2024 Top Ten for Year End

The spotlight is on Bethany today as she focuses on her top ten suggestions, tips, and reminders for the loyal listeners of Managing Dental Drama. She reminds practice owners to put time, energy, and attention into plans and preparation for 2025. In order for 2025 to feel successful, a thoughtful reflection on 2024 is in order. She starts with reminding listeners of the importance of the nitty-gritty. Details matter! It’s the perfect time of year to deep dive into expenses and documentation. It is also important to thoroughly evaluate the trends of 2024 so that 2025 goals can be set accordingly. She encourages listeners to do the hard work of self, team, and practice improvement. Plus, so much more! Get ready for 20 minutes of practical tips! 

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Previous Episode Worth Revisiting:
Dr. Kuba’s Top Ten for Year End

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Transcript

hey Bethany is this me I'm talking

0:02

to you hey I love this new MDD stuff

0:06

you've got going on managing Dental

0:09

dummies I'm really grateful you've got

0:11

this digest that can help all of us and

0:14

get us through the weeds and out on the

0:17

other side ahead and forging forward

0:20

managing Dental drama and dummies sign

0:23

up

0:25

today are you looking for a podcast

0:28

where you can hear from real people

0:30

regarding their real Dental drama if so

0:33

then you've come to the right place join

0:36

hosts Bethany Penny and Dr Reena Kuba as

0:39

we dive into the solutions we've created

0:42

and the mistakes we've made while

0:44

managing Dental

0:46

drama let's get started hello managing

0:49

Dental drama Community I cannot believe

0:53

that we are at the end of

0:55

2024 so happy early New Year to you guys

0:58

I hope you guys had a great great

1:00

holiday over this last week I am ringing

1:04

in the end of this year with our annual

1:08

top 10 for year end and so I have put

1:12

together a list of 10 things that I

1:14

would encourage you to do as you near

1:17

the end of this year you've got

1:19

hopefully a couple more days of

1:21

relaxation ahead of you and if you don't

1:24

then you definitely need to make time to

1:27

tackle these top 10 suggestions

1:30

so I'm going to Dive Right In and I will

1:32

warn you that the first three may not

1:35

sound like the most fun things to do but

1:38

they're absolutely essential in my mind

1:41

so stick with me don't don't leave me in

1:45

the first three if you feel like it

1:46

sounds really boring I think that these

1:48

things are all important and I wanted to

1:51

start with very first is scrutinizing

1:57

your credit card receipts so the first

2:00

thing is taking a deeper look at your

2:04

credit card expenses now at first glance

2:08

you may think that sounds stupid or

2:12

maybe you glance over your credit card

2:14

receipts on a monthly basis that's great

2:17

but I want you to actually look deeply

2:19

into a few credit card

2:22

receipts even if you do a once over it

2:25

is important to look at each and every

2:28

expense and you're really asking

2:31

yourself do I still need this maybe it's

2:33

a monthly subscription I do this every

2:37

few months with my husband he looks over

2:40

the credit card receipts for the

2:41

business every month and then every few

2:44

months we will sit down and I'll say

2:46

okay let's go through every line item

2:49

and make sure that it's something that

2:50

we still need so it could be a

2:52

subscription it could be something that

2:56

you realize that you're paying for that

2:59

may

3:00

there's a way to cut that out that could

3:02

be something as simple as at the office

3:05

you're paying for both Netflix and Hulu

3:09

could you just go with Netflix or could

3:12

you do some type of package deal and

3:15

rework that so that it makes more sense

3:18

on a monthly basis maybe you're paying

3:21

for window washing that occurs a few

3:25

times a month and you realize that your

3:27

windows look sparkly clean all the time

3:30

maybe you could cut that back to a

3:32

couple times a month it could be that

3:34

you're paying the same amount to your

3:37

lawn crew even though they don't work in

3:39

the months of November December January

3:42

maybe you can cut that back so it's not

3:45

just looking at recurring charges it's

3:48

also looking at do I still need this

3:52

particular service

3:53

item sometimes what you will find is

3:56

that you're surprised that a charge came

3:59

through on your credit card it was

4:01

either something that you did not

4:02

authorize or something that you thought

4:04

you had already cancelled but that that

4:07

payment or that charge is still coming

4:09

through so it's it's Illuminating almost

4:13

every time you do it we do it quarterly

4:16

uh with myself and my husband and every

4:18

time I'm like oh gosh I didn't realize

4:20

that that was still coming through so I

4:23

think at the end of the year if you

