Dental Service Organization

Joining a Dental Service Organization (DSO): What Dentists Need to Know

Dental Service Organizations (DSOs) have become increasingly popular in recent years, offering dentists a range of benefits that can enhance their professional lives and improve patient care. By partnering with a DSO, dentists can focus on clinical practice while the organization handles administrative tasks and business operations. Understanding the advantages of joining a DSO can help dentists decide if this path aligns with their career goals and practice needs.

Streamlined Administrative Support

    1. Efficient Business Management: One of the primary benefits of joining a Dental Service Organization is the administrative support it provides. DSOs manage essential business functions such as billing, marketing, human resources, and supply chain management. This allows dentists to concentrate on patient care without the burden of running a business, leading to increased productivity and job satisfaction.
    2. Regulatory Compliance: Keeping up with regulatory changes and ensuring compliance can be challenging for individual practices. Dental Service Organizations have dedicated teams to manage compliance with industry regulations, reducing the risk of legal issues and ensuring that practices meet all necessary standards. This support allows dentists to focus on clinical excellence without worrying about administrative complexities.

Dental Service OrganizationAccess to Advanced Technology and Resources

    1. State-of-the-Art Equipment: DSOs often invest in the latest dental technology, providing member practices with access to state-of-the-art equipment and tools. This access enhances the quality of care and allows dentists to offer a broader range of services to their patients. Advanced technology can also improve efficiency and reduce treatment times, benefiting both dentists and patients.
    2. Training and Continuing Education: DSOs typically offer ongoing training and professional development opportunities for their dental teams. This commitment to education helps dentists stay up-to-date with the latest advancements in dental care and improve their skills. Access to continuing education can also lead to career advancement and personal growth.

Financial Stability and Growth Opportunities

    1. Predictable Income: Joining a DSO can provide dentists with a more predictable income, as these organizations often offer competitive salary packages and benefits. This financial stability allows dentists to focus on patient care without the stress of managing fluctuating revenues.
    2. Career Advancement: DSOs offer career growth opportunities through their expansive networks. Dentists can advance to leadership roles, such as clinical directors or regional managers, or pursue specializations within the organization. This flexibility allows dentists to tailor their careers to their interests and aspirations.

Joining a Dental Service Organization offers numerous benefits to dentists, from streamlined administrative support and access to advanced technology to financial stability and career growth opportunities. By partnering with a DSO, dentists can focus on providing high-quality patient care while leaving the business operations to experienced professionals. For those seeking a balanced and rewarding career in dentistry, joining a DSO may be the right choice, offering the resources and support needed to thrive in a competitive industry. Understanding these benefits can help dentists make informed decisions about their career paths and practice models.

Ethics

Ethics and Principles: The Foundation of Your Dental Practice

Dentistry ethics and principles in dentistry may not be the most exciting parts of the office. But they are by far some of the most essential parts. No matter how friendly your staff or how current your technology is – a bad reputation does not lead to success. But what should your ethics and principles look like? Every practice must decide their fundamentals for the best care for their patients.

EthicsAt Progressive Dental Concepts, we recognize that your practice must make a profit. But we’d all agree, it would be improper and unethical to make a profit by sacrificing who you are as a dentist or the quality of patient care.  We’re always cognizant of the essential fact taht the patient’s best interests must take precedence over anything else.  As George Merck of Merk Pharmaceuticals once stated, “Medicine is for the patient, not the profits. The profits follow.”

By putting the patient’s needs first, they will tell others about your practice.  An abundance of our dental practices’ business originates from word-of-mouth referrals.  Accordingly, recognizing the need to prioritize patient care while balancing the bottom line requires a strong code of ethics and work principles.

Basic Ethics and Principles for All of Our Dentist Offices

  1. The patient’s needs are the most crucial part of your practice. It is never about the financial gain involved in doing extra or unnecessary procedures.
  2. Always give patients an accurate and informative accounting of treatment options, including the cost of different approaches.
  3. If you are merely competent at a specific procedure and not a specialist, suggest getting an optional approach or opinion.
  4. When making patient collections or insurance claims, list all procedures and coverage.
  5. Patient autonomy allows the patient the final say in treatment decisions. As such, the patient must have all pertinent information regarding the recommended procedure(s). Share this information with the patients in simple language to ensure they fully understand what must happen.
  6. It is the dentist’s office’s responsibility to protect patient information. This includes financial details, treatment, health concerns, etc., as defined by HIPPA.
  7. Treat all patients equally, regardless of religion, race, gender, or creed. Treatment is not withheld because a patient does not “fit certain criteria.”
  8. Do not use a patient’s testimonial, before/after photos, or other information without consent. Ideally, have written permission and not just verbal.

