Dental practice checkup—3 numbers assess the health of your practice

Most dentists recommend that patients receive a comprehensive exam every three to five years, and a periodic exam twice a year. But how often do dentists perform a comprehensive exam on their practice? In the same way that optimal oral health begins with an examination and diagnosis, achieving a healthy practice begins with a thorough analytical exam.

While a professional consultant may be needed to perform this comprehensively, here I’ll describe three numbers that are easy and essential for dentists to calculate. These patient-focused diagnostics are one of the best assessments of the health of your practice, because without patients, there isn’t a practice.

Active patient base—This is the number of patients you can confidently count on for business. It is defined as the number of patients that are due for a hygiene visit over a two-year period. This is typically an easy number to generate in the recaremodule of practice management systems; this value provides a more accurate number than the generic value provided by the patient statistics report.

Here are some fun facts to know about your active patient base. For every 200 prophylaxis active patients, your practice needs one day of hygiene per week to treat them. For every 100 periodontal maintenance active patients, your practice needs one day of hygiene per week to treat them. A hygienist reaches saturation (meaning a fully utilized schedule) somewhere between 600 and 800 active patients. A dentist reaches saturation somewhere between 1,200 and 1,600 active patients. This number helps determine how many providers your practice needs to treat your patients.

Retention rate—This rate indicates how successful the practice is in creating and maintaining strong relationships with patients. It also indicates how well the practice communicates the need to return routinely. It’s the most common problem for practices with a growing number of patients that have trouble keeping their schedules full. The retention rate is calculated as the percentage of total active patients scheduled for a hygiene visit.

Here are some fun facts to know about retention rates. Practices have reached the optimal level of retention at 90%. It has a major impact on hygiene schedules, meaning if the retention rate is low, schedules will suffer, and if it’s high, schedules are maximized and hygiene time can be added. In turn, it impacts the doctor’s schedule, which has a major effect on production. When retention is high, hygienists see the maximum number of patients and doctors perform the maximum number of periodic exams, which fuels their schedules.

New patient flow—This number foretells the growth of a practice. It indicates whether or not marketing efforts are working in the community and practice. New patient flow is calculated as the number of new patients seen per month; these are patients scheduled with the codes D0150 or D0180. For a single practitioner, receiving 20 new patients per month is ideal. This translates into 216 additional active patients in one year (assuming 90% retention). This would add at least one hygiene day per week within a year. If your practice’s new patient flow is well above this number but you have not added hygiene time in the last year, you may have a problem with retention rates. When your practice is not adding hygiene time, it’s as if you’ve lost as many patients as you’ve gained. If a practice’s new patient flow is well below this number, it may be time to look into marketing efforts. Keep in mind the best form of marketing is patients’ experience each time they are seen in your practice.

Source: http://www.dentistryiq.com/articles/2015/10/dental-practice-checkup-3-numbers-assess-the-health-of-your-practice.html

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