Increasing Compliance to Treatment Plans is a Quick Way to Increase Practice Income

Are You Getting Enough Compliance to your Treatment Plans?

We have found over the years that one of the most rapid ways to increase practice production is to increase patient compliance to recommended treatment plans. This increase in production can be done without increasing the number of new patients. A minor 10% increase in compliance can result in tens of thousands of dollars of additional production and income with no change in overhead. The biggest single factor in increasing patient compliance is the doctor's ability to properly present treatment plans to the patient. Below you will find some helpful tips along this line.

Treatment Presentation Tips

A sale is an exchange whereby all parties involved receive something of value. In health care professions, a patient/client receives care to remedy a health problem and/or to maintain good health. In exchange for the work done, the staff and doctor are paid. A successful practice has doctors and staff members in it who care enough to sell patients exactly what they need.

The doctor's role in the sale cycle is to diagnose and plan treatment for the correct care. Without that, there would be nothing to sell. Does this sound easier than it actually is? Most doctors would say "yes".

From working with doctors for over 25 years, we've isolated many common mistakes doctors make when presenting treatment plans. Three of those are covered below.

Convincing vs. Selling

Convincing people they need to buy something is different than selling them on an idea, service or product. Selling is really nothing more than obtaining agreement. A patient/client who understands the treatment needed, agrees that it needs to be done and commits to doing it is the result of a successful treatment plan presentation. In an attempt to convince a patient/client to accept a plan, doctors often talk too much which, in most cases, works against them. Don't overwhelm your patients/clients with information or with too much communication.

Plan A vs. Plan B vs. Plan C

Do you give your patients/clients too many choices? Your patients/clients don't know what's best for them. They rely on you to tell them what they need. If you don't do that, but give them a choice between Plan A, Plan B or Plan C, the patient/client will naturally ask the cost of the different plans and select the least expensive one. Asking someone to make a choice between a $600 plan, a $350 plan and a $195 plan can even cause suspicion. The patient/client may wonder why you would do a $600 plan if a $195 plan will suffice. Don't let the patient/client decide what he/she needs or what is best for them. That's your job. You are the professional and should give your professional opinion as to what is the right thing for them to do.

"Maybe" vs. "You Need"

As mentioned, you know what your patients/clients need in order to be in good health now and in the future. You spent years and years and years in school learning this. However, when discussing treatment with patients/clients, doctors will often "water down" the presentation. Phrases such as "I think" or "Maybe it's a good idea" instead of "You need" create uncertainty in the patient's/client's mind. If a patient/client needs a specific treatment that may be costly, and this is presented to them with obvious hesitation, they will follow your lead and get the idea that it's an optional treatment. They may not understand that it's vital to their well-being. When you have confidence in the treatment you're providing, you don't need to back off from stating it with certainty. Your patients/clients will appreciate your sincerity, honesty and competence. A very successful application of this concept is to say, "If it was my situation, I would do....". As long as that is the truth, and you say it with sincerity and certainty, the patient/client will follow your lead.

Try following the above tips and I think you'll find an increase in your patient compliance to the treatment plan you present.

We invite your feedback to this blog or previous blogs by participating in our Discussion Forum at the Silkin Facebook Page BY CLICKING HERE.

Larry Silver
President, Silkin Management Group

WHAT ACTIONS SHOULD YOU TAKE DURING THIS RECESSION?

I mentioned in my last blog that I would give you an article we wrote several months ago for our clients and prospective clients that addresses both a viewpoint and specific actions one should be looking at during tough economic times like these. We feel that it is still relevant, even if written some months ago. If you have any feedback on this, let us know by visiting our discussion forum at: Facebook.

Larry Silver
President, Silkin


Not a day goes by without more information coming to light regarding the economic situation we are all experiencing in this country and around the world.

It is very clear that we are now seeing the very obvious signs of a national recession, despite whatever spin may be put on it by the politicians from both sides of the aisle. This crisis is not limited to the finance sectors or the housing market and is effecting many people and numerous businesses. It is likely to get worse before it gets any better, and as the economic problems go deep, it could possibly be as much as a decade before we’re able to fully recover.

That’s what’s happening today.

