Dental A Team Podcast – Details, episodes &amp; analysis

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Reach out to Tiff and Dana

Transcript:

Kiera Dent (00:00.75)

Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and welcome to the Dental A Team podcast. I'm so happy you guys are here. I hope today has just been an incredible day for you. And I hope you guys just remember that we are so lucky and so blessed to work in this incredible industry of dentistry. We are getting ready to roll into Q4 and I hope you guys are just feeling good about it. Like Q4, end of year, here it is. And I hope you guys are just loving it and enjoying it. And you just feel like you are completely and utterly prepared for the greatest time ever.

As always, thank you for listening and please, please, please go leave us that five star review. Please share this in other groups, tag this, snag this. You guys are gonna wanna share today's podcast. I know you will, but you guys downloading these episodes, sharing them with other people, that's how you keep us as the top dental podcast. And you know our mission is to get this podcast into every dental practice out there because I believe that if we can positively impact the world of dentistry in the greatest way possible, we are gonna make the greatest good.

We're gonna be able to help teams. We're gonna be able to help owners. We're gonna be able to help patients have the best lives, the best experiences, the best communities. And that's what I'm here for. So today I wanted to go into a topic about how to get better employee engagement. All right? Anybody here for it? Are you here for employee engagement? Because if you are, I am here for it. I think having employees is some of the like hardest and most rewarding part of owning a business. And so today,

I just wanted to give you guys some amazing tips of how can you guys get your employees engaged. So my husband, actually is overseeing several, several, several physicians and people within his hospital. And we were talking about employee engagement and I feel like there's a space of like, we, do we survey our teams? Do we not survey our teams? What do we do with this? And he mentioned that at the location that he's at that they actually hide.

four questions within their survey to find out how employees are engaged. And so I will read them to you. Number one is, my work gives me a sense of personal accomplishment. Number two is, and you guys, I'm definitely looking and I'm reading this right now. I would recommend your company as a good place to work. I intend to stay with your company for at least the next 12 months, and I am proud to work at your company.

Kiera Dent (02:21.742)

So those four questions, my work gives me a sense of accomplishment. I would recommend this place is a good place to work. I intend to stay here for the next 12 months and I'm proud to work at this dental office. And as we were talking about this engagement, my husband has, with all of his team members, he has several, several team members and he just came in getting tens across the board of his employee engagement. And so I was asking him about it I said, what is it? And he said, these are the four questions that at their hospital that they're the most concerned about knowing.

How are they at? And so I asked my husband, said, okay, tell me more. I want to like do some information research outside of dentistry. What are people doing in other healthcare professions? What is that? And he said, I asked him, said, what are the things that really helped for your organization? And he gave me a pretty good list of as a manager, as a leader, what is he doing for his team to make sure that they're taken care of? And one of the things that I thought was crazy interesting is he said, the first one was that they're never alone.

that everybody helps each other out, that they feel like that they're a part of a team. He said that all of them actually talk about getting a lunch break and being able to have that time away from patient care and that they are fulfilled by their patient care and that they're like what they're doing is something they're very passionate and fulfilled by. They're compensated well. They have great hours that they're working and we're talking, this is a hospital setting. So it's stressful. It's hard. They have a lot of cases there and patients that they're responsible for. They see patients every 15 to 30 minutes. like

Just think about dentistry, we're not seeing them that often, at least we're hopefully, unless we're pediatric or ortho. But just thinking about how can we get our employees more engaged? And I've kind of had this like weird space of, we've always done two times that we would actually, send out surveys to our team and something, I was talking to a friend and they have done a lot of studies on, on surveys and your employees actually will rate themselves higher.

than how they actually are because we had some surveys and people were giving us tens across the board and then like a month later they were giving us a notice and I thought, gosh, like how is this even real? And so I'm in this weird, conflicted space of, here's the four questions but how do we actually get that information? Because there have been a lot of studies that have been done that actually show that employees actually want to show up the way they think that their employer wants them to be. So they're going to maybe give higher numbers and higher ratings than how they really feel.

Kiera Dent (04:44.396)

because as human beings, always want to be seen better than we actually are. so thinking about that and how do we build that and how do we build this space? But really, how can we get our employees engaged and excited about what we're doing? I think those four questions, if I were to go back and to look at offices that we consult and work with practices and looking at my practices, like I have several practices that have some of the best engagement. And I think about them that their work does give them a sense of fulfillment.

that they do plan to stay with that office for the next 12 months. And I think that comes from leadership giving a great vision of where they want to go and really having it be something that these people are passionate about. think them feeling like that they would recommend your office as a great place to work and that they are proud to work at your location. And maybe today your team's not that way. And maybe we need to flush some people out and bring on people that really are aligned with that vision.

I know it feels scary because the world has been tricky to hire and the world has been harder to find and retain team members. But I do believe that when we have those four things core and we have our employees bought into it, we have our leadership team in place with that. And we really are working towards that. I do believe that we have stronger engagement. I also think I'm working on really, really speaking the truth and encouraging your team to do so as well.

At the end of the day, you should be able to put your vision out and your team should be buying. And if they're the correct team and the best team, and if not, then it's okay to let people go and find a location that they really are satisfied with and you can keep driving it forward. It's always interesting when I consult practices and I see offices that have right people, right seat. And we were actually just on a meeting. I'll pull up some notes for you guys. We were just on a meeting and we're super excited to be working with this guy. And he was talking about.

If you guys haven't read the book, it's called the EOS life and I really really really loved the EOS life because there's a great definition where they talk about that people are compensated correctly, that people feel like they are having a sense of fulfillment and excitement and engagement, that they feel like they have time for their other hobbies and their lives and that they're just truly truly fulfilled within what they're doing.

Kiera Dent (07:04.844)

and that they have time and the bandwidth to do it. And I thought, how often are we kind of scraping things together, myself included within our companies, because right now it feels like, it's hard to get people hired. It's hard to get people engaged. But if we can think about, all right, these are the four questions that we want for our employees. But in addition to that, we do want people to be really engaged in the work that they're doing. They find it meaningful. We want them to feel like they're compensated very well and that they're giving back and contributing to the growth of the organization and that they have the time.

to have passions outside of work and they feel fulfilled by that. And like we have them in the right seat so much that we almost have to tell them to stop working because they have such a love and a passion for what they're doing. And so maybe today you might be looking and thinking, my gosh, there's no way my team's that way. Or you might be looking and thinking, wow, my team really is more engaged than I give them credit for. But what is a small one or 2 % shifts that you can make that would actually make your team more bought in and more engaged to it. And this is what I think I am the most passionate about within consulting.

is being able to help offices get their teams aligned to be rowing in the same direction where, like this coach told us, they said, the greatest thing is getting all the human capital rowing in the same direction. That's gonna create the momentum with ease. But if we're not there, we need to figure out is our vision wrong, is where we're headed wrong, are people wrong? Do we not have people engaged? Is this a place where culture is wrong, where leadership's wrong? Like what is the piece that needs to be fixed? Because oftentimes we try to like,

throw out so many great things when really it's just one small change that if we were able to make that change, things would actually move forward a lot faster. So really looking at those four questions, really looking to see what is our culture, what is our vision, and do we have all of our human capital rowing together? And if not, it might be time, like myself, where I hired a mediator coach to come in and help us set the vision of our company, to help get our team realigned and reinvigorated on where we wanna go. You guys, I am a consultant and you would think that I would,

always know how to do it the best. And that I would like to dispel any falsehoods around that because, yes, I'm an incredible leader and yes, I have it credible. I also can run out of like, where am I going? And was this vision the right vision? And I need some clarity around it. And so knowing when it's time to pull in a coach or a guide or a consultant to help you get aligned because they can hear things and they're not in the weeds.

