The Dentist's Network #61


	In-Office Communications Retirement Plans Creating Patient Trust

Dr. Lorne Lavine
Dental Technology Consultants
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In-Office Communications

The time has come where dental offices no longer have to rely on mechanical devices that were designed forty or fifty years ago. Only until recently, dentists had limited options when communicating within their practices. One solution was hard-wired panels that used a series of lights to determine when or where someone was needed. This was a tremendous tool for practices and allowed them to run more efficiently. The biggest drawback to light panel systems was the cost. Larger practices could easily spend $15,000 or even more. Functionally, there were other drawbacks, such as the need to constantly look up to check the panel to see if you were being paged.

The most common form of communication within dental practices was to roam the office and chase down the person needed. This could be very annoying for everyone and appear unprofessional to your patients. Most of all it wastes more time than you can imagine. While both light panels and direct communication work to get basic messages across, modern technology has a much more practical solution that will change the future of how dental offices will operate.

With the drive toward the paperless offices that use practice management software and digital imaging, more and more dentists are relying on computers for efficiency and practicality. The future of dentistry relies upon the major role that computers play in the 21st century practice. In the wake of computerization, it was only a matter of time before a software-based application would be available as a practical solution for communicating within the typical dental practice.

One product that is very popular is called BlueNote and was designed to use computers to move messages through the dental practice. By using pop-up screens and distinct tones for each staff member, communicating becomes as easy as the click of a mouse button. BlueNote uses the existing computer network to greatly enhance the productivity long desired by the dentist.

Because software isn’t limited by fixed buttons, such as that of analog light panels, a broad range of customization becomes quickly apparent. Each person in the office has a different tone so he or she is not always looking up at a panel every time the messaging system is activated. Only when your custom tone rings do you have to respond to what is needed, saving valuable time. The software also allows you to customize the locations which receive pages as well as whether or not pop-up screens appear on certain computers. Best of all it does not require your staff to have more than the basic computer knowledge; it’s actually very easy to learn and implement.

Some dental practices have tried using wireless radios to talk to one another within the practice. Unfortunately, there is often resistance to having to wear a microphone and an earpiece and the novelty usually wears out soon. Because computer tones can be heard throughout the office, even in the hallways, messages are being transmitted on the same plane of communication as the wireless radios. Patients have little awareness that the ringtones that they may be hearing in the background are actually messages being passed back and forth within your office.

Software messaging systems also provide text messaging which allows users the ability to send typed text within their practice, very much like an Instant Messaging service. While some practices have tried using Instant Messaging across the internet, text messaging within a program assures that it is being used for work purposes only, as well as resolving the security concerns of exposure on the web.

What is most important is that there is finally a legitimate solution to the problem of efficiently delivering communications throughout the dental office. By utilizing sight as well as sounds to deliver messages instantly, technology has made it possible for practices to have a low cost solution to their intra-office communications.

The other main advantage to software based messaging is cost. While some programs charge on a per user basis, programs like BlueNote will run under $800 and don’t charge for additional licenses.

Of course, the system will only work with two conditions: First, you must have computers throughout the office, including the operatories. And secondly, you’ll need either monitors with speakers or a sound card in the computer (many business-class computers don’t have this automatically). Offices that meet these requirements, though, should strongly consider software-based messaging systems.

Lorne Lavine, DMD is the Founder and President of Dental Technology Consultants. Dr. Lavine holds two prestigious certifications, the A+ Certified Technician designation and the Network+ Certified Professional. These designations demonstrate proficiency in computer repair, operating systems, network design and installation. Dental Technology Consultants provide dentists a full range of services relating to the implementation of technology.

Interested in having Dr.Lavine speak to your dental society or study club? Click here.
Dr. Lavine can be reached at drlavine@thedentistsnetwork.net.

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Bruce Bryen, CPA.
Managing Partner
The Snyder Group, LLC
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Employer Sponsored Qualified Retirement Plan

The implementation of a sophisticated employer- sponsored qualified retirement plan is one of the soundest methods to generate wealth, ensure financial stability and optimize tax benefits that exist. Whether you have no employees or many, this type of plan will accelerate your contributions because of higher deductibility limits than boiler plate type plans such as individual IRAs. The type of legal structure that you have formed for your dental practice has no bearing on the format of the plan that you decide upon or the contribution level that is generated by the type of plan that you use.

What is the best type of plan for you?

There are only two types of plans available. They are the defined benefit plan and the defined contribution plan. Of course there are many variations of each, but by definition, these are the only two plans in existence. Defined benefit plans are very complex and sophisticated but can be customized to your individual needs. This type of plan offers tremendous tax advantages such as an incredibly quick and large generation of deductible contributions and can be used as an effective tool in a pretax dental practice acquisition. The effective savings in this type of purchase can amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars for the buyer and the seller of the dental practice. Amounts paid into these plans tend to be larger amounts than those paid into defined contribution plans and therefore the balances tend to grow to larger sums on a much faster pace than those in the defined contribution plans.

Defined contribution plans restrict the employer or employee contribution level and these plans are less complex than defined benefit plans. Examples are 401ks, simple IRAs and profit sharing plans. Contributions and accumulations of wealth generally tend to grow less quickly than those available in defined benefit plans because of the restrictions in funding levels. These restrictions are based on percentage of salary levels and fixed levels of contributions based on amounts that cannot exceed certain published IRS guidelines.

In either type of plan, the employer’s contributions are pretax, your money is protected from creditors and you maintain control, if you wish, overall investment decisions concerning the funds generated by the contributions to the plan and the earnings on those funds.