Silkin has worked with health care professionals for over 25 years and during that time, we’ve seen several periods of economic difficulty with different names attached to them. Some called them recessions, some called them "stagflation", as well as a variety of other names. Whatever cute label one wants to attach to tough economic times, there is no fooling people with the fact that the economy in general, and their specific economic situation is far from ideal. And today, some economists are stating that this is the worst economic situation since the Great Depression of the 1930’s.

During a recessionary period such as this we oftentimes see practitioners "tightening up", meaning they manage through fear, worry, and reduction. Promotional efforts are decreased and doctors often let go of staff. They may cut corners and consequently the quality of their service may begin to suffer. It’s a proven fact that doctors who act in this manner will begin to lose some portion of their patient base. This can make it a perfect time for doctors who don’t succumb to such thinking to capture more market share and increase their productivity.

Our clients generally thrive during recessions because they know what to do. They’ve learned how to manage their practices through objective means. They know how to effectively market without it costing an arm and a leg. We’ve been through three of these economic downturns/recessions and we’ve seen how our clients are able to take advantage of the situation rather than be the adverse effect of it. In fact, a recent survey of our clients showed that our clients who are trained and skilled in practice management have been increasing their productivity by 10% to 15% during those years the nation has been in recession. And this includes all socioeconomic areas of the country. This type of growth is generally not true for the average practice owner. In fact recent industry surveys have shown an average decrease of 10% to 15% for the average practice during the recessionary period we are now experiencing.

Our clients thrive because they are able to prepare for down economic periods. They make realistic plans based on objective data and systematically hire, train and monitor staff efforts in alignment with a business plan, marketing plan and financial plan. They know how to closely monitor all of the key areas of the practice and thus are in control of the practice. They know if they are understaffed or overstaffed, or if they have under utilized staff. They have efficient systems that keep "busy work" off their desks and don’t have a desk full of backlogged activities. This is called running good control over your practice. And that doesn’t mean, as some people think, that it results in not having fun at work or not having relaxed staff people or having people obsess constantly over profit instead of paying attention to people and service. It simply means that you know what is going on in your practice, that your staff know their jobs and work well as a team together and, because of that, you and your staff enjoy the work environment much more.

Objective systems are the components that allow staff people to remain calm and competent. When they know their jobs inside and out, it allows them to respond creatively to unique and unanticipated situations. It allows them to be calm and composed even when work backs up or the amount of office traffic increases greatly. Staff become accountable and self motivated because their work is measured by objective statistics. They are productive rather than just busy. Prior to the current economic situation, we have seen a large percentage of practices and businesses supported and inflated by the bullish economy. It normally does not take superior management skill to grow during such periods. Now that credit is less available and people have less disposal income, it becomes obvious which offices have the management skill and resulting infrastructure capable of handling the change. It isn’t enough to do the same old thing. Every income source must be maximized and must be maximized with the best interest of the patient in mind. Staff must be able to communicate the importance of delivering the highest quality of care without seeming to be solely motivated by profit.

Everyday we work with practice owners to put together proper business, marketing and financial plans and help them properly implement those plans in a time frame that allows the creation of a stable infrastructure. We do this so practice owners are able to grow and thrive in a sane manner, during either good times or bad. To survive any activity, you must be trained and knowledgeable in that activity. You wouldn’t be an effective doctor if you weren’t adequately trained in your profession. It is no different in terms of managing a practice.

The business environment is very tough right now. The better you are trained in practice management, the better you will be able to not only survive this economic crisis, but to actually be able to expand during these difficult times. You can accomplish this if you approach management training with the same dedication as your professional training. That's what Silkin does. Feel free to contact us if you wish to discuss this further. We can be reached through our website at: www.silkinmanagementgroup.com, or emailing us at info@silkinmanagementgroup.com, or calling 800-695-0257.

THERE IS FISCAL SANITY IN MISSOURI: You can do the same.

In my never ending reading and research to keep up to date on what is going
on with our economy and the myriad of solutions being presented, I ran
across this facinating blog in BizJournals -
http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/stories/2009/03/02/daily17.html

The state of Missouri actually turned down $133 million dollars from the
Federal Government that is part of the stimulus package. No, they didn't
turn it down because their coffers were full - in fact their coffers are far
from full. The state is in just as much budgetary difficulties as most any
other state in the union. But what they so aptly observed was that taking
the $133 million required, with all the strings attached, a commitment to
further expenditures that they could not afford. They refused to take a
short term "fix" that would end in in further long term difficulties.
Hooray for the Missouri legislators for understanding that there truly is no
"free lunch".