4:24

haven't deeply scrutinized your credit

4:26

cards receipts pick a couple two or

4:29

three from this year and just go through

4:32

I would recommend the more recent ones

4:33

don't necessarily feel like you have to

4:35

go back to January of 2024 but maybe you

4:38

look at September October November and

4:40

do a deep dive into those if nothing

4:43

else pick one of them and at least look

4:45

and ask yourself questions you can

4:48

actually have the paper copy in hand and

4:50

highlight certain things that you want

4:52

to look further into or you can

4:55

electronically keep track of things that

4:57

you just have further questions about

4:59

out and if you've got business team

5:02

members that utilize their own business

5:05

card or they utilize your business card

5:08

then you may have questions for them as

5:10

well so that's step number

5:13

one doesn't sound fun but just trust me

5:16

it's going to be worth your time number

5:19

two is similar but slightly different so

5:22

not all of our expenses come through

5:25

credit cards we still have plenty of

5:28

expenses that go out out in other ways

5:31

so I surely hope that you have a great

5:35

CPA that you utilize to help track

5:38

expenses it is worth taking time to

5:40

scrutinize all expenses looking at

5:44

things as simple as what does my utility

5:46

bill look like is there any way to

5:49

reduce that what does my rent look like

5:53

I know that often times that is

5:55

immovable but is there anything that we

5:58

can do to possibly

6:00

look at that rental rate again or do I

6:03

have my lease negotiation coming up do I

6:06

need to start thinking about that you

6:09

could look at things like your Dental

6:10

Supplies your lab expenses your

6:14

marketing what are you spending in each

6:16

of those categories and does that

6:19

expense need to go up or come down and

6:22

you might be wondering why would

6:24

something go up well something like

6:26

marketing might need to go up as you

6:28

think about your goals and dreams for

6:31

2025 if you're only spending a couple

6:34

hundred a month in marketing that may be

6:36

an area where you need to notch up the

6:38

spending and if so you may need to notch

6:42

down the spending in another category

6:45

something like eating out team lunches

6:48

which you know I know are fun and

6:51

exciting but maybe you can cut back

6:54

slightly in your eating out expense or

6:58

maybe if you run some of your vehicle

7:00

expenses through the business maybe

7:02

you're realizing that your dental I mean

7:05

not your dental your car insurance has

7:07

gone up and you're wondering when did

7:09

that happen and what can I do about that

7:11

is it time to re-evaluate how much I'm

7:13

spending on insurance so take time over

7:18

these next few weeks to really deep dive

7:21

into your expenses and that could be

7:23

just a report that you're going through

7:25

from your CPA often times they'll send

7:28

you an expense report report or a profit

7:30

and loss report and you can go through

7:32

that in great detail if you do your own

7:35

books then that's just going back

7:37

through all of your expenses and really

7:39

evaluating where there might be some

7:42

saving possibilities to me this is such

7:46

a valuable thing to do at least on an

7:49

annual

7:51

basis number three is going to be one

7:55

final Deep dive into some lovely mky

7:58

Waters which is I would encourage you to

8:02

take time deep diving into your clinical

8:07

and business

8:09

documentation I know this makes

8:11

everybody Grumble and you just want to

8:13

stop listening right now but hear me out

8:15

on this often times I think that

8:20

practice owners or team members so this

8:22

is not just for practice owners this is

8:25

also for team members that we just move

8:27

along with the assumption

8:30

that our documentation is good and I

8:33

think that is a very scary assumption to

8:37

me we need to ensure that our

8:39

documentation is good now you may have

8:42

some light auditing throughout the month

8:45

you may even do some deep auditing

8:47

throughout the month but use this end of

8:50

year beginning of year transition to

8:53

just select a handful of

8:56

charts I I'll say a double handful look

8:59

10 or 12 charts that you look through

9:02

look through the clinical note does it

9:04

make sense is everything there are there

9:08

good Ledger notes if somebody were to

9:10

log in and try to figure out a patient's

9:13

balance could they do so with a

9:15

documentation that's in The Ledger what

9:18

about communication notes whether that's

9:20

Comm log or any kind of office Journal

9:24

that your software has do we have a

9:27

track record of when we've contacted did

9:29

this patient have we made good notes of

9:32

those

9:33

conversations documentation is critical

9:36

guys I can't tell you how many times

9:39

people get in trouble because of poor

9:42

documentation and if we're just blindly

