JOBS HARLOW PHARMACEUTICAL

Business survival is inexorably connected to expansion. If the office is well-run (which would mean that it was expanding at least a little bit), there would come a time when you couldn't produce any more yourself and would need an associate. The level of production that will require an associate will be based on your style of practice, fees, type of dentistry you do, etc.

At MGE (http://www.mgeonline.com) we suggest you get an associate when there is more work than you personally can handle and patients are being pushed out on the schedule too far.. How long is too long for them to wait? Although this is ultimately your decision, it shouldn't be more than a couple of weeks. Too long of a wait is just not good service! One of the questions asked above when deciding whether or not you should add an associate, asked about expansion. How much expansion do you need? To start, are you even getting enough new patients to support yourself? How many should you be getting? This depends in a large part on how you practice, but I'll give you a basic formula to use:

1. a. Take your total number of active charts.
2. b. Multiply this by 20% c. Divide "b" by 12 (months in a year) d. The figure from "c" above gives you the minimum number of new patients you should be getting on a monthly basis to maintain your practice's health. Note that this is just to keep you going. You would definitely need to exceed this number to add an associate.

Example: Dr. Smith has 1200 active charts. 20% of this is 240. 240 divided by 12 is 20. To maintain a healthy practice, Dr. Smith should be getting at least 20 new patients each month. Keep in mind this formula assumes a couple of conditions exist:

a) The new patients are fee-for-service.

b) The doctor has an acceptable skill level when it comes to treatment presentation and acceptance (which is reflected in production and collections).

If you want an associate, I would recommend that you far exceed this 20% factor. This is where the "MGE New Patient Workshop" comes in handy – whether you want an associate or not. If you want more fee-for-service new patients to keep your practice healthy, to expand or to make it possible to add an associate the "New Patient Workshop" is the solution.

(This is Part One of a two part article on the subject of Dental Associates.)