Growth of Private Group Practice
The look of Private Practice Dentistry is changing. According to the ADA, younger dentists are more likely to work in group practice. Group Practice can be a Private Group Practice or a corporate DSO practice.
The Private Group Practice model is the fastest-growing segment in Dentistry. These groups’ offices may have one location with multiple doctors, or multiple locations all owned by a dentist(s). Often, discerning these Private Group Practices from DSO is almost impossible to do by just driving by or walking into the doors.
The benefits of PGP are many. First, doctors are sharing the cost of overhead to operate the business. This allows the doctors to reduce the allocation of fixed costs that are assigned to procedures, which makes each procedure more profitable. Becoming more profitable allows the doctors to build larger facilities, purchase more advanced technology, offer employee benefits to recruit and retain employees, be able to be open when a doctor is on vacation, and allow doctors to help one another with treatment plans and share clinical dental responsibilities.
The downside is that these offices are more complicated to manage. They require far more communication among team members and systems to be implemented. Delegation of duties is even more important in these offices, as a single doctor, a single assistant, or a single office manager can not make every decision and do every task. Chains of command, with multiple team leads, can help create a more manageable structure. Detailed organizational charts and written responsibilities aid in knowing who is doing what in the office. Holding daily morning huddles and monthly team meetings is mandatory to ensure everyone is working toward the same vision.
Often, conflict can occur between the dentists in these offices. The doctors can have different personal values, beliefs, and manners of doing things. Having a clear vision for the office, written office values, detailed contracts identifying who is responsible for what, how to handle disagreements, and monthly leadership meetings to discuss office business. etc.
Examples of conflicts:
- Should we buy this or that?
- You use that and I don’t, so I don’t want to pay for it.
- Our standard of care is different. I don’t think their quality of work is as good as mine.
- We should hire/fire a person, and the other doctor does not want to.
- We are always on time, and they never run on time.
- I enforce office policies, and they let people do whatever they want.
- They want the big cases and stick me with everything else.
- They always leave early, so I have to stay late to finish everything up.
Economics and personal relationships can make private group practice a fantastic model for private practice dentistry. Detailed contracts, office policies, internal systems, respect, and constant communication can ensure they are successful.
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