Kiera Dent (09:26.602)

I realized I was in the weeds and I can't see clearly myself. You guys, I do this for a living. I coach other practices. I'm able to get their visions, but when you're in it, you're so close to it that you can't see it. And I realized to get my engagement scores higher, to get our team bought into things higher. I needed to hire somebody outside of our organization who can say the things that maybe I can't say, or who can say the same things that I say, but my team hears it differently because it's coming from someone else. And it's crazy because I believe as leaders.

When we can realize that we need that help and that guidance for ourselves and also for our team. That's the greatest thing a leader can do. Our job as leaders is not to know all the answers. Our job is to find the answers. Our job is to guide them on a compelling vision. Our job is to make sure this is a place that's, that's fair. That's incredible that people are proud to work here, but that doesn't mean that we need to enable. That means that we need to empower with accountability and ensure that where we're going, our human capital, AKA our entire team.

is bought in and driving. Now we won't have all A players and that's okay. We might have some B players, but the reality is we want everybody passionate driving towards that same goal with vigor and vim and excitement. Otherwise we've got people pulling us back and that's where things get very hard. That's when we start to have a lot of the team turnover, but truly when we can set our goal and our vision and our sights in the same direction, our entire team will be more aligned. So.

I would love to help you guys. I'd love our team to be able to help you guys guide you, help your team get that vision and that guidance, help give you doctors that vision and guidance, because oftentimes we're on our own isolated islands thinking we have to figure this out ourselves. But I realized that's our own ego speaking, not what's real. There is so much help out there around you to give the guidance, to bring your team, to get them bought in. and I'm so grateful that Dental A Team.

I truly believe is the best consulting company out there to do this for you and for your practice. So let's get your team bought in. Let's get you guys excited. Let's get that energy back. So everybody's rowing in the same direction and we can truly have that incredible definition of an incredible life where we're so fulfilled. We're so passionate. We're compensated well. The business is thriving. We have time for hobbies and family and other things extracurricular. And we do it with so much ease because we love what we do so much and getting people in those right seats, right places with the correct deliverables around it.

Kiera Dent (11:45.408)

is really the greatest way. So reach out, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com There's no reason to wrap up this year and have it be hard for you when the easy answer is right in front of you. You just have to reach out. And I promise you that if you're not the right fit, we'll let you know. We'll let you know if you are the right fit. But generally speaking, when you come, we probably have a solution that you haven't thought of. And we always do everything with ease, simplicity, and making sure it's fun for you and for your team. So reach out, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com

And as always, thanks for listening and I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.

#915: Tips + Tricks to Make Coding Exciting (and Accurate)

mercredi 13 novembre 2024 • Duration 25:23

Tiff and Dana discuss the importance of coding accuracy in dental practices. That includes universal codes everyone can understand, how to stay up-to-date on resources, the best way to know team members are getting paid for all their work, different codes across specialties, and more.

Episode resources:

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Transcript:

The Dental A Team (00:01.11)

Hello Dental A Team listeners, we are back at you today. I have the one and only Miss Dana here with me to podcast. I love pulling Dana in. I love pulling all the consultants in, but I truly love pulling in Dana. think I shouted you out this morning. do. Wednesday core value shout out in our.

I know that we've done some podcasts on that. So if you're not already doing a core value shout out every day or every week, please by all means go listen to those podcasts because it's freaking incredible and Dana you truly are the epitome of ease within our company and for your clients and I just think you need to publicly shout it from the rooftops be Just recognized for that aspect of your personality. You truly do make life easier I know a lot of your clients feel the same way you are

so good at finding the easiest path for the systems implementation for whatever it is that needs to be done for us as a company. So Dana, welcome today. I'm so excited to have you here with me. Thank you for joining me on this beautiful Wednesday. I don't know what day this is gonna air, but it's a Wednesday today. And it's absolutely gorgeous here in Arizona. How are you, Dana?

Dana (01:08.193)

doing good, Tim, doing good. love days like today.

The Dental A Team (01:11.629)

I do too, I do too. It's starting to get fallish in Arizona, which means 85 degrees instead of the 105 that we had last week, least up in Phoenix. I know you get a little bit more fall down where you're at, but I'll take the 85 over the 105 for sure. Today, Dina, I wanted to pick your brain.

I've got some information today I wanna share with the doctors. It's also for billing departments, for treatment coordinators, for whomever wants to listen to this. But I really wanted us to shout out our doctors for really, really just knowing everything about their businesses. I know that you guys are all here listening. I know you're watching, whatever it might be, to really learn more about the business side and about what the team is doing to help support your practice. So I wanna shout you out for that. And I just think it's a really incredible tool.

and resource to have to truly know what it is that's going on, the inner workings behind the scenes of your practice, aside from just the dentistry that you're performing. So shout out to you guys for being here, for listening. Team members, if your doctor's not listening yet, please share it with them. Dana, today I really wanted to pick your brain and go over some coding information. I know it sounds super boring, you guys, but stick with us. We've got some great tips and tricks and some tools, especially for you doctors who are out there to really

focus in and pay attention to the things that are being input into the system and sent off to insurance companies, or if you're fee for service, you still need to be insanely accurate within your system and making sure that we're using the right tools. So doctors, again, this one's for you as well. Billing representatives, treatment coordinators, front office representatives, office managers, whoever you might be, whoever might be touching a ledger or an account or a code in general dental assistance, hi, Genes, you guys.

This is all gonna be really great information for all of you. Coding with Accuracy happens to be a book, by the way, you can purchase that. But honestly, coding with accuracy is incredibly important and valuable to your system, not only for the billing portion to ensure that we're accurately sending things off to insurance companies, accurately getting paid, but realistically to show super accurately what you've actually done with your patients to your patients. That way, if anything were to ever come about and anyone needed to look into it or

The Dental A Team (03:28.327)

your patients had questions and they asked for the account, it makes sense to the next person who's looking at it. And you can say, yes, I did that, that was me. I did that filling, I did that crown, I did that crown seat, I did those pieces. I know a lot of practices, and Dana, I think you've probably seen this too, a lot of practices will overuse, in my opinion, an office visit or a palliative treatment, to certain codes like that and unspecified, because they're just not sure.

what to use. And so they throw one of those, especially office visits, and I'm like, what is this office visit? How many, this patient's been in for 20 office visits. They're like, most of those are crown seats or like if a filling needed to be adjusted or like, and I'm like, wow, so we don't have any documentation right here that we ever sat any of these crowns.

That's an issue. looking at those pieces and making sure that we're super accurate with what we're calling things is something I really, really want to talk about today, Dana. Have you noticed that as well? I know you see a lot of clients, you do a lot of virtual clients, but you see a lot of ledgers, you get a lot of things sent to you, and you have been traveling a ton this year in office to practices as well. So what are you seeing when you're out there when it comes to coding and just kind of like randomness that you're seeing thrown around?

