You’re a dentist, but you’re also an entrepreneur; motivated, driven, and future-oriented, which is probably why you successfully started your first dental practice and now have two, three, or even more profitable practices.
But once you reach the three-plus location mark, managing and running your dental practice isn’t as easy as it was. It’s time to ask yourself these questions.
- Am I really as profitable as I could be?
- Is my staff at each location as efficient as they should be?
- Do my offices coordinate with each other?
If your answers are “no,” then it’s likely you’re running a decentralized organization. You have hit that point where it’s time to try something different—and that something different is centralization.
Why You Should Consider Centralization
You’re probably thinking, “Is centralization really right for me?” That’s a simple yet great question, and the answer is just as simple—yes, it is.
If you’re still not convinced, review the following reasons many multiple-location practice owners turn to centralized processes:
- Patient frustration and unhappiness
- Duplication (of billing, patient records, and insurance claims)
- Office inefficiencies
- Wasted time and money from inconsistencies
- High staff turnover
- No standards for running offices
- Stalled growth
If you currently experience any or all of the above, then centralization should be your obvious solution. When you centralize your policies and procedures, you’re able to run every aspect of your business, from patient care to the administrative and business side of your practice, in an efficient and streamlined way.
How Centralization Saves your Practice
Centralization helps you build a stronger business. Centralizing your operations and creating consistent policies and procedures among your different office locations allows you to be more organized, efficient, connected, and profitable. It enables you to invest in your staff—to find and hire the right people for the job, and give them the necessary training for personal growth that helps you better retain your employees.
When your employees feel valued they are more passionate about their jobs and provide more devoted patient care. Centralization also allows you to cultivate a positive company culture and duplicate it as you expand1. It takes the good you’re already doing and improves it, making your overall business better.
At first, centralization can be a bit pricey, though it’s a worthwhile long-term investment. Inconsistencies cause you to lose time and money, but over time, the consistency of centralization will help in saving you time and money, making it worth every penny you spend up front.
Another investment you should make if you want to lay a strong foundation for a successful centralized dental practice is the right enterprise dental software. It’s more than a software platform. Think of it as your vendor partner that’s going to help you centralize your reports, scheduling, billing, collections, and appointments. You need a partner that will seamlessly grow with you as you continue to expand.
The office-to-office consistency that centralization offers is a key growth element, so you’re able to continue your entrepreneurial ways and expand your business to more locations instead of having to close down locations. Unfortunately, that’s ultimately what may happen if you continue down the path of decentralization.
To learn even more tips for running a profitable practice, download our eBook, “Keys to a Successful Multiple Location Practice.”
1Pam Reynolds, Managing Staff in Multiple Locations, MEDICAL PRACTICE SUCCESS, http://medicalpracticesuccess.org/blog/managing-staff-multiple-locations/ (last visited Nov 17, 2016).