These are a few key components of dentist office ethics and principles. You may have others you have included in your practice model. Consider posting these ethics in your office, on brochures, or paperwork, so your patients know what to expect. Then, be sure to exceed the expected practices. By going above and beyond, you will not only have happy patients, but they will be quick to tell others about your practice.

If you are interested in being a part of our PDC dental group, having a strong foundation goes a long way. We can help you optimize your practice so you can do more. With Progressive Dental Concepts, you can choose how to operate your practice, so it benefits everyone- yourself, your dental care team, your patients, and PDC. Contact PDC today to learn how we can help.

Dental Management Group

Partnering for Success: A Dental Management Group Can Elevate Your Practice

As a dentist who owns your own practice, you’re not just a healthcare provider – you’re also a business owner. Balancing patient care with the demands of running a business can be challenging.  But partnering with a dental management group can help you excel in both areas. Let’s explore how this partnership can minimize costs and leverage resources, ultimately leading to the success of your practice.

Streamlining Operations to Minimize Costs

Dental Management GroupOne of the key benefits of partnering with a dental management group is the ability to streamline your practice’s operations. By leveraging their expertise and resources, you can:

  • Reduce Overhead Costs: Management groups can negotiate better rates for supplies, equipment, and services, passing the savings on to you.
  • Optimize Staffing: They can help you create an efficient staffing model.  As a result, it ensures you have the right mix of skills and expertise without overstaffing.
  • Improve Billing and Collections: With their specialized knowledge, management groups can enhance your billing processes and improve collections, boosting your practice’s financial health.

Leveraging Resources for Practice Growth

In addition to cost savings, partnering with a dental management group can provide access to a wealth of resources that can help you grow your practice and enhance patient care.

  • Continuing Education: Stay at the forefront of dental advancements with access to continuing education opportunities for you and your staff.
  • Marketing Support: Benefit from professional marketing strategies and materials to attract new patients and retain existing ones.
  • Technology Integration: Get assistance with implementing the latest dental technologies, improving patient outcomes and practice efficiency.

By partnering with a dental management group, you can focus more on delivering exceptional patient care while leaving the business aspects in expert hands. This collaboration can lead to increased profitability, a more streamlined operation, and a higher level of satisfaction for both you and your patients.

If you’re looking to excel as a dentist and take your practice to new heights, consider exploring the opportunities that a partnership with Progressive Dental Concepts can offer. It could be the key to unlocking your practice’s full potential.

Build Practice

Grow Your Dental Practice: Tips and Tools

Even if you have been practicing dentistry for years, you are always interested in adding new patients to your database. It is essential to stay connected to your current patients. However, failing to court new ones can cause your practice to stagnate and can ultimately affect your bottom line. Building a thriving practice can take time and effort. Fortunately, you don’t have to do it alone. In other words, there is a myriad of actions you can take to grow a dental practice.

Tips for Building a Thriving Dental Practice

  • Build PracticeDetermine an achievable growth strategy. Growth doesn’t happen by accident; it takes work. Accordingly, take a few minutes to assess where you are and where you want to be. Craft an outline and plan strategies to use to achieve your goals.
  • Set measurable goals. Simply saying you want a bigger practice isn’t enough. You need to define what “more” looks like.  For example, do you want 20% more patients by the end of the year?  Or, perhaps, maybe you would like to expand the cosmetic dentistry side of your practice.  Whatever the goal, be clear in your expectations.  Once you’ve determined what growth looks like, let your staff know the plans so you can work together as a team.
  • Display for patient testimonials and reviews. Getting positive feedback from patients on Yelp, Google, and social media platforms is great. But take things a bit further and post those reviews on your website, have them scrolling on your website, or perhaps on a screen in your office waiting area.
  • Build a reputation for geriatric or pediatric care. These two age groups often need special care and comfort for dental procedures. Go the extra mile to make them feel at ease. The satisfied patients and their families will tell others and soon be sending new patients your way.
  • Invest in continuing ed and updated technology. Being a dentist and having certified hygienists and dental assistants is not enough.  In addition, you must ensure that all your team members constantly learn new skills. Also, while you may not have the most recent release or tool, endeavor always to update and modernize your office.
  • Cultivate a setting your patients enjoy. For many people, a dentist visit causes anxiety and fear.  As a result, do your part to help your patients to be comfortable at your office. You can do this through-
    • Short wait times
    • Easy check-in and check-out procedures
    • Designing inviting office space and examination rooms
    • Staying upbeat when interacting with patients and staff
  • Team up with Progressive Dental Concepts. We have the tools, marketing pros, and business development know-how to help take your practice to the next level. By joining us, you will have more time and staff resources to see the new patients.

