hey Bethany is this me I'm talking

0:02

to you hey I love this new MDD stuff

0:06

you've got going on managing Dental

0:09

dummies I'm really grateful you've got

0:11

this digest that can help all of us and

0:14

get us through the weeds and out on the

0:17

other side ahead and forging forward

0:20

managing Dental drama and dummies sign

0:23

up

0:25

today are you looking for a podcast

0:28

where you can hear from real people

0:30

regarding their real Dental drama if so

0:33

then you've come to the right place join

0:36

hosts Bethany Penny and Dr Reena Kuba as

0:39

we dive into the solutions we've created

0:42

and the mistakes we've made while

0:44

managing Dental

0:46

drama let's get started hello managing

0:49

Dental drama Community I cannot believe

0:53

that we are at the end of

0:55

2024 so happy early New Year to you guys

0:58

I hope you guys had a great great

1:00

holiday over this last week I am ringing

1:04

in the end of this year with our annual

1:08

top 10 for year end and so I have put

1:12

together a list of 10 things that I

1:14

would encourage you to do as you near

1:17

the end of this year you've got

1:19

hopefully a couple more days of

1:21

relaxation ahead of you and if you don't

1:24

then you definitely need to make time to

1:27

tackle these top 10 suggestions

1:30

so I'm going to Dive Right In and I will

1:32

warn you that the first three may not

1:35

sound like the most fun things to do but

1:38

they're absolutely essential in my mind

1:41

so stick with me don't don't leave me in

1:45

the first three if you feel like it

1:46

sounds really boring I think that these

1:48

things are all important and I wanted to

1:51

start with very first is scrutinizing

1:57

your credit card receipts so the first

2:00

thing is taking a deeper look at your

2:04

credit card expenses now at first glance

2:08

you may think that sounds stupid or

2:12

maybe you glance over your credit card

2:14

receipts on a monthly basis that's great

2:17

but I want you to actually look deeply

2:19

into a few credit card

2:22

receipts even if you do a once over it

2:25

is important to look at each and every

2:28

expense and you're really asking

2:31

yourself do I still need this maybe it's

2:33

a monthly subscription I do this every

2:37

few months with my husband he looks over

2:40

the credit card receipts for the

2:41

business every month and then every few

2:44

months we will sit down and I'll say

2:46

okay let's go through every line item

2:49

and make sure that it's something that

2:50

we still need so it could be a

2:52

subscription it could be something that

2:56

you realize that you're paying for that

2:59

may

3:00

there's a way to cut that out that could

3:02

be something as simple as at the office

3:05

you're paying for both Netflix and Hulu

3:09

could you just go with Netflix or could

3:12

you do some type of package deal and

3:15

rework that so that it makes more sense

3:18

on a monthly basis maybe you're paying

3:21

for window washing that occurs a few

3:25

times a month and you realize that your

3:27

windows look sparkly clean all the time

3:30

maybe you could cut that back to a

3:32

couple times a month it could be that

3:34

you're paying the same amount to your

3:37

lawn crew even though they don't work in

3:39

the months of November December January

3:42

maybe you can cut that back so it's not

3:45

just looking at recurring charges it's

3:48

also looking at do I still need this

3:52

particular service

3:53

item sometimes what you will find is

3:56

that you're surprised that a charge came

3:59

through on your credit card it was

4:01

either something that you did not

4:02

authorize or something that you thought

4:04

you had already cancelled but that that

4:07

payment or that charge is still coming

4:09

through so it's it's Illuminating almost

4:13

every time you do it we do it quarterly

4:16

uh with myself and my husband and every

4:18

time I'm like oh gosh I didn't realize

4:20

that that was still coming through so I

4:23

think at the end of the year if you

4:24

haven't deeply scrutinized your credit

4:26

cards receipts pick a couple two or

4:29

three from this year and just go through

4:32

I would recommend the more recent ones

4:33

don't necessarily feel like you have to

4:35

go back to January of 2024 but maybe you

4:38

look at September October November and

4:40

do a deep dive into those if nothing

4:43

else pick one of them and at least look

4:45

and ask yourself questions you can

4:48

actually have the paper copy in hand and

4:50

highlight certain things that you want

4:52

to look further into or you can

4:55

electronically keep track of things that

4:57

you just have further questions about

4:59

out and if you've got business team

5:02

members that utilize their own business

5:05

card or they utilize your business card

