The Fee for Service Dentist Podcast

Dental Financing Direct

Dental Membership Master Course with Dr. Chris Phelps

Minimally Invasive FFS Dentistry Aug 04, 2019

Show notes

Do you have a FFS practice? Would you like to be interviewed? Fill out the FFS Stories request form here:

https://goo.gl/forms/7TaUF9Nqi49l1RFF2

Episode resources:

Dental Membership Direct

Dental Financing Direct

Dental Membership Master Course with Dr. Chris Phelps

FFS Stories: The Marketing and Branding of Sugar Fix Dental Loft Jul 28, 2019

Show notes

In this interview, Dr. Drew Byrnes sits down with Dr. Jessica Emery. Jessica is not your average dentist. Her practice is incredibly personalized and very step of the patient experience has been crafted to perfection. Her marketing and branding are part of what allowed her to become the successful FFS dentist that she is today. In today’s interview, she share her strategies with us.

Follow her on Instagram:

@sugarfixdentalloft

@dentalsoiree (a dental digital marketing company that specializes in content creation), @whitehauteteeth (a teeth whitening bar)

@thedentaldiaries (a personal space for her life)

@dentalgirlgang

Do you have a FFS practice? Would you like to be interviewed? Fill out the FFS Stories request form here:

https://goo.gl/forms/7TaUF9Nqi49l1RFF2

Episode resources:

Dental Membership Direct

Dental Financing Direct

Dental Membership Master Course with Dr. Chris Phelps

FFS Stories Jul 21, 2019

Show notes

In this interview, Dr. Drew Byrnes sits down with Dr. Kendra Zappia. After getting fed up with seeing dentistry performed unethically, Kendra opened her FFS dental practice in 2009 and hasn’t worried about dental insurance since. One of her secrets to success is crafting the perfect patient experience.

Do you have a FFS practice? Would you like to be interviewed? Fill out the FFS Stories request form here:

https://goo.gl/forms/7TaUF9Nqi49l1RFF2

Episode resources:

Dental Membership Direct

Dental Financing Direct

Dental Membership Master Course with Dr. Chris Phelps

Communication Tips for FFS Dentists with Dr. Martin Mendelson Jul 14, 2019

Show notes

In this interview, Dr. Drew Byrnes sits down with Dr. Martin Mendelson of Spear Education to talk about the communication skills needed by FFS dentists today to better engage with their teams, patients and specialists in their area.

Do you have a FFS practice? Would you like to be interviewed? Fill out the FFS Stories request form here:

https://goo.gl/forms/7TaUF9Nqi49l1RFF2

Episode resources:

Dental Membership Direct

Dental Financing Direct

Dental Membership Master Course with Dr. Chris Phelps

Systems to Make FFS Dentistry Easier Jul 07, 2019

Show notes

In this interview, Dr. Drew Byrnes sits down with Dr. Nicole Vane to talk about Her successes and struggles in growing a FFS practice. She recently created training videos for systems in her offices. She shares a link to these with us in today’s interview.

Do you have a FFS practice? Would you like to be interviewed? Fill out the FFS Stories request form here:

https://www.moonlightbeachdental.com/training/

Episode resources:

Dr. Vane’s Videos

Password: welcome

Dentrix Trainer:

Leanne@trgcoaching.com

Dental Membership Direct

Dental Financing Direct

Dental Membership Master Course with Dr. Chris Phelps

5 Essential Metrics You Need Before Buying a Practice Jun 30, 2019

Show notes

In this interview, Dr. Drew Byrnes sits down with Dr. Sonny Spera to talk about practice transition and acquisition. Sonny has years of experience buying FFS practices and making them successful. He shares:

Number of active patients (those that have been in in the last 12-18 months)
Patient demographics- numbers of patients in zip codes and age of patients
NP per month (need this over 3-4 years)- what’s the protocol for NP? What’s being done at that appt? What’s being done at hyg appt? Whats the xray policy? (please please please double check this on chart audit)
Fee schedule- along with this are any insurance plans practice participates with, along with the number of patients in those plans- also collection policies for FFS and insurance plan patients. Any adjustments? Remember you should already have breakdowns for what is HYG revenue and what is DR revenue, along with procedure breakdowns and which provider is producing what revenues.
Schedules- look at dr and hyg schedule for weeks at a time. Office hours and staff on hand during those hours..what’s the typical adult prophy scheduled time? Are they doing any perio therapy? What about pedo? (remember should have demographics on how many children are actually being seen and hopefully, the procedures being done on children- child prophy, child restorations, SSC etc…)

In researching this you will need to visit the site and discuss look at the books. Do a random chart audit. Check what’s been billed and what’s been collected.

