definitely minimize the return on your marketing investment and increase your long term costs.

Not doing the little things

There are a million of these, so let’s just focus on the one’s that you can fix tomorrow at very little or not cost.

With the first little thing, let me ask you a few simple questions:

How many times last month did a new patient call during normal business hours and get your answering machine?

How many times last month did a new patient call, got connected, but ended up not making an appointment?

What reasons were most prominent when new patients called but did not schedule?

None of you (ok, maybe a handful) know the answers to these questions. Why? As a business owner, wouldn’t you want to know the answers to these questions? By not knowing the answers to these questions, could that create a break in your marketing circle? Of course it can! I would bet, in the majority of your dental practices, this is a significant break in your marketing circle.

The solution is simple really. On each of your external promotions, attach a unique telephone number and monitoring service. We use www.callsource.com for our clients. You can do the same.

At any time of the day during the month, you can log onto a secure website and listen to every new patient call, see calls that went to voice mail, and quantify the return you are getting from your marketing expenses. Pretty easy!

The second little thing is really easy to do and has a cost of zero. How many of you have no-show new patient appointments? If the answer is greater than one or two a year – I have the solution for you.

Call your new patients the day they call to make their first appointment! Why not? You have a call back list of patients you saw today anyway. Why not call the three or four new patients that made their first appointment today? The conversation is ridiculously simple. You just introduce yourself, check with them to make sure they are not experiencing any dental pain (they won’t be, otherwise they’ll be on the emergency schedule), and answer any remaining questions they might have. The whole call might take maybe – one minute. Bingo! You just minimized your new patient no-show rate down to zero (or as close to zero as humanly possible). You just closed a break in your marketing circle.

Improper promotion mix

This is a big one.

If you are currently promoting your dental practice, and, that promotion is primarily geared toward some kind of deal or incentive, I can confidently state that you are creating your own break within your marketing circle.

New patients that respond primarily to a deal or incentive are statistically notorious for being non-compliant to re-care. So, while the dentist appreciates having the schedule appear “full”, and perhaps for a short period of time the practice enjoys some boost in revenues because of the increase in new patient flow – I guarantee you the back end revenue build we discussed earlier in this article, will not be there. It will be partially there, but nowhere near where it could be had the practice promoted itself based on the benefits of today’s dentistry – rather than a financial incentive.

I am not saying that all financial incentives are wrong or should never be used. That’s not what I am saying. What I am saying is that there must be a balance. You must balance the benefits of today’s dentistry within your promotion. You must balance the need for new patient volume based on your capacity. If a solo practitioner really only needs another 10 to 15 new patients each month to get the practice going – why would they promote their practice based on price (incentives)? They should be able to get that volume promoting the benefits of dentistry.

Summary

By no means is the above list, a complete list of breaks in a dental practice’s marketing circle. But, the list is the most common list of breaks. I hope by sharing them along with the supporting downloads, that you will begin to close your breaks one at a time.

If you have any questions at all about the content of this article, feel free to reach Mark at:

Mark Dilatush
866.336.8237
markd@newpatientsinc.com

By: admin

Dear Colleagues,

It’s February —- Let’s talk about your office and why you love the dentist(s), the team and people you work with. It’s that time of the year when we show our love for those around us so let’s focus on the positive factors of our career and the people we work with. Please take time to email us and let us know what you love about the people you work with. We want to share the love you have for this fantastic profession we are a part of! During the month of February we hope you will email us and let us know about what you love as a team member in your office. The person who shows us the most love will be announced in our eNewsletter on March 2, 2010. We will send the winner a $30.00 Starbucks gift card and announce your name in the eNewsletter. Please email us with your letters including your name, contact information and the office information where you work. We just want to know this information so we can contact you.

If you haven’t already signed up to be a part of our Practice Profitability Challenge please go to our website (www.https://dentalpracticesolutions.com) and sign up. It’s FREE and every team becomes a winner whether you win the grand prize or third prize.

February 4, 2010 I will personally announce the details about the Practice Profitability Challenge and you will receive two special tips to begin increasing the patient profits without working harder but improving your patients’ oral and total health, while becoming more productive.