9:45

assuming that everything is okay that is

9:47

a risk that I would encourage you not to

9:50

take it is a really good time to do a

9:54

deep dive into your documentation and

9:57

make sure that things are up to par or

10:00

in Mya in my recommendation above par I

10:03

want you looking really squeaky clean on

10:06

documentation and I will do a Shameless

10:08

plug here one of the things that Dr Kuba

10:12

and I put together several years ago cuz

10:15

we saw this being such a weakness in

10:18

practices is we do have a fantastic

10:21

chart audit program where Dr Kuba and

10:24

another doctor on our team Dr Cavita

10:27

they actually log in remotely and they

10:30

do their own Deep dive into your charts

10:33

and give you a scorecard that shows

10:35

where your areas of weakness may be and

10:38

their suggestions for correcting those

10:41

weaknesses so I would encourage you to

10:43

take advantage of that if this makes

10:44

your stomach Grumble contact us and let

10:47

us do the dirty work for you so that we

10:49

can let you know where you need

10:52

work step number four or tip number four

10:56

is going to be you need to revisit your

10:58

Fe schedule if you're a client of mine

11:02

you know that I've been hounding you on

11:03

this this month and making

11:05

recommendations for you if you don't

11:08

have a consultant or coach you need to

11:10

take a look at your fee schedule and

11:12

make sure that your fee schedule is on

11:14

par for your particular area if you

11:18

haven't raised your fees in a year or

11:21

two there's a high likelihood that

11:23

you're behind the times and you need to

11:25

do a fee increase so take a minute to

11:28

look at your fee

11:29

compare it against competitors in your

11:32

area there's plenty of programs out

11:35

there that will do a zip code analysis

11:37

for you take the time to do that and

11:40

adjust your fees

11:42

accordingly tip number five is going to

11:45

be to take time and evaluate your

11:48

insurance contracts this should go hand

11:51

inand with evaluating your fee schedule

11:55

analysis you should also be looking at

11:57

your insurance contract who is short

12:00

paying you if your fee for a proy is

12:05

$100 then go through each contract that

12:08

you have with your insurance companies

12:10

the various insurance companies and see

12:12

what they're paying Delta might be

12:14

paying you $50 on your $100 Pro Fe Matti

12:18

might be paying you 56 Etna might be

12:21

paying you 42 H when's the last time

12:24

that you've really looked at those

12:25

insurance contracts and then when you

12:28

decide who is the lowest paying figure

12:31

out if there's something that you can do

12:33

with those contracts that may be

12:35

attempting to renegotiate with them to

12:38

get a higher fee schedule that may be

12:41

deciding to drop some of the low paying

12:43

ones again you got to be cautious with

12:47

either of those but if you've

12:49

got contracts with insurance companies

12:52

there is a high chance that they need to

12:55

be evaluated and you need to make

12:57

decisions on what you're going to do

12:59

with those contracts going forward so

13:01

don't just blindly move into 2025

13:05

assuming that your insurance contracts

13:06

are going to stay the same most of the

13:09

time there needs to be some type of edit

13:11

and now is the time to decide what those

13:14

edits are going to be so that was tip

13:17

number five tip number six is to me a

13:22

fun one this is what I do all day every

13:25

day and it's super fun for me I think

13:29

think it will be fun for you I want you

13:31

to find for 2024 your highest production

13:36

month so what was your standout

13:39

knockdown drag out amazing month of 2024

13:43

and then I also want you to find your

13:45

sad month what was the month that was

13:48

just low low low now if one of those low

13:52

months that you find was a month that

13:54

you were out of town for 10 days in that

13:57

month eliminate that find a month that

14:00

you were there and it was low so you're

14:02

looking for your highest producing month

14:04

and your lowest producing month and then

14:06

take some time to find the trends that

14:09

exist in each of those month what was it

14:13

about your high producing month that

14:14

made it so Stand Out was it that you had

14:17

a 100 new patients that month was it

14:19

that you had a really big case that put

14:22

you over the top was it that you just

14:25

saw more patience in that particular

14:28

month or maybe you saw more cash paying

14:31

patients in that particular month and

14:33

then on the flip side you want to look

14:35

at your low producing month and what was

14:38

it that made it so low producing once

14:41

you establish the trends in both the

14:44

high and the low month it gives you a

14:47

framework for putting into your goals

14:51

for 2025 what you need to do to actually

14:55