This parallels an article I read last week about an ambassador from an
African country who stated boldly that she was adamantly against her country
continuing to recieve economic aid from the United States. She pointed out
that her country had been receiving this aid for decades and it had done
little to nothing to improve her country - rather she felt that it hurt her
country greatly. Why? Because there was no incentive for her country to
figure out ways for her country to stand on its own two feet and develop
their economy. A great deal of the money ended up in the pockets of the
rulers and little ended up helping the population.

These two stories reminded me of a basic management and financial philosophy
that we teach our clients: rewarding production will get you more
production while, similarly, rewarding lack of production will simply get
you more of the same. We teach and provide bonus systems for staff that
provide incentives for each staff member and the office as a whole to be
more productive. Done correctly we regularly see significant increases in
individual and office wide production and greater net for the practice
owner. Using these bonus systems we've seen entire staff's take trips to
Hawaii or Mexico with each staff member making more money and the
doctor/owner greatly increasing his net and take home. Everybody wins.
They win because production is being incentivized and rewarded. It works!

So, if you want to control your own economy during this recession, if you
want to provide your own economic stimulus package try implementing bonus
systems that reward individual and office wide production and you'll see
production increase.

We'd love to hear from anyone who has tried such bonus systems and hear what
has worked best for you. Go to our discussion forum at: FaceBook


Larry Silver
President, Silkin
http://www.Silkinmanagementgroup.com

It's all in the Details

Do you have job descriptions and office policies in your office? If not, the attached article from USA Today shows you why not paying attention to the details of jobs can cause havoc in an office.
Supposedly Small Details Can Matter


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America's Small Businesses Struggling

"While the financial difficulties facing large companies and the related job cuts make the headlines, America's small businesses are also struggling with the current economic environment," a recent Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index report noted.


http://www.hispanicbusiness.com/entrepreneur/2009/126weak_economy_strangling_small_businesses.htm


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Getting the Best Insurance for Your Small Business

Cost savings on any fixed expense is very important in these economic times. Here is some very useful information for how to shop for proper insurance coverage for your office.

Tips on Getting the Best Insurance for Your Small Business from smartbiz.com


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Alternatives to Laying off Staff

If you are looking at reducing staff costs, here's a possible alternative to layoffs.
CNNMoney.com


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Help for Small Businesses

President Obama's team is looking at helping small businesses, which would include health care practices, through small business tax breaks. This could be great news for small businesses during these tough economic times.

Baltimore Sun - Don't Derail Little Engine

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Ways to Cut Energy Costs

Looking for ways to cut energy costs in your office or home? This article may help.

BusinessWeek/Today's Tip

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Businesses gave staff time for inauguration

Did you use the inauguration of President Obama as a means to make your staff more of a team? Many businesses did.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09021/943159-431.stm


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Help with Payroll Decisions

Are you wondering, in these tough economic times whether to cut staff and payroll costs? There are a few things that are helpful to know when adjudicating this important economic decision.

http://www.salesandmarketing.com/msg/content_display/training/e3ied80d20a4b4691a4511cc62e7a5bff74

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Obama's plan to Rejuvenate the Economy: How will it effect you?

Obama's plan to rejuvenate the economy and create jobs could positively
effect your practice, your ability to get new patients, and your overall
practice productivity - that is, if the plan works! Let's hope it does.

http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/12/news/economy/stimulus_101/index.htm?postversion=2009011214

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Should You Sell Your Practice?

Are you looking at selling your practice any time soon? With the
economy in the shape it is in, now is not the best time go attempt this.


http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Midmarket/Small-Business-Sellers-Find-Few-Takers/

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Sentiment for small business success is the 2nd worst in 35 years.

Sentiment for small business success is the 2nd worst in 35 years.
Owners of small businesses, which would include health care private
practices, are not optimistic about the economy at this point in time.
This can certainly effect attracting new patients and will require good
business acumen by all private practice owners.


http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSTRE50C31Q20090113

www.silkinmanagementgroup.com
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How to Survive Today’s Economic Times

By Shaw Millerman

Not a day goes by without more information coming to light regarding the economic situation we are all experiencing in this country and around the world. It is very clear that we are now seeing the very obvious signs of a national recession, despite whatever spin may be put on it by the politicians from both sides of the aisle. This crisis is not limited to the finance sectors or the housing market and is effecting many people and numerous businesses. It is likely to get worse before it gets any better, and as the economic problems go deep, it could possibly be as much as a decade before we’re able to fully recover.