5:08

then you may have questions for them as

5:10

well so that's step number

5:13

one doesn't sound fun but just trust me

5:16

it's going to be worth your time number

5:19

two is similar but slightly different so

5:22

not all of our expenses come through

5:25

credit cards we still have plenty of

5:28

expenses that go out out in other ways

5:31

so I surely hope that you have a great

5:35

CPA that you utilize to help track

5:38

expenses it is worth taking time to

5:40

scrutinize all expenses looking at

5:44

things as simple as what does my utility

5:46

bill look like is there any way to

5:49

reduce that what does my rent look like

5:53

I know that often times that is

5:55

immovable but is there anything that we

5:58

can do to possibly

6:00

look at that rental rate again or do I

6:03

have my lease negotiation coming up do I

6:06

need to start thinking about that you

6:09

could look at things like your Dental

6:10

Supplies your lab expenses your

6:14

marketing what are you spending in each

6:16

of those categories and does that

6:19

expense need to go up or come down and

6:22

you might be wondering why would

6:24

something go up well something like

6:26

marketing might need to go up as you

6:28

think about your goals and dreams for

6:31

2025 if you're only spending a couple

6:34

hundred a month in marketing that may be

6:36

an area where you need to notch up the

6:38

spending and if so you may need to notch

6:42

down the spending in another category

6:45

something like eating out team lunches

6:48

which you know I know are fun and

6:51

exciting but maybe you can cut back

6:54

slightly in your eating out expense or

6:58

maybe if you run some of your vehicle

7:00

expenses through the business maybe

7:02

you're realizing that your dental I mean

7:05

not your dental your car insurance has

7:07

gone up and you're wondering when did

7:09

that happen and what can I do about that

7:11

is it time to re-evaluate how much I'm

7:13

spending on insurance so take time over

7:18

these next few weeks to really deep dive

7:21

into your expenses and that could be

7:23

just a report that you're going through

7:25

from your CPA often times they'll send

7:28

you an expense report report or a profit

7:30

and loss report and you can go through

7:32

that in great detail if you do your own

7:35

books then that's just going back

7:37

through all of your expenses and really

7:39

evaluating where there might be some

7:42

saving possibilities to me this is such

7:46

a valuable thing to do at least on an

7:49

annual

7:51

basis number three is going to be one

7:55

final Deep dive into some lovely mky

7:58

Waters which is I would encourage you to

8:02

take time deep diving into your clinical

8:07

and business

8:09

documentation I know this makes

8:11

everybody Grumble and you just want to

8:13

stop listening right now but hear me out

8:15

on this often times I think that

8:20

practice owners or team members so this

8:22

is not just for practice owners this is

8:25

also for team members that we just move

8:27

along with the assumption

8:30

that our documentation is good and I

8:33

think that is a very scary assumption to

8:37

me we need to ensure that our

8:39

documentation is good now you may have

8:42

some light auditing throughout the month

8:45

you may even do some deep auditing

8:47

throughout the month but use this end of

8:50

year beginning of year transition to

8:53

just select a handful of

8:56

charts I I'll say a double handful look

8:59

10 or 12 charts that you look through

9:02

look through the clinical note does it

9:04

make sense is everything there are there

9:08

good Ledger notes if somebody were to

9:10

log in and try to figure out a patient's

9:13

balance could they do so with a

9:15

documentation that's in The Ledger what

9:18

about communication notes whether that's

9:20

Comm log or any kind of office Journal

9:24

that your software has do we have a

9:27

track record of when we've contacted did

9:29

this patient have we made good notes of

9:32

those

9:33

conversations documentation is critical

9:36

guys I can't tell you how many times

9:39

people get in trouble because of poor

9:42

documentation and if we're just blindly

9:45

assuming that everything is okay that is

9:47

a risk that I would encourage you not to

9:50

take it is a really good time to do a

9:54

deep dive into your documentation and

9:57

make sure that things are up to par or

10:00

in Mya in my recommendation above par I

10:03

want you looking really squeaky clean on

10:06

documentation and I will do a Shameless

10:08

plug here one of the things that Dr Kuba

10:12

and I put together several years ago cuz

10:15

we saw this being such a weakness in

10:18

practices is we do have a fantastic

10:21

chart audit program where Dr Kuba and

10:24

another doctor on our team Dr Cavita

