How to Measure Success in a Dental Practice

Your dental practice’s daily operations involve a number of responsibilities that all contribute to your practice, but these different responsibilities don’t all have the same weight. 

Below, we’ll discuss three efficient metrics you can use to measure success at your dental practice. 

Three Ways To Measure Success at Your Dental Practice

1. Revenue or Profit Growth

As revenue growth is is an indicator of financial success, this is a commonly used metric for growth. As your dental practice expands, it’s expected that your revenue and expenses will grow along with it. 

When tracking the success of your practice, use hard, direct performance indicators to measure your growth. For example, you may want to use a previous year’s profit and loss report or annual revenue report as a baseline.

Consider using monthly revenue totals to set and track goals, as well. You can compare these numbers month-to-month and year-over-year to examine your growth and plan for the future. As you move through your career, it’s important to have and monitor aggressive goals to successfully scale your practice. 

2. Patient List Growth

In addition to revenue growth, your dental practice may choose to look at the total number of patients to measure success. 

Compare the number of patients you saw this year against previous years’ patient totals. Typically, for a dental practice to grow, a single dentist should be seeing 24-50 new patients per month. You may also consider comparing the total number of appointments year over year, and even the ratio of appointments to patients. These numbers will help you understand how your practice servicing its patients and whether or not you are receiving an up-tick in repeat visits.

This information can provide you valuable insight, including: 

• The revenue per capita that you are earning. 
• A measure of marketing and service success based on efforts and growth. 
• A metric to determine which channels bring you the most revenue and patients

If your practice is using patient list growth as a formal metric of success is that, it’s important to note that patient growth does not always equal higher profit. It is vital to utilize the two metrics in tandem to best evaluate your operations. For example, if you have an increase in patients but notice poor reimbursement levels from certain insurances, it may not be the best idea to continue servicing more individuals with that insurance provider. The net result may be fewer patients with higher profitability. 

Once you know how your patient list is faring, especially in relation to your overall profitability, you can make plans to adjust your marketing and service efforts to further increase growth.

3. Employee Satisfaction

Generally speaking, people like to work at companies where they feel appreciated and secure — and your dental practice is no different. 

You can see this in your own dental practice by considering employee turnover, or the number of employees who leave your practice every year. High turnover means your employees are seeking work elsewhere, whether it be for compensation or workplace culture, and low turnover means you’ve found a solid team to help grow your practice into the future. 

Low employee turnover is typically a signal that you are running an effective dental practice. However, you may not have this right away. Creating a positive environment can take time and involve a number of steps, such as: 

• Find and attract the right applicants by sharing descriptive and informative job listings. 
• Create an educational onboarding process that welcomes your new team members, while teaching them everything they need to know about your practice. 
• Ensure your employees are supported through consistent evaluations and empowering feedback. 

While employee satisfaction is a different approach to measuring success, turnover rates are indicative of operational success that may affect patient experience and overall profits in the long-term. If you’d like to create a baseline of employee satisfaction, consider measuring it through a survey, which is a tactic you may likely already use to record patient satisfaction. 

Protect Your Successful Dental Career

While these are just a few ways to measure the success of your dental practice, the most important part is that your practice strives for growth and actively adapts to achieve it. But creating a successful dental career isn’t enough — it’s crucial to protect it, as well. 

There are a number of ways to protect yourself, your income, and your dental practice. Contact us today to learn more about the right coverages for your dental career. 

About Treloar & Heisel

Treloar & Heisel offers dental and medical professionals a comprehensive suite of financial products and services ranging from business and personal insurance to wealth management. We are proud to assist thousands of clients from residency to practice and through retirement. Our experienced teams deliver custom-tailored advice through an active local presence, while our strong national network ensures that clients experience the same high level of service throughout the country.