As dental practitioners and experts, it is quite obvious that running an office is a pretty expensive affair. Multiple overheads and expense areas need to be managed while maintaining adequate profitability. Some variable costs that need careful watch include equipment, relevant supply purchases, compensation, lab costs, and even promotional budgets from time to time.
No matter what the size of the business is, every practice has the potential to cut overhead expenses and drive incremental revenues. There are multiple means to curtail overhead costs not required for the practice and one can deploy available technologies to make it possible.
A careful audit of the current situation can help to detect activities and areas that drive productivity as well as possibilities to eliminate unnecessary costs. Some strategies to consider for saving on overheads and impacting the bottom line are as follows:
Scheduling can be automated
Incorporating a VoIP phone system with text messaging abilities can maximize communication with patients. Scheduling requests as well as reminders can be configured for automation. This reduces the number of phone calls and saves a considerable amount of time for the front office to focus on other pressing priorities. Patients can be provided an embedded link to the online calendar that needs just a click for setting or confirming an appointment.
Centralize the critical communication channel
Once again, a modern VoIP system that integrates with a practice management system can merge multiple communication channels in a single hub. This ensures savings due to enhanced smart routing technology, call recordings, and automated collation of patient information.
Calls can get routed based on the call source or the time of day. The number of rings before it gets picked or the times’ calls get missed the most can also be tracked. The team can get updated on multiple activities such as treatment history, pending appointments, account balances, and more.
Going green on communication
Physical marketing collateral can steadily contribute to the overhead account. One can perform a cost-benefit analysis and evaluate how a dental application can substitute all physical or paper-based communication. Such an application can be deployed, in conjunction, with emailing software to help monitor patient data, streamline scheduling tasks, and other overhead-lowering features.
Leverage a Practice Management System
A practice management system can identify areas that could result in potential savings. An optimal system comes equipped with cash-finding features that aid in the recognition of additional revenue streams while also automating multiple financial and administrative operations. This facilitates additional time for staff to prioritize tapping patient referrals and enhancing the service experience. Some tasks that can get tackled by the system include
Competitive monitoring
Tracking competitive pricing and offerings is a quick and effective ploy to gauge the possibility of cost-cutting. Practices that charge less may not be cheap in the long run. Identifying supplies, consumables, and technologies used by competition can help to trim costs and offer the best value-for-money option.
Selecting the appropriate technologies.
Choosing the ideal technologies can greatly help to reduce overhead expenses. A detailed cost-benefit analysis on big-ticket purchases must be effectively done that reveals how revenues and efficiencies will get impacted. The break-even point must not deviate too much from the financial capacity of the practice.
Review Your Numbers Regularly
Keep aside time to ponder and review monthly, quarterly, and yearly overhead costs as these can detect expense trends of areas that might be too expensive or that are not getting the attention they deserve. Some of these findings might not be immediately obvious but a little deeper probing can help to gauge areas of potential cost pruning.