10:27

they actually log in remotely and they

10:30

do their own Deep dive into your charts

10:33

and give you a scorecard that shows

10:35

where your areas of weakness may be and

10:38

their suggestions for correcting those

10:41

weaknesses so I would encourage you to

10:43

take advantage of that if this makes

10:44

your stomach Grumble contact us and let

10:47

us do the dirty work for you so that we

10:49

can let you know where you need

10:52

work step number four or tip number four

10:56

is going to be you need to revisit your

10:58

Fe schedule if you're a client of mine

11:02

you know that I've been hounding you on

11:03

this this month and making

11:05

recommendations for you if you don't

11:08

have a consultant or coach you need to

11:10

take a look at your fee schedule and

11:12

make sure that your fee schedule is on

11:14

par for your particular area if you

11:18

haven't raised your fees in a year or

11:21

two there's a high likelihood that

11:23

you're behind the times and you need to

11:25

do a fee increase so take a minute to

11:28

look at your fee

11:29

compare it against competitors in your

11:32

area there's plenty of programs out

11:35

there that will do a zip code analysis

11:37

for you take the time to do that and

11:40

adjust your fees

11:42

accordingly tip number five is going to

11:45

be to take time and evaluate your

11:48

insurance contracts this should go hand

11:51

inand with evaluating your fee schedule

11:55

analysis you should also be looking at

11:57

your insurance contract who is short

12:00

paying you if your fee for a proy is

12:05

$100 then go through each contract that

12:08

you have with your insurance companies

12:10

the various insurance companies and see

12:12

what they're paying Delta might be

12:14

paying you $50 on your $100 Pro Fe Matti

12:18

might be paying you 56 Etna might be

12:21

paying you 42 H when's the last time

12:24

that you've really looked at those

12:25

insurance contracts and then when you

12:28

decide who is the lowest paying figure

12:31

out if there's something that you can do

12:33

with those contracts that may be

12:35

attempting to renegotiate with them to

12:38

get a higher fee schedule that may be

12:41

deciding to drop some of the low paying

12:43

ones again you got to be cautious with

12:47

either of those but if you've

12:49

got contracts with insurance companies

12:52

there is a high chance that they need to

12:55

be evaluated and you need to make

12:57

decisions on what you're going to do

12:59

with those contracts going forward so

13:01

don't just blindly move into 2025

13:05

assuming that your insurance contracts

13:06

are going to stay the same most of the

13:09

time there needs to be some type of edit

13:11

and now is the time to decide what those

13:14

edits are going to be so that was tip

13:17

number five tip number six is to me a

13:22

fun one this is what I do all day every

13:25

day and it's super fun for me I think

13:29

think it will be fun for you I want you

13:31

to find for 2024 your highest production

13:36

month so what was your standout

13:39

knockdown drag out amazing month of 2024

13:43

and then I also want you to find your

13:45

sad month what was the month that was

13:48

just low low low now if one of those low

13:52

months that you find was a month that

13:54

you were out of town for 10 days in that

13:57

month eliminate that find a month that

14:00

you were there and it was low so you're

14:02

looking for your highest producing month

14:04

and your lowest producing month and then

14:06

take some time to find the trends that

14:09

exist in each of those month what was it

14:13

about your high producing month that

14:14

made it so Stand Out was it that you had

14:17

a 100 new patients that month was it

14:19

that you had a really big case that put

14:22

you over the top was it that you just

14:25

saw more patience in that particular

14:28

month or maybe you saw more cash paying

14:31

patients in that particular month and

14:33

then on the flip side you want to look

14:35

at your low producing month and what was

14:38

it that made it so low producing once

14:41

you establish the trends in both the

14:44

high and the low month it gives you a

14:47

framework for putting into your goals

14:51

for 2025 what you need to do to actually

14:55

achieve higher producing months and what

14:59

you need to avoid to produce the to

15:02

avoid producing the low producing months

15:05

so have fun with that and deep dive into

15:08

it really look at all of the numbers to

15:10

see what it was that made those months

15:13

both high and

15:15

low number seven is I want you to then

15:20

set your financial goals for

15:24

2025 this sounds basic but I can't tell

15:27

you how many times I talk with a client

15:30

who hasn't done this or doesn't know how

15:33

to do this so when you look at your high

15:37

and low months you can then determine

15:40

what is possible for

15:42

2025 that may be that for 2025 you want

15:46

to hit your high month every month okay

15:49

well there is your financial goal for

15:51

2025 maybe when you've looked at the

15:53

trends of your high month for 2024 you

15:56

may realize that that is not

15:58

replicatable every month that's fine

16:01

what is achievable maybe you did have a

16:04

$10,000 case that pushed you over the

16:07

edge for that particular month well if

16:09

you take out that $10,000 case on your

16:12

really high producing month is that a

16:15

goal a monthly goal that would then get

16:18

you to a good annual amount so set your

16:21

goals and make it set in stone that

16:25

that's what you want to achieve for 2025

16:27

so set your financial goals you can

16:30

start that from a year standpoint or you

16:32

can start that from a monthly standpoint

16:35

you may say hey if I did my highest

16:37

producing month every month well then my

16:40

annual goal for 2025 would be fill in

16:43

the blank or it could be monthly you're

16:46

like hey we are making some changes with

16:48

insurance plans that take effect in

16:51

April so I know that my monthly goal can

16:54

go up in April so maybe I've got a lower

16:58

monthly goal in January February March

17:00

but April when we're officially out of

17:03

network with Delta I'm actually going to

17:05

increase that by 10% or 12% whatever you

17:08

want to do so set a course for your

17:11

financial goals for 2025 and again

17:14

document those and make those really

17:17

clear the next thing that I would want

17:20

you to do which is I don't even know

17:22

what number I'm on anymore but establish

17:26

your either new or revised bonus plan

17:29

for 2025 now if you're a practice that

17:33

doesn't have a bonus plan that's okay I

17:36

would encourage you to still figure out

17:40

how you want to entice your teammates or

17:43

your team to achieve the goals that have

17:46

been set before you so that may not be

17:48

an actual bonus plan where there's some

17:51

type of reward at the end of earning

17:54

that but you need to figure out how it's

17:56

going to be exciting and enticing could

17:59

that be something as simple as you've

18:01

got this beautiful thermometer goal

18:04

sheet in your break room and you're just

18:07

tracking how you're doing to hit your

18:09

monthly goal so you put your big monthly

18:11

goal at the top and you guys are

18:13

tracking that on a daily

18:15

basis could it be something as simple as

18:19

at the end of the month when we hit that

18:21

bonus we're going to do team potluck

18:24

together and we're going to have a an

18:26

extended lunch to be able to do team

18:28

potluck together so there can still be

18:31

goals and it doesn't necessarily have to

18:33

include a an official bonus now if

18:36

you're a practice and a team that has a

18:38

bonus plan then you need to figure out

18:41

did that work for us in 2024 and do we

18:44

want to keep the existing structure of

18:46

that bonus plan or do we want to edit

18:49

and revise it so that it is exciting

18:53

once again in

18:55

2025 I will say most times when you've

18:58

had a bone bonus plan the same bonus

19:00

plan in place for a 3 or 4 year period

19:03

of time sometimes you need to do

19:05

something to spice it up you might still

19:07

be able to keep the same structure but

19:10

maybe you throw in something extra on

19:13

top or maybe it's simply um making the

19:18

financial earning amount higher in the

19:22

third month or the third month of that

19:24

quarter so there's some things you can

19:26

still do to spice it up but you need to

19:28

take a hard look at your bonus plan for

19:30

2025 and make sure that there are no

19:32

changes you wish to make to that bonus

19:35

plan the next thing that I would

19:37

encourage you to do is to take some time

19:42

to decide for

19:44

yourself and for your team how are we

19:47

going to develop ourselves in

19:51

2025 so not only do we want the practice

19:54

hitting these great goals that we've set

19:58

not only are we going to be better at

20:01

controlling expenses we're going to be

20:03

better at documentation all these things

20:05

that we've talked about but how are we

20:07

going to professionally develop

20:11

ourselves in

20:13

2025 again if for those of you who have

20:15

worked with me you know this is a soap

20:17

box to me the dental profession is a

20:20

high calling it is a health care

20:23

profession that requires us to be our

20:26

best and if we are not putting effort

20:29

into being our best then to me we are

20:32

doing a disservice to the dental

20:34

profession so we need to take some time

20:37

