Biomedical subjects

Roger Levin

Publications and source records attributed to Roger Levin.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

Leverage in dentistry.

Leverage is a powerful tool that can make a tremendous difference in the satisfaction and lifetime production of most dentists. Dentists typically do not use leverage properly, and as a result, the entire burden of the practice constantly falls on their shoulders. It is difficult for dentists to practice dentistry and handle administrative issues at the same time. Doing so leads to decreased production and increased stress. As an interesting exercise, try the following: take a stopwatch and time how long you are involved in direct patient care during the course of a day. Performing this exercise will be a true revelation in understanding the importance of leverage.

Delegation, Professional↗

PubMed2005

Practice progress.

This column is not based on wishful thinking about how things should be, but rather is a candid look at the reality of everyday practice. Prioritization is critical. Each dentist should select three to five major initiatives that he or she would like to achieve and prioritize these accordingly. The best approach for most practices is to deal with each of these only one or two at a time. Consider scoring each priority on a scale of one to 10 (one being the lowest, 10 the highest), gauging its overall importance, its potential effect on the practice and whether it helps achieve preset practice goals.

Efficiency, Organizational↗

PubMed2005

Measuring patient satisfaction.

Many businesses use customer satisfaction surveys successfully. You may notice that you find one in almost every restaurant or hotel room. I do not think it is a coincidence that the hotel industry provides some of the finest customer service available. When it comes to providing excellent customer service, dental practices can learn from businesses that regularly assess customer satisfaction.

Data Collection↗

PubMed2005

The challenge of esthetic dentistry and elective services.

Many dentists would like to increase the number of esthetic and elective procedures they perform. What may be holding them back is the ability to communicate with, educate and motivate patients in the area of esthetic and elective dentistry. While implants, esthetic dentistry or elective dentistry is not for every patient, each of these areas has improved the quality of many people's lives, allowing the dental profession to continue to serve the public in the broadest possible way.

Communication↗

PubMed2005

Leadership and team building.

Leadership is not something that can be done once. It's not a procedure that is performed and then you are all set. It is a way of thinking and acting--an hourly, daily and annual activity based on desire, skills, training and specific behaviors. Dentists who are willing to spend a small amount of time focused on leadership inevitably will build better teams with lower turnover and higher efficiency.

Dental Staff↗

PubMed2005

Productive use of office time.

Anything that takes the dentist away from patients must be addressed and, when appropriate, delegated to others. A practitioner's time is too precious to be doing tasks others can effectively and efficiently perform. Look first to staff members and then to advisers and outsource providers when deciding how to delegate various tasks. Once a practice begins to take administrative responsibilities away from the practitioner, chairside time will increase, patient care and customer service will be enhanced, and the practice will have greater growth potential.

Delegation, Professional↗

PubMed2004

Action planning and accountability.

The truth is that no plan survives its collision with reality. The best plan does not guarantee that the dentist will not go over budget on building a new practice or run into unexpected obstacles in integrating a new software into the practice. The best plan does not guarantee that goals will be met precisely on schedule. What a plan does guarantee is that the dentist has provided the practice with the best opportunity to achieve goals on time and within budget by executive analyzing and charting a clear path toward success. Smart businesses understand the process of vision clarification of vision clarification and goal setting, but do not stop there. Smart businesses define clear AP&A systems that effectively chart a path toward goal attainment, then proceed to implement that plan and monitor progress toward goals. In instances in which information becomes available indicating the plan needs to be revised, corrective action is taken and appropriate changes are made.

Financial Management↗

PubMed2004

Maximizing the physical use of the office.

When referring to the physical plant in a dental practice, I am referring mainly to the use of dental chairs, because this is where dental practice production occurs. By maximizing the use of chairs or adding the necessary number of chairs to a practice, any office can grow and experience a proper patient flow. Since most offices have significantly high rates of no-shows, last-minute cancellations and overdue patients, the potential for growth is enormous. By using the schedule and chairs properly, the office has the opportunity to maximize production, create convenient appointments for patients and significantly increase practice profitability.

Dental Equipment↗

PubMed2004

Evaluating your office staff.