As a grand prize winner of the Practice Profitability Challenge the winning team wil win a year membership to Loyal Teams, Inc. (www.loyalteamsinc.com) which includes many rewards that go directly to the team for their use at hotels, restaurants, movie tickets, etc. New Patients Inc. will also be giving away a discount to attend their summit and for the second prize the team will receive Volumes 1-3 of New Patient Inc.’s Unique New Patient Series. Third place team will win home care products for the office. Each team that participates in the challenge will receive a practice analysis and a one hour telecoaching session with founder Debra Seidel-Bittke,

This month we will talk about new patients from soup to nuts. We have Mr. Mark Dilatush of New Patients, Inc. (www.newpatientsinc.com) writing about new patients in this issue of our eNewsletter. He has a lot of great information to share and I hope you will gain some new pearls from what he shares with all of us this month. On February 18, 2010 @ 5:30 pm (PST) he will be our special guest on the webinar. Please plan to join us as he is the leading expert with everything and anything you want and need to know about new patients.

Join us this month for a lot of fun with the profitability challenge, our fun webinars and let us know about the love for your office and the team to win a Starbucks gift card.

We want to be your resource and expert for dental hygiene profitability and many other aspects of your dental practice.

Hope to hear from you soon.

Debbie Seidel-Bittke, RDH, BS

Founder – Dental Practice Solutions

By: admin

The next 3 months Dental Practice Solutions will be hosting a Practice Profitability Challenge. The first thing we want to talk about is how to lead the patients to your front door. “Keep the old but bring in the new, one is silver and the other gold.”

The door of your dental office doesn’t need a golden ticket to enter but people who do enter need to feel as if they found the pot of gold! Our challenge is not about getting you to work harder but finding ways to add value to patients in your practice currently.

Have you been to your grocery store lately? Did the person who checked you out ask if you found what you were looking for? Have you purchased a new computer or any electronics? Were you asked to purchase an extended warranty? This is what we are talking about here. This is maximizing the revenue and adding value to the patient appointment.

Your patients use toothpaste and a toothbrush and why not buy the very best ingredients and products from the dental office where they speak to the experts. The most cost-effective action is to begin with your current patient base. It is easiest to market to your friends not total strangers.

We will share some special tips during the next 3 months to add value, keep patients coming back, refer their friends and family because they truly believe you are the best dental team there is!

This week and next we will share 5 tips (A total of 10) to be the best and attract new patients to your dental office.

Step 1: Internal Marketing

The first part of internal marketing is called “up selling.” The idea is to educate your patients about the value of buying their dental products from your dental office. This includes a Sonicare, Triumph or a battery Spinbrush. Patients buy toothpaste and possibly mouthwash so why not have them buy the product that is most effective for each individual patient with the appropriate ingredients; maybe a product that doesn’t contain alcohol or abrasive silica. You are the expert and you know which product is best for each of your patients. The idea is to sell more dentistry to those who you already know. These are people who enter your door and are most likely people who are happy with the services you already offer. These patients will benefit from your expert knowledge.

The dental office and in particular the dental hygiene team spend a lot of time communicating with the active patient base several times each year. These are the team members who hold patients captive for a longer period of time — several times a year. The dental hygienists are the perfect people to educate patients about the services and products offered in your dental office. If you have a website why not add a page which highlights the products your patients can benefit from. When you send out a newsletter include these products and the information that makes these products special for your patients. This can be a personalized letter to your patients sent out either monthly or quarterly. Most dental offices now use software which can customize a letter and “mail merge” to add your patients name and mailing address. Using a Fan Page on Facebook is also a great way to get this information out to your patient base as well as attract new patients.

Educate your patients while they are in the office and in all the information mailed to them, about the services your dental office offers. These are services such as veneers, teeth whitening, air abrasion, intraoral cameras, endoscopy procedures, magnification you use for each procedure, inlays, onlays, new types of porcelain- like crowns, all the fresh breath products offered, xylitol products -their benefits and even the power tooth brushes which you recommend on an individualized basis.

Tip 2: Ask for referrals

Maybe you feel timid about asking for referrals from your patients but this is the easiest way to receive new patients and it is the most cost-effective method to market your practice. Most patients are happy to help promote your dental office and they will remember to tell their friends and family members how great you are as their dentist, when you take time to ask for a referral. If you are sending patients out of the dental hygiene room with a type of report card; printed right from the computer software, it becomes a great reminder of the value your office adds and it will be a way for patients to have something to share with colleagues at work, family at home, or neighbors, etc.

