Do's and don'ts for practice management: Measure, measure, measure

"What gets measured gets done" said business guru Peter Drucker. By tracking performance, you'll know where your practice is performing well and what areas should be targeted for improvement. If you don't measure performance, you're just operating in the dark.

Review KPIs once a week. You should be able to easily pull a report on key performance indicators (KPIs) from your practice management software. Review your top KPIs once a week. If you notice a trend from week to week over a course of a month in a particular area, then you may want to make adjustments. For example, if the number of new patients has dropped four weeks in a row, it's time to re-evaluate your current marketing strategies.

Don't jump to conclusions after one week. You don't want to make a decision based just on one week's negative or positive data. In most cases, you'll need a month's worth of data to detect a trend. Also, you should look at data from previous years. Seasonal fluctuations can occur in dental practices, depending on where your office is located.

Roger P. Levin, DDS, is the founder and CEO of Levin Group, the leading dental practice consulting firm in North America. For the complete list of dates and locations where you can attend his latest seminar, visit www.levingroup.com/gpseminars.

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