One of the core metrics we track for our Clinic Assist clients in Dubai to see the “health” of their practice is the “Profitability Per Dentist.” We take each dentist’s production in a month and divide it by their monthly salary to see how profitable they are, with a goal of at least 3x their cost.
Example: If Dr. Jay produces 100,000 AED per month and costs 25,000 AED per month for his salary, then he has a return of 400%, which is a very healthy return on investment.
However, dentists often don’t produce enough to hit that multiplier. Here are 6 tips to improve the production of your dentists
1) Dentists shouldn’t be doing low-ticket procedures that can be done by other staff
If your dentist’s schedule is pretty full BUT has low-value tasks like Fillings, Sealants or basic Hygiene, then you are paying a premium for their time.
What if instead of those procedures, your dentists were working on Crowns, Implants and Bridges?
Instead, have your Hygienists take care of all of the routine hygiene appointments.
Dental Assistants can do the majority of the work for Fillings and Sealants.
2) Follow-Up on Unscheduled Treatment
Here’s a question I ask all of my clients: Who is in charge of calling all of the patients who did not schedule their treatment from the past 90 days?
They usually point to the Office Manager or Front Desk Admin.
My next question is “How many calls is this person making per week? Is it being tracked?
I usually get a blank stare and some form of… “I don’t know…”
If someone is making 10-20 calls a week, what if we could increase that to 100?
I have several tactics to help with this, but if you follow-up on your treatment, you will get patients to schedule and fill up the dentist’s calendar with high-value tasks, which will help their profitability.
3) Monitor This Metric Regularly
Peter Drucker, the famous business management author said it simply, “What gets measured, improves.”
Just by putting this metric on a google sheet or word doc that you and your team view regularly (monthly or ideally weekly), you’ll start to see it go up and down.
And if it goes down, you’ll know there is something to fix.
This is why, if you want to lose weight, you should track your weight each day. It keeps your eye on the prize.
4) Reduce The Time Dentists Spend On “Non-Core” Tasks
Dentists should not be spending too much of their time on less-important tasks such as:
- Patient education (save that for the Office Manager and Treatment Coordinator)
- Billing
- Follow-up Calls
- Scheduling
You have your back-office team to focus on those important items.
5) Increase Marketing Efforts To Get New Patients
If your schedule is too empty for you dentists, it’s time to invest in marketing.
You can do things like:
- Paid ads
- SEO optimization
- Free giveaways (like a whitening for 1 new patient a month)
- Content creation on social media platforms
Another great tactic is an executing referral campaign. You can have a front desk admin spend 1-2 hours per day reaching out to patients to offer a Free whitening (or some service with real value) to any patient who refers a new patient that attends their first consultation.
People who like their dentists are happy to spread the word.
But you have to ask!
6) Do A “Time Audit”
Have your dentist record what happens every 30 minutes throughout the day.
You’ll probably find some holes to fill, if their schedule is too open.
I do this “time audit” for myself occasionally because it allows me to see where I’m wasting time, and what I should delegate.
Try these tips and watch your “Profitability Per Dentist” Metric improve!
If you’re a dental clinic in Dubai, we are offering “lunch and learns” in which I will bring you a delicious lunch and share with you the 10 most important key metrics to grow your clinic. It’s free, and you’re going to get a lot of value out of it. Send us an email at info@clinicassist.ae to receive it.