That’s what’s happening today.

Silkin has worked with health care professionals for over 25 years and during that time, we’ve seen several periods of economic difficulty with different names attached to them. Some called them recessions, some called them “stagflation”, as well as a variety of other names. Whatever cute label one wants to attach to tough economic times, there is no fooling people with the fact that the economy in general, and their specific economic situation is far from ideal. And today, some economists are stating that this is the worst economic situation since the Great Depression of the 1930’s.

During a recessionary period such as this we oftentimes see practitioners “tightening up”, meaning they manage through fear, worry, and reduction. Promotional efforts are decreased and doctors often let go of staff. They may cut corners and consequently the quality of their service may begin to suffer. It’s a proven fact that doctors who act in this manner will begin to lose some portion of their patient base. This can make it a perfect time for doctors who don’t succumb to such thinking to capture more market share and increase their productivity.

Our clients generally thrive during recessions because they know what to do. They’ve learned how to manage their practices through objective means. They know how to effectively market without it costing an arm and a leg. We’ve been through three of these economic downturns/recessions and we’ve seen how our clients are able to take advantage of the situation rather than be the adverse effect of it. In fact, a recent survey of our clients showed that our clients who are trained and skilled in practice management have been increasing their productivity by 10% to 15% during those years the nation has been in recession. And this includes all socioeconomic areas of the country. This type of growth is generally not true for the average practice owner. In fact recent industry surveys have shown an average decrease of 10% to 15% for the average practice during the recessionary period we are now experiencing.

Our clients thrive because they are able to prepare for down economic periods. They make realistic plans based on objective data and systematically hire, train and monitor staff efforts in alignment with a business plan, marketing plan and financial plan. They know how to closely monitor all of the key areas of the practice and thus are in control of the practice. They know if they are understaffed or overstaffed, or if they have under utilized staff. They have efficient systems that keep “busy work” off their desks and don’t have a desk full of backlogged activities.

This is called running good control over your practice. And that doesn’t mean, as some people think, that it results in not having fun at work or not having relaxed staff people or having people obsess constantly over profit instead of paying attention to people and service. It simply means that you know what is going on in your practice, that your staff know their jobs and work well as a team together and, because of that, you and your staff enjoy the work environment much more.

Objective systems are the component that allow staff people to remain calm and competent. When they know their jobs inside and out, it allows them to respond creatively to unique and unanticipated situations. It allows them to be calm and composed even when work backs up or the amount of office traffic increases greatly. Staff become accountable and self motivated because their work is measured by objective statistics. They are productive rather than just busy.

Prior to the current economic situation, we have seen a large percentage of practices and businesses supported and inflated by the bullish economy. It normally does not take superior management skill to grow during such periods. Now that credit is less available and people have less disposal income, it becomes obvious which offices have the management skill and resulting infrastructure capable of handling the change. It isn’t enough to do the same old thing. Every income source must be maximized and must be maximized with the best interest of the patient in mind. Staff must be able to communicate the importance of delivering the highest quality of care without seeming to be solely motivated by profit. Everyday we work with practice owners to put together proper business, marketing and financial plans and help them properly implement those plans in a time frame that allows the creation of a stable infrastructure. We do this so practice owners are able to grow and thrive in a sane manner, during either good times or bad.

To survive any activity, you must be trained and knowledgeable in that activity. You wouldn’t be an effective doctor if you weren’t adequately trained in your profession. It is no different in terms of managing a practice. The business environment is very tough right now. The better you are trained in practice management, the better you will be able to not only survive this economic crisis, but to actually be able to expand during these difficult times. You can accomplish this if you approach management training with the same dedication as your professional training. Silkin Management Group can help!

We have been successfully training doctors in practice management for over 25 years. We offer a complimentary practice analysis for those who are interested in finding out the strengths and weaknesses of their practice and what steps they can take to improve any undesirable practice situations. Through this process you’ll be able to discover where and how improvements could be made that would result in more production, more profitability with less stress. Be sure to let us know if you are interested in scheduling an analysis and we’ll work with you to make the arrangements.

