It’s long been said that dentists are not the best business owners/leaders, that they are better at being clinicians. This seems to have changed quite a bit in the last decade or so for dentists who enjoy balancing practicing dentistry with being more entrepreneurial. This trend has been possible in part due to a lot of support for practice management, from dentist and staff training to the development of software systems that sustain one electronic records database for multiple practice locations.
Some dentists focus only on growing their solo practice; others grow that business and then they expand by acquiring or starting up new satellite offices. The more business-oriented may be motivated by revenue, or they may be very goal oriented—they’ve achieved the goals they set, so now they must set more. It may be because their original practice isn’t busy enough, or it has plateaued and they want a new challenge. Maybe they want the variety of changing scenery, or would rather be a mentor than doing hands on dentistry after years of practicing. Maybe it’s their exit st
rategy.
The concept of owning more than one practice can be exciting, rewarding, profitable, and expected to provide income after retirement. It sounds like it should automatically mean double or triple the income, but it doesn’t always. Plus, it can be double or triple the stress, overhead, and personnel issues. Of course, there are numerous advantages to having multiple offices, one of which is having more staff. Turnover (believe it or not) is less of an issue than if you have a solo practice and fewer employees.
One technology that will help keep this all running smoothly and without interruption is using dental practice management software that allows you to seamlessly manage one database for multiple locations. A suite of dental software products that is suited for multiple specialties, and includes wireless tablet-friendly access to patient records, electronic check-in, interoffice communication, electronic charting, and seamless digital image integration not only saves time, but provides consistent protocols from person to person and office to office. Multi-location practices can benefit from this stability. As the business grows from one location to a second, and more, each new location doesn’t need a whole new start to software and records. A system like XLDent in place helps patients all have the same experience, and at least one end of the business is running itself while you are busy negotiating acquisitions, leases, employee agreements, assessing the competition, finding the right associates, and the many other things involved in growing your practice into practices.