5 tips to improve your dental practice's finances in 2025

Hopefully 2025 will see expenses stabilize after years of wage inflation, soaring supply costs, and high interest rates. Now is the time to create a financial plan to help you grow revenue and track your dental practice's financial health.

Ken Kaufman

Below are five strategies to implement as part of your 2025 financial plan.

1. Hire a dental-specific bookkeeper or accountant to provide monthly financial statements by the 15th of each month. Have that person explain the statements to you and how you can use the information to improve your practice.
   
   
2. Have your accountant or bookkeeper help you create a budget for your practice for 2025. Then compare your actual performance each month to your budget, noting variances and what can be done to correct them in the coming months. Be sure to plan your budget based on historical revenue, expense trends, and your plans to improve the practice's performance.
   
   
3. Review your patient financing options. Consumers, including your patients, want to be able to make monthly payments on goods and services. When you're negotiating with patient financing companies, request a nonrecourse program to protect your practice if a patient cannot make his/her payments.
   
   
4. Identify and replace faulty equipment as quickly as possible to ensure your practice is equipped to deliver high-quality patient care.
   
   
5. If you have associates, discuss additional services they might offer to help patients. Supporting their ideas can help the practice grow, and your associates see that you are willing to invest in them. They will likely feel more loyalty and goodwill toward you and the practice, which will positively impact the culture of your practice and the entire team.

The most important tip is to measure what you want to manage. Many practice owners feel as though they have been lurching from crisis to crisis since the pandemic. By tracking your financial key performance indicators with the assistance of financial professionals with proven dental industry experience, you can regain control of your finances and enjoy a more profitable year.

Ken Kaufman has served as the chief financial officer of two dental service organizations (DSOs) comprising 120 practices and now consults with emerging DSOs on finance, strategy, and growth. He is the co-author of the book Financial Secrets to Grow Dental Organizations and founded the AccruDent Finance Leader Network. Kaufman can be reached at [email protected].

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