Process simplified: generating important numbers

Over the last couple of months, we’ve thrown several computations and numbers at you.  Taking the time to compute things like the batting average, conversion rate, show up rate, etc. can benefit your practice and help you make effective, efficient decisions.  But a savvy practitioner may ask, “Those numbers are all well and good, but do you expect me to spend all of my time summarizing results and making computations?  Not only is that boring, but it also takes away time from analysis and focusing on my practice.”

And this, savvy practitioner, is an excellent point.  There are quite a number of ways to get to these numbers without burdening you with a green visor and a bunch of 7 column paper.  Here are some of your options:

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Grab the numbers from your practice management system

Most practice management software will do a decent to very good job of producing some summary data for you.  You basically just need the number of consultation appointments, the number of consultations seen and then the number of new contracts.  That makes the computation part relatively easy. Then, drop those numbers into a spreadsheet that is set to summarize results by quarter and compare the results to the same period of the previous year.  Then, you can tell if the number looks good over time and if things are improving.  If you need help setting up that spreadsheet, we have one that we can provide to you.  

If your practice management software does not provide you with the summary results, hopefully, the detail reports will have a sum at the end of them that you can use.  If that still doesn’t get it done and you are forced to count numbers, you may want to go to plan B…

Have your software provider generate the numbers that you need

In some cases, your practice management software provider will be happy to write some processes that will compute the necessary numbers for you for a fee.  How much and how successful your reports will be depends on the provider.  In the past, I’ve found Dolphin to be very responsive.  Orthotrac and Dentrix, not so much.  I am certain that each has their own internal processes and policies.

But if these folks are so accommodating and you are willing to pay the fee, they can set up a process that will generate the numbers for you the way you want them for every period.  Usually, this process just needs to be set up once and then it will run for every single period when you select the proper drop down item or click the correct button within the software system.

If you choose this route, make sure that the software provider uses the criteria you request.  If a patient comes in for his or her appointment in January, but does not sign a contract in February for example, how do you want that treated (note: this is why you should look at the numbers quarterly and not just monthly)?  Or what if a patient shows up for a consultation multiple times or has multiple appointments scheduled?  A lot of the differences may be marginal, but if your numbers are not large or if you handle your data in a unique way, those small differences can add up.  In a lot of cases, a programmer will program to ensure that there are no errors, but not necessarily reconcile the numbers back to the raw data.  Make sure that everything looks exactly the way you want it before moving on.

Have a consultant or outside advisor generate the numbers for you

In many cases, this is a big part of the reason you hired a consultant.  They take your numbers for you, rearrange them to make sense and then report to you on what the numbers mean.  There is probably a fee here as well.  If you do go the consultant route, this fits in very nicely with their ongoing services.  You want them to help you, and they need to know with what to help you.

The downside here could potentially be the fee.  There is either an hourly charge or percentage of collections/profits charge, you are being charged for that time every month even though the real value comes not from the computation, but from the implementation of solutions to improve on those results.  Also, consultants will usually contract for a broader range of service than simply providing you with results reporting and implementation of solutions based on that data so if you are just looking for the numbers, you may have to pay for more than that.  

Use a reporting service

There don’t seem to be a ton of entities out there dedicated to simply reporting, analyzing and then providing and implementing solutions, but there are some out there.  We’ve seen the development of Dental Intranet which appears to have dedication to the reporting side and that’s one option.  Not sure about the fee arrangement.

Of course, we can handle this for you for no charge.  We have begun to offer a premium product that will give the results online along with some other analysis tools, but if you are simply looking for the reporting of the number, analysis of problem areas and knowledge of what to do about it, check with us at My Practice Engine.  We are here for you.  Hit us up.