In a difficult economy, it’s more important than ever to re-examine the key factors that drive ortho production. Focusing on the following areas can increase orthodontists’ profitability while at the same time enhance patient care. 

1) Doctor Referrals

Adding one top referring doctor can increase practice production by $100,000 to $250,000. A consistent, ongoing referral marketing program can contribute millions to your bottom line over the course of a career.

2) Patient Referrals

Patients are usually happy to refer friends and family. A strong patient referral program makes this happen. Incentive plans, patient testimonials, scripting, messages on patient correspondence, brochures, mailers, a Web site—all of these things drive patient referrals.

3) Starts

Employ a well-trained treatment coordinator and aim to have 90% of your consultation patients accept treatment. A treatment coordinator can do one thing that an orthodontist cannot do—talk about the excellent skills of the orthodontist and create a transfer of trust, which can serve to increase starts.
 
4) Observation Patients

Observation patients are your future production. The more observation patients you have and the more you can convert over time, the higher your practice production will be. Start bringing siblings of your patients in as early as possible for ongoing, no-cost observation.

5) On-Time Debonds

Debonding always seems to pose scheduling problems for orthodontic practices. Practices should aim for a goal of no more than 2% of patients who are overdue for debonding. Make sure patients and parents are called when their debonding appointments are past due. Also, confirm debonding appointments in advance. Overdue debonds will affect your ability to see other patients and compromise production.

Roger P. Levin, DDS

Orthodontic Products’ readers are entitled to receive a 20% courtesy on Dr. Levin’s Total Ortho Success™ Seminar scheduled for June 17-18 in Las Vegas. To receive this courtesy, call (888) 973-0000 and mention “Ortho Products” or e-mail [email protected] with “Ortho Products” in the subject line.