In less than two weeks we will be at the mid-point of the calendar year 2012. It is my sincere hope that you are midway to the best year in your history! We are on track to have our best year yet at LifeSmiles (by a significant margin), as are most of the clients of Takacs Learning Center. It is indeed possible to have a THRIVING practice today, if you are doing the right things.
We teach our clients to measure and track 20 very specific metrics in the practice. By tracking these metrics on a monthly basis we know exactly what is happening in the practice and can make mid-course corrections where needed. Here are the 20 metrics we track:
- Total Adjusted Production
- Total Collections
- Office Overhead %
- Treatment Acceptance %
- Total Adjustments (broken down into categories)
- Collection %
- Accounts Receivable Ratio
- % of Accounts Receivable Aged 60 Days +
- # of Insurance Claims Aged 30 Days +
- # of New Patients
- # of Whitening Procedures
- Total Hygiene Department Production
- % of Unfilled Hygiene Production
- Perio Therapy as % Total Hygiene Production
- Staff Wages %
- Office Rent/Mortgage %
- Career & Practice Enjoyment (measured on scale of 1-10 with 10 being ‘Awesome’ {arbitrary, I know but still useful!})
- Amount Saved in Pension or Savings Plan
- Debt/Equity Ratio
- CE Progress (measured as good, fair or poor)
All of the data in these metrics can be assembled from the month end reports from your dental practice management software or from your profit & loss statement from Quicken or your accountant. Most of these categories are self explanatory, though some will require further explanation that I will provide in future blog posts. We measure the actual performance of each of these metrics against our goal for each metric. By doing so, you can quickly and accurately see what areas of your practice require attention.
I hope this information is useful and helps you manage your practice by performance. Here’s to an awesome second half of 2012! Keep Smiling!