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Steps to Safeguard Your Practice against Embezzlement

Note from the editor:

In our first issue of Solutions Magazine, we published an article entitled "Steps to Safeguard Your Practice against Embezzlement."
As our research staff continues to discover that this issue is still prevalent with doctors nation-wide, we are re-visiting this same article with additional advises.

Minimize the Risk

More than likely, you've heard some horror story about a colleague who had a trusted employee embezzle money from him/her. There are steps you can take to minimize the risk of embezzlement.

The following procedures are recommended by an accountant and should be part of your normal routine as safeguards against embezzlement:

Cash Handling:
1.Firm policy that every patient/client gets a receipt whether they pay or not.

2.Cash handling and cash record-keeping duties need to be segregated. Have one person collect patient/client portions over the counter and another person post balances. Have a third person do bank deposits. As owner, play an active role in monitoring sales and cash if you have too few employees to fully separate the duties for handling cash and collections.

3.Each month, compare the amount of your collections that was cash. There will be some fluctuation, of course, but if it goes low one period, it is suspicious.

4.Start a patient/client sign-in sheet where patients/clients simply sign-in. Compare this on a daily basis to an over-the-counter-collections report (and day-sheet or equivalent), looking for inconsistencies such as patients/clients who are on the sign-in sheet but not listed on the day-sheet report. Spot check by phone call to patients/clients who are reported to not have paid a portion due that day. This can be done as a "quality control" call to the patient/clients. Of the questions asked one might be something like, "It's our policy that all patients/clients who pay any cash on the day of service receive a receipt. Did you receive a receipt today for any cash paid?" Implement this policy in writing and DO IT. This will make it far more dangerous to attempt embezzlement.

5.Have a written policy to conduct unannounced checks of petty cash and other cash accounts on a regular (bi-weekly or monthly) basis. Conduct these checks without fail.

Accounts Receivables and Statements:
6.Review your accounts receivable aging report monthly. Look for changes from the last month's report that don't make sense. Scrutinize any balance over sixty days old as its existence normally does not make sense and minimally means a dropped ball by someone if not hanky-panky on collections.

7.Have a written policy that no balance write-offs or account adjustments are permitted without written Doctor approval. If possible, consider a 'lock-out' (in your computer software) to allow ONLY the owner the ability to write-off balances.

8.Spot check day-sheets against patient/client charts, ledger cards (or patient/client account records) and the schedule book at least once a quarter, looking for any discrepancies. That you do this - sporadically - should be overtly promoted to the staff.
9.Routinely check with visiting patients/clients who have balances over thirty days old - and with past-due patients/clients you are calling - to ensure they've received a statement from you. The idea here is to look for incidents of the collections person throwing statements out versus mailing them in order to cover a payment embezzlement.

10.Become suspicious if you find you are all of a sudden paying a lot of refund checks to patients/clients.

Accounts Payables and Purchasing:
11.Ensure all expenditures are authorized (via written request) and documented.

Safeguarding Records and Miscellaneous:
12.If using paper day-sheets, then remove these day-sheets from the office each quarter, and store them at home or in a safe deposit box.

13.Always change the locks immediately when a key-holding employee leaves employment.

14.The last thing to remember is to assume that if someone can rip you off, they will - and take steps to prevent it; and if your antenna goes up on some circumstance, you carefully check into it.

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Search Engine Marketing for Doctors

By Lisa Thayer,

GoldfishNetwork.com

Surveys show that over 80% of internet users find new web sites by using search engines.

The question that seems to be on everyone's minds today is "How do I get my website top placement on the search engines?" If you have a website, you may have found other websites above yours when you have looked for your site in Google. In order to answer the previous question, I need to give you a little background on the way search engines work.

There are two primary ways (out of many) that your website gets to the top of search engines: one is to pay for placement, the other is to market and design your website so that it rises up through the page ranks "organically" in search engine results.

Before I begin to discuss pay-for-placement online marketing, I have to get on my soap box and make a special announcement: If you glean nothing else from this article, remember this - having a baseline BEFORE you start paying money for advertising is imperative as is tracking results of an online marketing program. A baseline is the point at which you begin a marketing campaign so you can compare the effectiveness of the campaign.