Dana (04:40.983)

Yeah, I agree with you on just like the miscellaneous codes. I delivery. What did we deliver? Because we need to know exactly what we delivered today. And then a lot of just like 999 things and sometimes a 999 code you absolutely

The Dental A Team (04:47.133)

Yeah.

Dana (04:55.967)

can utilize it, should be utilizing it, but oftentimes too, it's like, no, there's actually a code for that. Like we don't have to send a 999 with documentation and notes, there's a code specific for that. So making sure that offices really are up to date, also to like when things change because they do change occasionally. And so just having somebody who knows those things in and out has resources to spot check and that we are billing what we're doing and coding exactly what we're doing.

The Dental A Team (05:25.511)

Yeah, I totally agree. The 999 code, I love that one. It is thrown in there for everything and I am guilty of the 999 code because I'm like, don't know what he's even talking about. 999, that sucker. And I'll explain, I'll say exactly what he just said to me. I have no idea what he said, but I've got this. So I'm surely, surely guilty of that one. I do love the staying up to date and doctors, I really want you to know and understand within dentistry.

There's not, like we have a course for billing that will review billing for you and will go over the basics of billing, what it needs to look like, how to send a claim, how to input an EOB and a payment and all of those pieces. But there's really not a good school for billing where it's like, gosh, I'm gonna send them to a billing school and now they've got this accredited school has shown them this kind of like medical billing, right? You can go to medical billing school and now you're a medical biller.

to be a dental biller, you just needed someone ahead of you to show you how to do it. So within this world, it's just super important, like Dana said, that we stay on top of it as best we can. So making sure that we're getting ADA emails sent to us and that we're watching for any codes that change, because they will let us know. Whatever your state's dental association is, I know here it's the AZDA, the California Dental Association.

Whatever it is, make sure that you're signed up for those auto emails, because that's going to be the best resource. And then as those yearly conventions come around that we all love to go to, that we hate taking boring classes, look for any updates. I wouldn't say you've got to hit the billing courses yourself, or you have to send your billing rep to the billing courses. Sometimes they're a bust. Sometimes they're super insurance prone or driven. I don't love that. But if there's anything that's like coding updates or

New laws things like that. It's always a good idea. So I do want to preface it with that Just know always staying up to date just getting those resources sent to you is going to be super super important And now aside from that there are things like coding with confidence coding with accuracy All of those different books that you can get I believe coding with confidence you can order from Amazon or ADA I think both of them have it. I think it probably comes from the ADA when you do it from Amazon, whatever you choose

The Dental A Team (07:37.7)

It's a fantastic book and having that resource, there's a companion book that goes with it as well. I always had that resource with me. It was literally in a drawer behind my desk and as soon as I had something pop up for an implant or gosh, when we were doing over dentures and there's just so many parts and pieces and little things that need to be accurately coded.

There's no way I'm gonna remember all of these things or intuitively know it. So I would pull those books out constantly and I would go through it with my doctor and I'd say, okay, does this describe, is this what you're saying? Is this describing it? Because even just for regular dentures, there's different codes that can be used. And if you use one that's a maxillary but you're doing a mandibular denture, you're not gonna get paid, right? And even if you put upper denture in the thing and you did a mandibular code, they're still not gonna pay it because it doesn't match.

So just making sure that those codes are super accurate. Now from a doctor's standpoint, why is this important? Super important because you need to be paid, right? So my owner doctors, you need to be sure that your practice is being paid, that you're being paid for what you're doing, your hygiene team's being paid for what they're doing, and that if, again, anything were ever to have been and come about, somebody looking at the ledger, looking at the account, looking at the chart, can accurately and confidently see exactly what you performed. So not only do you need to get paid,

you need to cover your tail. For my associate doctors and even my hygienist who might be listening, you really, really wanna watch your production and your collections, because typically, especially my associates, you guys are gonna be paid off of that in some form or fashion. So making sure that the coding is correct and that it accurately, actually reflects what you've done is key. Otherwise, you might get paid for a filling when you did an onlay.

Right, and the billing representative, has, or he has no idea, they were not chair side with you. So if it's not fixed chair side, or if you, gosh, Dina, how many times have you seen this one, where chair side, you know, we were scheduled for an MO, chair side, doctor's like, this went into the distal, we've gotta update that. So we update it, we tell the patient, we're like, got another service added, get the treatment plan going, lay them back, finish the filling, and then they go up front, and then they get paid on an MO.

The Dental A Team (09:51.99)

because the MOD was never switched out and the appointment went before it was set complete. again, the billing representative, he's not chair side. They have no idea that that billing changed. The dental assistant needed to update and change it. So making sure that that's accurate in there. Now, Dina, I know you have a lot of practices and a lot of associates. You've got a lot of big practices that have a lot of associates. How do you make sure at the end of the day, at the end of the month, at the end of everything, that these guys are knowing exactly what their

being paid on? Like how do you make sure that they know with confidence that they're getting paid for everything that they did?

Dana (10:28.329)

Yeah, I have them usually daily check their provider production and check their individual provider day sheet just to make sure that everything was accounted for. If there were changes, if something was walked out inaccurately, catching that from the very beginning is super important because honestly, like you pointed out, the difference in some of these codes is hundreds of dollars worth of production. And that can be even within implant parts, even with indentures, like a difference in that

that coding can majorly impact production. So making sure that everything is accounted for, everything that they did is on there and everything is walked out and ready to submit. So that whether it's insurance based or we've got to call a patient and say, hey, you know, we under collected that service did change, we had added. whether it is patient portion that we've got to update or insurance portion, just making sure that we're catching that. And I like to do it daily because

Claims are submitted daily. We're reaching out to patients and we don't want a patient to go till the end of the month before we're like, hey, by the way, you missed a thing, right? So I like my, especially my associates and hygiene to just look and make sure everything's accounted for each and every day.

The Dental A Team (11:34.98)

Yeah. Yes.

The Dental A Team (11:47.01)

Yeah, I agree. think that's perfect because pulling that sheet, especially like Dentrix and Eagle Soft and OpenDone, like all of these programs have a super easy sheet to print at the end of the day or even like print screen and then just look at it. So we're not using all the paper all the time. I've definitely had it where a doctor will come back like a week later and be like, we didn't actually do a buildup because we just, you you treat and plan a crown and we should plan a buildup just in case, or you have your doctors who treat and plan only a crown and then add a buildup.

if we needed a buildup and so vice versa. A week later, we're like, I didn't build up on that crown. I'm like, well, bro, she gone, she lost. There's no way, it's so uncomfortable to call a patient and be like, by the way, we forgot to charge you for that billing that's underneath the crown that's to build the tooth back up because of the K. And now I'm in this whole conversation of like, why didn't this just get done the first time? So I totally agree. I think that's brilliant. And doctors also, looking ahead at your schedule,

Dana (12:21.687)

It was true.

The Dental A Team (12:43.172)

Prepping your schedule in conjunction with that is gonna be huge. We get really comfortable. Our dental assistants are incredible. I was a dental assistant near and dear to my heart. It's my favorite position. If I were ever to like quit everything in life and go back to in-office dentistry, it would have to be as a dental assistant. I would not do anything else. It's my favorite space. But you guys, I messed up sometimes. Like it happens. I would get forgetful.

