Tag: dental practice management consultant

Categories
Digital Marketing Management Mobile Paperless

CareCredit Direct

CareCredirDirectCareCredit Direct is a web-based software that allows your patients or clients to: Learn about the CareCredit healthcare credit card. Calculate monthly payments based on promotions you accept. Apply for a CareCredit credit card and get an instant credit decision. Make same-day transactions of any size.¹ Select their promotion from options you accept and get clear and complete financing information.

Source: Direct

I love this. According to the web site  the new system is all-digital and completely self-guided experience allows patients or clients to apply directly for the CareCredit credit card on their own, while in your practice. They can learn about CareCredit, calculate estimated payments, apply and get an instant credit decision. And if approved, they can use their CareCredit credit card and transact immediately.

It also streamlines the CareCredit application process for your team or office, with no need to explain the details of financing or manage the application process, so you can focus on your priority‑providing care.

It simply does not matter how good you are clinically if your patients do not accept the best treatments because of financial issues. Offering quick and easy payment systems is not just good business it is also good dentistry as more people will get better treatment when it is affordable.

Categories
Management

Very Large Dental Practices Seeing Significant Growth in Market Share

ADAFrom the ADA Health Policy Institute:

Key Messages

  • From 2002 to 2012, market share increased for dental firms with 20 employees or more, while dental firms with fewer than five employees experienced a decline in market share.

  • During the same period, very large dental firms – those with 500 employees or more – also saw increases in number of establishments, number of employees and annual receipts.

  • Market penetration of very large firms varies by state, from a low of none in seven states to a high of seven percent of the Florida market.

This is one of those “yes – but” items. One which has many people in a near panic. I have read a number of essays by concerned dentists lamenting the growth of corporate dentistry and how it will destroy the integrity of the profession. That might be true, But:

Large practices may be the fastest growing segment but that is in large part because it started out as such a tiny segment and despite the growth it is still tiny.

Small offices with zero to 19 employees make up 92% of US dental practices. That means only 8% are medium to large. As the data suggests there is a trend- ten years ago small offices (under 20 employees) made up 94% of practices. There has been a 2% drop. Never the less that is hardly a major change in the nature of practice let alone a take over by corporate dentistry.

Look above at the last of the key messages from the article. At most large practices have 7% of the market and in many states they have none.

Categories
Dental Speaker Management

AADPA 2014

Categories
Management

High Tech Budget for 2014

img_moneyAre you planning your practice budget for 2014? Be sure to include technology.

Technology is a cost of doing business in the modern world. As such you should plan for it and include technology as part of a dental practice budget. Standard dental office budgets rarely include technology. We have line items like rent, staff, lab, supplies and of course taxes but technology is left to find a spot hidden somewhere in office supplies and equipment.

One of the most important and cost effective things you can do is to provide ongoing training for both the dentist and the staff on the use of technology including your most basic systems like Dentrix. It is amazing how little most people use the expensive systems they have already paid for.

Plan on budgeting 3-5% of gross production on technology. It is better to plan for these expenses that to be surprised when a bill comes due or you need to replace a component and don’t have the money on hand.

Categories
Digital Marketing

Evoking Online Trust

sethGFrom Seth Godin:

Interactions rarely happen with people we don’t trust

How is it that someone sees your website or your social media presence or your email and decides to interact? The decision to interact happens before someone actually listens to what you have to say. Here’s a way to think about the factors that kick in before the browser even hears what you have to offer them today:

  • Word of mouth

  • Direct interaction

  • Graphics

  • Tone of voice

  • Offer

  • Size of leap

  • Fear

  • Social ranking/metric

  • Tribal affiliation

  • Perception of transparency

  • Longevity

  • Mass acceptance

via Seth’s Blog.

Success in dentistry is totally dependent on trust. If for whatever reason people do not feel that they can trust you they will seek dental care somewhere else. Dentistry is just too important, too personal and too expensive for someone to take a chance.