When a referral comes to your office as a new patient remember to send a thank you and some sort of gift to the patient who referred this new patient. It can be something as simple a movie tickets but it is something small that will make a huge impact on the referring patients.

Always have a place in your reception area with brochures and information about your office, the procedures, products you offer and the value you add to the patient.

Tip 3: Use photographs everywhere

Be sure to have before and after photos of your dentistry on your website and in your reception area. Make certain these are your own photos and not a dental colleagues or stock photo. You should feel proud of the dentistry you provide and you want to show it off to all who walk through the front door of your office.

In that book of photos in your reception area and on the page of the veneers or teeth whitening procedures you are displaying, explain all about these procedures and what is actually happening in the procedure. This helps patients learn about these procedures that you offer.

Be certain that patients who have photos taken sign a disclosure form or release of liability so you can legally use their teeth and face.

Tip 4: Educate to Motivate

Patient education videos are a nice addition to photos. This can be something you run in a continuous-loop for patients in your reception area. Let the patients know the benefits of procedures you offer and let them know how great their smile can be. You can also have videos to run in the operatories if you have a set up for viewing movies. You have a captive audience and this provides another great opportunity to educate your patients.

For those who have a fun and creative team, why not make a video and post on Youtube.com. You can then post these for patients to view on the office Facebook Fan page or the Office Twitter account.

Tip 5: Pick up the Phone

It is important to call each patient on the evening after a long procedure was completed. This also includes the hygiene patients who had scaling and root planning procedures. It is a simple phone call made the evening after treatment. Ask to speak to the patient and find out how they are doing. Specifically ask how the appointment went for them, if the anesthesia has worn off, if they are experiencing any pain, if they have any questions, how the bite feels, and so on. The purpose of asking these questions is so you know ASAP if anything is wrong. If there is something wrong this is a more comfortable way for people to let you know and you can fix it right away – before they decide to go to another practice and disparage your great work completed.

Patients truly appreciate the time you take to check how they are doing later that evening.

These 5 tips aren’t the only pearls to attract new patients and keep the old but they are great tips to include for people in general showing you care. The amount of admiration and attention you give to your patients determines the rewards you receive in return. Happy Patient means Happy team! The result = Added profitability!

Next week 5 more tips…

By: admin

January 4, 2010

In 2007, the American Dental Association released some survey data that raised quite a few eyebrows. Their data revealed that only 4 out of 100 dentists in the United States are saving enough money for retirement to support their current lifestyle. Now, I’m not one to just pick on the dentist. Americans don’t save enough and the economic challenges of the last few years have begun to wake some people up. For the dentist; however, saving money becomes and even more critical challenge. Dentists are saddled with two other problems that make their savings requirements tougher than most: they are in a cash-based business that will not sell for what most think it will sell for and they enjoy a higher standard of living. When you couple this with the fact that few strong business courses are offered in dental school to help the dentist, you have a perfect storm. I speak with dentists across the U.S. daily and my clients are scattered with the wind and settle into different geographies, demographics, and economies. One thing remains the same – there is a disconnection between good productivity/income and great savings for retirement. I refer my clients to the best Practice Management Consultants in the country and those consultants all share the frustration of helping their clients grow the top and bottom line, only to find there is not the financial harmony one would expect from those results.

Why does Dr. J call me from Orange County, California because he collects 200k per month between two practices and cannot pay his bills? Dr. W in rural Arkansas produces 1.4M and takes home 120k. Dr. N in Ohio is a specialist, earns a tremendous income, and can’t figure out how to save more than 35k per year. Dr. C lost 42% of his retirement savings in 2008 and delayed his retirement 7 years as a result. Dr. B in Chicago cannot comprehend how to properly bring on a partner and what a great Transition could mean to his retirement wealth. What begins to appear is a pattern of many mistakes and misfortunes that could be prevented with a more holistic, comprehensive approach to the business of dentistry. As a partner in a fee-only asset management firm that only has dentists as clients, I will testify that there is a better way. I believe most dentists are on an island by themselves. Sure, many have great advisors around them: good CPA’s, super PM Consultants, investment brokers, dental dealers, attorneys, coaches, etc. but they are not communicating with each other! Nobody is pulling the brake on the train and saying, “what is the master plan?” It’s my opinion that a more reliable and pragmatic approach should be taken for those dentists that are really serious about building retirement wealth. Stop chasing high-risk returns in the market and get a great advisor that can impact how much you save each year. Then, find a specialist to help weave all you’re financial threads together holistically: partnerships, practice profit, personal finance, tax, and debt positions. Don’t mistake me, I’m an optimist on economics and the stock market is a wonderful vehicle to help build wealth over time. Simply put, good mathematics suggests that the more money you can save, the more you reduce the risk and market gains necessary to build wealth. It’s time to get back to the basics and leverage the business you’ve worked so hard to build.