The most important assets in a dental practice are the people. We no longer live in an era in which an employee stays in the same job for decades. Change is inevitable and often comes at inopportune times. Evaluation gives the dentist the opportunity to identify key team members who will join the core team and train new staff members. Conversely, executive evaluation also demonstrates that there may not be a proper fit for a team member, if he or she cannot demonstrate the ability to grow and change with a practice despite support, training and career path development. As author Alvin Toffler noted, "The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read or write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn."

Dental Staff↗

PubMed2004

Is the dentist an entrepreneur? Yes and no.

Although dentists may have an entrepreneurial spirit, they are not true entrepreneurs. Simply by selecting dentistry as a profession, dentists have engaged in a business that has a high level of success and limited growth potential. By limited growth potential, I do not mean to imply that practices cannot be successful and create excellent lifestyles for dentists. As stated above, they will be limited in growth by the physical capacity of the dentist, the team and the facilities. There is a great deal of security in dental practice if basic management principles are followed and business systems are put in place. In my next column, I will continue to explore the similarities and differences between entrepreneurs and dentists, and how a dentist can take a practice through the multiple stages necessary to achieve the highest levels of dental practice success.

Entrepreneurship↗

PubMed2004

Return on investment.

Return on investment is an excellent mechanism for evaluating large practice purchasing decisions. Whether you are purchasing a new practice, opening an office, building a new facility, recruiting an associate or adding technology, the issue that always should be evaluated is whether the investment will create a positive return for the practice and, if so, in what period. While most dental investments actually provide a positive return on investment within 12 months, larger investments, such as purchasing a practice or opening new offices, may require several years to gain a positive return. They still may be good decisions. At the very least, return-on-investment considerations allow dentists to evaluate options from a business-plan perspective, rather than simply making uninformed decisions.

Capital Expenditures↗

PubMed2004

The correlation between dental practice management and clinical excellence.

Efficient practice management is about much more than prof itability. It is about educating and motivating patients to achieve optimum oral health by incorporating the best business methodologies and systems into the management of all practice operations. Effective practice management cannot be accomplished without gaining the over-whelming satisfaction and trust of every patient. This can be achieved only through excellence of care and by achieving the high professional standards that dentistry currently demands.

Dental Care↗

PubMed2004

Managing time.

As you can see from these examples, there are many factors that must be considered in the relationship between time management and practice production. However, it is important to understand that there is a direct correlation among various factors--including how time is used, which services are provided, the volume of services provided and other factors--in establishing a practice with excellent financial results. As always, dentistry is about excellent patient care, but it still is important for the dentist and team to examine the day-to-day use of time and its effect on the business side of the practice.

Appointments and Schedules↗

PubMed2004

Employee incentive programs.

One great benefit of employee incentive programs is that they connect team compensation with practice performance. Options are always available to keep the incentive programs exciting and motivating. The key is to understand the goal and to put in place the employee incentive program that works for your practice.

Employee Incentive Plans↗

PubMed2004

Inventory management.

As dentistry continues to evolve, the best management systems of the business world need to be incorporated into each practice. As always, my goal in these columns is to bring and modify the best business principles available to readers of The Journal of the American Dental Association. Just in Time ordering and inventory control is one of the best, as evidenced by the fact that top-performing companies worldwide have adopted it.

Cost Control↗

PubMed2004

Collections and financial controls.

There is a reason why most businesses manage fees and money very closely with specific guidelines. It is not to be inflexible, but rather to establish excellent financial controls to ensure that the financial health of the business (or practice) remains strong while achieving outstanding customer (or patient) satisfaction.

Humans↗

PubMed2004

Get the right people 'on the bus'.

Core teams should be created deliberately and systematically by the practice, rather than left to chance. The ultimate benefit of a core team is that it allows a practice to reach the highest percentiles of production at a low level of stress, without having to maintain all team members indefinitely. The core team acts as the training organization in all aspects of a new team member's experience in the practice, giving that person the best opportunity to become part of the core team.

Humans↗

PubMed2004

Inventory control.

By establishing clear inventory ordering targets and following the guidelines outlined in this column, the staff member handling the process will understand the high and low levels of inventory control and be able to maintain an accurate system. Inventory control represents approximately 6 to 8 percent of practice purchasing. The main goal of the advice in this column is not to reduce the cost, unless there is waste involved, but rather to establish a process that allows the practice to purchase supplies on a regular basis, avoid mistakes and maintain a steady expense level.

Dental Equipment↗