Dentistry, as a health care profession, is actually a vocation or “calling ” to provide needed dental services to society. As such, it is common for both the dentist who has just graduated, as well as the seasoned, well- established dentist to have little focus or training on the dental practice business aspects.
Patient expectations
The patient's experience in the dental clinic forms the reputation of the dentist. The patient expects punctuality, caring attitude, empathy, interest in them, friendly environment, respect and courteous communication. They also expect the dental team to remain consistent in the quality of services provided.
Develop Continued Care System
Purpose
A successful practice whether new or running is dependant to a certain extent on developing and implementing a continuous care system.
It is a well known fact that dental diseases if diagnosed early can be treated successfully. The purpose of these periodic recalls is not only to do a prophylaxis and take radiographs but also to re- educate and re-motivate the patient to maintain optimum oral health.
Reminders or recall by dentists is a good practice builder and encourages a steady flow of patients. It helps reduce slack times and congestion periods in the clinic. Therefore reminders to patients,
The management of the finances of a business / organization in order to achieve financial objectives is called financial management. The key objectives of financial management are to create wealth, generate cash and provide an adequate return on investment bearing in mind the risks that the business is taking and the resources invested.
There are three key elements to the process of financial management:
The goals of financial planning are to maintain credit, balance income and debts and last but not the least is to plan for savings and retirement. You begin your practice either by establishing your own set-up or buying an already set up clinic. Borrowing is inevitable at this point in time. A good financial planning is must for the success of your practice. Identify your needs and resources before you take any loan. Ensure the following requirements.
Calculate and estimate the requisite amount that you need to borrow. Next, identify the sources of financing.
Once the loan is approved you need to allocate the funds intelligently. These should take care of not only the overhead expenses of running the dental practice (which include equipments, supplies and purchases) but also include compensation for personnel.
While applying for the loan you need to cover the purchase of the practice itself, along with equipments, supplies and operational costs till the time the practice generates sufficient income.
Once you have finalized your decision of setting up a dental practice- you need to develop a good business plan. This is your vital referral guide.
A good business plan essentially has three parts:
A proper documentation of the loan is crucial. This contains the following documents:
The loan summary gives the lender cursory details about the loan request. This includes the use of funds for dental instruments, material expenditure, operating capital, first year cash projections etc.
This would include an auto biographical sketch that would range from the academics to the work experience that you have gathered. You may highlight the points like any service to military or voluntary government organizations, management or supervisory experience to highlight the additional qualities in you as a good manager and leader.
Analyze your values, beliefs and principles with respect to practice of dentistry and objectives of what you desire your practice to be.
Justify your choice for the practice location.You may also describe other health services in the vicinity, how many dental practices are there in the chosen locality, etc. Provide demographic details of the location.
These are the estimates of your expenses for the next year. This is an estimate that would be based on the number of patients that you expect to see each month, multiplied by the average fee per visit. Expenses would be based on your research that you find out from the dentists in locality and from the previous practitioner (if you are buying the practice). The expenditure heads should be classified under proper categories of practice. The combination of the monthly projections would then give you your annual projection.
In the beginning of your practice the expenditure may be greater than the income. There should be an initial working capital to sustain the practice before the patient inflow grows and thus the practice income makes the practice self sufficient and profitable. The working costs involve the salaries of the staff, replenishing the materials, maintenance of dental operatory, etc.
You may have to get yourself and your practice insured in order to protect the lender and your property in circumstances of your death or disability in the period of outstanding loan.
You need to select the lender with careful assessment and pay attention to all the terms and conditions of the loan. Also consider the lender's experience in the market and the history of the lender.
Certified professionals like financial advisors/planners and accountants may provide you help with the planning and budgeting. Get advice on the insurance of the practice. Certain banks also provide general information on financial planning. You may approach a practitioner with a good planned practice for drawing up the expenditure plan.
Marketing is promoting your dental practice for its success.Your practise philosophy should be something that reflects the type of dentistry you want to provide to all your patients. What you may have to change, however, is the way you "market" your practice based on the diverse dynamics of your surroundings.
What is Dental Marketing?
Marketing is a system of activities designed to identify and satisfy consumer needs and wants. Effective marketing requires both thought and planning. Marketing tactics are used to implement a marketing plan. Television and magazine advertisement are forms of marketing tactics.
The following are a few concepts to keep in mind with regard to marketing
Effective well planned marketing strategies can have a positive impact on your practice. However, marketing is not a “cure” that can hide fundamental problems that may exist in a dental office. Here are just a few things that marketing can and cannot do for your practice.
Put patients’ interests first