Tools to Build Your Practice

At PDC, we have all the tools you need to take your practice farther than you have ever expected. With the tools, training, and technology teaming up with us offers, you will be amazed how much more efficient and effective your office and staff will be.  Likewise, as we continue to expand and support the umbrella of practices we cover, we provide marketing and patient lead generation to help your practice grow.  For example, one of our lead-producing tools that drives new patients to our practices is our Nearby Dentist Locator website.  You practice dentistry.  We send you new patients!

Don’t sit back and just think about what your dental practice could look like. Give Progressive Dental Concepts a call today and learn how you can do more.

Successful Dental Practice

Leverage Time and Resources in Your Dental Practice

You have invested time, energy, and resources in building a thriving dental practice. But if you are looking to the future of your practice, you are likely looking for ways to leverage your business. This desire to improve can be an all-consuming thought process where you try balancing everyday costs with building a future.

You may discover ways to improve, boost, and leverage your practice simultaneously. But how do you determine what actions to take? Leveraging your dental practice can be divided into two areas: Boosting your business and identifying your strengths.

Boosting Your Dental Practice

  1. Successful Dental PracticeSet Goals – Determine your goals, then set measurable goals. Have a realistic plan that you can check at specific intervals.
  2. Staff Training – You can’t move forward without training. Frequent training is not just about learning the newest methods and tools. It is also important that your front desk personnel are current on computer programs, apps, and other techniques for keeping patients happy. Investing in your entire team makes your practice more efficient and gives you leverage in case you wish to merge or expand your practice.
  3. Appointment Reminder System – Despite calendars and appointment cards, patients will still forget appointments. Be sure your practice has an effective appointment reminder system so your patients are more likely to remember dentist visits and be on time.
  4. Encourage bi-annual dental visits -Most dental insurance policies cover two visits a year. Be sure to encourage your patients to make the most of this benefit. It not only improves their dental health but also benefits your practice.
  5. Have an engaging, educational, and informative website and social media presence. Most new patients will check your practice out online and by talking to other patients. Be sure what they find will promote your practice.

Identify and Leverage Your Strengths

  • Successful Dental PracticeDefine your core values – Patient safety, comfort, and engagement are key components of a thriving practice and should be part of your core values. Identify what you are doing to make these things happen and capitalize on them.
  • Upgrade patient-facing solutions – Be intentional about clinical training, try new products, and offer new services. Look for ways to improve communication, workflow, office systems, and workflow so everyone wins.
  • Find the right people – Be deliberate in your hiring process. Select the best candidate(s) for the positions in your office. Having people especially suited for their tasks makes your office more efficient.

Leveraging your business can take time. However, achieving it more quickly happens when you team up with Progressive Dental Concepts. With PDC at your side, you can identify aspects of your office to improve while leveraging your practice to operate at its full potential. Better yet, you won’t have to do it alone. Progressive Dental Concepts has the knowledge, support staff, and backing you need to take your practice to the next level. Reach out to us today.

Team Up with PDC

Step Up, Team Up with PDC: Get the Most from Your Dental Practice

A successful business results from many factors, but one of the most crucial is knowing how to manage your assets.  You can have a database teaming with patients, but you will miss the mark if you are not adequately handling your resources to their full potential.  However, as the owner of your dental practice, it can be challenging to find the time to assess the office practices and implement ways to make them more efficient and effective.  Partnering with PDC means greater success for your dental practice.

Failing to make the most of all your team has to offer can slow down your office. But there is a solution. Instead of trying to do it all, contact Progressive Dental Concepts.

Benefits of Teaming Up with the Progressive Dental Concepts Dental Group

Team Up with PDC1. Better financial performance – Instead of dealing with insurance companies, processing payroll, and other non-dental jobs, the management company will do it for you. Because PDC has people who focus on business, you can put your energy into connecting with patients.