Programs such as Google's AdWords and AdSense or Yahoo's Sponsored Search are good examples of paying for placement. Each search engine has their own individual fee structure. The price you pay to advertise in this manner depends on the "keywords" you choose and the competition for those placements. Keywords can be thought of as the words a person would type into the search box on search engines. They can consist of words, phrases, or alphanumerical terms. If you are spending your marketing budget on keyword ads, you need to choose your keywords carefully.

Using keywords that are overly broad such as "best dentist USA" can result in bringing more traffic to your website, but if you only have dental offices in California, that search probably won't result in a new patient. Conversely, choosing keywords that are overly specific might bring in too little traffic, like "veterinarians who graduated from Purdue in 1983". Keywords are so important in fact, that selecting keywords has become an industry all its own.

The two top search engines used by the general public are Google and Yahoo. Google and Yahoo also supply some of the smaller search engines such as AOL, My Space Search, Netscape, Alta Vista, etc. with their search results. In fact, if you added up the huge market share of Google it would account for almost 70% of all searches!

As previously mentioned, having a baseline BEFORE you start paying money for advertising is imperative as is tracking results of an online marketing program. You obtain a baseline by having your web designer add a tracking program/ code to your website. We set up Google Analytics on all of our client's websites.

Google Analytics (GA) is a free service offered by Google that generates detailed statistics about the visitors to a website. Its main highlight is that a webmaster can optimize his/her marketing campaigns through the use of GA's analysis of where the visitors came from, how long they stayed on the website and their geographical position. Users can define and track conversions, or goals. Goals might include sales, lead generation, viewing a specific page, or downloading a particular file. By using this tool, marketers can determine which ads are performing, and which are not, as well as find unexpected sources of quality visitors.
Many of my clients have asked, "Wait a minute…why is Google Analytics free?" The simple answer is that Google knows that if you have the information to make informed online advertising decisions, you will be more likely to advertise. And, since Google is the giant of the search engine world, chances are they will be able to earn your business.

Next time, I'll discuss spiders and crawlers and bots…oh my!

Lisa Thayer is owner of GoldfishNetwork.com, a website design and marketing company located just south of Portland, Oregon. GoldfishNetwork.com serves clients across the U.S. Lisa can be reached at 503-783-0440 or by e-mail: Lisa@GoldfishNetwork.com

Extending Credit: Tips to Control Your Accounts Receivable

Assess the patient/client's credit worthiness before extending any sort of credit. Have them fill out a "credit application" (see sample in the Form section,) and verify the information supplied.

Always charge for any credit extended, using a monthly percentage or a flat service fee.

When extending credit of any kind, have the patient/client sign an agreement covering the terms of the credit. Ensure that they fully understand and agree to the terms of payment.

Monitor all accounts monthly so that you know who may be delinquent. Take immediate action on any account over 30 days past due. The older an account gets, the more difficult it will be to collect. Call the patient/client right away and make arrangements to bring the account current.

Flag past due accounts by putting a red self-adhesive dot on the upper right corner of the patient/client's chart folder. In this way it is easier for any staff person to see that the patient/client has a past due account and it will be more likely to get addressed.

Each day review the schedule for the next day so that you will be prepared to see any patients/clients whose accounts need addressing. Confer with the receptionist on anyone who will need to be seen after their appointment, or from whom the receptionist would collect over-the counter.

If a patient/client you had planned to collect from has forgotten his/her checkbook or does not have the agreed upon amount, the receptionist should contact the accounts manager or the office manager so that the matter can be addressed.

Patients/clients with delinquent accounts, who are not making an attempt to handle it, should be sent to a collection agency. Again, this should be done as soon as possible before the account gets too old to realistically expect payment.

Ensure that statements are accurate and are being mailed out every month on time and without fail. Utilize appropriate labels on the statements such as: "Thank you for your payment."

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You can't control the economy...

You can't control the economy, but you can control your practice.

By: Ken DeRouchie



I have recently been interviewing doctors around the country regarding how the economy has been affecting their practice and what they have been doing to keep their practice financially viable. I have found that many of the doctors I've spoken to have simply shrugged their shoulders and accepted the down-turn in the economy. Many say there's nothing they can do about the economy and, because of that, are producing less and making much less money. At the same time, most of them who feel this way have done little to nothing in terms of making any changes in the management of their practice to combat the exterior forces that are impeding the growth and solvency of their business.