Like how many times did I forget to grab the bond? And I'm like, you can't do a filling without a bond. How did you forget that? And then expecting me to change it every single time in the chart or make sure that it was accurate ahead of time. Things flip through the cracks. So we've gotta have checks and balances. We can't just rely on one person to get it right every single time. So your dental assistants prepping the charts, prepping your schedule for the next day is huge, but I really wanna implore that you guys, you doctors,

You are looking at your schedules as well. You know what's coming up and you know that it's accurate. I had a dentist that worked in our practice. He's fantastic. He's gone to all of this oral surgery, like extracurricular. He's just, it's insane. I watch his videos on Instagram and I'm like, that's so gross. I always must do him. Like I remember the first time I did a bone flap with you and I was like, what? I can't do this, but he's so good. He did all of these like perio surgeries, oral surgeries. He did so many things in our practice and holy cow.

A GP girl over here, learning how to code for all of these extensive procedures that he was doing. He was doing, you know, he's doing the blood draws before it was even a thing. I am like, are we allowed to do that? Like I'm in my practice, like what the heck? This is crazy. And now I'm having to code things that to me are like outlandish.

and I'm sitting there Googling things. Like, this doesn't make sense. So I'm pulling out my little code book and like, gosh, it is in here. This is a dental thing. We can do this, but there's no way those added procedures would have been accurately coded if I didn't take those extra steps to ensure it. And if he didn't, bless his heart, come to me every day.

The Dental A Team (14:47.322)

with a list of the things that needed to be added to tomorrow that wasn't accurate or things that we missed today. He would double check his treatment plans just because they were so extensive. And honestly, there were times, like he did GP work in our practice as well. So there were times too where he would catch a filling surface was missed or an onlay surface was missed. And I'm like, dang, not only are, you know, did we miss something on your giant surgery over here that I literally cannot assist with, cause I will pass out.

But we also miss like a surface on an online, like, goodness gracious, right? But he is my example because he was so diligent about making sure that the charting was accurate. Like, of course he wanted to get paid for the things he was doing, but he's like, I need to make sure that whatever it is that I'm doing, it's all here. It's all accounted for. And when he went to go do all of the accrediting with the oral surgery boards and implant boards and like, he's got all this crazy stuff behind him now. He needed all of those things. He called me from Texas years later.

And I was like, remember that patient that we did that thing? And I'm like, my gosh, yeah. So I'm like looking for this patient. He's like, I need all of their notes and I need all of their ledger and I need everything to submit to the implant board. And I was like, my gosh, thank goodness we went through and did all of those things. So you guys, it doesn't matter what you're doing. You don't have to be doing crazy dentistry or crazy oral surgery within your practice. Those minor things need to get caught as well. And Dana, earlier you mentioned like the 999 code.

And I know we have to go in or have the auto updates done and make sure that the codes are being updated. But I did notice there are more and more systems that even have as simple as broken appointment code already in there, Crown Seat Code, Denture Seat Code, all of these pieces. So when you're working with practices and you're seeing this, or they ask us, we'll get text messages from office managers that are like, this is what he said, what do I code that as?

I don't know, right? But what are you doing? How are you helping them to figure out, this is probably not a pallet over 999 or what an office visit, this is probably X, Y, or Z.

Dana (16:52.117)

Yeah, I mean, I'll be honest, if a lot of times I am pulling like a coding with confidence, or I'm googling things and, I'm trying to piece it together or I'm asking, you know, okay, well, like, walk with what does that look like? Walk me through like, can you explain the process to me? So maybe I can find it in here or send me a picture of the part that maybe I can look it up. But it's really just doing due diligence and combing through the codes that are available. And then determining

The Dental A Team (16:58.797)

Yeah.

The Dental A Team (17:10.987)

Yes.

Dana (17:20.083)

If there is a specific code for that procedure and if there's not, then yeah, you do a 999 code with lots of documentation, IOPs, all the things, so that once it gets to insurance, they can determine if it's something that they're covering.

The Dental A Team (17:35.266)

I agree, yeah, I love that. I do love Google, I have Googled so many times. I've been in office trying to help them come up with cheat sheets, which is the next little topic here, but that I'm like, what is this? Or give me a picture of this so that I can put it on their cheat sheet. And doctors who are doing things like implants or dentures even, crowns, anything you're doing, having those cheat sheets is super helpful.

I have a lot of my practices throw those into their operations manual. So with the crown setup or whatever, it'll also have the steps and the codes that would be used. We have to update it when they update, but have all of those available there side by side with it. So it'll be like, crown seed, and it'll be the setup, and then it'll be all of the codes. The ones that get wild are our implants, right? Our All-On-X denture cases. Those ones get wildly insane.

dentures, right, start to finish because what happens is in the treatment planning mode, let's use denture, right, as a treatment planner, right, so I'm a dental assistant and the doctor says we need to do a full denture. Cool, maxillary denture. And then I'm like, treatment coordinator, here you go. And they're like, cool. And then they schedule a denture. There's like 16 steps sometimes to a denture.

Right, so having that and being able to break it down and break it apart shows that all the steps and processes were done and then having a cheat sheet that goes along with it helps not only your treatment coordinator and your scheduler, but it helps your biller and your dental assistant, even your hygienist. I've had so many hygienists come to me and say, what step are we on? And I'm like, well, I'm not sure, let's look. Like, let's look at our checklist and see where we're at. So even within that denture, having the denture treatment plan for pricing.

Dana (18:56.011)

Yes.

The Dental A Team (19:24.294)

Obviously, right, any extractions, any bone grafts that need to be done. If you're doing a temporary denture before the final is done, if you're doing, gosh, if you're doing a scan and a final delivery, like they're getting much faster. But before, remember, we had to have a wax rim, we had to have teeth and wax, we had to have the color shade, we had to have a try-in, then we had to have a realign. Like all of these pieces needed to be segregated out in there so that we treatment plan.

the one thing, but we have those steps readily available so that it can be scheduled correctly and in order. And then having those cheat sheets with those codes lined up is super helpful. I have a practice in Wisconsin that was just getting so confused on the implant process and an ortho process. And I was like, easy peasy, let's just like section this out. And now every single time they've got it laminated and they just pull it out. They're like, I've got my implant sheet. I've got my ortho sheet or whatever. So I always have them add that as well. So Dana.

Wrap it up for us. So we've got coding, checking, all the pieces. What could an office do, a doctor do to ensure maybe even adding it to their operations manual? What's the process they should make sure that is being followed and updated yearly within all of these pieces that we've talked about today?

Dana (20:42.627)

Yeah, I think it's added to your yearly calendars that you make sure that you do know the updates you have the codes every year and just like we get Insurance fee schedules and we do all of our insurance updates just add that to that list one So add and make sure we've got do we have the resource for it? And do we know what they are? I think to any time that you are adding a new service just checking and double-checking that you know what the codes are So if you're bringing in a CBC team, make sure that those codes are in there and you've got fees attached to them

and all of those pieces. I love your cheat sheet idea as far as especially where there's a there's a lot of nitty-gritty things that need to get built out for specific things like ortho-like implants making sure that you've got cheat sheets and you make it really really easy and then make sure you've got a very clear communication system for when treatment changes so that it gets changed all the way okay and then I think daily having people look at them and just one

Final tip I guess in in with your cheat sheets oftentimes we call things things that like are not in the code, right? The description of the code is not that and then we're constantly like, what are they actually? What do they actually call right? A lot of your systems will allow you to add notes to like those procedure codes put in what you call it in the office so that it's easy to find it will still put the actual code definition on your piece going on your claims go out, but if you call something something specific

just update it in your system so it's easy for the team to buy.

