Running a dental practice can be in many ways lucrative and rewarding on a personal level, however, there are costs that come with running the practice that can seem to detract from the value of the work. As in all things, though, there are ways to reduce some of the costs of running a dental practice.
From the equipment to the way that you do payroll, there are plenty of areas where you can cut back on costs as a practice. Here are five things that you can implement in your practice starting now that can help you save money in the future.
1. Make Sure That You are Insured
Ensuring that you are properly insured with industry-specific insurance and have adequate disability insurance for dentists can help you save money in the long run. This will protect you if you are injured or have an illness that lasts more than a few weeks. If you skip disability insurance you will lose money for the duration of your time off which can be brutal.
Shop around for better rates for business and health insurance also. Those are both important to have, but the rates can widely vary. Take the time to talk to several insurance agents for the best rates.
2. Check Inventory and Ask Questions Before Buying Supplies
Before you buy any more supplies for your dental practice, there are some questions that you should ask because they can save you money:
- Does the manufacturer offer free goods?
- Are there any extra supplies within the inventory that have been overlooked?
- Is the quantity being ordered adequate for monthly needs? Is it too much after all?
By the time that you have asked all of these questions, you will discover that you may be spending more than necessary on the dental supplies that you need. By only buying what you need and not spending any money on frivolous supplies, you have increased your profit margin already.
3. Stop Outsourcing Simple Tasks
Instead of asking for other businesses to print posters, business cards, and other things, save that money by investing in an online printer and then printing them yourself. Instead of hiring someone else to file your corporate taxes, start filing them yourself. These are simple tasks that many practices outsource when they could save money simply by doing it themselves.
While some services should be left to the professionals, like IT and office HVAC repair, menial tasks that can eat hundreds out of the budget at a time can stop completely if you have the right equipment and the right knowledge. Saving on these things in the future is a great reason to start investing in them now.
4. Digitize Your Patients’ Experience
Paper is an old-fashioned notion in medicine. Now, instead of having new patients fill out paper forms, if you have a link to a QR code in the waiting room, they can file the information in an online form that someone can compile and begin a digital file. Then, you can add data digitally using a computer in your system before sending your patients home with digital receipts in their email inboxes.
All of this not only saves you money on things like ink or toner, paper, staples, and papercuts, but it also saves the environment and makes your practice look like it is part of the twenty-first century. This makes paperless business worth it, but if you are going to run a paperless practice, you should also invest in good data security so that no one can hack in and steal patient information, either.
5. Spend Money on the Right People
While spending money seems counterintuitive on a list that is about saving money, this point really means to say that instead of spending money on people who are not invested in the practice and the work that they do, you should invest in people that will make the practice run efficiently. For instance, spending some money on automated phone service is a lesser investment than spending money on a passionate front desk receptionist.
The right people will make every dollar you spend on them return with interest. Remember that when interviewing people and in every aspect of your life running a practice.
Saving Money Can Be Easy
These tasks are not complex and some of them are a bit of common sense. Saving money while running a dental practice is possible and you can start increasing your profit margin and the quality of your practice as early as tomorrow if you start making changes today.