The first five things can get you very far on your own. You will need great counsel, CPA and attorney before you sign ANYTHING but when evaluating you have to do your homework, visit the site, review the processes, speak to the dentist, if possible speak with the staff see if their stories are in agreement. Ask lots of questions.. Why are you selling? What are your plans? Do you want to continue in dentistry? Do you want to stay on? What advice would you give the new dentist?(many dentists will freely share their misgivings- “I didn’t push too much crown and bridge or I referred out any difficult dentures, root canals. “ Etc… or sometimes they will tell you things about staff “I should’ve gotten rid of Jane a long time ago, but I knew I was retiring so I let her do what she wanted”.

Do you have a FFS practice? Would you like to be interviewed? Fill out the FFS Stories request form here:

Episode resources:

Dental Membership Direct

Dental Financing Direct

Dental Membership Master Course with Dr. Chris Phelps

The 5 Essential Finacial Things You Need to Know Prior to Purchasing a Practice Jun 23, 2019

Show notes

Income and expenses- how profitable is the business?
3-4 years tax returns incl YTD
3-4 years P & L incl YTD
3-4 years balance sheets incl YTD
Lease agreements, software agreements, loans (equip etc)

2. Location arrangements-

Does the dentist own the building? If so is it for sale? Could it be?
What’s the rent?
What’s included?
Is it expandable? Can you increase the size if needed? Any restrictions in the lease?
What’s the term? Read the lease agreement-who’s paying the taxes and if so which ones? Are there any grandfathered in things? Such as tax abatement which won’t transfer to new owner or won’t be applicable because it’s based on age of owner?
Be great to have layout of practice (floor plan)

3. Practice breakdown-

Production collection by provider
Production collection breakdown by category
Types of procedures not being done almost as important as what’s being done

4. Employee list with salaries and benefits- written and unwritten

Job titles and job descriptions
Pay rates
Perks- free dental? Day care? Travel? Extended family?
Insurance? Days off? Sick days? Retirement plans?

5. Practice valuation-

We can debate the specifics however it’s good to have something on hand
Equipment list and approx value (again highly debatable)
Practice wants/ needs and any future purchase agreements or understandings

If you have good enough information you can predict some cash flow based on what’s being done, who’s doing it and what’s it gonna take to continue? Increase? Minus purchase financing costs and purchases needed and what the incoming Dr needs to survive/thrive…

Do you have a FFS practice? Would you like to be interviewed? Fill out the FFS Stories request form here:

Episode resources:

Dental Membership Direct

Dental Financing Direct

Dental Membership Master Course with Dr. Chris Phelps

The 3 Essential Things You Need to Know About Yourself Prior to Purchasing a Practice Jun 16, 2019

Show notes

Self evaluation-

A- what type of personality are you?

B -What drives you?

C- how do you feel about decision making? D- how do you feel about consequences and making the decisions needed based upon consequences - good or bad?

Leadership qualities

A- there are tons of leadership tests that you can take

DISC test- testing on two simple questions: whether a person is task or people oriented and whether is he active or passive.
Briggs-Meyers indicator test-designed to observe how individuals perceive and react to the world.
Five Big Personality traits- The five factors are Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism.
Bottom line - If you and your team are gonna go down the toilet do you want your hand on the flusher?

3. Practice philosophy

What kind of dentist are you?
What are your strengths and weaknesses? Clinically and personally?
How much do you live and breathe customer service? Many say customer service is key however most do not walk the walk….
Business v dentistry decisions..- hygienist wants 60 minutes for adult prophy and you think it has to be 40 minutes due to the financial climate?
Scope of practice- what procedures are you doing and what are you referring? What excites you the most in dentistry? What if any are areas you want to expand into?
Group practice? Or solo?
Hours of operation?
Do you want to build your barn first or build your house

Do you have a FFS practice? Would you like to be interviewed? Fill out the FFS Stories request form here:

Episode resources:

Dental Membership Direct

Dental Financing Direct

Dental Membership Master Course with Dr. Chris Phelps