The Dental A Team (22:12.623)

That was brilliant. I know my dentist had like five different terms for a hater bar and I never, was like, I don't know what you're talking about. And the Ribon, he would call the, you know, the Perio procedure by the name of the material he needed. And I was like, so, and he only do this once every, I don't know, 10 years. Like this procedure is never done. He's like, we've got to do a Ribon. Where's the Ribon? I'm like, I don't even remember what this is.

I don't know what that says. So yes, I agree. I love that idea, the descriptions and making sure too then I would transfer. We do this in our Google Drive, you guys. Whatever you might call it, also probably put that on your cheat sheet, maybe in parentheses. Like this is what it is. These are the five different terms that any of our doctors may call it so that it is easy to find and easy to figure out. I think that's brilliant. Awesome, thank you for wrapping us, Dana. I think this was insanely beneficial for all of our doctors out there and our team members again.

Doctors, if you're here listening, congrats. I think that's so huge. It's really important for you to know and understand these things. Share it with your team, because they can use these pieces too, especially anyone who's doing your billing and your practice. And then team members who are out there whose doctors haven't heard this one yet, share it with them. Make sure that they understand what they're getting into as well, and that they're supporting you in your position as a team member to be super accurate, because you're depending on them.

to get things right so that you can do your job. So share it with them. Make sure you guys are all up to date and as always, reach out for any questions you might have. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. We are not code masters, but you guys, we are solution masters and we will find the answers or find the way and we can help you with just about anything you can think of. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. We can't wait to catch you next time.

#906: 3 Ways a Consultant Can Help You Thrive Now and in 2025

mercredi 23 octobre 2024 • Duration 26:56

Did you know? Practices working with the Dental A-Team tend to see a 10 to 30% increase in revenue and at least a 5 to 10% decrease in overhead. In this episode, Kiera talks about key ways hiring a consultant for your practice will boost your success.

Episode resources:

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Transcript:

Kiera Dent (00:01.038)

Hello, Dental A Team listeners, this is Kiera. And today I am so excited because as things are coming to a wrap up at the end of the year, I know a lot of you are possibly talking to your CPAs, financial advisors, looking for all those different areas where you're possibly like, gosh, like maybe your practice is freaking thriving and you're looking for, it's end of year. What can I do? How can I maximize my practice? What are some options? Or maybe you're on the other end where you're like, gosh, 2024 was such a hard year for me. And so just wanted to pop on and let you know.

three ways that a consultant can help your practice either thrive or come back from surviving into thriving. Because oftentimes we don't realize that consulting can actually propel our practices forward. It's also a complete tax write-off for most practices, which is great if you're thriving and you need to find ways to spend cash and be able to get through the end of the year. Consulting is actually a great option that a lot of offices do, whether it's a pay-in-full option or whether it's monthly payments or even some offices will pay 50 % end of year.

and then 50 % throughout the rest of the year. So a lot of great options, but the reality is that I love about consulting is I like to invest in things that move me forward. So at the end of most years, I'm looking for what's an area or a gap that I have in my business, whether that's in my marketing department or my sales department or my dentist, like what dentists things can we bring to the practice? But every single thing that I'm adding into my practice, I want to make sure.

is going to give me an ROI. So an ROI is a return on investment and I don't like to buy things that are just cash. So looking at like, if we were for example, to say buy a car, well, what's the ROI that that's gonna bring and bring money into my practice? Probably nothing. In Dental A Team, our clients tend to see a 10 to 30 % increase in revenue and at least a five to 10 % decrease in overhead. Now it is a two way street. We can give every tool and resource but if clients don't execute,

then they're obviously not gonna see the same results. However, clients who do see the, who do implement and do receive the results, they actually see incredible value. So we have offices like this year that have added 10,000, 50,000, 100,000, 250,000, multiple millions to their schedules by working with us. We have other offices that have decreased their overhead. I had one office at the beginning of the year start out at 75 % overhead and they are now down to 53 % overhead with intentionality.

Kiera Dent (02:20.43)

leadership put into place where their team is actually looking at the numbers and viewing the practice in a way of as a business, not necessarily just as a practice. And so being able to find something where if we spend, say 20,000, can they give me at least 20,000 back and or more? So 40,000, 50,000, can I get a return on my investment is a really great thing to look.

Other examples are like CBCT scans. Like, can you add that in and how many CBCTs could we do and give better patient care with purchasing these items? Maybe looking for an implant course that we could attend. Maybe looking for CE, but really doing something that's for our team and for every person on our practice to elevate. And that's actually something I love about Dental A Team is we aren't just focused on the doctors. I think going to all these events as business owners,

I found that the hardest thing for me is when I show up to an event and then I have to come home and bring it back to my team. And it's like, I'm all ramped up and amped up, but the team didn't necessarily get the same excitement that I did. The team wasn't in on all those meetings and different pieces with me. And so therefore I feel like, gosh, like this is sometimes hard to get the buy-in. And so when we built Denali team, I said, hey, what we're actually gonna do is we're gonna build a company where we coach the doctors and we coach the team together.

So doctors, we hear your plan of your vision. We help you build that vision. And then team members, help you implement and execute and build leadership teams and train your team on the billing and the tactical and all the systems. But we're helping you build the business, the practice of your dreams to be able to give the patient care and the team experience that you desire. And so thinking of those things, and that's kind of where I just wanted to pop in of like, whether your practice is thriving and you're like, Hey, what it's going to take us to the next level. I might consider consulting as an option.

Or if you're like, gosh, you know, could this CE course move us forward? Possibly. But like, I have offices that go to CE courses, like sleep. How do get your team bought into that? How do you like, and how do we know the CE to implement or not implement? Sometimes having a consultant or a coach can help actually get you more revenue, more value, more buy-in because they're helping guide and coach the team. And Denali team truly is experts at this. And so it's something really fun. So I just wanted to kind of give like some areas where

Kiera Dent (04:35.488)

If you're looking for that way to get some money off of your books, consider consulting, consider something that's gonna move you forward. Or whether you're looking for like, gosh, this year was really, really hard for me, we need to figure out those gaps. Either end of that spectrum, I do believe that consultants can help. And when you're looking for a consultant, some great things to look for are number one, has that consultant or consulting company been there, done that and done that successfully in your situation? Have they coached and consulted offices like yours? Do they have testimonials of offices like you?

