With new technologies, new tools and new methods of treatment continually entering the dental industry, keeping up with changes becomes essential for dental practices seeking sustainable profitability and growth.
To achieve this, many dental practices turn first to their internal operations, to see where costs can be lowered and efficiency can be increased. But true financial efficiency goes beyond mere cost-cutting measures; systems must be optimized, operational needs must be matched with the strengths of your team, and workflows must be made smoother.
Fortunately, uncovering savings that are meaningful doesn’t have to harm the customer experience, and when coupled with specialist dental practice accounting, these ideas and questions could help you achieve financial efficiency:
Have you positioned your front office for success?
Without a welcoming and organized front desk, no dental practice will ever achieve lasting success.
Check that your front desk team aren’t overwhelmed with their duties, and are still able to juggle scheduling, billing and patient communication without hampering the customer experience. Not only are stressed out front office team bad for business, but their own mental and physical health may be suffering, leading to burnout, sick leave and even walk-outs.
If you find that your front office team aren’t coping, you may wish to look at some cost-effective outsourcing or automation options that could alleviate their workload and enable them to focus more on providing every patient with a positive experience.
Are you truly embracing technology?
Modern dental patients are more interested in digital tools for making appointments and paying for treatments than ever before, and if your practice is still relying on telephone-only appointments or mailed statements, you could be jeopardizing cashflow and suffering from low collections.
However, with digital payment plans, tools like text-to-pay and recurring payments that are automated, you can improve the patient experience, while increasing your rate of collections. There are some fantastic integrated solutions available today for payment and engagement, that have a range of time and cost-saving features. Once everyone in the team is familiar with the tools and digital platforms, numbers for patients missing appointments will likely go down, and last-minute cancellations can be quickly filled; a boon for dental practice revenue.
Are your options for payment and financing competitive?
Selecting payment plans and third-party financing that matches the credit profiles and payment behaviors of your patients is important if you want to retain their custom. If what you’re already offering has low rates of approval or particularly high fees, patients can become frustrated and look elsewhere for their dental needs.
Research alternative programs and third-party platforms for financing that have higher rates of acceptance, or check whether a payment plan offered in-house might be a better option. You can also seek help from a company offering specialist accounting for dental practices, who may have knowledge and experience in areas you do not.
Identifying inefficiencies in your dental practice is the first step towards maintaining high levels of patient retention, and making sure that no money gets left behind on the table. From outdated payment systems and financing strategies, to staffing models that are no longer fit-for-purpose, revisiting everything about your practice can help ensure that it evolves along with the industry and your patient base.
