By SoftwarePundit

In order to be successful, dentists can't simply focus on providing excellent health care -- you also need to know how to run a profitable practice. Like any other small business owner, you'll need to monitor certain KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) to understand your dental practice's performance. Tracking these metrics will not only enable you to identify opportunities for improvement, but also help drive data-driven decisions that will ultimately result in better care for your patients.

What are some important KPIs for dental practices to monitor?

Hygiene pre-appointment rate

This is often considered to be one of the most important KPIs for dental practices to monitor. Hygiene visits are important, not only because they typically generate about 25%-30% of a practice's production, but also because they give you the opportunity to diagnose any issues, and keep patients healthier, and engaged with your practice.

Target: 85%-90%

Treatment case acceptance rate

Ultimately, it's important that patients agree to the treatment plans that you present. Not only does this ensure that patients are receiving the best care possible, but it also plays an important role in improving your practice's bottom line.

Target: According to Dental Intelligence, the top 10% of dental practices have 90% of patients saying yes to a component of the treatment plan presented.

Appointment no-show rate, cancellation rate

Patients can decide to cancel or not show up for their appointment for a variety of reasons. Though some appointments will inevitably be broken due to unforeseen circumstances, there's a lot that dental practices can do to minimize no-shows and cancelled appointments.

Target: <10%

New patients per month

Every dental practice needs a steady flow of new patients in order to compensate for the natural patient attrition rate that will occur. However, it's also important to keep in mind that by strictly acquiring patients without having a strong patient retention strategy will result in new patients who never return to your practice. For this reason, you should prioritize patient retention first, and then focus on acquiring new patients if you still have additional capacity.

Target: ~25+ per month per doctor

Analyze how changes to KPIs can impact your practice

These are just some examples of KPIs that are important to your dental practice. To visualize and quantify how certain changes to some of these KPIs can impact your practice, you can check out this Dental Simulator Tool.

Once you've selected a few KPIs that you believe are important, and begin analyzing your practice's performance, you'll likely identify opportunities for improvement. Armed with this information, you can create a strategy to improve your performance on these metrics, and then to test your strategy to make sure that your approach is working. By measuring your performance, and taking the appropriate actions to improve, you'll ensure that your practice is constantly growing.

About SoftwarePundit

SoftwarePundit is a technology research firm that provides advice, information and tools to help dental practices thrive. Visit SoftwarePundit to read in-depth reviews of the top dental software vendors. To read the full version of this article, visit SoftwarePundit.com.

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