achieve higher producing months and what

14:59

you need to avoid to produce the to

15:02

avoid producing the low producing months

15:05

so have fun with that and deep dive into

15:08

it really look at all of the numbers to

15:10

see what it was that made those months

15:13

both high and

15:15

low number seven is I want you to then

15:20

set your financial goals for

15:24

2025 this sounds basic but I can't tell

15:27

you how many times I talk with a client

15:30

who hasn't done this or doesn't know how

15:33

to do this so when you look at your high

15:37

and low months you can then determine

15:40

what is possible for

15:42

2025 that may be that for 2025 you want

15:46

to hit your high month every month okay

15:49

well there is your financial goal for

15:51

2025 maybe when you've looked at the

15:53

trends of your high month for 2024 you

15:56

may realize that that is not

15:58

replicatable every month that's fine

16:01

what is achievable maybe you did have a

16:04

$10,000 case that pushed you over the

16:07

edge for that particular month well if

16:09

you take out that $10,000 case on your

16:12

really high producing month is that a

16:15

goal a monthly goal that would then get

16:18

you to a good annual amount so set your

16:21

goals and make it set in stone that

16:25

that's what you want to achieve for 2025

16:27

so set your financial goals you can

16:30

start that from a year standpoint or you

16:32

can start that from a monthly standpoint

16:35

you may say hey if I did my highest

16:37

producing month every month well then my

16:40

annual goal for 2025 would be fill in

16:43

the blank or it could be monthly you're

16:46

like hey we are making some changes with

16:48

insurance plans that take effect in

16:51

April so I know that my monthly goal can

16:54

go up in April so maybe I've got a lower

16:58

monthly goal in January February March

17:00

but April when we're officially out of

17:03

network with Delta I'm actually going to

17:05

increase that by 10% or 12% whatever you

17:08

want to do so set a course for your

17:11

financial goals for 2025 and again

17:14

document those and make those really

17:17

clear the next thing that I would want

17:20

you to do which is I don't even know

17:22

what number I'm on anymore but establish

17:26

your either new or revised bonus plan

17:29

for 2025 now if you're a practice that

17:33

doesn't have a bonus plan that's okay I

17:36

would encourage you to still figure out

17:40

how you want to entice your teammates or

17:43

your team to achieve the goals that have

17:46

been set before you so that may not be

17:48

an actual bonus plan where there's some

17:51

type of reward at the end of earning

17:54

that but you need to figure out how it's

17:56

going to be exciting and enticing could

17:59

that be something as simple as you've

18:01

got this beautiful thermometer goal

18:04

sheet in your break room and you're just

18:07

tracking how you're doing to hit your

18:09

monthly goal so you put your big monthly

18:11

goal at the top and you guys are

18:13

tracking that on a daily

18:15

basis could it be something as simple as

18:19

at the end of the month when we hit that

18:21

bonus we're going to do team potluck

18:24

together and we're going to have a an

18:26

extended lunch to be able to do team

18:28

potluck together so there can still be

18:31

goals and it doesn't necessarily have to

18:33

include a an official bonus now if

18:36

you're a practice and a team that has a

18:38

bonus plan then you need to figure out

18:41

did that work for us in 2024 and do we

18:44

want to keep the existing structure of

18:46

that bonus plan or do we want to edit

18:49

and revise it so that it is exciting

18:53

once again in

18:55

2025 I will say most times when you've

18:58

had a bone bonus plan the same bonus

19:00

plan in place for a 3 or 4 year period

19:03

of time sometimes you need to do

19:05

something to spice it up you might still

19:07

be able to keep the same structure but

19:10

maybe you throw in something extra on

19:13

top or maybe it's simply um making the

19:18

financial earning amount higher in the

19:22

third month or the third month of that

19:24

quarter so there's some things you can

19:26

still do to spice it up but you need to

19:28

take a hard look at your bonus plan for

19:30

2025 and make sure that there are no

19:32

changes you wish to make to that bonus

19:35

plan the next thing that I would

19:37

encourage you to do is to take some time

19:42

to decide for

19:44

yourself and for your team how are we

19:47

going to develop ourselves in

19:51

2025 so not only do we want the practice

19:54

hitting these great goals that we've set

19:58

not only are we going to be better at

20:01

controlling expenses we're going to be

20:03

better at documentation all these things

20:05

that we've talked about but how are we

20:07

going to professionally develop

20:11

ourselves in

20:13

2025 again if for those of you who have

20:15

