Successful dental practices balance high-quality care with sound business decisions that benefit their finances, employees, and patients. While dentists are professionals in providing high-quality oral health care, they may not have extensive experience in managing their practice’s finances, which includes knowing how to avoid costly financial mistakes. Dental practice management consultants help dental practice owners with strategic insight into their practice’s financial health.
These insights stem from real-world experience helping other local practices optimize their operations, elevate profits, and mitigate risk. Their advice covers all aspects of managing a modern dental practice, from growth planning to loan approvals and addressing staffing challenges.
This article examines how dental practice management consultants help practices gain greater confidence and reduce administrative stress in managing their financial risk profiles.
What Financial Risks Impact Modern Dental Practices?
Modern dental practices, from small independent practices to large chains, operate within a distinct financial domain that presents exclusive challenges. When left unaddressed, these challenges lead to financial risks with significant implications for the practices, including:
- Inefficient billing processes, which can lead to missing reimbursements or losing track of payments
- Overhead creep, which causes expenses to overtake revenue until the business is no longer making a profit
- Data tracking gaps, which make it difficult for businesses to identify and respond to financial trends or issues with their financial strategies
- Inconsistent cash flow, likely resulting from having unclear production goals
These financial risks may not have an immediate impact on the practice’s finances. However, by the time a noticeable adverse effect is observed, it may be challenging to reassess production goals, growth potential, investment strategies, and other factors to correct the issue.
Dental practice management consultants specialize not only in fixing financial mistakes but also in identifying these issues early. The sooner financial workflow issues can be corrected, the less financial risk the practice will have to endure.
Benefits of Hiring Dental Practice Management Consultants
Hiring dental practice management consultants to review the practice’s financial strategies and risks has essential benefits for practice owners. Even those with industry or finance experience can benefit from the strategic oversight provided by these consultants.
1. Offering an Outside Point-of-View
Dental practice management consultants offer an outside perspective on regular operations. This objectivity enables them to assess a business’s financial strategies, risks, team members, and investments to identify areas of financial risk and their causes. They may identify areas that internal financial teams never considered.
Seasoned consultants begin with thorough audits of the practice’s financial workflows, including its investment financials, loans, payment systems, patient acquisition metrics, structure, and other relevant aspects. Once they have the complete picture, they can create targeted improvements to the practice’s risk management strategy. Their goal is not simply to fix problems, as it is for many internal financial teams. Their goal is to build a more sustainable business model beforecostly issues arise.
2. Refining Staffing Processes
Some practices may not recognize how staffing and scheduling can impact their financial security. Dental practice management consultants recognize that labor costs represent one of the most significant expenses for modern dental practices, as well as one of the most difficult to change. Outside consultants can evaluate the practice’s team structure, staffing process, and scheduling workflow to find areas for improvement.
These could include adjusting the staffing ratio to meet higher or lower patient demand. They may recommend cross-training certain staff members to make specific workflows more flexible and efficient. Additionally, they may recommend additional training for front staff or better procedures for managing downtime.
Staffing processes, also known as human capital strategies, are among the most complex for dental practices to examine and change internally. Yet, they represent some of the highest potential savings with the help of an experienced consultant.
3. Budgeting and Revenue Management Assistance
Many financial practices lose profits due to inefficient revenue management workflows, such as billing, insurance claims, and patient follow-ups. Inefficient revenue management leads to inaccurate bills and the potential for missed payments.
Dental practice management consultants help practices by budgeting, forecasting, and refining their financial workflows. This includes identifying services that are underperforming, setting monthly collection goals, and planning for seasonal industry fluctuations based on historical data. Driving financial planning with better data enables practices to approach their finances with clarity, make smarter investments, and expand their operations with greater financial confidence.
Partner With Maryland's Experienced Dental Practice Management Consultants
Experienced dental practice management consultants help practices forecast their cash flow, identify gaps in their financial workflows, address staffing problems, and more. Internal teams are often inexperienced with complex financial processes, which is why an outside perspective is invaluable in guiding financial strategies and focusing on delivering exceptional care without unnecessary financial stress.
Contact our team of consultants at Woodsboro Bank today to learn how we leverage our industry expertise and passion for finance to help practices succeed. After a free consultation, you will better recognize financial risks in your organization and how to confidently reach your business goals with as little risk as possible.