It’s no secret that the business world (including dental organizations) is accumulating data at an astonishingly fast pace.
According to Gartner, we are still in the “early adoption phase” with data, dashboards, and data analytics. For growth-oriented dental organizations that are early adopters of analytics, this is a huge competitive advantage. However, Gartner also states that the situation is changing quickly. “By 2022, 90% of corporate strategies will explicitly mention information as a critical enterprise asset and analytics as an essential competency.”
So what does this mean for you and your dental organization?
If you’re like most dental businesses, you’re collecting a lot of data from multiple systems and sources. But what are you doing with that data? To really gain a competitive advantage, you must get as much value as possible from the data you are collecting. Operational performance efficiency in dental businesses combines many different aspects, which involve the use of metrics, streamlining processes, technological innovation etc.
So… what are others doing with data to fuel growth?
How are they using data to gain a competitive advantage?
Here are some of the ways data analytics is playing a key role in helping dental organizations drive operational excellence and increase competitive advantage:
Keith Miller leads Partnerships for Dentists’ growth and all DSO operations. He has more than 28 years of experience and has successfully led high-growth platforms in both the retail and retail healthcare sectors. Prior to P4D, Keith was president of Legacy ER and Urgent Care, tripling the size of the organization in his first year, and spent 13 years as a principal leader in the growth of Dental One Partners (a top 10 national DSO).
1- What is the most important metric or KPI for measuring success in your organization?
I look at hygiene visits.
Hygiene visits are what drive every practice. We see what’s trending month-to-month and year-over-year to ensure practices are retaining and growing their hygiene department. It’s about how many patients come in the door.
2- What’s the first metric you look at each morning? Weekly? Monthly?
Every morning I look at current production and collections versus budget and versus last year. How are we performing versus what we expected to do and versus the previous year?
On a weekly basis, I do the same thing as I do each morning. You want to see how the practices are doing from a revenue basis. If they aren’t doing what you expect them to do, you use tools to find out why.
On a monthly basis, we look at overall visits, and new patient visits… different revenue lines.
3- How do you measure what is working at the practice level?
It’s really looking at the different lines of business. What is the doctor doing, and what is the hygienist doing each day? If they lack in any areas, we look at KPIs to see what is falling off. Is it case acceptance? Treatment plan? What is broken? If you don’t know what is broken, you won’t be able to fix it.
4- Historically, what has been the most significant pain point you’ve had with how KPIs are measured and data presented?
Historically, access to data was our most significant pain point. Data was very limited on our former platform versus how robust Jarvis is.
By using Jarvis and its data analytics capabilities, we can make informed decisions about where we want our business to go in the future and what strategic moves will garner the best results. As W. Edwards Deming put it, “Without data, you’re just another person with an opinion.”
5- In your opinion, what component of reporting is most important?
The trends are the most important component of our reporting.
I do trending on a lot of things: production, collection, doctor production, and doctor collections. The trends tab has a plethora of information on how things are trending month over month and year over year.
6- In your experience, what is the most common disconnect between DSO Leadership and a practice?
The most significant disconnect is that from a top-down look, we can see pretty clearly where there are problems within a practice, but they’re so busy each day that they don’t necessarily see these as clearly. There is so much activity at the practice level—they’re doing a million things at once.
7- What trap do you think DSO leaders fall into when it comes to operational efficiencies?
I think, in general, all DSOs look at things differently. I’ve been in meetings with different leaders, and each DSO has hot buttons on what they think is important—average production per day, or per patient, or per hour. The limitation is probably that you only know what you know. Unless you have an influx of new people in your organization with new perspectives, you may be in a box because that is how you’ve always done it.
8- How has Jarvis helped you on an operational level? Do you have a specific example?
Overall, Jarvis is helped because of the way the platform is set up. I actually use Jarvis for practices I am buying. I set up Jarvis before I buy a practice. I compare the practice to others based on the metrics we use. I don’t have to do conversions, which are awful. The daily ability to dig into anything you want to dig into is the benefit of Jarvis.
