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Howard Speaks Howard Farran, DDS, MBA, MAGD

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The Three Functions of Business; Part Three — Watch Your Numbers

Howard Farran, DDS
MBA, MAGD
Publisher,
Dentaltown Magazine
 In July, I explained how to "make something." Last month I showed you how to "sell something." In this column I'm going to discuss the third and final function of business – how to watch the numbers in your practice. Do you know how many referrals your office receives from your Yellow Pages ad compared to your Web site? How about the number of new patients over the last 12 months? Is your audit trail report part of your daily, weekly or monthly reports? And more importantly, do you look at it? Are you getting the information you need to watch your numbers from your practice management software on a monthly basis?

There is really one very simple rule to watching your numbers and that is: WATCH YOUR NUMBERS! Require your front office staff to give you reports on a daily, weekly and monthly basis and really look at them! Keeping them in a stack on your desk without looking at them is like holding a gym membership to your forehead and expecting to lose weight! You have to put the time and effort into reviewing your numbers. Don't assume your reports are being printed and worked on regularly. For instance, regarding account receivables and outstanding insurance: are the calls being made to collect from patients and insurance companies? Do you know what your 90-day outstanding patient and insurance balances are? If you feel the calls aren't being made effectively, you might ask for a form listing how many calls are being made per day. This isn't micro-managing; this is protecting your practice.

There are two reasons why you should print and review the audit trail report on a regular basis. The obvious reason is to catch any transactions that are being deleted or changed, affecting your collections or production. Reduce your risk of embezzlement by staying on top of your audit trail. The second reason is for training purposes. If a staff member posts wrong and doesn't realize the repercussions of it, you can address the problem promptly.
Office Reports

Daily
  • Daysheet
    (includes deposit slip)
  • Daily Register – shows production/collection for
    the day
  • Audit Trail
Monthly
  • Monthly Register – shows production/ collection for the month
  • Yearly Register – shows production/collection year to date
  • Transactions for a Period – list totals only – shows production/adjust for each provider
  • Accountants Earning Report – shows all production/ collection adjustments
  • Treatment Plan Summary
  • New Patient Report
  • Referral Report – professional and patient
  • Accounts Receivable
  • Outstanding Insurance
  • Unsubmitted Insurance
 Do you know what your percentage of case acceptance is each month? The three major players in practice management software are Softdent, Dentrix and EagleSoft; they all provide detailed reports on case acceptance. This information can be obtained from the treatment plan report. If you need assistance accessing this report, contact your local software representative.

Because of the Internet, marketing strategies for dentistry have changed. Chances are, if you have a Web site it is your most productive referral source next to existing patients. But have you actually reviewed your referral reports to see if this is the case in your practice? You should be looking at this to know how to adjust your marketing dollars based on where your patients are coming from. At Today's Dental we are in the process of moving our Yellow Pages advertising dollars to online initiatives, i.e.: enhancing our Web site, optimizing our search engines and signing up for sponsored links within the Google search engine.

Once you make a commitment to watching your numbers every month, the first step is to put together a list of reports to run from your practice management software. If your software has the capability of running automatic reports for you, my advice is to get that set up as soon as possible. Then it is a no brainer; when the reports are printed off daily and monthly simply set your time aside to go over them. At the left is a list of reports our office runs from Softdent.

Watching your numbers is the key to running a successful business. It's hard to improve your case acceptance percentage if you don't know what the percentage is in the first place! Knowing where you are now can only help you get to where you want to be. If the numbers aren't where you want them to be – find ways to improve them! Maybe you can begin including new procedures in your practice or figure out better ways to present cases to your patients. If you see your numbers steadily increasing – keep those numbers up! If you don't print and monitor your audit trail report on a regular basis, you need to start now. Your bottom line will thank you.
Dentaltown Magazine
October 2025
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