To Bonus or Not to Bonus? That is the question!

There are very strong feelings about bonus or incentive systems. Dentists feel that they shouldn't have to pay their team more for doing their job, the staff expects them and doesn't do anymore to increase the practices numbers or Dentists are happy to share with their team and don't really look any farther. In most cases, bonus systems aren't doing anything to actually help your practice. But, they can!

Behavior Based Bonus Systems are EXTREMELY effective in practices that use them! Why? Because it is not just about Production and Collection. You are adding Behavior Changes to the mix, which forces the practice in the right direction! Do you want more New Patients? How is retention? Is your staff on time for work? These are just a few of the Behaviors that you can attach to the system, to effect your practice in a POSITIVE direction!!

I am in 100% agreement that you should not have to pay your staff more, to do their jobs. You did hire them at such wage to do X job description. But, if you want to make POSITIVE CHANGES in your practice, you are asking them to do more or different things than what you agreed on upon hiring them. From a reality standpoint, YES, it is still part of their job. But from a practical standpoint, change is hard! Give them an incentive to do the right thing instead of a raise! I promise, it will save you overhead in the long run and will be far more motivating to the staff!

Here is an example:

Practice has Overhead of 65% ($55,250) Gross Production is $100,000 per month. Collections are $85,000 a month. There are lots of holes in the schedule and Daily Production is all over the place. You want to increase Production by $100 an hour. Essentially, that is one Crown, RCT, Denture, Quad of Fillings, etc per day.

How to achieve it:

Put a scheduling template in place to increase by $100 an hour. This will change the way you schedule your patients. IT IS NOT SEE HOLE, FILL HOLE. Schedule with purpose. Now, if you produce it, you should be able to collect it.

$100 an hour x 8 hours a day x 4 days = $3200 times 4 weeks = $12,800.

85% of that is $10,880 x 12 = $130,560 a year in additional collections.

And that is just $100!!!

Set Bonus System:

$95.000 Collections to Qualify, Level 1. Plus, You must hit your daily Scheduling Goal.

Your Staff Gets $10 a day for every day they worked and you hit the scheduling goal. Hit is every day and that is a $160 Bonus. Then, you level it. This will push them to schedule more and follow up on outstanding treatment.

Level 1 - $95,000 Collections = $10 per day that you hit scheduling goal

Level 2 - $105,000 Collections = $20 per day that you hit scheduling goal

Level 3 - $115,000 Collections = $30 per day that you hit scheduling goal

And so on to what ever level you want.

This will catapult your practice into the right direction, but not lock you into any increases unless the BEHAVIORS are completed that you want. You can change the Behavior quarterly. For your team, it is a challenge that they must work everyday! You can have one huge case and push collections over your level amount for the month. But in this scenario, they would only get paid for that 1 day.

Consistency is key and this system forces consistency! For more information on how to make this work in your practice, contact me tonya@completedentalpracticeconsulting.com.

Let me help you achieve the practice of your dreams!!!