I was on a call this morning, and we were talking about a group of practices that were struggling. On Zoom, I pulled up data on Jarvis. All the information is there for you, everything you need. You just have to be knowledgeable about how to use Jarvis.
Dr. Nathan Kupperman is a practicing dentist and owner and CFO of NAK Dental Group. NAK Dental Group currently supports five dental locations across northwest Florida and offers a variety of management services from its administrative headquarters in Tallahassee. NAK also offers affiliation and partner ownership opportunities for dentists across the United States.
1- What is the most important metric or KPI for measuring success in your organization?
I like constantly comparing a practice’s performance to the previous year. I like to compare production and collection per month to that month of the previous year.
2- What’s the first metric you look at each morning? Weekly? Monthly?
Each morning, I look at the appointment section so I can see daily schedules. I can break down appointments for each of our five offices. Previously, I had to log into each office’s individual account, which was a total time sink.
I also like to look at what is pre-booked for the month. I know what numbers should look like a month to month. I can see if a month is underbooked and if I need to focus on that office, or if an office has a healthy schedule for the month.
3- How do you measure what is working at the practice level?
I need to see that the numbers are registering accurately. The End of Day (EOD) reports are very important. I want to make sure the office managers are inputting the right production and collections.
4- Historically, what has been the most significant pain point you’ve had with how KPIs are measured and data presented?
The pain point was that I had to log into a different account for each office. For five different offices, there were individual sign-ins and passwords. It was cumbersome to do this each day. I did this for a year and switched over to Jarvis and…BOOM! Everything was at my fingertips. Jarvis saves so much time. It feels effortless. I have a pulse on everything.
5- In your opinion, what component of reporting is most important?
Productions and collections, obviously. This has to be accurate. Accounts receivable needs to be at 100 percent. As long as productions and collections match up, it’s easy. If there’s a disparity then it’s hard to monitor the money coming in. I want to make sure the services are paid for and that money is collected.
6- What trap do you think DSO leaders fall into when it comes to operational efficiencies?
It comes back to the delegation issue I mentioned. If a DSO leader tries to do things that they can delegate to someone else, they will get bogged down and miss things. They risk missing more valuable information that can help them maintain a business.
For example, it is easy to get bogged down with HR. You have to have a chain of command. If I am going to an important meeting, but I am dealing with HR issues, I will be distracted. Then a meaningful meeting can go south because I am not paying attention. The chain of command is super crucial.
7- How has Jarvis helped you on an operational level? Do you have a specific example?
It is very time efficient. I can sign into a single dashboard and I have the world at my fingertips. I’m able to see what offices are doing at all times. I can see how schedules are looking. I am monitoring providers’ production. When numbers start to dip and you catch it early, you can correct it. Things can go south really quickly. I have a pulse at all times. It’s easier to put out small fires than a forest fire.
I am obsessed with Jarvis. I’m using it all the time.
Raven Weaver is the Office Team Leader and a registered dental hygienist at Northcutt Dental in Semmes, Alabama. Northcutt Dental is a dentist-owned group family practice that has been in business for over 25 years with multiple offices along the Alabama Gulf Coast.
1- What is the most important metric or KPI for measuring success in your organization?
The most important metric to our practice is each location’s reappointment rate. We put a lot of focus on patient retention.
2- What’s the first metric you look at each morning? Weekly? Monthly?
Scheduled production for all of the above. If we know the amount we have scheduled, then we are more aware of what we need to meet our daily, weekly, and monthly goals.
3- How do you measure what is working at the practice level?
Treatment acceptance rates are very important. We can measure how well our employees are explaining the treatment plans, creating urgency, and how well patients are comprehending their treatment recommendations.
4- Historically, what has been the most significant pain point you’ve had with how KPIs are measured and data presented?
One of the biggest pain points I encountered in the past was not having the ability to truly customize the software to our specific KPIs and how we track our KPI percentages.
5- In your opinion, what component of reporting is most important?
