In 1991 dentists that owned part or all of their practice accounted for 91% of all practicing dentists. In 2012, that position had dropped to 84.8%, and the percent of dentists who were solo practitioners had dropped from 67.0 to 57.5.
There is no doubt that Dental Service Organizations, franchising, and dental groups in various forms have changed the landscape of dental care. Solo practitioners have to do more work to stand out in a marketplace that looks similar from clinic to clinic.
But there are ways to adapt to remain competitive. Here are some ways you might strengthen your dental practice:
Launch or join a dental management group
Dental Management Groups are one way that dental providers manage costs and provide service consistency. The downside is that many of these management groups are independently owned by investors or venture capitalists with little or no experience in the dental field. Each year, a portion of the profit is siphoned off to pay investors.
The benefit of dental management groups is that dentists can focus on providing exceptional service, not on balancing the books, chasing no-shows, and managing marketing campaigns. The management group’s responsibilities can even extend to design and furnishing of the dentist’s chairs and equipment. That takes a lot off of the practitioner.
Create a coop management group with other providers
Another way that dentists are utilizing these techniques is for a group of providers to organize and co-manage the management group. In this arrangement, the dentists maintain 100% ownership, but separate the management business from the provider business. One or more dentists can own the management group, and other clinics can pay in to the management group for services rendered.
If you are a dentist and you enjoy the management components of running your business, why not earn money to get other provider’s offices into tip-top shape?
Alternatively, each dental office can own a portion of the management group and hire a solid office manager to coordinate all of the offices.
Hire dentists and expand your office
Some dentists want to keep everything centralized. If office management is delegated to an offsite group, who is responsible for the scheduling and functioning of your office, response times on requests can slow down and you can end up with miscommunication if the management group fails to uphold their responsibilities.
In addition, not all dentists want the responsibility of ownership. If your office can expand to three dentists and six or eight hygienists while only expanding the management team by one or two people and keep everything in-house, why not? Instead of spreading your management group across multiple offices, centralize and consolidate. If you have a good location with easy access, in some instances, this is the way to go.
The downside is if your region is expanding and clients need to drive further and further, multiple locations might be the better option.
Consolidate your efforts
In many instances, it’s cost-efficient for dentists, from individual providers to management groups, to outsource creative services like web design, copywriting, SEO, brochure design, and online advertising to a provider like Green Vine Dental Design. Because we can work across multiple locations, and because we have experts in each area working on your campaign, it can save time and money while increasing return on investment.
Build or acquire multiple locations
In many regions, where cities were separated by 30 miles of agriculture just 10 years ago, today a corridor of residential and business activity has grown up along an interstate. In this scenario, a multi-location model can work better. In this instance, dentists work at different locations under the ownership of a single dentist or group of dentists.
This model can work well when you have a unique brand or a set of custom services other dentists don’t provide. For example, in some regions less invasive kids dentistry is cropping up, but only from a few providers. When these providers co-own and expand by acquiring or launching new locations, they can effectively grow market reach and serve a larger region than by adding dentists to a single office.
What support do you need to grow your practice?
Green Vine Dental Design creates custom branding, marketing, and communications campaigns for dental providers from individual practitioners to practice groups. We even have connections to dental financing to help you take the next step in expanding your reach. Let’s start a conversation about the goals you have for your practice, and let’s keep more dentists in ownership roles in individual and group practice scenarios.
Start Your Brand And Marketing Overhaul With A Free Consultation
During our call we will assess your current marketing and learn about your business. Our team will create a comprehensive marketing proposal to establish an actionable marketing plan.