Articles
Articles by DIY Group
Outsourcing: Is it right for your practice?
Published in Dental Economics 12/16/21 Outsourcing benefits are numerous Is it possible for your practice to function at peak performance when you’re short staffed? Dentists know firsthand the stress and frustration of working without some positions filled. The...
Your dental team represents you. Do you know what they’re saying?
Published in Dentistry IQ 10/20/21 Caramel is not butterscotch What are your employees are saying to your patients? My latest negative experience seems innocuous, but it’s not. It shows the blatant indifference toward customers that is pervasive in many industries....
Do you know what your dental patients want?
Published in Dentistry IQ 8/17/21 Embrace the future—because it's now The dental industry was catapulted at least five years into the future because of the changes implemented during COVID-19. Besides enhanced infection control that consumed most of our time at the...
Time to update your new-patient experience
Published in Dentistry IQ 6/23/21 Take time to get to know patients For some, the word “new" means exciting and filled with possibilities. For others, it implies that dreaded change is coming, and things will have to be done differently. Regardless of how anyone...
Can your practice pass a risk management assessment?
Published in Dentistry IQ 4/14/21 By Jeanette Kern, DDS Risk management has many meanings in a dentist’s world and evokes several levels of emotion. It can mean your differential diagnosis of a patient’s condition and choice of treatment modalities, your human...
Articles by Linda Miles
Asking for a Raise, When I Feel a Raise is Due
The seven most dreaded words a dentist hears during a workday are: “May I speak with you after work?” Does this mean the employee is quitting, needs maternity leave, or wants a raise? Whatever the situation, the doctor hopes they will handle it well. For the employee...
Four Cornerstones of Success
Every practice has a tremendous ability to succeed far beyond the owner’s expectations. In consulting for over thirty years, I’ve learned the true secret to success is to build a structure, or a foundation, known as the cornerstones. The same is true in every...
Positive Resolutions
New Associates The success of any associateship or partnership depends greatly on the acceptance of a new member to the practice by the entire dental team. Well-organized, happy, solo practices can go through tumultuous changes that can play havoc on anticipated...
Reducing Accounts Receivables
In some practices, there’s enough money in Accounts Receivables (A/R) to go around the world three times…while in others, the A/R is a non-issue. There are many important ways to keep the A/R low, such as instituting: A firm financial guideline/policy that all staff...
Fee Discussions:
There are two main points to never forget when it comes to fee discussions with patients: The mindset of the dentist and team regarding money must be positive. The quality of the verbal skills relating to the fees makes or breaks the acceptance rate. “Patients can’t...
Articles by Candice Martin
Don’t Let Summertime Leave You Short Staffed
Summer is almost here! Yay? What do you do when half of your team wants to take back to back vacations leaving you short-handed and stressed out for the entire summer? I have three suggestions for you. Use time off request forms if you don’t already. By using these...
Are You Losing Patients Faster Than Attracting New Ones?
In today’s competitive market, delivering quality dentistry alone isn’t enough to have a thriving, successful practice. So how can you set yourself apart from the dentist across the street? Providing superior patient care. So how do we do that? I have three...
Don’t Let Summertime Leave You Short Staffed
Summer is almost here! Yay? What do you do when half of your team wants to take back to back vacations leaving you short-handed and stressed out for the entire summer? I have three suggestions for you. Use time off request forms if you don’t already. By...
Are You Losing Patients Faster Than Attracting New Ones?
In today’s competitive market, delivering quality dentistry alone isn’t enough to have a thriving, successful practice. So how can you set yourself apart from the dentist across the street? Providing superior patient care. So how do we do that? I have three...
Articles by Jan Keller
Blind Spots in Dentistry™: How to lead and work with an inherited team
Meet with team members individually and encourage an open dialogue. This is your opportunity to get to know them better, and find out more about them. For instance, ask questions like: Do they need help with anything, and if so, where? What tasks are most...
