As dentistry continues to evolve, one way to increase production significantly is to increase practice speed. There are many ways to increase the speed and flow of a typical day, but one of the best ways is to simply increase the speed of the doctor or team members.
Develop a schedule based on hitting a daily production goal. The schedule can be mathematically calculated in advance to ensure that treating the right volume of patients on any given day will achieve the daily production goal. For practices that operate far below the production potential, simply reevaluating and mathematically recalculating the schedule allows them to increase production comfortably.
Don’t forget to use technology to your advantage. Technology can also increase speed. A simple example is that many practices use text message confirmations rather than phone calls. Texting patients to confirm them at two weeks, then two days, and finally two hours before the appointment has a better result of decreasing last-minute cancellations and no-shows than phone calls. Other workflow technologies can also improve practice speed, but they should be carefully evaluated.
Dr. Roger P. Levin is CEO of Levin Group, a leading practice management and marketing consulting firm. 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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