Do they know where you want to go and do they have the path that they can show you of where you want to go? So if you're looking for, want to sell to a DSO in the next five years, do they know how to do that and have they helped other clients successfully? If you're like, nope, I want to be in my practice for the next 20 years and I want to have a legacy practice. Have they done that for other people? If you're wanting to expand and buy multi-practices, have they done that? If you're wanting to get your office manager to be doing all the pieces, have they done that? If you're wanting to add in a leadership team so that way everything's not on your shoulders,

that consultant done that and done that successfully? Have they been in your shoes? And for me, I like it when they'll like selfishly as a business owner, I'm busy. The last thing I want to do is have to go and like learn from my consultant and then go implement it with my team. I really love to have a consultant who teaches me and my team simultaneously. It feels like it allows me to like multiply and double myself rather than trying to do it myself because I feel like there's so much on owners. And so that's something that I just think is niche.

None of my coaches coach by team. And I really wish that they would because it'd be so much easier to have somebody else besides me coach and educate and get them excited rather than it all leaning on my shoulders. So when we built Dental A Team that was something I was adamant about of I want to make these dentists lives easier. want to make the team's lives easier. I want to be that bridge between doctor and team member and helping us all align and be on the same page. So as you're looking at it and just thinking that's how you're going to vet for a really good consultant.

Also look to see who is that consultant and do they align with where you want to go? Do they have the same principles, the same values? So for me, ours is we want to positively impact the world of dentistry in the greatest way possible. And I don't believe that dentistry is what makes you your person. I believe it can be a great portion of your identity, but I believe that your life and your family and your hobbies and who you are as a person is the most important. So ours is the yes model. It's you as a person we focus on and what your life, your dream, your team, who you are as people.

Kiera Dent (06:59.874)

Then we focus on E for earnings and profitability and making sure that you're profitable as a company. And then S stands for systems and team development. Do we have the systems to run and we're not dependent upon team members so we teams can go on vacation, they can have fun. And as we grow and expand and, or if we lose team members or we need to hire new team members, we have a system in process where it's system dependent, not team dependent. I say it's system dependent, it's team implemented and adds the sprinkles and the sparkles with the team flair to it.

So we have tried and true systems that we're gonna then be able to go in. What are you looking for? Are you looking for someone who comes in and they are A to Z cookbook and they give you the systems that way? Or are you looking for someone who's going to be more collaborative with you and hear what you want and then be able to add in different pieces for it? What are you looking for and what are the results? And then do their results speak for themselves? Can they tell you consistently they hit this?

Do you want a doctor community? Do you want a team community? Do you want to go in person and go to events and masterminds? Or do you want to have it virtual? How do you want this to work out? And so really looking at those options are going to be pieces to look for. In Dental A Team we heard, we heard what you guys were saying where you said, we want in-person masterminds. We want to network with these other doctors. We want to learn. so come 2025.

Welcome, we are going to be meeting you all in person with an elite leadership retreat where it's doctors and leaders coming together. So doctors in their office manager, doctors in their associate partners, coming together and really masterminding on your life, on your practice and on your business. Having a great time where we actually like hot seat on your business and we work on your life and you workshop for a day and a half and meet incredible people. We also are working with your team simultaneously. So what you're learning.

In person, we're gonna be able to help take back to your team. So we still lift that training your team members for you, putting places, pieces into play. And we also have for newer practices that might need just like the foundations and building blocks of a business where we do it in a group setting where every single month there's a new system that you can implement while also having access to the consultants every single week. So different ways and different pieces and what that looks like for you as consulting.

Kiera Dent (09:02.422)

And then let's just think of like, what are some different ways that a practice like truly a consultant should and could help you go to thriving rather than just surviving. And some of the things is like, I think one of the greatest things we do is find the small little areas to make your life exponentially more efficient, whether that's from handoffs, collections, the way we set up our statements, the way we do our confirmations, the way we build our schedules, the way we do our handoffs, like those very small little pieces. People ask me all the time, Kiera, how are you able to like...

add 30,000 to a schedule in one day. And I'm like, honestly, it's from handoffs, morning huddles and collecting at the end of the day. Like that's all it is. It's nothing hard. It's nothing crazy. But when we get a whole team bought into this process and this system, then the system flows and moves. So it's very simple. So things that I think are super important is can we look and maximize your schedule for increased production? I love to do less work and get more gain. And so how can we work less and make more?

Like how can we do that and give better VIP patient care? And so I love helping people build out block schedules. Like I was talking to an office earlier and they said, Kiera, should we expand our practice? And I said, well, like, let's look at where you're at and are you maximizing all of what we already have or should we go and like spend more money on it? And so many people don't realize like what we already have, we could like wring it out, squeeze it out a little bit more and there's no extra cost to the practice, but there's actually little efficiencies that we can put into place.

One of my favorite examples is I walked into an office and they're like, Kiera, we know we need more space. We have no more space for patients in this practice. And we know we need to have a bigger building. Like we're already like, we've got land. We're already building the other building. Like that's our biggest problem. Within about 15 minutes of working with this office, I was able to find where they could add another operatory. They added another operatory and we were exponentially able to increase their practice, but they were so closed because they thought that there's no possible way for us to add.

anything else into this practice. And yet sometimes just having another set of eyes outside is able to help you see what truly is possible. And so that's something that I'm obsessed with that I love. We're able to add hundreds of thousands to this practice and serve more patients while their other building was being built. It made it a smoother transition as they moved into the next location. And really we ramped up their handoffs, their doctor exams, little small things, tracking our treatment so doctors know what they're diagnosing, tracking our case acceptance, looking to see are there little ways we can do it.

Kiera Dent (11:28.12)

have an office that we've added multi-millions to in the course of working with them. And everyone's like, how have you done it? And they said, we hired this coach. And this coach coaches all of our treatment coordinators. And our treatment coordinators then learn little ways to say things, different ways to present things. They're an incredible office at implementing and executing, but it's in these small, little verbiage tips that are able to help them. And so how can we maximize your practice for exponential growth, but do it in the easiest way? Let's not come in and change everything.

Let's look for the tiny little things. So number one that I feel like a consultant really can do of the three ways they can maximize and optimize your practice from thriving to thriving or surviving to thriving is one, maximizing your practice for optimal. Like I said, looking for those little spots where if we just do one or two little changes, a little verbiage change here, a little collection here, a little change in our scheduling and block scheduling, we really truly can actually make your practice so much more profitable. And something I'm very big on, one of our core values is ease.

How can we make this so easy for our practices that the team's excited to implement it, the office is excited, and it gets us the great result of helping more patients? So that would be number one of ways that I think a consultant truly can help you thrive in 2025. Number two, consultants are really able to take the numbers of a business and translate them into action to help your practice grow. So, so many dentists come to us and so many office managers come to us and they have no idea how to read a PNL.

They don't understand what KPI should be. They don't understand how to use the metrics, the numbers of the business as levers in the business of, okay, if we increase this, we can decrease this and we can actually get more of what we're looking for. They have no idea how to do it. And the honest reality is that's okay. You didn't go to dental school to learn business, but a consultant and a really educated consultant can actually help you translate those numbers into action. And so what I'm obsessed with doing is teaching our offices and our leadership teams.

Let's look at the numbers. Let's figure this out. What should our payroll be? What should our supplies be? What should our labs be? How can we make one or two changes? Do we need to increase our production? Do we need to increase our collections? Do we need to decrease our costs? What is it going to be? And then teaching the team, like the leadership team and our doctors to look at the numbers and say, I love numbers and numbers love me. Because when we can look at the numbers and get so obsessed and excited about these numbers of what's our overhead, what's our profitability.