The great majority of people in the US now look up a dentist online before making a first appointment. If your online presence does not generate trust it is sooo easy for them to simply click to the next dentist in town.

Follow the link for a good outline each item on the list above.

Categories
Management Security

Surveillance Changes Behavior

504x_laptop_thiefFrom NYT, interesting:

The savings from the theft alerts themselves were modest, $108 a week per restaurant. However, after installing the monitoring software, the revenue per restaurant increased by an average of $2,982 a week, or about 7 percent.

The impact, the researchers say, came not from firing workers engaged in theft, but mostly from their changed behavior.

via How Surveillance Changes Behavior: A Restaurant Workers Case Study – NYTimes.com.

When people know they are being watched they don’t cheat and steal as much…amazing.

I expect it would be the same in our dental offices. If the staff knows we are checking the books looking for fraud and embezzlement they will be less likely to take advantage of us.

This should be a significant benefit of using something like Practice Safeguard an online service that examines your office data for signs of fraud. Even if Practice Safeguard does not detect an actual incidence of fraud it is likely to save us money simply as a deterrent.

Categories
Paperless

Guide to “Going Paperless”

2013 Updated Version Now Available

Is it really possible to go paperless? How can I turn all this junk into a digital record? And why should I even bother?

As a dental practice management consultant, I will tell you that it is possible to create a completely paperless dental record. And going paperless can save you tens of thousands of dollars.

My comprehensive technology guide, “How to go paperless in the dental office” will answer the basic question…Why bother?  It then provides step by step help in setting up a paperless office, including the eight essentials that need to be in place before you get started, four ways to digitize stuff, and front deskless workflow. There is even a budget and financial analysis that shows how your current paper system is costing you over $40,000!

“How to go paperless in the dental office” will answer all your questions, provide a plan and show you how to save money… all delivered in a fun and easy to understand style.

Follow the link to order your copy today.

Guides

Categories
Dentalcompare Digital Marketing e-Services Management

Reactivation Equation One Million Dollars

img_moneyIn case you missed it.

Many dentists spend countless hours and tens of thousands on marketing efforts chasing the elusive new patient while sitting quietly on a fortune.

The ADA estimates the average dental practice generates between $700,000 and $1 million worth of incomplete diagnosed treatment per year. From 20 to 30 percent of your current patients are non-responsive, yet most of them probably still consider you their dentist. Your existing patients are a rich vein of gold just waiting to be mined.

via Emmott On Technology: The Reactivation Equation | Dentalcompare.com.

This Dentalcompare article from a few months ago explores the use of e-services to re-activate patients. Using an e-service does the job for you quickly and with no staff time or software purchase. This is one of the amazing benefits of digital data. Once the computer knows the patient’s name, when they were in last and what treatment they need it is simple for the machine to generate a letter and track who responds.

E-services are greatly underutilized by most dentists and yet they have a tremendous ROI.

Categories
Hardware Management Software

Do You Need To Upgrade Your Technology?

When income declines, (due to the general economy or whatever,) one of the first places dentists look to cut costs is IT (technology). However a good argument can be made that IT is the last place to cut as good technology properly utilized will save you money.

The following five situations indicate you may need to do some IT upgrading.

  1. Your business is growing.
  2. You’re having constant problems.
  3. Your team’s roles are changing.
  4. There’s a new release.
  5. You’ve built a “duct-tape” system.

Some thoughts on how to best spend limited IT dollars in a dental office.

  • Maintain your support agreement especially if it includes software upgrades
  • Get training for the whole office on your Practice Management System
  • Purchase and use e-services to eliminate administrative busy work
  • Upgrade any computers over four years old

Some thoughts on where to spend more substantial IT dollars on major systems. (In order)

  • Network with computers in all treatment rooms
  • Digital Radiography
  • Practice Web Page
  • Go “Paperless”
  • CAD CAM