The overriding objective of every dental practice should be to increase practice revenue every year. Rising revenue is a positive sign for a practice. If revenue is flat or declining, immediate action needs to be taken. Keep in mind that a practice that has plateaued has actually slowed down in terms of growth, and this represents the first stage of decline. The plateau is a warning sign and wake-up call for any practice.
How can you increase revenue every year?
Always work to adjust the schedule for better performance. For example, a new process of mathematical analysis that will allow a practice to save 10 minutes an hour will add 32 days of increased doctor production and revenue annually. This is if the practice is operational four days a week, 48 weeks a year. This means that during a 36-year career the practice can increase doctor production and revenue by the equivalent of six years’ production.
Communicate with patients about dental insurance benefits. Another of the many opportunities to increase practice revenue every year is to communicate every September with patients who have Incomplete treatment and remaining insurance benefits to encourage and motivate them to schedule treatment and take advantage of their remaining benefits. Also, each January you should contact all patients who ran out of benefits the previous year but who still have treatment to be completed. These two approaches alone can add significant revenue to a practice.
Reactivate overdue patients. Levin Group’s new definition of reactivation is to schedule any patient who does not have their next appointment. It’s no longer acceptable to wait the traditional 18 months to refer to a patient as inactive. Devoting each day to reactivating all patients who don’t have their next appointment will add significant revenue to your practice. The target you want to achieve is having 98% of all your patients scheduled at all times.
These examples are three out of more than 200 possible strategies that can help increase practice revenue year after year. As the more impactful strategies are implemented, the practice should move on to mid-level strategies and then on to even lower-level strategies to take full advantage of all opportunities to increase practice revenue, and keep that revenue increasing every year.
Roger P. Levin, DDS, is the CEO and founder of Levin Group, a leading practice management consulting firm that has worked with more than 30,000 practices to increase production. A recognized expert on dental practice management and marketing, Dr. Levin has written 67 books and more than 4,000 articles and regularly presents seminars in the US and around the world. To contact him or to join the 40,000 dental professionals who receive his Practice Production Tip of the Day, visit levingroup.com or email [email protected].
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