Simple Steps to Reduce Dental Office Overhead and Boost Profits in your Dental Office
By taking simple steps to improve the efficiency of your dental practice, you can greatly reduce office overhead. Unified Smiles is dedicated to helping the independent dentist understand how to recognize areas of improvement and opportunity to increase profits and reduce overall expenses. We work personally with dentists to help them understand possible issues within their practice but also to detect areas of strength that can increase production, reach their goals, and reduce overhead.
Review Your Numbers Regularly
Taking the time to go over overhead costs monthly, quarterly, and yearly can help you identify trends of what may be too expensive or what may not be getting nearly enough attention. While issues or opportunities may not be immediately obvious, you will begin to understand your practice better every time you check in. It can be difficult to decipher pricing of items that you use every day, and how much these items should be costing you. Our Unified Smiles Representatives can review these costs with you and connect you with one of our partners to reduce these costs.
Understand Competitive Pricing
One way to reduce dental office overhead cost is to understand competitive pricing. The cheapest brands are not always the least expensive in the long run, though sometimes they may be more beneficial for you to invest in an item. Unified Smiles works to help find supplies and technology that will give you the most value for your money while also increasing production. Items that are noncritical could be something purchased for a lower price and it may not make a difference. However, if you need equipment that may be used to diagnose or treat a patient, it may be smarter to invest in a more expensive option. Our Unified Smiles Representatives can work with you to find the best match for your practice and your budget. We can guide you to make the right investments that will provide value to your practice.
Improve Efficiency
Taking inventory of your facility and management can help identify any areas of weakness that can be easily improved. This could be in a variety of areas including the technology being used, items in storage, administrative tasks, and even staff productivity. Taking the time to really sit down and go over the details of how the practice is running and determining what can be adjusted could make a significant difference when it comes to the true cost of running your dental practice. For example, automating administrative tasks could make scheduling and maintaining appointments easier. Incorporating call and text reminders could help maintain appointments that may have easily been forgotten by a patient or could spark a call to reschedule. Updating your computer software and office equipment can be a big undertaking for some, but it can truly improve the flow of the office and increase production.
Reach Out to Patients
Patients want scheduling and keeping appointments to be a breeze, so going above and beyond to reach out to them can make all the difference. Simple appointment reminders and check-ins can help keep their health on track and can fill up your schedule. Encouraging reviews of your practice can also help boost your reputation among those in your community. Utilizing social media and referrals will truly make all the difference with the way you are perceived in your area and could be an easy way to increase the number of patients you see. Our Unified Smiles Representative can connect you with trusted, vetted partner to assist with these goals.
Boost Staff Morale
Your employees are what make your practice unique, and they are also typically your largest expense. This is because they are one of your most valuable assets. Your employees are the first people your patients see when they come in, and the last ones to see them on their way out. You want to ensure that you are meeting your employee’s expectations as a business owner and take the time to understand what is and isn’t working among them. Employee satisfaction can make all the difference to reduce overhead costs by highlighting where their value lies. You want to ensure that you have the best possible team working for you and the way to do that is by meeting their needs. Communicate what your goals are so that they can better understand where they fit in to reaching those goals. Putting value into the right employees can help your practice run more efficiently and can boost patient satisfaction.
Call Unified Smiles routinely to get an update on competitive pricing, go over any issues you may have recognized within your practice, or to solicit advice on where you may have room to grow. We are here to help guide you throughout your career to help you achieve your long-term goals. If you would like to learn how Unified Smiles can help your dental practice, fill out the form below.