The type of plan that one chooses is based upon a number of factors such as age at implementation, years of service in the practice, annual income and overall debt and asset diversification structure. Sometimes more than one plan is effective for an employer who may be interested in maximizing the contribution and growth level of the plan(s). Many dentists spend a great deal of money on attorney fees in order to create elaborate asset protection devices such as family limited partnerships and irrevocable trusts. Those legal structures do not offer the tax deductibility provision that an employer-sponsored qualified retirement plan affords. The irrevocable trust also does not offer the control of the investment fund available to the trustees (dental practice owner) of the employer-sponsored qualified retirement plan. Especially important to the practicing dentist is the ability to use the retirement plan for the explicit purpose of providing an opportunity for a prospective buyer to pay pretax dollars to acquire the dental practice and allow that buyer the ability to buy at a lower net cost for the acquisition. Of course this method allows the seller of the dental practice to have a much larger group of buyers available for the ultimate sale of the dental practice. It certainly makes it easier for a seller to transition the practice to a buyer. This is an exciting concept that creates hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings to the buyer and the seller.

An experienced professional advisor familiar with your practice and your personal financial position is in an important position to establish your ability to understand the guidelines that must be followed in the creation of this important vehicle for use in creating wealth through pretax savings and also in affording the opportunity for a larger than normal pool of buyers for your dental practice. An advisor who has knowledge in the world of dentistry will have the ability to engage an actuary on your behalf for the formal approval from the IRS of the right retirement plan for you and your practice. Those with experience can design the plan that fits your needs and complies with all IRS regulations.

Meet with someone with experience in advising those in the dental world. Find out what you are missing and begin implementation of the best investment available for you and your dental practice.

Bruce Bryen, CPA has successfully assisted dentists with their personal and financial matters for over thirty years. As a partner in The Snyder Group, he delivers creative strategies and prudent financial strategies to help dentists build and protect wealth at every stage of their careers. His extensive expertise includes financing, debt restructuring, retirement planning, and tax advising to help dentists keep more of what they earn. He can be reached at bruce@thedentistsnetwork.net 1-800-988-5674.

If you would like additional help or interested in Bruce Bryen speaking to your dental society or study club he can be reached at bruce@thedentistsnetwork.net 1-800-988-5674.

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Louis Malcmacher
DDS MAGD
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Who Do You Believe?

Common Sense Dentistry

There is a common scenario that has happened in every single dental office. You present a treatment plan to a patient, whether it is something as simple as a tooth colored restoration or an endo, post, core and crown and a patient goes home to think about it. The patient then comes back to you, or calls you, and says, “My hairdresser thinks that a root canal is a bad idea and I would rather just take out the tooth”. You think to yourself what an idiot this patient must be. Here I went to dental school for four years, have many hours of advanced continuing education, treat patients every single day, and instead of believing me; they are listening to their hairdresser? How in the world could they compare my treatment recommendation to a conversation that they have with a low dental IQ cosmetologist?

This scene will repeat itself many times over your dental career. I’ll tell you exactly why it happens. There is an aura of believability that we as dental professionals sometimes don’t project. Think about it – this patient has come to your office, met your entire staff, you as the dentist did the examination and made a recommendation. It was all very clinical and confident, but was it believable? That connection is absolutely essential to forming a relationship where the patient will trust you and your team more than they will their hairdresser.

I often say this in my lectures and I know that this does disturb some dentists. Your patients have absolutely no way to judge your clinical skills. They really don’t know if you are a better clinical dentist than the dentist down the street from your office. They really don’t know what all of the diplomas on your wall mean. Truth be told, you go into many dental offices and they all have the same wall hangings of all the continuing education that they have taken. As a profession, people pretty much assume that most dentists know what they are doing, so how in the world can your office be different from everyone else?

The answer is in the personal connection that you provide to patients. The easiest and fastest way to establish that connection is with the little chit-chat conversations that your team members have with your patients to get to know them a little bit better, find out about their families, hobbies, interests, and what they do for a living. These are valuable pieces of information that you can then incorporate into formulating how you are going to approach your treatment plan and making yourself believable and connecting with the patient.

It’s funny when a dentist tells me that his team talks too much to patients and they waste too much time in the office in conversations about what seems to be nothing. I point out to them that this can be the basis for building a great patient relationship, which then leads to a loyal, long-lasting patient.

The other very important piece that I believe adds value to a patient appointment is by pointing out some of the unique things that you do in your office that they may never have done before. The most valuable words that come out from a patient’s mouth that I love to hear are, “Nobody has ever done that for me before”.

A couple of quick examples – the patients come in and I tell them that I am using a Waterlase MD laser so that they won’t have to get a shot before their restorative treatment. Another patient comes in and has a periodontal abscess. I clean out the pocket and place Arestin by OraPharma. In both cases if I say nothing to the patient, the patient will not think that anything special has occurred. But, if I point out that I am using these patient friendly technologies to make the patient’s visit easier, I am different from every other dentist out there and I am unique and uniquely believable.

Learn the valuable art of connecting with people. It takes only a few moments to be friendly and believable. Then, instead of choosing who to believe, your patients will start referring their cosmetologists to you!

Dr. Louis Malcmacher is a practicing general dentist in Bay Village, Ohio, an internationally known lecturer, dental consultant and author, and consultant to the Council on Dental Practice of the ADA. Interested in knowing more about how to truly enjoy dentistry? Click here.

Interested in having Dr. Malcmacher speak to your dental society or study club? Click here.

To reach Dr. Malcmacher, email him at DrMalcmacher@thedentistsnetwork.net or call 1.800.952.0521.

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