Too many established dental practice consultants advise dental practitioners to extend their operating hours into the evening and open on weekends in order to maximize profits. Their reasoning is that some patients cannot make it to daytime appointments due to their work schedule. This around-the-clock mentality is something that sounds good but could end up costing you in unexpected ways.
Building a patient base comprised of patients who come in during evening or weekend hours are predicated on two things: you’re cheap and you’re easy to access and neither are ways to generate patient loyalty. They are at your practice for a good deal. As soon as they find a better deal, they will move on.
While expanding your operating hours may lead to greater productivity due to the sheer volume of patients coming in, the quality of dental care will likely suffer. Longer operating hours doesn’t necessarily equate larger profit margin.
Work Smarter, Not Harder
When you’re going through a dental practice transition, part of your goal should be to create a harmonious work/life balance. But requires improving the quality of your facility, not extending your facility hours. Instead of extending your operating hours, you should take a look at where your dental practice has lost money. Really delve into your numbers to find items that you may not be aware is costing you money. This area is known as the “profit deception zone.”
The profit deception zone is comprised of items and services that do not appear in your profit-loss statement. These could include an addendum on remodeling expenses, or big, tech gadgets such as a Cone-Beam Computed Tomography or CBCT. They look cool but aren’t a necessity for your practice. Dentists with new practices often want to have the latest gadgets like the Dental Cone Beam for their practice, even if it’s not needed.
Professional practice consultants advise you that the one thing to realize when considering extending your business hours to increase the volume of patients is that your practice will begin to be dictated by insurance companies and not the quality of care you want to provide. The reason for this is that dental practitioners won’t be able to control their fees and fee schedules.
Also, when a dental practice is working to make up for lost money, they end up working more days for free each year because they will be focused on paying down debt.
If you want to ensure your dental practice has a profitable future, first define who you are and what you want your practice to be. Ask yourself what you want out of dentistry. Put in place systems and procedures that work for you and your team. Keep your hours simple. And pay attention to your numbers. The numbers never lie. Though it may not always be about the money, operating any business is always about the numbers. Know your numbers and what is adding to and subtracting from those numbers.
You do not have to extend your dental practice hours to 7 pm in the evening and open on weekends in order to increase your profits. Knowing what you want your dental practice to be by ensuring your dental clinic runs smoothly while making sure aren’t losing money in the profit deception zone will be the formula to a profitable dental practice.