There are quite a few. I believe the most important component is patient retention /reappointment rates. Patient retention will tell you many different things that are important for a healthy business.
6- In your experience, what is the most common disconnect between DSO Leadership and a practice?
I believe the most common disconnect is when employees don’t completely understand the why or the vision the leadership team has for the practice.
7- What trap do you think DSO leaders fall into when it comes to operational efficiencies?
Complacency is a common trap that leaders fall into and it’s most noticeable in their employees. Employees who carefully observe their leaders, paying close attention to their behaviors and natural tendencies, notice when their intensity, focus, and expectations begin to wane – and they view this as permission to withdraw themselves.
8- How has Jarvis helped you on an operational level? Do you have a specific example?
Jarvis provides the absolute best way to look at your practice’s data. At a glance, you can quickly see not only how your practice is doing as a whole, but also how each team member is performing individually.
Lauren Holland is the Regional Manager and Operations Director at Singing River Dentistry, which operates five practices in northwest Alabama. During the past five years that Lauren has been with Singing River Dentistry, it has acquired four practices and started one. Lauren has worked in the front office and her current role is to assist the team in having a great day every day!
1- What is the most important metric or KPI for measuring success in your organization?
Doctor and hygiene reappointment are the most important KPIs for measuring success. If patients are not coming back, we do not have a practice. Even if someone is coming out of hygiene with a treatment plan and they do not schedule the treatment at that time, as long as they have their hygiene recall we will get another chance to have the conversation with them.
2- What’s the first metric you look at each morning? Weekly? Monthly?
The first thing I look at in the morning is the production and collection from the previous day and we measure our new patients monthly!
3- How do you measure what is working at the practice level?
We measure our success with three different key factors: How our practice looks on paper (KPIs); team morale; and success and patient satisfaction.
4- Historically, what has been the most significant pain point you’ve had with how KPIs are measured and data presented?
Before Jarvis, we had to create several spreadsheets and pull multiple reports daily, weekly, and monthly to determine how our practices were doing. We have five offices with separate databases, which has posed a large challenge as well. With Jarvis we now have all this information at our fingertips including items that we were not measuring or monitoring.
5- In your opinion, what component of reporting is most important?
Clear and accurate information that is easily understood and accessible to our team is most important.
6- In your experience, what is the most common disconnect between DSO Leadership and a practice?
In our experience, not educating our team on the importance of KPIs has been a large disconnect. We didn’t properly communicate what the KPIs are, how they benefit our practice, and why the overall health of our practice is important to measure. Also, not explaining and empowering our team on the role that each person plays in the success of our practice was a disconnect.
7- What trap do you think DSO leaders fall into when it comes to operational efficiencies?
I think that one trap we may fall into would be only measuring one or two KPIs— for instance, only looking at production and collections. Ignoring other important KPIs like case acceptance and reappointment would be detrimental to our practice.
8- How has Jarvis helped you on an operational level? Do you have a specific example?
Jarvis has helped us find the team members that are outshining others and in what areas. This has created a way for us to identify the team members that are our “go-to” to help others in the areas they may be struggling. It has also helped us find our weak points that we need to focus more on in our training and continuing education.
Looking for more in-depth information on Operational Efficiencies? We have a dedicated ebook to help guide your organization. Download here!
Operational Efficiencies and Insight to Drive Revenue and Growth
One way you can learn exactly what’s happening in your organization is to implement a smart, all-in-one data analytics platform. The platform should work with both the teams and technology you have in place, making it easy for all your team members to reach their goals for the short-, mid- and long-term.
A data analytics platform like Jarvis can help uncover your DSO’s true potential and unlock sustainable growth. Jarvis enables you to view all of the data from your providers in one place—no matter what practice management system they use. This way, you can make fast and informed decisions to improve operations and fuel growth.
We are here to show you with your own data what’s working, what’s not and identify the delta between perception and reality.
Are you interested in learning more about us? Talk to one of our DSO Data Specialists today!
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