Blind Spots in Dentistry™: Why you should have an annual board meeting, and the 10 people who should always attend
Not only do dentists need an annual plan and budget, they should have at least one annual ‘Board of Directors’ meeting to review relevant information pertaining to the immediate past, present and future of the practice. This Board is ideally comprised of: Doctor...
Blind Spots in Dentistry™: Team Meetings — When Did You Last Have One?
Doctors become so involved in “doing dentistry” and caring for their patients they sometimes don’t take the time to work on the business side of their practice. As one example, when is the last time you held a staff meeting? If you ask your colleagues, many will tell...
Blind Spots in Dentistry™: Your patient does not want to sign a form. What do you do?
This is one where doctor needs to make a decision: can the doctor treat someone without knowing their medical history? Considerations:-- Does the patient understand the importance and link between their medical health & dental health?-- Did you offer to work in...
Blind Spots in Dentistry™: How likely is it that your practice will become the victim of embezzlement?
Everyone thinks it won’t happen to them. Believe me, it happens more often than you think, and often from the person you trusted the most. We’re talking, of course, about embezzlement. In the past 25-plus years as a software trainer and practice management consultant,...
Blind Spots in Dentistry™: The brutal truth behind ‘free’ treatment
Bite wings? Intra oral photos? How many things did you do/services did you provide -- but there is no money for it? Do you show it on the patient ledger? Does the patient physically see all of the ‘things’ you did during your exam as a line item on their walkout...
Blind Spots in Dentistry™: How to Create and Implement a System to Track Extended Payments
Your Financial/Treatment Coordinator has discussed the treatment plan, and the patient has agreed and signed on the option to pay for it. Now you want to track the agreement to ensure it is being adhered to. Your software may have a memo system give you a reminder to...
Blind Spots in Dentistry™: Part 1 of 3: You’re a new dentist who just bought an existing practice. Now what?
You’ve done it, bought your own, previously-established practice. You feel exhilarated, excited, and of course, more than a little nervous. After all, you’ve not only acquired debt, a building and hopefully a bunch of patients, but an existing team as well. Will they...
Blind Spots in Dentistry™: Letter to patients who are delaying or ignoring needed treatment
Do you have patients who are delaying, or completely ignoring, needed treatment? The answer is probably yes, and although you may not always be able to persuade them to accept your dental recommendations, you can try with a letter like this: Patient...
Blind Spots in Dentistry™: Refusal of Non-Elective (Mandatory) Treatment
What does your practice do when a patient refuses treatment, particularly non-elective (mandatory) treatment? Before we begin to discuss this important issue, let’s define elective vs non-elective treatment. For the sake of this article, treatment in the mandatory...
Articles by Jeanette Kern
How does the right Practice Vision impact your life’s journey and how do most people mess this up?
Life truly is a journey and having a clear vision for your Dental Practice is crucial to getting the results you’d like. As a child, our parents have a vision for us and they usually try to lead us in the “right” direction. They sacrifice for us to go to the “right”...
What are the biggest vision errors, or lack of vision errors, that dentists make later in their careers?
As I work with fellow dentist owners at all stages in their career, I am struck by the level of complacency that occurs. Somehow, we forget we are running a 100 yard Dash and let up before the finish line! If you are going to be truly successful you need to reach...
Return on Investment
So you think you need or want a new piece of dental equipment… As dentists, we love the cool scientific advances that occur in our industry annually. It seems that from the beginning of our careers, new and improved techniques and equipment are evolving. The...
Articles by Jodie Pearson
Back to Basics – A Feel-good Read on Connectedness – What Did We do Before Technology?
Technology is BrainyWhat can be more amazing than technology? You purchase it to better serve your patients and reach optimum outcomes for your practice. However, technology can be brainy stuff and utilizing it to its fullest takes time and training, both of which...
Creating Unforgettable Memories. Are You Keeping Secrets?
"Love and respect you so!” is how the email ended. It was completely unexpected but certainly not surprising when an email from a colleague ended this way. What happened to me in that very moment? First, I was surprised at how my world stopped and a flood of wonderful...