This brings to mind an old saying: "If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always gotten". Simply put, if everything is changing around you and you don't change and adapt with it, you will be unable to combat the external forces - very real forces - that are slowing or stopping your practice growth. It is imperative that if you want to continue growing in the economic environment that we are all experiencing, you must be able to adapt the management of your practice to the current state of your area, your local economy, the changing demographics of your area, etc. Most practice owners can grow in a booming economy. We've seen that during good economic times. But only those who are have management skills, either inherently or through training, can adapt successfully to difficult times.

In August of 2007 I conducted a user poll on the Solutions Magazine web site in which 169 practice owners participated. The survey question was "The economy of the past 6 years has negatively affected my practice?". 51% of the doctors answered :yes".

I decided to follow this up with another user poll in November of 2007. 171 practice owners participated.

The topic of this was "When there are slow periods of the year, I …".

46% of the doctors replied that [they] "live with it until it picks up again"

24% of the doctors replied that [they] "do extra marketing/promotion to make sure we don't lose money"

16% of the doctors replied that [they] "schedule vacations at that time"

4% of the doctors replied that [they] "have a hard time making payroll"

11% of the doctors replied that [they] "wish there was something I could do to counter this"

You can see that only 24% of the doctors surveyed were actually doing something proactive to handle the slow periods! Obviously, you aren't in a position to change the country's economy, but you can , if you know how, make effective changes in your practice to combat slow periods.

Realize that the above surveys' were conducted prior to the recent economic collapse. I therefore conducted a third survey in the last few months in which 71 practice owners took part. Since effective marketing of a practice is essential during poor economic periods, I decided to ask the question "On your new patient/client forms, when you ask the question "How did you find out about our practice", what do you do with the answers?"

65% said [they] "Do Nothing"
1% said [they] "Enter it into a data base then nothing"
20% said [they] "Send a thank you card"
2% said [they] "Too busy to do anything with it."
11% said [they] "Use this info for future marketing campaigns"

As you can see, only 11% were doing something useful with this vital data!

From these 3 surveys I conclude that:

Many practices across the country are hurting from the effects of the economy.
Most of them aren't doing anything about it.
When they are getting new patients in they don't even bother to strengthen or further the actions that got those new patients in.

The ultimate result of all of this is most practice owners that are completely the effect of the economic environment and not in control of their practice.



If this in any way sounds somewhat or a lot like what you are going through, read on. .

Things that you CAN control:

The following list includes links to articles written about specific areas in your practice that YOU DO have control over. If you are feeling a negative impact from the economy, I highly recommend that you hunker down and dig in. There's a lot of ground to cover here but you will find this time well spent.. You do NOT just have to shrug your shoulders and "live with it", you CAN take back control of your practice! These articles and others in this issue of Solutions can help you.

- Your appointment schedule - Cancellations/No-shows-rescheduled appointments

www.silkinmanagementgroup.com
http://www.silkinmanagementgrouppressroom.com/

Silkin Management Group Saves Dental Practices While Many Fail

Lake Oswego, OR – Silkin Management Group (http://www.silkinmanagementgroup.com)

, a 25 year old health care practice management firm, saves dental practices in the toughest economic times since the 1930s with recommendations most failing practices ignore. Many very good and talented dentists are making the wrong business decisions and end up losing their practice.

“In recessionary times such as these, we see dentist/owner of stand alone practices tighten their belts in unhealthy ways. By this we mean that they get very worried and reduce their promotion,” reports Fred King, CEO of Silkin Management Group. “They may start letting go of staff and making do with fewer personnel.”

Current economic conditions seem to demand that dentists cut corners but this causes lower standards of service and patient care. When the quality of service goes down patients become unhappy and start looking for another dentist. Most patients already have some aversion to going to the dentist which magnifies the effects for this category of health care provider.

“This situation makes it a perfect time for dentists making the correct management decisions to capture more market share and increase their productivity,” explains King.
“We help dental practices know exactly what to do to in each economic cycle so they are making correct management decisions that continually grow their practice.”

For those dentists wanting to take advantage of these tough economic times but who don’t want to start with any financial investment, Silkin Management Group offers a 2 hour practice analysis at no-charge. All the dentists’ questions are answered by a veteran senior analyst. Silkin analysts have worked with dental practices in every part of the country. They have a wealth of experience and an understanding of the issues dental practices have to deal with on a daily basis.