2. You can get more done – Your office will be more streamlined, which means better productivity in every area.

3. Risks are lower- Keeping up with ever-changing laws regarding wages, vacation policies, HIPPA, OSHA, workman’s comp, and other business requirements is a must. This can make for long days behind the desk rather than at your patient’s chair. When your practice teams up with a dental management company, you can let them handle these issues.

4. Improved staff training and development – A growing dental practice is more than increasing patients. It is also when you and your staff’s knowledge does. PDC provides mentors and continuing education opportunities so you can boost your knowledge. With more understanding of dentistry, you can keep your office on the cutting edge of the best dental practices and procedures.

5. Decision-making is easier – Don’t lose sleep trying to decide on the best approach to a sticky situation or whether it’s time to upgrade. Progressive Dental Concepts has advisors to provide feedback and suggest ways to move forward.

6. Staffing stays consistent – Working with PDC means you keep your current staff.  We won’t come in and start letting people go.  Conversely, we can observe your team and help you determine how to best use them to maximize their skills.  Also, if you need extra help to cover vacation days, sickness, etc., we have people we can bring in to help.

7. You still have control of your office – Working with PDC doesn’t mean relinquishing complete control of the practice you have invested numerous resources into.  Instead, we are here to help you maximize those resources.

8. More time and less stress – If you don’t remember when you let yourself separate from the office, it’s time to call for help.  Just because you started the practice doesn’t mean you must let it consume your every waking moment.  Working with a management company means they assist with bookkeeping, staff education, and other facets of running your practice. This lightens your load, giving you more time to reap and enjoy the benefits.

A dental management company is the perfect solution for getting more from and for your practice.  Contact Progressive Dental Concepts today to learn how to improve your practice and work-life balance.  You’re not “selling out”.  You’re “Stepping Up”.  Join our PDC Team to leverage and grow your practice by augmenting with our experience staff!

Sell Your Dental Practice

Selling Your Dental Practice to a Management Company

 As the owner of your dental practice your days can be long and quite busy.  You see patients and perform operatory procedures.  You deal with paperwork and payroll.  Likewise, you ensure the office is prepared for upcoming procedures.  And despite the inconvenience of it, you knew this was part of owning a dental practice.  But there can come a time when you question if you want to do the myriad of administrative and management tasks ownership brings.  If this resonates, it may be time to consider selling your dental practice and working with a dental management company.

A dental management company is a partnership with a team alongside you. They help you streamline your practice, and they share the challenges you face in leading your team.  Your time is freed up to practice dentistry, and the administrative burden of accounts payable, accounts receivable, marketing, payroll, human resources, etc. are handled by a staff provided to you.  Does this sound like the perfect solution to a successful dental practice?  Then check out some advantages of working with a dental management company.

Benefits of Working with a Dental Management Company

Sell Your Dental Practice1. Offload administrative tasks– These tasks vital to a thriving practice can be draining. You went to school to do dental work and interact with patients. You likely did not want to spend hours a week dealing with paperwork and personnel. By outsourcing to a DMC, you can let them take care of the admin jobs.

2. Better technology – Are you a younger dental practice with aspirations of having the latest technology, software, and equipment? If this is the goal, but your current finances are stretched thinner than nylon dental floss, teaming up with a dental management company could be the solution. Many DMCs will invest in your office so you can get the tools needed to be more effective and efficient.

3. Financial benefits – Depending on the DMC you work with, these benefits may vary. However, common pros of working with a dental management company include:

    • Getting an upfront payment for your practice
    • Revenue-sharing arrangements
    • Marketing packages
    • Lower overhead costs.

4. Better work-life balance – One of the biggest appeals in teaming up with a DMC is the freedom to work shorter days. Instead of 40+ hour weeks at the office, you can enjoy your days off.

5. Creates an exit strategy – Eventually, the time will come when you are ready to retire or perhaps pursue a new business venture. But this means finding someone to take what you built and lead it into the future. This can be stressful. Working with a DMC will connect you with dentists interested in expanding their practice or seeking a place to begin their career.

Are you ready to let someone share the load of building your practice? Then, now is the time to talk to Progressive Dental Concepts. Working with us means you have people to share the administrative tasks, provide growth opportunities for your practice and your dental team, and help you negotiate with insurance companies’ requirements. Don’t keep struggling to find work-life balance. Reach out to the Progressive Dental Concepts team today.

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