Dental CPA | Finding Opportunity in Hygiene Appointments

Posted on September 6, 2017December 6, 2017 by user

Dental CPA Baton Rouge

What percentage of your total production consists of hygiene appointments? For many dentists, hygiene appointments make up a significant portion of total production numbers. According to a study last year, hygiene appointments comprise nearly one-third or greater of total production numbers for approximately 80% of all dentists.

Hygiene is a significant source of overall production, but is there room for improvement? The same study uncovered a startling statistic – only 17% of dentists indicated that the majority of their active patients are receiving regular hygiene appointments every six months. This means there is a significant opportunity here. Hygiene numbers could increase as much as five times among current, active patients.

What steps can you take to encourage patients to schedule, and attend, regular hygiene appointments?

It is necessary to have an action plan in place. Create a consistent system that can be followed for confirmations. Some practices call or text one or two days prior to the appointment. This can help reduce the number of no-shows. Instill in your team the need to address the importance of hygiene examinations to patients. Most patients are not fully aware of all that goes on during the appointment and view it merely as a cleaning. Emphasize the need for regular oral cancer screenings as well.

Opportunity exists within your practice. Harness the potential that each patient brings with regular hygiene visits.

Boost hygiene production to improve your bottom line. Contact us for financial insight and assistance.

Baton Rouge Dental CPA | 3 Ways to Buy Time: Boost Your Practice’s Productivity with Time-Saving Measures

Posted on August 9, 2017August 2, 2017 by user

Dental CPA in Baton Rouge

Time is your most precious resource. On certain days, managing your time is not just difficult, it is downright impossible. Ask yourself about the strategies you are currently using to organize your day. What other tools could you be leveraging to save your practice’s most precious commodity? Here are 3 methods you can implement to maximize your time.

Re-evaluate Your Management Tactics

You can buy time without spending a dime. Employ a new way of keeping track of practice productivity. You can have your team record their tasks for the day in a quick email. Each staff member can quantitatively list their duties, allowing for simple reference later. This cuts down on micromanaging your staff by way of asking, “What did you do today?” Managerial work is difficult to implement after a full day of back-to-back appointments.

You can cut back on daily meetings because you will have a clear picture of what each team member is contributing. Having a list of completed tasks at the end of the day allows for everyone at your practice to be keenly aware of who is to be held accountable for each task.

Utilize Apps to Maximize Efficiency

“Lost time is never found again.” Ben Franklin knew this more than 200 years ago, so how can you apply this knowledge to running your practice? There are numerous tools available for your phone that can be a valuable resource for keeping track of your practice. You can benefit from the use of efficiency apps. In today’s world, there is no need to manage all aspects of your business manually.

Take advantage of scheduling apps and software. You can schedule emails to remind patients to book their next visit to your office without having to send it in real time. This can be an indispensable tool for patient retention, by keeping you in consistent contact with your patients. Apps such as these will help you save time, and keep track of your practice’s performance.

Consider Express Check-In

It is not always your team that is responsible for lost time slipping through your fingers. One late patient can set the whole day off-schedule. Make it easy for your patients to register. Provide compliant forms online for patients to fill out before coming into the office. Saving time at the front desk will help your entire practice run on schedule. Never allow for your practice to earn a reputation of running behind schedule, instead work with your patients to create a smoother, faster registration. Your patients will not want to fill out redundant forms. Rework any documents or forms where possible to prevent your patients from filling out information such as their name and address multiple times.

Successful business leaders are experts at time management. Put methods in place that allow for concrete, quantitative results to measure productivity. Utilize technology to make your life easier and allow your patients to work with you to save time. Don’t get caught watching the sand fall through the timer, take action and rethink your time management strategies.

6421 Perkins Rd.
Bldg. A, Ste 1B
Baton Rouge, LA 70808

Baton Rouge CPA |Combat Burnout to Increase Production

Posted on August 8, 2017September 12, 2017 by user

CPA in Baton Rouge

Combat Burnout to Increase Production

Have you ever felt tired, stressed, and overwhelmed to the point where it impacts your production numbers? Burnout can happen to all dentists and their teams. Yes, this includes you. Before burnout starts to significantly impact your practice, you need to know how to recognize it and how to manage it.

