Streamline your practice with Spear Practice Solutions
As 2019 comes to a close, it’s time for your practice year-end financial review. Was it a good year? Hopefully it was, and current economic indicators (i.e. 3.5% unemployment in September and an upward trend in healthcare employment*) translated to practice growth. Hopefully, it wasn’t a stagnant year, and the team took advantage of opportunities to expand the business. However, that’s sometimes easier said than done for busy practices and dentists who aren’t natural financial planners. If that’s the case in your practice, you’re not alone.
Dr. Sammi Hadad of Brownstown, MI, used to feel like her practice was cruising on “autopilot.” A dentist with 23 years’ experience, she felt good about the clinical treatment she was providing to patients, but she lacked confidence in the financial side of her work. For instance, she struggled to figure out how and to what extent her practice was losing re-care patients. Recognizing she needed help, she hired a highly recommended consultant, but the experience was unproductive, as the consultant didn’t follow through on providing actionable solutions to the staff.
As the challenges remained unresolved, Dr. Hadad was hesitant to invest in any other consultants or programs. She wanted insurance that the investment would result in actionable steps that she and her team could implement to achieve lasting results. In late 2017, she learned about Spear Practice Solutions, a comprehensive platform from Spear Education, and decided to go for it. It would prove to be the right decision. Her practice would benefit from all four components of the Spear Practice Solutions platform: expert consultants; prescribed, self-directed learning; powerful analytics and reporting; and campus workshops.
Embracing Growth Opportunities
Immediately, Dr. Hadad benefited from the cloud-based Spear Practice Solutions dashboard, which offered an easy-to-navigate online analytics platform. This helped her visualize her practice’ data and get a better grasp of finances. She and her team enjoyed the onboarding experience with their dedicated practice solutions consultant, who helped them to define their practice vision and establish benchmarks for monthly production.
Meanwhile, Dr. Hadad began developing a clear picture of how to manage treatment planning, as the new system automatically revealed re-care opportunities by highlighting patients who had yet to confirm appointments. The consultant also discovered a data-management issue within the practice management system that had mistakenly marked active patients as inactive. Once the issue was resolved, front-office tasks became more streamlined and patient engagement improved.
At the consultant’s recommendation, Dr. Hadad began using daily morning huddles and weekly team meetings to review data. The team now discusses proposed recommendations and decides how to effectively implement changes in the practice. Staff members share the positive results they see as they exceed monthly production goals and use their momentum to continue growing.
Eventually, Dr. Hadad and her team traveled to the Spear Campus in Scottsdale, AZ, to attend the Practice of Excellence workshop. The experience furthered their skills in the Spear Practice Solutions dashboard and proved to be a useful team-building exercise. The dashboard has become an integral part of the office’s routine. Staff members use it throughout the day, and Dr. Hadad checks it in the morning and evening for an accurate snapshot of the practice’s overall financial health, production numbers, and overall key performance indicators.
Dr. Hadad’s results speak for themselves:
+ 24% increase in overall production. (opportunity: a hygiene room was added to meet production goals)
+ $135,000 increase in revenue for first five months using program
+130% increase in personal hourly production, from $341 to $800 per hour, in less than one year.
The Takeaway
After implementing Spear Practice Solutions, Dr. Hadad feels like her practice’s visions and goals are clearly defined, and the team functions confidently without needing her daily direction.
The practice is no longer on “autopilot” and is rapidly growing. Dr. Hadad is now focused on hiring an associate dentist to help keep pace with the influx of patients. Overall, she feels positioned to expand her practice for the long-term, ensuring she can work as comfortably as possible without limiting her growth.
If this story is relatable to your practice and its current financial situation, consider taking a bold step toward actionable growth. Learn more by reaching out to Spear Education at sps@speareducation.com or call 866.781.0072 (ext. 3). You can also visit www.speareducation.com/practice-solutions to schedule a free consultation.
* https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf