Purchasing a Dental Practice? Don’t Forget About Chart Auditing!

There is no shortage of due diligence required when purchasing an existing dental practice. This decision is one of the most important ones you’ll make throughout your dental career, so it’s important to make it wisely. One of the things included in properly researching a potential practice is conducting a chart audit. The information received from the audit will provide vital information regarding the current and future success of the dental practice.

Chart Auditing Tips

Chart audits will allow you to gauge how many established patients the practice currently retains. To figure it out, find the percentage of patients who are returning each year for preventative care and are scheduling for treatment of some kind. Next, compare this number with the number of patients who haven’t returned for care in over a year or those who only schedule when they have a dental emergency. It’s important that the number of established patients outweighs the sporadic patients.

Another thing to consider is the amount of treatment the current dentist has on the upcoming schedule. If you go through with purchasing the practice, you’ll likely be the one performing these procedures. Make sure you agree with the diagnoses and treatment plans that the current dentist has laid out. Additionally, make sure the prospective dental practice is still averaging around 20-30 new patients with treatment needs. Otherwise, you might have a harder time keeping your schedule full.

Lastly, a thorough chart audit will allow you to take a very close look at the schedule of the practice. Make sure you’re able and willing to keep up with the current pace of the dentist. The schedule has the ability to give you a good idea of the trends of the dental practice and how these trends will mesh with your career goals.

It’s important to make sure you know exactly what you’re purchasing when you look at a prospective dental practice. Otherwise, you may regret your decision and your patients will be able to read these vibes.

If you’d like assistance with chart auditing, or for questions about your bookkeeping needs, please call Dental Bookkeeping today. We want to help you meet your career goals!

Archives