AS 2017 COMES TO A CLOSE, time is running out for dentists and dental practices to make plans that will enhance their businesses and set the table for 2018 to be the best it can be.
Part of that preparation comes in knowing your fees and how they compare to others in your city, state, and region. How long has it been since you updated your fees? Do you know if they are high, low, or on target? Answering these questions can make a substantial difference in improving your bottom line in the year to come.
As I always tell dentists and team members, running a dental practice means that you are running a business. Every business needs to know if it is charging the right amount for its services. This is true whether the business is a coffee shop, tourist attraction, or retail shop. Can you imagine Walmart guessing what it should charge for a garden hose or Starbucks guessing what it should charge for a cup of coffee? These companies use data to make their decisions, just like you should be doing.
You should know what the “right" fee is to charge a patient for a crown, implant, or cleaning. There is no better time than the present to confidently make a change in your fee structure.
With that in mind, Sikka Software compiled data from approximately 13,000 dental practices across the United States to find out what their fees were for 20 of the most frequently used insurance codes. In Figure 1, you can find the information for each code broken down by geographic region.
“These fee numbers are the key to a practice being somewhat successful or extremely successful in 2018,” says Vijay Sikka, chief executive officer of Sikka Software. “Dentists and team members will be able to see how changes have occurred in our industry and get ahead of any fee increases, as opposed to being left in the dark on local and regional trends.”
Figure 1: 2017 dental fee averages by United States region and 20 most frequently used CDT procedure codes
Author's note: 2017 is almost over, and it's time to set your fees for the new year. Get a head start with a free 10-procedure fee survey for your zip code from the Practice Mobilizer app at practicemobilizer.com. Or, if you want more in-depth information, you can purchase a full fee survey with over 600 procedure codes for three zip codes at store.sikkasoft.com/FeeSurveyforDentistry.
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Editor's note: This article first appeared in the Apex360 e-newsletter. Apex360 is a DentistryIQ partner publication for dental practitioners and members of the dental industry. Its goal is to provide timely dental information and present it in meaningful context, empowering those in the dental space to make better business decisions.
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