Kiera Dent (13:47.456)

What are our metrics and how can we translate this into helping more patients? Teams then start to look at it and put the puzzle pieces together. For me, numbers are just puzzle pieces and like, how can we put the puzzle pieces together to make this incredible practice grow and thrive and be able to serve and help more patients? So it's something I am obsessed about because if we can get this dialed in for them, guess what? They're going to be able to freaking thrive.

They're gonna be able to look at the numbers, but not just looking at the numbers, but taking it into action. So if our overhead's high, what do we need to do? A lot of consultants come in and they want to cut. My goal is to not cut unless we're like overspending on supplies and then all we need to do is put a supply tracker into place and bada bing, bada boom, it's all fixed. People now know how much we can budget. You empower them, you teach them, they fill it in. Our supplies are instantly fixed. Same thing with our lab supplies. They can get fixed very quickly.

So when we look at it and we can just give them the empowerment, give them a simple spreadsheet, give them a simple worksheet, give them the tools and the levers, teams now get excited about it. And I have teams and it was so fun. I was on a call and one of the teams is like, well, we are thinking about this and we're not sure that we want to do this. Cause when we're looking at the numbers, we realize this. And I wanted to cry because when the team is looking at the numbers like a business owner and they're seeing, Hey, do we really need to hire this other employee?

Or is that gonna impact our overhead and could we band together and do we wanna do this? Or is this something that's a nice to have, but not a must have? Or is it, no, this is a must have and if we hire this other person, this is how many more patients we should be able to serve and it should translate into these kinds of goals. And so many people are like, Kiera, there's no freaking way that you could ever get my team to be that way. And I say, try me. Like truly, I'm very confident in what we do because as a team member myself, I didn't understand numbers. As an owner, like.

The most liberating day of my life was when I realized that numbers are a superpower and not something to beat myself with. Like when I realized the numbers are truly the treasure map. Like if I'm looking for the clues to success, look at your numbers, look at where you are. You will literally see what you need to do to be able to move forward. And that's something that I think is so empowering, so inviting. And when we can teach doctors and owners and teams to look at their numbers and turn it into actionable help for your practice.

Kiera Dent (16:03.584)

you're able to truly thrive. And now success is not something that just is happenstance. Success is something that's very predictable that you can do. So using your numbers would be number two that I think great consultants can do for you and your team. And then number three that I think a consultant really can help you do. So number one, like we said, was optimizing the efficiencies within your practice, finding those pieces. Number two is translating your numbers into actionable ways to help your practice and getting your whole team to be able to see these numbers of

the yardstick of success of how many patients we're able to help and serve. Number three would be setting and achieving goals. I think setting goals is always tricky. think figuring out projections, I think it's hard when you look at the schedule and you're like, I don't even know what I should set my goals and I wanna take vacations, but I can't take vacations and I'm stuck here and I'm not able to have the family life I want. And I say, again, it's back to the puzzle pieces of numbers and schedules and being able to set realistic goals for your practice. So I tell our offices, I tell my doctors,

I don't care what schedule you want to have. don't care if you want to be off at three o'clock. I don't care if you want to work three days a week. I don't care if you want to take six weeks of vacation, like whatever you want. Let's like just tell me and then let's plug it in and let's figure out how we're able to, to use our practice and use our schedule and use our team in a way that's going to fulfill all the needs and the wants of the practice. It's so doable. And I think that that's what's so fun for me is to set these goals and help practices and teams reach higher potential than they ever imagined that they could have.

I remember getting a text from one of my doctors that we coached and he said, Kiera, when you came into our practice and you set a goal of X amount, this practice, they were producing about 200,000 and we looked at it, we figured out the schedule, we did the block scheduling, we optimized the schedule. Again, going back to the number one, optimizing little areas of efficiency for maximum impact. The doctor said, you came in and you said we should be able to produce 300,000 a month. And the doctor said, I did not believe you for one second.

And he said, and what's crazy is we did 300,000 our first month. did 305 our next month. We did three 10 our third month. And to see them going from 200,000 to 300,000 felt like something that they had never done before. And so helping offices turn dreams into a reality is what lights my freaking soul on fire. Because when I can help you see that like the numbers are there and the schedule is there and all we need to do is bring the pieces together and you're able to have the dream life that you want to have the family time that you want to have the practice that you want.

Kiera Dent (18:21.902)

Yes, there areas where we're maybe going to need to make a sacrifice or we realize, can you want to do this? Let's maybe hire an associate or we think outside the box. But really, I believe like my passion is life and my platform is dentistry. And so helping dentists have the life that they want, having teams have the life that they want is where my life, like my life goal and passion is as a consultant because helping so many people achieve this. Like I have doctors and when I met them, we were producing 150 and now we're producing 500,000 a month. And

The reality is that practice did not believe that this would even be possible. And now they're hitting goals and objectives that they never believed were possible. And they're stretching the envelope and they're figuring it out and they're serving more patients and they're helping more patients and they're truly being the dentist that the community chooses. When I see offices having that and the dentist is having their dream life and they're having more free space for admin time in their world and their team, their leadership team is taking it on. That's what I feel like we've made it. We've made it for that office.

When I have another office and they tell me, Kiera, every year you do the projections with us, we take it to our CPA and they laugh at us. I'm like, you've got to be crazy. There's no way you're going to hit those numbers. And every year we hit them and we hit them with success. And they're like, Kiera, it's magic because those are numbers that we never believed we'd be able to do. But you break it down so simply. You help us set these realistic goals. You look at our schedule, you look at our providers, you look at the time, we look at what our team can do. We make sure we put our life forward and what we want to be doing so that way we're living our best selves.

and you help us set and achieve these goals that we never believed were possible. And to me, that setting and achieving the life that you never believed was possible, you always hoped it would be, but we help you achieve that. And so those are three areas that I really feel that consultants can help you either thrive even more or go from surviving to thriving. And like I said, I am so passionate that we built different models for different practices. So if you're a newer practice and you're like, we're just starting out and our budget's not as much, phenomenal, we literally built a program.

that takes you through the systems that you need, that gives you weekly access to consulting where you can literally come on and ask your questions and send your team because I'm so adamant that we're gonna coach your team and we're gonna coach the doctors and we're gonna teach you to take care of you, to have a profitable practice and have systems that are dependable so you have predictable success rather than hoping and wishing for success. So if you're brand new, there's an option for you and there's a great space and our community is so incredible and people just love it.

Kiera Dent (20:44.398)

If you're a practices like, we're a little bit beyond the fundamentals. We're not this newer practice. We want to have more one-on-one help within our practice. Phenomenal. We coach your team. do coaching calls with you and we bring you in person to work on your practice and on your life to make sure that you're getting what you need. If you're like, Hey, we want some help in our practice. We want you to come to our office. Amazing. We have options for that because I believe that consulting isn't a one size fits all. I believe that a practice is not a one size fits all. I believe that a life is not one size fits all.

