C/C :- My professional receipts are stagnating. What is to be done?
Discussion:- Stagnation of professional receipts is experienced by almost all medical professionals who are in private practice at some point of time or another.
To begin with please note that stagnation is not the right term. In effect professional receipts are becoming less by 10% every year due to inflation.
Now only a minuscule of dentists can get away by increasing their professional fees year after year. Even increase in professional charges may not be sufficient enough to hedge against inflation.
The second & most important point to note that stagnation in professional receipts is only a symptom. The underlying causes are different for every practitioner. As the underlying causes are different for every practitioner, so is the treatment for the same.
Whatever may be the cause of lack of growth of professional receipts please ensure that your personal growth as a dentist is not affected. Keep on improving your technical, communication & managerial skills. Now the solution to this problem can be determined only after a thorough analysis of every practitioner, his technical & communication skills, the demographics of the area where he practices etc etc etc.
A practice management consultant will look into all these aspects and suggest a solution & plan of action.
The first step, what I do is start looking into the personal finances of the dentist & draw a short term , medium term and a long term personal financial plan.
After that I look into all aspects of practice & I try to figure out modalities for growth. It could raising your professional charges or reducing them & trying to increase the OPD, introducing newer treatment modalities in practice, increase in marketing, staff training, initiate a website etc.
So finally, you should not be stagnating even if professional receipts are stagnant. Keep on growing & innovating. Be creative. You will soon see marvelous results.
Please contact todaysmedicalmarketing@gmail.com or dentistrytoday@rediffmail.com for analysis of your practice & practice growth
Thanks and best regards,
Your Sincerely,
Dr. Veerendra Darakh
