I’m a New Practice Owner. What Should I be Doing to Protect My Practice?
That is an excellent question.
Embezzlement protection involves a few big steps and a lot of small items. For this post, let’s address the big items.
They are proper hiring, financial monitoring, and creating a climate where an employee with suspicions about a co-worker will feel comfortable coming forward.
Hiring
Most dentists know far less about the people they hire than they should. When we say the words “background check” to many dentists, what they hear is…
Each generation has its defining event. For my grandparents, it was World War II. My parents’ experience was the Cold War and the assassination of President Kennedy.
Until last year, I had always thought that the events of Sept 11, 2001 would be my generation’s seminal moment. I was wrong about that.
When COVID first became headline news over a year ago, most of us probably thought that the disruption would last for at most a couple of months and that the sudden shortage of toilet paper was the most newsworthy event. We were wrong about that too.
With vaccines finally beginning to win the sometimes-deadly race against virus mutations, we can now take a deeper look at the virus’s impact on the world and on dentistry.
In 2020, economic activity in the US suffered its worst decline since 1946. Unemployment, which stood at 3.5% pre-Covid, peaked at 14% and is still double what it was last February.
Dentistry has had to adapt in small and big ways to keep patients and staff safe and demonstrate that safety to sometimes fearful patients.
And yet there are silver linings. The ADA has reported that in 2020, dentists managed to achieve 83% of 2019 revenue. Considering the enforced shutdown that most practices experienced, the overall economic decline, and various other challenges, 83% is a remarkable accomplishment.
My friend, well-known dental consultant Kirk Behrendt, says that dentists are currently in a one-time period of opportunity. Where does this opportunity come from? It is everything from pandemic-deferred dental work to increased availability of staff to real estate opportunities created by employers downsizing due to staff working from home.
I hope that you are looking for, and finding, the chances to improve your practice. As always, please know that you can obtain help and support from us. If you want to speak with me about your practice, you can book a time HERE.
Yours truly,
David Harris
We are Prosperident, Dentistry’s Embezzlement Experts
