The most profitable way to run the business side of your Orthodontic Practice is to understand, define and know what your break-even number is for your business. Many doctors try to operate the business side of their practice on intuition: “I think we did really well this month”, “It feels like we started a ton of patients”, “The checking account looks good, our starts must be great”.
As we approach the New Year it’s important to take the time to evaluate where you currently are as a business, where you want to be as a business and how you plan on achieving these goals.
Times are tight and so are orthodontic budgets. Staff raises were low or non-existent this year. Bonuses that employees have always looked forward to were not given. Employees are down, and some are outright angry. The work still needs to be done, and productivity has decreased. So, what can you do as their boss to get them motivated again?
The main financial goal in every orthodontic practice is profitability. However, in the majority of orthodontic offices, only 10 percent actually have established departments and budgets to facilitate achieving this goal. Oftentimes, without budgets in place, operating costs are generally out of control, thereby creating a tremendous negative impact on the productivity and effectiveness of the overall practice.
Is your office experiencing what hundreds of other orthodontic practices are — a decline in case acceptance, fewer new patients, and general dentist’s not referring to you as often?
