{"id":11276,"date":"2023-05-05T06:00:21","date_gmt":"2023-05-05T11:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cainwatters.com\/digitalblogs\/?p=11276"},"modified":"2023-07-12T11:08:41","modified_gmt":"2023-07-12T16:08:41","slug":"manage-higher-dental-practice-staff-salaries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cainwatters.com\/digitalblogs\/manage-higher-dental-practice-staff-salaries\/","title":{"rendered":"Stop Fighting\u2014and Start Managing\u2014Higher Staff Salaries"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Why accepting higher staffing costs is key to keeping profits intact<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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If your dental practice hasn\u2019t experienced major staffing challenges over the last year or two, consider yourself lucky. The entire industry is feeling the staffing squeeze and has been since 2021. No specialty is immune, but general practitioners are especially affected, as hygienists are proving to be one of the toughest roles to fill.<\/p>

Making these labor pains worse, rapid inflation and a continued strong demand for dental services have driven salaries higher. This means it\u2019s not only taking dentists longer to find quality front office, chairside assistants and, of course, hygienists, but the cost to keep them is driving profits down in many practices.<\/p>

\u201cWhat the dental industry is experiencing right now is a classic supply and demand issue,\u201d says Scott Clynch<\/span><\/a>, CPA. \u201cSupply of dental staff is down, but demand for dental services is up. It\u2019s market forces at work.\u201d<\/p>

Still, many dentists are fighting the tide of rising wages, holding out for that rare individual who is really good at what they do, and won\u2019t demand an arm and a leg to do it.<\/p>

According to Scott, it might be time for dentists to stop fighting the rising wage tide and start paying more to get their team filled with good people. While this approach might seem counterintuitive, it doesn\u2019t mean dentists have to throw in the towel on profitability.<\/p>

So what should dental owners do to keep profits intact while staffing costs keep increasing? Scott suggests a three-pronged strategy, starting with a healthy dose of acceptance.<\/p>

\u201cFirst thing is to accept the fact that you\u2019re going to be paying more for staffing,\u2019 says Scott. \u201cAs an accountant, that is not something I like to tell my clients, but that\u2019s where we are, unfortunately.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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\u201cThe market dictates what is fair, and the market is dictating that a $5 an hour increase for front desk and chairside or an $8 to $10 increase for hygiene is fair,\u201d added Scott. \u201cAs frustrating as that may be, dentists that don\u2019t accept that are going to lose out on candidates, and possibly their current staff, because they\u2019ll go down the street to a dentist or DSO that will pay it.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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With many dental practices pushing appointments out six months or more, filling those open roles faster with higher quality candidates is key to taking full advantage of this period of higher demand.<\/p>

\u201cNext thing we\u2019re telling our clients is to continue raising fees to keep up with the rising overhead,\u201d says Scott. \u201cAgain, this is simply market forces at work, so your patients are much more apt to accept that your fees are going up again.\u201d<\/p>

The third strategy, and\u00a0 the trickiest one to execute according to Scott, is to take a hard look at In-Network insurance plans with an eye toward re-negotiating reimbursement amounts<\/span><\/a>, paring down or even moving away completely from those commitments, depending on the specific client situation.<\/p>

\u201cThe fact that insurance reimbursements have not kept up with the higher operating costs means owners are having their profits squeezed out of their practices,\u201d says Scott. \u201cWe\u2019ve been working with our clients closely to help determine if\/when the time is right to make changes with in-network insurance plans, as this is often the only way to make those higher fees result in higher profit.\u201d<\/p>

In fact, Scott feels that the higher operating costs dental practices are experiencing are accelerating the shift away from insurance.<\/p>

\u201cI think more and more patients are going to start seeing their dentists no longer accept their insurance,\u201d says Scott. \u201cWhen done the right way, going out of network can pay big dividends for practice owners in terms of profitability.\u201d<\/p>

The \u201cright\u201d way to unwind from insurance is unique to every practice, and Scott says it\u2019s important for dentists not to try to go it alone.<\/p>

\u201cThere\u2019s a strategic way to remove yourself from your insurance, knowing which ones to let go and when,\u201d says Scott. \u201cThere\u2019s also training needed to educate staff on how to effectively communicate to patients, so they don\u2019t have a negative reaction.\u201d<\/p>

Scott highly recommends talking to an advisor to determine when you may need to transition your practice away from insurance. CWA can help make sure you approach the process with a clear 360-degree view of your practice, from your financials to the intangibles.<\/p>

For more insights into staff wages and transitioning away from insurance, check out this episode.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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