Identify Signs of Burnout

If you start to feel unfocused, tired, or bored, you may be experiencing burnout. Does your team lack the enthusiasm they once possessed? When you start to notice these clues and behaviors, take action immediately. You and your team have invested countless hours in building a fulfilling career in dentistry. Don’t allow a temporary period of burnout to cause you to question your work. Instead, it’s time to reinvigorate your attitude.

Identify the Problem Areas

When production numbers begin to slip, look at where your numbers are starting to drag. A dental CPA can help you identify areas where your numbers a falling. When a department’s numbers begin to sink, your team members can start to feel low, impacting the office’s overall morale. Identifying the problem area allows you and your team to find and implement a solution before dissatisfaction spreads.

Identify New Areas to Explore

If you are experiencing burnout, the time may be right to learn a new skill. Sign up for a CE course or workshop on a subject that is new or intriguing. By expanding your skills, you can increase the number of services you provide, which can turn sagging appointment numbers around. Could your team benefit from additional courses? You may want to try selecting a course the entire team can participate in together. Not only will you all be learning new applicable skills, but you will be improving your relationships with each other which will lead to improved morale.

Burnout will happen to even the best dental team. When you start to notice the signs of burnout, don’t wait for things to improve on their own. Be proactive and identify the areas you or the team could improve. Whether it is improving the number of hygiene appointments, or taking a new CE course, take action immediately to combat signs of burnout.

A dental CPA team can help you evaluate areas of opportunity. Contact us today.

6421 Perkins Rd.
Bldg. A, Ste 1B
Baton Rouge, LA 70808

Baton Rouge Dental CPA | ADCPA Summer Meeting

Posted on July 26, 2017 by user

AG Dental Clients,

A few members of our team recently attended the ADCPA Summer 2017 conference in Bay City, Michigan, home to one of our ADCPA firms, The DBS Companies. We learned a great deal from this conference and wanted to share some of the highlights with you.

Bay City Recap

Day 1

Presentations:

In House Plans – Quality Dental Plans
- In house replacement for dental insurance
- Not effective for primarily fee-for-service practices

Estate Planning
- Major life events represent great times to review legal docs (will, guardianship, POAs)
- Get something in place

PNC Bank
- Consider opening refund only bank account as this is the most likely account to be compromised and avoids shutting down main operating account should fraud occur
- Majority of bank fraud is still check fraud, not electronic

Dr. Charles Blair, DDS
- Importance of accurate and correct coding

Day 2

Presentations:

Future of Dentistry is Now – Dr. Jonathan Bregman DDS
- KPIs – Key Practice Indicators – Doctor needs to know and understand these metrics
- #1 malpractice issue – lack of detection of periodontal disease

Social Security
- Don’t rely on SS office to answer your questions
- Complicated with many options and alternatives, seek out an expert

Cash Balance/Retirement Plans
- Progression of retirement plans – IRA, Simple, 401k, Profit Sharing, Cash Balance (in order of ability to fund)

Should you have any questions about one of these areas or would like more information please reach out to one of our CPAs and we’d be happy to discuss with you.

Thanks,

Robert P. Apple, CPA

Baton Rouge Dental Consultant | Combat Burnout to Increase Production

Posted on July 12, 2017December 6, 2017 by user

Dental Consultant in Baton Rouge

Identify Signs of Burnout

Identify the Problem Areas

Identify New Areas to Explore

A dental CPA team can help you evaluate areas of opportunity. Contact our office today.

Baton Rouge Dental Consultant | Planning for Retirement

Posted on June 7, 2017December 6, 2017 by user

Dental Consultant in Baton Rouge, LA

Whether you have been working for 3 years or 30, it is important to have a retirement plan in place. Unfortunately, many people have never taken the time to create a realistic estimate of what kind of savings they will need to enjoy the lifestyle they want during retirement years. Here are a few key factors that influence how much you should be saving to ensure that you can retire comfortably on schedule.