Steve Steinbrunner is a graduate of Indiana University with twelve years in management and leadership positions for two leading dental supply companies – in three different states. Also a Registered Investment Advisor Representative, he currently advises dental professionals in areas related to finance in their dental business and personal lives. His firm provides business consulting, transitions, and fee-only investment advisement to dental professionals serious about their retirement wealth. Steve is a member in good standing with the Academy of Dental Management Consultants and serves on the board of directors for Donated Dental Services, Indiana’s chapter of the National Foundation for Dentistry for the Handicapped – an organization helping to provide dental services to those in need but that don’t have access to care.

Tip of the Month: How much should you be saving now?

Monthly savings, by age, required to grow a retirement account to $4 million by age 65. This will allow net annual retirement income of $365K to age 90 with a 9% rate or return.

Age Saving/month
30 $1,295
35 $2,044
40 $3,277
45 $5,388
50 $9,265
55 $17,418
60 $40,648

By: admin

Here We Go Again! Happy New Year 2010!

I hope you are all back from a wonderful holiday season feeling refreshed. Thank you for joining us again to begin another successful year.

When you feel sick you visit your doctor. When your brakes squeak you visit your mechanic. When you go to your office day after day and feel trapped in the same ‘ole routine, you may find that old habits are hard to change. Dental Practice Solutions is here to help you and your team turn over a new leaf this year. We are here to share the good news that we have a solution for whatever your needs may be. We have many experts on our team to guide you towards success in 2010. Our team consists of experts in most areas you may require skills to build success, increase your net profit, build patient rapport, trust, have fun at the office or whatever else you may have a need to improve upon in 2010.

At Dental Practice Solutions we have some very exciting events, so stay tuned-in this year! We have many new tools to help improve your practice and we have even added an extra web workshop in the month of January, which will increase the value of your dental practice. (See Web Workshops, Thursday January 14, 2010, with Steve Steinbrunner.) Our ezine readers and most dentists you know will be particularly interested in this workshop; especially with the economic stress at this time. This additional workshop will give you information about how to increase your net profits (the bank account, 401k, pension plan, etc.) without adding more patients or workdays. Mr. Steinbrunner has some valuable information and I didn’t want you to wait another month to hear what he has to say. Yes! It is that important for you to hear this sooner than later! Check out the web workshop area of this for the workshop titles this month

Our ezines (eNewsletters) will continue each Tuesday of every month this year. The Membership area is open at this time and it is still free to join! We invite you to take advantage of our tools; such as the flexible scripts that allow you to make the communication alterations you need so you can easily implement them in your daily practice and communicate various needs to your patients and get to “Yes”. Besides our scripts you will have access to the latest protocols, procedures and the evidence-based scientific information right at your finger tips. Along with this you have a one-on-one 45 minute telecoaching session with founder Debbie Seidel-Bittke. There are many other advantages if you go to our website (www.https://dentalpracticesolutions.com) you can read more about these benefits.

Please plan to join us on Thursday January 7, 2010, at 5:30pm. (Pacific Standard Time) Chris Mrozek-Brooke and I will discuss 4 ways to add at least another $130,000 to your dental hygiene department in 2010. You will leave with a step by step process to accomplish this goal should you want to add more dollars to the hygiene department and not more patients. I feel that it is important to begin the New Year with information on how to increase the size of your bank account, so I added an extra web workshop on

I am sure everyone is ready for a fresh start this January so please stay tuned as we offer new tools, support and expert advice to make your new year successful. I wish all of you a New Year filled with joy, happy smiles, prosperity—and not a single depressing old rut in sight!

Debra Seidel-Bittke, RDH, BS