Coach’s Corner | How to Account for Covid 19 in Your 2021 Goals

Dental Consultant

A new client of mine asked a great question, and I thought I would share it for my Coach’s Corner. In December, it is necessary to look back at the year and decide what changes you want to make for the upcoming year. Typically, these center around goals. Well, 2020 has taught us a lot of things, so I wanted to go a little deeper with specific items to think about for your own practice. 

My client was not sure how to update his goals for 2021. You see, his team totally changed due to Covid-19. There are fewer team members now, and their roles and responsibilities have significantly changed. Due to that, his goals should reflect these changes as well.  We started breaking down some different areas of his practice.  

There are many practices that find themselves in this situation.  A year ago, when you created your goals for 2020, covid 19 was not a reality. Now most practices are having to see less patients each day due to new protocols.  Another schedule metric that needs to be reviewed is your new patient numbers. Your schedule may or may not be able to handle seeing a certain number of new patients. Please review your production goals with this in mind to make sure you establish realistic production goals for the upcoming year. 

One area that your goals should not need to change compared to pre covid would be your collection goals. That is assuming your goals for each category were correct. Now, more than ever, you need to stay current with your account receivables. Please make sure you are working your outstanding insurance report. I am now suggesting to my clients to work your AR reports on a weekly basis, so you are aware of all outstanding claims and patient balances. Hopefully, you are on top of your collections reports. If not, it is never too late to get more stringent with your systems.

Another financial aspect for your practice is offering third party financing options as well as a membership program. There are several companies that offer these services, so you have options. 

I know these are just a few areas to review, and they are the priority that need your attention. If you would like to discuss some options to start 2021 off strong, please get in touch with me. I would be happy to help.

Victory Dental Management
Phone: (804) 399-2053
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