How long will you be retired? Advances in modern medicine have increased life expectancy over the past decades. Depending on your health and family history, you may want to plan as though you will live to 100 and estimate your needs accordingly.
What do you plan to do during retirement? If you are planning to travel more, visit family members more frequently, or embrace a hobby, you may have increased living expenses compared to your working years.
What other expenses will change? Your commute, work clothes, and business lunches may stop, but you may have higher costs for medical care and prescriptions. Talk with our financial planner about the types of changes to your budget that are likely to occur during retirement.
How much are you currently saving? When you meet with our financial planner, you will review the details of your current retirement savings plans and how your portfolio is performing. During retirement, it may be beneficial to continue some of your investments to help your savings outpace inflation.
Do you have a withdrawal strategy? If you are an owner or partner in your business, is there a written agreement for buying you out when you retire? Do you plan to transition by working part time for a year or more or should you stop all at once? How are your retirement savings affected by taxes? All these and more should be part of your strategic plan for retirement. Our financial planning expert can guide you through the details of your withdrawal process.

For more information on planning for your comfortable retirement, contact our office and schedule a financial planning consultation.

Dental CPA Baton Rouge LA | Dental Practice Human Resources: FAQs

Posted on May 1, 2017December 6, 2017 by user

Whether you manage human resource decisions and concerns yourself or simply oversee your practice manager, as the business owner, you are responsible for ensuring your policies are legal, appropriate, and applied fairly. You may find it useful to take a moment to review a few commonly asked questions regarding aspects of human resources for dental practice owners.

What questions do I need to avoid during interviews?

There are a few basic, even common questions we would not think twice about asking during conversation that are not appropriate for an interview setting. Some of these include:

Are you married?
Do you have children?
What is the origin of your (unusual) name?

While all these questions can be meant to break the ice, they can also lead to the sharing of information about protected class status, such as disability, family status, ethnic or religious heritage, and others. Even if the answers would have no bearing on your decision, these questions can leave you open to a complaint or suit if the position is not offered.

What should I do if an employee refuses to sign their disciplinary action form?

Bring a witness into the room, note the refusal to sign, and have the witness sign confirmation that the disciplinary action form was provided. Additionally, remind the employee that refusal to sign does not nullify the disciplinary action and further infractions can still lead to more serious consequences.

We use software to track the hours our employees work. The program has a function to automatically deduct meal times so the employee does not need to manually clock in and out. Should we use that function?

Before you decide to implement an automatic system of this type, consider the time saved by not manually entering hours. Then compare that to the time lost by entering corrections if a team member misses lunch, returns early, or runs late. If your office rarely deviates from schedule, this may be beneficial. However, if you find that you are making corrections more than once or twice a week, it may be costing more time than it saves.

If you have other questions regarding staffing concerns, contact our office for a practice management consultation.

Baton Rouge Dental Advisor | 4 Simple Ways to Reduce No-Shows

Posted on April 3, 2017December 6, 2017 by user

Dental CPA in Baton Rouge

Whether your patient is scheduled for a cosmetic consultation, restoration placement, or routine hygiene and screening visit, you want to be certain they will come. When your patient cancels with little or no notice, they delay important treatment and wreak havoc with your schedule. Even one missed appointment per day can lead to thousands in lost revenue in a single year.

Reports indicate that about one in ten patients cancels or skips scheduled dental visits. Consider these 4 easily implemented strategies for reducing your practice no-show rate:

During a patient’s visit, clearly communicate the state of their oral health. Explain what treatment they need, why they need it, and when it needs to happen. Emphasize the benefits of receiving the treatment in a timely manner. Patients who understand the value of their treatment are more likely to remember and return as scheduled.

Ask your patient to choose how their appointments are confirmed. Offer to use text, email, mail, or phone calls, if possible, so they are more likely to receive their reminder. Consider offering your patient the ability to authorize you to contact a spouse, parent, or partner who most often handles scheduling or reminding them of commitments.

Whatever their method of choice, follow through with appointment reminders at least 24-48 hours prior to their scheduled window. If you speak to someone directly during a reminder, choose words that prompt the patient to agree to call if they cannot keep the appointment. Cancellations are less frequent when the patient feels they have made a commitment.