worked with me you know this is a soap

20:17

box to me the dental profession is a

20:20

high calling it is a health care

20:23

profession that requires us to be our

20:26

best and if we are not putting effort

20:29

into being our best then to me we are

20:32

doing a disservice to the dental

20:34

profession so we need to take some time

20:37

to decide what are we personally doing

20:40

to enhance our

20:43

professionalism in

20:45

20125 does that mean that we have a list

20:47

of books that we're planning to read do

20:50

we have podcasts that we have lined up

20:52

for 2025 do we have some conferences

20:55

that we're going to sharpening our

20:59

skills requires effort we're not just

21:02

going to show up to work do the same old

21:05

thing every day day in day out and

21:07

somehow get sharper in the process

21:10

becoming a sharper better professional

21:14

requires effort and so you need to

21:16

decide now what you're going to be doing

21:19

in 2025 to become a sharper professional

21:22

a better professional so you need to

21:26

figure that out now I'll do another

21:29

Shameless plug here and say that Dr CP

21:31

and I have put so much time and energy

21:34

and effort into providing you with

21:36

resources to become a better

21:39

professional we have both our Consulting

21:42

crash course which is a phenomenal one

21:46

OFA kind this is not done anywhere else

21:50

course where you can bring your team to

21:53

the Dallas area spend two entire days

21:57

with myself and Dr Kuba and we are going

22:00

to be looking through every aspect of

22:02

your Prof practice and professional

22:05

career and we are going to be looking at

22:07

how you can sharpen your skills as a

22:09

professional and as a team and how you

22:12

can have a fantastic game plan for

22:15

becoming a fantastic practice and team

22:18

so we've got the crash course and we've

22:20

got the subscription which is so

22:23

inexpensive so simple to subscribe and

22:27

to have each month inspiration and

22:30

practical steps to take to become a

22:32

better professional so whether it's a

22:34

Consulting crash course the managing

22:36

Dental drama subscription or whatever

22:39

else you decide to do I don't care what

22:41

it is but do something to sharpen your

22:43

skills in

22:45

2025 last tip I want you to take some

22:49

time before this year comes to an end to

22:53

just stop and count your blessings we

22:56

don't do this enough uh especially as we

22:59

move into the hustle and bustle of

23:01

2025 we are notoriously terrible at

23:06

finding things that we're thankful for

23:09

so I want you to stop as this year 2024

23:12

comes to a close just pause count your

23:15

blessings see how far you can get I'm

23:17

not even not even going to put a limit

23:19

to it I'm going to say that you should

23:21

at least be able to come up with 50 60

23:24

70 things that you're thankful for for

23:27

in 2024 even of 2024 was hard take the

23:31

time to stop and count your blessings

23:34

the fact that you're listening to this

23:36

podcast right now means that you have

23:38

ears with which to listen be grateful

23:41

you've got a device with which you're

23:44

listening on be grateful you've got a

23:47

career that yes couldn't be hard at

23:50

times but you've got a career that earns

23:53

you a wage and earns you a way to live

23:56

be grateful find things things to be

23:59

grateful for as this year comes to a

24:01

close and I find that if you will do

24:04

that I hope that it will Propel you into

24:09

2025 with a heart of gratitude and we

24:12

can do so much in 2025 if we have a good

24:16

starting point which is that of

24:18

gratitude and

24:20

contentment and yes contentment is not

24:22

settling for where we are it's just

24:24

being grateful for where we're at and

24:26

grateful for where we're going to get to

24:28

go go in

24:29

2025 so I hope you'll take these top 10

24:33

tips these are my tips for you do each

24:36

of them don't don't Sid step any of them

24:39

step into each of these top 10 tips and

24:42

do them it may not happen overnight it

24:44

may not happen in the next few days but

24:46

over the course of the next couple weeks

24:48

take time to do these top 10 tips and

24:51

let us know if we can help you with any

24:53

of them happy new

24:56

year thanks for joining the conversation

24:59

today we hope that you are comforted in

25:01

knowing that you are not alone but we

25:04

also hope that you're walking away with

25:06

some really great tips and tricks to try

25:08

in your

25:09

practice we value your feedback so

25:12

please take a few moments to rate and

25:15

review the podcast finally we want to

25:18

make sure that we're covering the topics

25:20

that matter to you so track us down on

25:23

Facebook Instagram and Twitter and let

25:26

us know what topics you want us to cover

25:29

as always please know that we are

25:31

rooting for you today as you manage your

25:34

dental drama