Greg Winteregg DDS Discusses the When and How of Adding Dental Associates
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Greg Winteregg DDS on When and How to Add Dental Associates
Summary
With 13 years in private practice and nearly the same as a trainer/consultant, I've learned there's a right and wrong way to bring in dental associates. This article explores the key considerations and steps for successfully integrating an associate into your dental practice.
Article Body
Adding a dental associate can enhance your practice by offering more services, allowing more time off, and covering emergencies. However, it also comes with challenges like patient acceptance and potential competition. After years of experience, I can assure you that there's a right and wrong way to approach this.
If you're considering adding an associate now or in the future, consider these key questions:
1. When should you get an associate?
2. How should you structure compensation?
3. What's the best way to find one?
4. What should you cover in interviews?
5. How will you integrate them into your practice?
When to Add an Associate
Determining the right time to add an associate is crucial and often where many make mistakes. Imagine you're doing reasonably well with some openings in your schedule and about 10 new patients monthly. You decide to expand your hours by bringing in an associate. While the idea seems sound, it often fails: the associate ends up unproductive and unhappy, putting you in a bind.
The right time to add an associate is when:
- Your practice is growing or maxed out: Are you expanding efficiently?
- Profitability is strong: Your business should be financially stable.
- Your schedule is full: A packed schedule is a sign it might be time.
If you answered "Yes" to these questions, now might be the right time to add an associate. Consider this scenario: your practice has reached a point where you're fully booked weeks in advance. Adding an associate at this time can help you:
1. Provide quicker service to patients.
2. Focus on specialized work.
3. Increase overall productivity.
In such cases, start by adding an associate for one or two days a week and gradually expand as needed. Consider the number of active charts; typically, 1,000 charts can keep a doctor and hygienist busy if handled efficiently. Balancing one doctor to one hygienist often works best.
Business Growth and Expansion
A successful practice is linked to expansion. At MGE, we recommend adding an associate when you have more work than you can handle alone, and patients are waiting too long for appointments?"no more than a couple of weeks.
Consider your expansion needs:
- Do you have enough new patients?
- How many should you aim for?
Here’s a simple formula:
1. Count your active charts.
2. Multiply by 20%.
3. Divide by 12 months.
This gives you the minimum new patients required to maintain practice health. To add an associate, you should exceed this number.
For example, Dr. Smith, with 1,200 active charts, should aim for at least 20 new patients monthly just to maintain. To support an associate, you'll need more.
Make sure new patients are fee-for-service, and you have a strong skill level in treatment presentation and acceptance. For help attracting new patients, consider MGE's "New Patient Workshop."
By carefully evaluating these aspects, you can decide when?"and how?"to integrate an associate successfully into your practice.
You can find the original non-AI version of this article here: Greg Winteregg DDS Discusses the When and How of Adding Dental Associates.
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