The other way to get your percentage of staff pay into an acceptable range is to increase collections by increasing the percent of cases that are accepted. If your case acceptance percent runs 80% - and what I mean is that 80% of your patients commit to pay for and complete full treatment plans within a reasonable amount of time - then you're in the Michael Jordan league of case presentation. An acceptable amount is 70%. Anything less means your dental practice is hemorrhaging money.  This is an area where I find many doctors misdiagnose their dental office’s problem. Production is...

Is this a question you ask your Accounts Manager regularly? Dentists who are frantic about their profitability always seem to be bugging their staff about the collections. What’s worse, they try to “save” their way out of bad financial situations and that’s the wrong solution. Now don’t get me wrong. You should save money where you can, but the fact is that most of your expenses are fixed. Instead of asking, “What are the collections today?” you should be asking, “What percent of my collections goes to staff pay?” Why? Because the percentage of staff pay tells you what kind of...

Disclaimer: The word I am about to define is not for the faint of heart. Macho men have been known to turn into quivering bowls of Jello when even uttering this word. Definitions: 1) Income received for goods and services over some given period of time. 2) An act of completion of a commercial activity. 3) Operating revenues earned by a company. OK, now for the ugly part. You still have time to stop reading. I’ll give those of you who want to leave the room a few seconds before I continue. For those of you brave enough here goes: The...

1. A cleint recently told me how he now uses our dental office manuals as part of his hiring procedure. He has the applicants go home with our General Policy Manual and read it. Then if the applicant actually comes back and passes an open book test, he hires them. I thought that was a creative way to determine if an applicant has initiative and can understand written policy. 2. Ask applicants about their past accomplishments. What this does is highlight the go-getters, those who take initiative and get things done. Of course, we also recommend that you verify those accomplishments...