This is the year someone is staying and someone is leaving in Washington. It will get better, or it won’t. It’s happened before, and it will happen again. The problem is, every time it happens you start trying to figure out what to do. Back in 1985 I built a new building with 10 ops. We had almost 4,000 square feet to fill with new ...
Read MoreDave, it’s good to hear from you. I hope my reply to your question helps. Any input on Delta Dental refusing to pay for crowns? For the last month they are refusing to pay for crowns; we have never had this issue before. I spoke to 3 other dentists that confirmed our experience. I am checking with some of the bigger groups to see if they ...
Read MoreThe Fulfillment Curve The Fulfillment Curve is one of the main tenets of a great book called Your Money Or Your Life by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin. Rather than attempt to explain it myself, I’ve included below a summary that I believe does a great job of making the authors’ main point. The Fulfillment Curve shows the relationship ...
Read MoreThroughout my years as a dental consultant/coach, I have encountered a wide range of attitudes from dentists related to what I like to call “contentment and purpose”. Let me explain……. Contentment is defined in the dictionary as “the state of being content; satisfied”. Purpose is defined as “the reason for which ...
Read MoreI just got off the phone with a doctor who had too much experience, too little situational awareness, and a complete aversion to implementing change. This was the good part of the call. He had contacted me to go over his numbers, P&L, and schedule and asked that I offer some insight to the “state of the union”for his practice. ...
Read MoreThe short answer is absolutely maybe. It always starts with a short email from a doctor asking me how to structure his/her bonus. I always answer: “Give me a call, because it will take too long to type it, and you will end up sending me six more emails all starting with “Yea but, what about ….?”. It happened again so I decided ...
Read MoreOccasionally you have an epiphany (I call it a brain fart) when answering a common question. In the process of just visiting over the phone with a young doctor, he said something that gave me pause. In a month that was his personal best, I asked why he had such a large increase in new patients. In thinking back,he said that a doctor down ...
Read MoreSteven Covey in “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” identifies the number one trait to make you successful in any endeavor: “Begin with the end in mind”. In other words, if you can define, or create a picture of where you want to be you will shorten the path and define the result. The same is true in overhead. Your overhead ...
Read MoreLIFE IN FIVE SHORT CHAPTERS: A Consultants view of the Doctors we work with. I walk down the street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I fall in. I am lost. I am helpless. It isn’t my fault. I can’t believe I’m in this place. It takes me forever to find my way out. I walk down the same street. There is a deep ...
Read MoreI was in an office the other day speaking with the staff and Doctor. The Doctor’s wife also works in the office a couple of days a week. While observing the office and strategizing how they could take it up a notch or two, I was hit with the fact that this office, like many others, had one employee that was going to make changes ...
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