I believe that you know where you want to go. And I believe that with the great coach and a great consultant beside you who's been there, done that and done that successfully over and over and over again, you truly can have whatever you want. And so I just wanted to pop on and give you guys some resources that you're looking at the end of the year, whether it's your best year or whether it was your one of your hardest years, there's solutions. And I truly believe that the greatest people of all time, they have a coach and they have a mentor next to them. They have someone that's going to push them. They have someone who's going to grow them. They have someone who's going to work with them.

someone who's not gonna give up on them when the hard times are there, someone who's gonna guide them, someone who's gonna help their team grow and thrive. And if that's what you're looking for, I'd recommend looking into consulting and seeing, is this an option for you? At Dental A Team, I wanna give you so much value. And so whenever people schedule a call with us, we look at your practice and we give you value. So even if you're not a perfect fit, you're gonna leave with great resources and we're gonna direct you to someone who can help you. If you're a great fit for us and you're someone who's growth minded,

You're someone who's committed to success. You're someone who wants to grow your team and wants to grow you. You're a great fit for Dental A Team. And if you're like, gosh, I just don't even know what consulting is like, I encourage you to just make the call. It's not gonna hurt to get on a call. It's not gonna hurt to figure it out. It's not going to hurt. The pricing can be anywhere from as low as like $12,000 a year, all the way up to 50,000 a year. There's variable pricing throughout, but I promise you every single one of those dollars that you put in is going to come back to you in ROI of systems.

of decreased overhead, of increased profitability of your practice, of better case acceptance, of reduced errors on billing, of higher collections. So it's this crazy thing that it's one of those best investments that's going to give you a guaranteed ROI on your investment. And for me, when I'm looking at investments and I'm looking to see where I should invest my money, investing in my team, investing in myself and investing in a way that's going to give me a guaranteed ROI is where I bank.

Kiera Dent (23:05.548)

And so I would invite each of you, if you're thinking about it, if there's consultants that are there that jive with you, check, I gave you guys a way to interview a consultant, to look for them. Do you vibe with them? Have they been there? Have they done that successfully? Have they done it successfully in your shoes? Do they understand your practice? Do they understand your team dynamics? We work all across the nation. We work in rural towns. work in...

the heart of DC, we've got consultants from all over the board, we've got doctors on our our ambassador team that help us with doctor issues, we've got an incredible thriving doctor community that works and helps each other, we have brilliant people that have MBAs and different pieces in business, we have hygienists, we've got dental assistants, we've got regional managers, so the plethora of knowledge within our consulting is insane and so being able to be a part of that community where your questions get answered on a 24-7 basis.

We have direct access to consultants who know how to grow you and your practice. We're able to truly grow and grow with everybody that's around you and you're around like-minded people because I believe that proximity is power. And when you're around people that are thriving and you're around people that are succeeding and you're able to pick their brains and be able to learn from them, that's how we elevate. I purposely joined Tony Robbins highest level of consulting because I wanted to be around those people. And what's crazy is every time I'm around them, I grow and evolve to the next level because they share tips with me.

They inspire me. I ask them how they're doing things and they share. And that's what we've created for dentists. So if you want to be a part of it, I'd love to have you reach out. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. Go on our website, TheDentalATeam.com, book a call, whatever it is. But whatever you choose to do this year, invest in you. Invest and commit that 2025 is not going to be happenstance success. It's going to be guaranteed success. Let's find a way to get you that guaranteed success. And whether it's us, another consulting company, another ROI,

I don't care what you choose, but make sure you do something different to ensure success for 2025 rather than hope for it. These are three ways that a consultant can help you go from thriving to even higher or from surviving to thriving, whatever end of the spectrum you're on, whatever it is, there's a solution for you. I think check our egos. It's hard. It's hard to ask for help, but it's one of the greatest things. And once you enter the world, you realize no one's there to judge, especially in Dental A Team. My rules are no judgment. Come as you are, show up, add more value.

Kiera Dent (25:20.566)

and make sure that you're committed to getting success and that we don't give excuses. If that's who you are, come, come and be a part of it. I'd love to have you. And if I can help in any way, always reach out. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. This is your life. This is your practice. Your team needs you. You need you. Your patients need you and you deserve the best of the best. So go for it. Let's make 2025 the best it can be. And as always, thanks for listening. I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.

#816: How to Truly Notice Your Team

mercredi 27 mars 2024 • Duration 14:44

It’s time for another book club episode! This month’s review is on The Noticer: Sometimes, All a Person Needs is a Little Perspective by Andy Andrews. Kiera reflects on how everyone can notice the positives in each other, personally, professionally, etc. — and how this can improve the culture in your practice.

Episode resources:

#815: Proactive Moves For Your Front Office

mardi 26 mars 2024 • Duration 23:33

Tiff and Dana focus on the front office — specifically, how offices can make sure they have exactly what they need in place to make everyone happy (patients, team members, doctor(s), etc.). They give tips on fine-tuning insurance, account balances, auditing codes, schedule-building, billing, and more.

Episode resources:

Reach out to Tiff and Dana: hello@thedentalateam.com

#814: To Expand or Not to Expand…

jeudi 21 mars 2024 • Duration 17:37

Kiera shares two office autopsies, each who considered practice expansion and went about it in different ways. When considering whether to sell to a DSO or move to a bigger building or simply stay where you are, make sure you’re not doing so for the wrong reasons. Kiera explains what the right reasons and wrong reasons would be, and how the two offices ultimately made their decisions.

Episode resources:

Reach out to Tiff and Dana

#813: The Key to a Perfect Billing Department

mercredi 20 mars 2024 • Duration 22:36

Tiff and Dana are back with more leveling-up tips for your practices! They focus on the billing department, specifically the key ingredient to keep everything moving smoothly: calendars. Setting up a calendar to keep things on track will keep your cadence consistent — a must-do when it comes to staying on top of all that work. Tiff and Dana walk through what to include on that calendar, the importance of cheat sheets, how to train your support team ahead of time, and more.

Episode resources:

Tune in to The Dentist Money Show

#812: Finding a Path Out of Burnout

mardi 19 mars 2024 • Duration 52:43

Ryan Isaac is once again on the podcast! In this episode, he and Kiera discuss how impactful burnout can be, what the signs are, and how to overcome it.

Also, both the Dental A-Team and Ryan’s Dentist Advisors have summits coming up! Get the details:

DAT Virtual Summit — The Prosperous Dentist: Strategies For Wealth and Wellness, Friday, April 26, 2024
Dentist Money Summit: Learn how to live your rich life, June 21-22, 2024, code DAT25 for discount

Episode resources:

#811: The Blueprint Your Business Needs

jeudi 14 mars 2024 • Duration 20:46

Roadmaps for all the different aspects of businesses are really difficult to create. There’s a lot of room for error along the way. It’d sure be nice to have a ready-made business success cycle, plus the experts to help you over any hurdles that appear. Kiera talks in this episode about Dental A-Team’s Practice Momentum, and how signing up will get you on the right path forward to make your practice the best it can be.

Episode resources:

Reach out to Kiera: hello@thedentalateam.com

Listen to episode 133, What Drives You: Cost, Longevity, Function, or Cosmetic

#810: A Hot Topic for Practices

mercredi 13 mars 2024 • Duration 19:00

Did you know: presenting treatment plans is 80% psychology and 20% skill? In this episode, Kiera talks through the Dental A-Team tried and true method of treatment plans, both the psychology and skill aspects.

Episode resources:

Reach out to Kiera: hello@thedentalateam.com