The median salary of American dentists is almost $160,000. If this number shocked you, then chances are, your dental practice has too much overhead. After all, you can have a steady stream of patients, but if you can’t run an efficient practice, all that money will be lost.
You know what they say: work smarter, not harder. Instead of trying to pull in more patients, you should take a good look at your operations and streamline them to reach your dental overhead benchmarks. That way, you don’t have to overwork yourself and you can keep more money in your pocket.
Read on to find out how to cut overhead costs and keep your dental practice successful.
Look at Numbers Regularly
First off, you need to review your overhead costs on a regular basis. Otherwise, how will you know where you’re over or underspending?
If you’re not familiar with how much office items should cost, then it’s worth it to work with a buying group. Not only can they help make sense of numbers, but they can also get you the best prices in the industry.
Train Your Staff
Investing in your staff can actually reduce your dental office overhead. When they have a proper education in medical billing and coding, your practice will run more smoothly and efficiently.
Many dental offices have issues with billing patients, which results in high overhead. But if you’ve got staff that’s on top of dental billing, you can count on patients not only paying their bills, but them doing it on time too.
Automate Simple Tasks
Trained staff members have more utility than just answering phones and scheduling appointments. So put their talents to good use by automating simple tasks.
There are affordable programs that integrate with your scheduling system. They can do things like remind patients about appointments and bill payments. Not only does this free your staff up, but it also ensures things don’t slip through the cracks.
It’s true that updating your technology requires a small upfront investment. But it’ll pay off quickly when productivity improves.
Prioritize Quality
To save money, you might’ve been buying the cheapest products possible. But in the long run, you might be throwing away money! Cheap items that last just 1 month will cost more than spending a little more for those that last half a year.
You need to find a good balance between affordability and quality. That way, you don’t spend a fortune either replacing cheap items often or buying expensive products.
Hit Your Dental Overhead Benchmarks With Our Tips
Hitting your dental overhead benchmarks might’ve been tough, but with the advice from this article, it doesn’t have to be.
The key is keeping an eye on your spending and catching inefficiencies early on. Also, investing in your staff and training them properly will help, as will automating simple tasks. And lastly, prioritizing quality can actually help save money in the long run!