Set aside time at least once a month for your team to reach out to patients who are not yet scheduled for their next visit. Use the preferred contact method on file and offer same day or next day appointments, if possible. This has the benefit of both bringing back inactive patients and filling openings left by cancellations or reschedules.

Communication is key in reducing no-shows and reactivating patients. Before implementing new strategies for scheduling, hold a team meeting and discuss your new policies in detail. Be certain that every member on your team is ready and willing to explain the value of treatment, follow up with patients, and support the changes to your systems.

For more ideas that can help your business thrive, contact our office for a consultation.

Baton Rouge LA Dental Accountant | The Costs of a Toxic Employee

Posted on March 1, 2017December 6, 2017 by user

Hiring is time-consuming, stressful, and sometimes costly. In some cases, this causes business owners to avoid firing an employee long after it has become clear that the person is damaging the overall work environment. Finding the right person for your office can be challenging. However, continuing to retain a toxic employee can be far more costly for you and your business.

What is a “toxic employee?”

A toxic employee is easily recognized for exhibiting several, if not all, of the following behaviors:

Bad attitude: This includes eye-rolling, muttering, snide comments, complaints, confrontational tone, and passive-aggressive speech or actions.
Lack of engagement: This can include work-avoidance, lack of enthusiasm, unwillingness to accept responsibilities, and being inattentive in meetings and huddles.
Dishonesty: Whether this involves refusal to accept accountability, blaming others for mistakes, or outright lies and thefts, dishonesty is harmful to your business and your team.
Poor work performance: While a new team member may experience a learning curve at first, the toxic employee never rises above the bare minimum of what has been explicitly listed as expected. In many cases, they may not even be fully or properly completing work. They are uninterested in feedback or training and unwilling to work to improve.

Do you recognize anyone in your office from these descriptions? If so, it’s time to pull the plug.

When you continue to keep a toxic employee on your staff, you may avoid the headaches of the hiring process in the short term. However, you are creating a host of other problems for yourself that will cost you a great deal more time, money, and energy to solve in the long term.

One toxic employee in your office can cause:

Loss of new customers: If a toxic employee is interacting with potential customers, they are creating a negative image of your business, which can lose hundreds or thousands of dollars in revenue.
Loss of existing customers: If your clients are treated poorly even once, they may choose to take their business elsewhere – and they may tell others.
Loss of your best team members: Your best people want to work in a positive environment where they feel supported and appreciated. By tolerating the complaints or shoddy work of one toxic person, you risk losing team players to a company that maintains a better atmosphere.

Don’t compromise your business or your best team members by refusing to fire toxic employees. For more strategies to improve your business, contact our office.

Baton Rouge Dental CPA | Making the Right Impression

Posted on February 2, 2017December 6, 2017 by user

Baton Rouge Dental CPA

When clients visit your office, they observe. Your clients are going to make decisions and judgements based on what they see. If you don’t already, you need to think in the same manner your clients do. If you were a new client to your office, would you schedule a second appointment? Here are a few elements to consider.

Your Office’s Appearance

Look at your office. Is it clean and hygienic? Is it cluttered, dusty, or musty? Your clients will pick up on elements such as these. Make your office spotless. You risk your professional credibility if your office appears to be dirty. Clients are visiting you for professional treatment, so the environment must be clean. Décor matters too. Consider repainting your walls to be a soothing light blue or green. What artwork do you have hanging on your walls? Project a modern atmosphere to create confidence in your methods.

Your Team’s Appearance

Both you and your team should always be presentable. Is a team member coming to work wearing wrinkled clothing or covered with pet hair? Are phone calls left unanswered? An observant client will notice and it could cost you repeat business. You are in the business of retaining and serving your clients, so your team needs to smile often and set a confident, professional tone.

Keeping your office clean is a key element to client retention. Create an environment that makes your clients feel comfortable. Visitors will interpret your office and the appearance of your team as a reflection of your professional capabilities. It is imperative in today’s age of social media and online reviews that you present a positive impression of your business. A misstep on your part may be read by other prospective clients online.

Make the right impression with your clients if you hope to gain repeat business.

To get started with a professional consultation, please contact us.