to decide what are we personally doing

20:40

to enhance our

20:43

professionalism in

20:45

20125 does that mean that we have a list

20:47

of books that we're planning to read do

20:50

we have podcasts that we have lined up

20:52

for 2025 do we have some conferences

20:55

that we're going to sharpening our

20:59

skills requires effort we're not just

21:02

going to show up to work do the same old

21:05

thing every day day in day out and

21:07

somehow get sharper in the process

21:10

becoming a sharper better professional

21:14

requires effort and so you need to

21:16

decide now what you're going to be doing

21:19

in 2025 to become a sharper professional

21:22

a better professional so you need to

21:26

figure that out now I'll do another

21:29

Shameless plug here and say that Dr CP

21:31

and I have put so much time and energy

21:34

and effort into providing you with

21:36

resources to become a better

21:39

professional we have both our Consulting

21:42

crash course which is a phenomenal one

21:46

OFA kind this is not done anywhere else

21:50

course where you can bring your team to

21:53

the Dallas area spend two entire days

21:57

with myself and Dr Kuba and we are going

22:00

to be looking through every aspect of

22:02

your Prof practice and professional

22:05

career and we are going to be looking at

22:07

how you can sharpen your skills as a

22:09

professional and as a team and how you

22:12

can have a fantastic game plan for

22:15

becoming a fantastic practice and team

22:18

so we've got the crash course and we've

22:20

got the subscription which is so

22:23

inexpensive so simple to subscribe and

22:27

to have each month inspiration and

22:30

practical steps to take to become a

22:32

better professional so whether it's a

22:34

Consulting crash course the managing

22:36

Dental drama subscription or whatever

22:39

else you decide to do I don't care what

22:41

it is but do something to sharpen your

22:43

skills in

22:45

2025 last tip I want you to take some

22:49

time before this year comes to an end to

22:53

just stop and count your blessings we

22:56

don't do this enough uh especially as we

22:59

move into the hustle and bustle of

23:01

2025 we are notoriously terrible at

23:06

finding things that we're thankful for

23:09

so I want you to stop as this year 2024

23:12

comes to a close just pause count your

23:15

blessings see how far you can get I'm

23:17

not even not even going to put a limit

23:19

to it I'm going to say that you should

23:21

at least be able to come up with 50 60

23:24

70 things that you're thankful for for

23:27

in 2024 even of 2024 was hard take the

23:31

time to stop and count your blessings

23:34

the fact that you're listening to this

23:36

podcast right now means that you have

23:38

ears with which to listen be grateful

23:41

you've got a device with which you're

23:44

listening on be grateful you've got a

23:47

career that yes couldn't be hard at

23:50

times but you've got a career that earns

23:53

you a wage and earns you a way to live

23:56

be grateful find things things to be

23:59

grateful for as this year comes to a

24:01

close and I find that if you will do

24:04

that I hope that it will Propel you into

24:09

2025 with a heart of gratitude and we

24:12

can do so much in 2025 if we have a good

24:16

starting point which is that of

24:18

gratitude and

24:20

contentment and yes contentment is not

24:22

settling for where we are it's just

24:24

being grateful for where we're at and

24:26

grateful for where we're going to get to

24:28

go go in

24:29

2025 so I hope you'll take these top 10

24:33

tips these are my tips for you do each

24:36

of them don't don't Sid step any of them

24:39

step into each of these top 10 tips and

24:42

do them it may not happen overnight it

24:44

may not happen in the next few days but

24:46

over the course of the next couple weeks

24:48

take time to do these top 10 tips and

24:51

let us know if we can help you with any

24:53

of them happy new

24:56

year thanks for joining the conversation

24:59

today we hope that you are comforted in

25:01

knowing that you are not alone but we

25:04

also hope that you're walking away with

25:06

some really great tips and tricks to try

25:08

in your

25:09

practice we value your feedback so

25:12

please take a few moments to rate and

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review the podcast finally we want to

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make sure that we're covering the topics

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us know what topics you want us to cover

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as always please know that we are

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rooting for you today as you manage your

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dental drama