than that and you know that you are charging a very competitive fee (or reasonable
fee), it helps you and your staff to hold your ground.
Balancing capacity and demand is an important part of ensuring a healthy independent
practice. I’ve often talked with Doctors who are booked out for 1 or 2 months,
with a hygiene department booked out even further, that are collecting less than
75% of their gross production. Doctor, if you are maxed out, why are you working
at a discount?
The other day I was working with a Doctor who is 40 years old and working at
the point where he doesn’t feel he can go any faster. It started to affect his energy
level and his quality of life. He is writing off over 35% of his total production every
month, collecting just 65¢ on the dollar.
would add over $120,000 per year to his bottom line. This means that one day, the
Doctor will be able to move into a new facility from his current cramped and dated
By accepting the PPO plans, you may be displacing other desirable patients, so you
run yourself and your staff ragged which, sooner or later, will impinge on the kind
of quality experience you want your patients to have in your practice. If you’re not
careful, you can end up having patients love you only for your in-network status
– not the kind of dynamic you want. So, the “busyness” can give you a misplaced
sense of security when it’s doing the opposite.
Independent private practice
I believe that independent private practice is the best way to deliver dentistry.
It’s best for the patients and the people who care for them. The people who make
treatment decisions are directly in contact with the patients. The Doctor can adapt
to the patients’ needs, adding the technology and services they feel will best help
their patients.
I sleep well at night knowing that I help dentists extract themselves from agreements
that pay them fees lower than those of 10 years ago. These agreements are
unfair not only to them but to other patients who don’t get the discounts (e.g. patients
who don’t have insurance or have insurance coverage that pays you better).
I also advise my clients to not get all “elitist,” either. It’s a matter of balancing PPO
participation.
Although I’ve written and spoken on many subjects, I’ve written more articles
about PPOs than anything else. Why? Well, most of my work is helping over 250
Dentists prosper. PPO discounts have gotten so drastic that just talking about pushing
supply costs down by a point, accounts receivable control and recall systems,
etc., would seem like arranging deck chairs on the Titanic. Doctors, you simply have
to start pushing back now or eventually the Independent Dentist is going to be a
barely sustainable model.
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