Year End Review and Planning for the Dental Business Owner

The end of year marks a time of celebration and festivities with family and friends.  But for the dental owner and entrepreneur this time of year also means it’s time to plan and get ready for the year to come.  It’s a time to reflect on the past years wins and losses and ensure you are prepared to lead your team and your practice in the coming year.  

 As you manage your business clinical schedule, check off your personal year-end and holiday lists be sure to set aside time to check off your business year-end checklist.  Let’s look at 3 key areas for these important tasks:

1:  Financial Heath

The foundation of your business is your financial health, and the year end is the perfect opportunity to work with the partners you have hired to review and adjust anything in this area.  You have chosen these professionals to help guide you in your financial journey be sure to take the time at year’s end to review the past and plan for the future.  

• Investment Planning:  Review and adjust as necessary to make sure you have the right levels and right mix for this phase of your ownership. 

• Tax Planning:  Taxes are no one’s favorite but working with the experts to make sure you are taking advantage and any tax advantages open to your business.  Review where the business stands from and income and expense side, you may be able to make some last-minute maneuvers to lower you tax liability and we all love that! 

• Retirement Planning:  Taking care of your teams and your patients is something you do every day.  Remember to take the time to plan for your future so you are ready to pass their care on to a new owner while you enjoy retirement. 
• 2023 Budget:  Finally, a new year is ahead and it’s time to budget and plan.  Work with your financial advisors to determine where expenses may change and where growth needs to happen to have a healthy and financially successful upcoming year.

2:  Practice Health

The end of the year in a dental office can be a crazy.  We have less time in the office and lots to do on days we are there and seeing patients.

• Review key performance indicators for the current year:  You should have key areas of your practice that you track on a monthly and year end basis.  Take time to review and learn what these indicators are telling you.  We always say the “numbers start the story”.  Where were your wins for the year?  Where can the office use some improvements in underperforming areas?
• Analyze your fees:  Everything is on the rise and providing quality dental care is no exception.  If you haven’t already completed it, now is the time to review and raise your fees.
• Review Insurance Contracts:  If you are in network with any plans, now is the time to review and determine if they remain financially healthy to your practice.  Reach out, or work with a partner, to request fee increases for your plans.  This analysis may also uncover that it is no longer financially viable for you to accept these plans and it's time to part way with them.
• Calendar:  Take time to prepare the working calendar for the office for the upcoming year:  Be sure to block next year’s calendar for holidays and vacations or any altered hours.  This is important prework for goal planning and strategy. 

3:  Next Year’s Strategy for your dental office and your team

Now that you have the data and the metrics leading into the new year it’s time to plan!  At this phase we believe it’s important to get the entire team involved.  We know the numbers we need to accomplish, and we know the days we are working, next it’s time to design a plan to get us to the finish line.

We believe in scheduling a ½ day or a full day off site planning session to lay out the plan for the office.  Make it fun and energizing.  You can lead the meeting on your own or reach out to your consultant or business coach to facilitate the day and the conversation>

• 5 basic elements of a Strategic Planning Session:  As the business owner it is your responsibility to layout the foundation of strategy.   

1. 1. Vision Statement
   2. Mission Statement
   3. SWOT Analysis
   4. Core Values
   5. Goals

• Supporting data:  Be sure to have this year’s KPI’s in place for supporting data for your conversations.
• Discussion:  The environment should be judge free and open to new ideas.  Encourage your team to share wins from the previous year and areas where they believe the office can improve and grow.
• Exercises:  Have a few team building exercises that encourage participation and bring out new ideas.
• Facilitator:  If the facilitator will not be you, appoint someone that can organize the thoughts and turn them into actions.
• Takeaways:  Your key takeaways from this session should be:
  • Action list:  A detailed list of all action’s items, who is responsible, and when the due date is.
  • Measuring Success:  As you put goals and actions in place to help meet those goals be sure to determine how you will measure that success.
    • Example:  If one of your key goals for the year is to raise your average patient visit by 20%.  How will you measure this using your practice management software?  Who will be responsible for reporting this metric?  How often will they report the metric?      

A business plan is essential as a dental entrepreneur. It helps you set clear goals and guidelines for how you will manage your business and sets your team up for success.

Happy Planning!

Bonnie Pugh
Laci Phillips
Practice Dynamics
www.practicedynamics.net