No dentist wants to hear the words “work faster.” Those words typically create an image of rushing, stress, and even mistakes. However, as dentistry continues to evolve, one way to increase production significantly is to increase practice speed.
Develop a schedule based on hitting a daily production goal. The schedule can be mathematically calculated in advance to ensure that treating the right volume of patients on any given day will achieve the daily production goal. For practices that operate far below the production potential, simply reevaluating and mathematically recalculating the schedule will allow them to increase production in a comfortable manner.
Don’t forget to engage in continuing education and training. Identify continuing education or advanced training that will allow everyone to do their job faster or more efficiently. A great example of this idea is to identify skills that dental assistants have not yet mastered, that, with advanced training, would allow a doctor to delegate more tasks to the assistants. This will help doctors move between rooms more efficiently using an accelerated scheduling model while increasing the number of patients seen per day and the number of procedures performed.
Dr. Roger P. Levin is CEO of Levin Group, a leading practice management and marketing consulting firm. To contact him or to join the 40,000 dental professionals who receive his Practice Production Tip of the Day, visit LevinGroup.com or email [email protected].
The comments and observations expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the opinions of DrBicuspid.com, nor should they be construed as an endorsement or admonishment of any particular idea, vendor, or organization.
