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Similar to the earlier post on dental office location, I found this article in the Dental Economics April '08 issue highlighting signage issues and suggestions.
Having been in over 300 dental offices, do not underestimate the importance of this.
Despite the increased competition, I think it is preferable to be in a location where there is a high density of dental offices. I think it is better for a patient to find you and I don't think a dissatisfied patient is simply going to walk across the street. There are too many other factors involved.
Stand-alone offices, the lone dental practice in a large strip mall and practices off major roads must heed the advice in this column to garner attention.
The key is to convert traffic outside to traffic inside.
To read the article, simple click the picture at right to see a larger image.
Best,
Nick
Nick Partridge
Pendant Health
nick@pendanthealth.com
While in Cleveland for business, I saw this intriguing article in the local paper, the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
The article is titled, "My Biggest Mistake...And How I Fixed It."
The article talks about the problems related to the building...not necessarily the location. Like in any other real estate circle...dentists are advised to consider: "location, location, location." However, thinking about the building and the current building management is critical if you are going to lease.
Dr. Rosenblitt details his anguish at an elevator breakdown, a movie shoot that eliminates access to the building, HVAC issues, etc.
His advice in summary...hire a real estate attorney.
Nothing is more important than building a solid foundation for your practice. Don't skimp on any aspect of location decisions.
Anyway...thought this was a good article to share. Opened my eyes.
Best,
Nick
Pendant Health
nick@PendantHealth.com
According to Pendant Health co-founder, Dr. Michael Guirguis, the key to a successful practice is a happy staff.
So how can you create an environment that is conducive to a happy staff? Over the next few weeks, we will look at a number of hard and soft ideas to create that atmosphere of success.
Today, we will touch on employee compensation. When you look at your total compensation for an employee, there are a number of factors to consider. There are the very obvious components, like base salary and incentive compensation...and then there are the silent compensation components like employee benefits, perks, trips, training, and beyond.
We will today, focus exclusively on incentive compensation.
Every job in the world should have a percentage of pay based on incentives. Incentives can draw out that extra 10% from employees that makes all the difference in the world.
Remember...the devil is in the details.
Many dentists have a bonus system to focus the teams efforts on a particular practice objective. Even though your staff may love you, you want to create a way to thank them for going that
extra mile. Institute short-term goals for 1 day, week-long and month-long goals.
If production is scheduled, completed and paid, consider sharing your success with each staff member by providing certain rewards (gas cards, dinner gift cards that they can use for anniversary, birthday or other special occasions, etc).
With medium-term goals, add $/hour to their base. For instance, if the practice sets a goal of $100,000 for the month. Provide a tiered structure where all employees would enjoy a month-long pay raise. If you hit the target, increase their hourly rate for hours worked that month by $2. if the office produces AND COLLECTS, $120,000 add an additional dollar for all hours worked.
This may seem complicated or extreme, but you are only paying based on dollars you didn't have before.
Example: If your staff is booking and collecting $10,000/month more with 5 employees. If you pay them each $2/hr worked more for that GREAT month, your cost is $1,600. Meanwhile, the office just netted an additional $8,400. Seems like a win-win to me!
More on employee compensation to follow.
Best,
Nick Partridge
Pendant Health
nick@PendantHealth.com
In relation to our last post about patient education. I want to turn the tables a little bit to force you to look at your office. What great educational material do you have readily available for patients?
Having been in over 250 dental offices across DFW, I see many dental offices eager to provide patients with the latest information on oral health education, cleaning and financial products, services, etc.
Meanwhile, coffee tables and end tables in the waiting room are cluttered with countless magazines some it seems from years ago.
These materials individually may be of great value or purpose, but let's take a minute to think about this from the patient experience.
As we discussed in our last post, dentists and office staff have the unique opportunity to educate patients throughout their entire visit.
Be selective in what materials are available to patients. Try when possible to keep all materials organized so that the office doesn't appear disorganized or chaotic. Also, find your artistic staff members and allow them to create ways to marry oral health education with "stuff" to help pass time in the waiting room. I have seen a few offices that put their magazines in a binder and then provide information on the front page about oral health. Televisions that run with educational programs are also great!
What is the goal: The goal is to share relevant information that encourages patients to receive needed treatment. To have them take full responsibility for their oral health and to drive behaviors that facilitate preventative care. In doing so remember, presentation is absolutely critical to success. Think about fine dining. They don't just carelessly place roast duck on your plate.
Best,
Nick Partridge
Pendant Health
nick@pendanthealth.com
Dr. Eric Guirguis, Co-Founder of Pendant Health maintains that patient education is an important component of the treatment experience. The opportunity to educate patients while they are in office or periodically through patient retention programs is key to maximizing not only your value as their dentist but also to increasing case acceptance and their long-term well being.
An article from the New England Journal of Medicine, (see article here) shows the value of good oral health. The article describes the value of intensive perio treatment and its potential to reverse atherosclerosis by improving elasticity of the arteries. Again, another development in the link between perio health and cardiovascular health.
Demonstrating these links and educating patients will in fact show the importance of routine preventative and diagnostic care.
How are you educating your patients?
Pendant Health co-founder Dr. Eric Guirguis, highlighted a new study from the Journal of Periodontology detailing a possible link between periodontal bacteria and coronary artery disease as well as periodontal bacteria and preeclampsia.
The full article is available here. The full link is http://www.perio.org/consumer/perio-systemic.htm.
In most cases, people and companies are constantly bombarding dental practices to buy new and different products or services. As such, dental offices have become very adept at dispatching unfamiliar sales efforts.
The unfortunate by-product is that practices often miss truly beneficial opportunities.
In the June issue of Entrepreneur Magazine, there was an article (at right) on the importance of partnering with suppliers for mutual benefit. The article provides a great example of a supplier and home builder partnering to leverage their skills and expertise. The result was substantially positive for both parties.
In the dental industry, practices should embrace this concept to draw more out of insurance companies and vendors. Too often I have seen these relationships become totally 1 sided.
Insurance companies are a great example. To participate, they force feed you a fee schedule, make you jump through hoops to file claims, delay reimbursements and entangle you in phone calls just to verify benefits. For what? For the promise of potential patients.
At Pendant Health, we take a radically different approach with our practices. We research and pursue partnerships that can provide an immediate and tangible benefit to our network practices. These opportunities are made available for any network practice to utilize at their discretion...but we spend a great deal of time finding and drawing out value that our practices would not otherwise receive.
We are currently investigating several new opportunities and would appreciate feedback on our endeavors. Currently Pendant Health network practices can receive preferred pricing at dental laboratories and Darby Dental. In the near future, we hope to add a package for internet connectivity in the office, paperless document management and discounts on credit card processing.
Please send your comments or inquiries to customerservice@pendanthealth.com
Best,
Nick Partridge
Pendant Health
nick@pendanthealth.com
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