Management is now one of the new constraints facing all dental structures. Dental centers and hospitals have understood this for a long time. It is time that liberal practitioners now accept this reality. Indeed, for a dental surgeon to obtain what he wishes for his practice, he must be able to foresee events and manage them. To build your dental practice, it is not enough to be a great dentist. Whether you are leading your team, or providing your patients with the best possible experience, it takes a lot of time to run an excellent practice.
Create a working philosophy for your firm
Without specific objectives, there will not be an effective dental office. Without a clear work philosophy for your entire team, there are no goals. Therefore, the first step for any practitioner is to take stock of their values, beliefs and principles to develop a philosophy specific to your dental practice.
Plan goals
Planning corresponds to all the activities that lead to the definition of objectives and the determination of the appropriate means to achieve them. Planning is deciding in advance what to do, how to do it, when to do it, and who will do it. Without goals, it is impossible to make the right decisions for your practice.
Ask yourself the right questions
To be operational, the objective we are aiming for must be positively formulated, measurable, placed in a specific context, be our own responsibility. It must also be realistic and ecological. If it must represent a challenge, it must remain within your reach, that is to say take into account your internal and external environment, so as not to generate perverse effects.
Set up a forward management system
How do you expect me to plan for a year, when I do not know what my exercise will be like in six months? Setting up a series of forecasting and control tools is one of the absolute keys to exercise with more serenity. Indeed, the management maturity of a dental practice depends on several aspects, such as the importance given to forecasts and anticipation of future periods, the quality of the measuring tools, how you shared this information with the team, etc.
Develop a provisional financial plan
Among all of these tools, the financial plan corresponds to the quantified translation of your personal income, working time and quality of care objectives. It consists of at least a projected income statement and a balance sheet, presented on a monthly basis. You can also add other tables such as cash flow, investments, depreciation, etc.
Create control charts
The dashboard is a regularly updated data collection tool. It must integrate financial and non-financial data on the different components of the practice (treatments, appointments, patient satisfaction, turnover, number of patients, duration of visits, efficiency, payroll, organization, etc.). The components chosen will be in line with the firm’s objectives. Good management of your practice involves controlling costs, forecasting expenses and revenues and controlling the proper use of the practice’s finances. In today’s era, believing that your firm can break free from business rules is one of the mistakes that can have extremely costly consequences.