Dental Practice Turnover: The Costly Cycle

Dental turnover is one of the most critical challenges facing practices today. It can often result in decreased productivity, lowered morale, and reduced profitability. Moreover, the constant cycle of training new staff can lead to inconsistencies in patient care and service. For the average dental office manager, it is imperative to address the factors causing high turnover rates. Today, we’re addressing some common questions about staff retention and turnover:

• What does dental practice turnover look like?
• How does turnover start?
• How can I keep my staff happy?
• What do modern dental office staff need?

What does dental turnover look like?

Most dental office managers will attest to the draining nature of repetitive, time-consuming tasks such as dental billing. Billing is not only tedious, but also requires an eye for detail and extensive knowledge of dental codes and insurance policies. Turnover can also start with these specific symptoms:

• Decreased productivity without explanation
• Lack of motivation for completing tasks
• Withdrawal from social aspects of office work
• Frequent missed or late days

Additionally, if your staff feel unappreciated in their roles, they’re likely to look for better prospects elsewhere. Therefore, it’s crucial to create an environment that facilitates professional growth and recognizes the value of each team member.

Invest in your staff to reduce dental practice turnover

Investing in your team means more than providing competitive salaries and free lunches. It involves nurturing a supportive, encouraging, and engaging work environment. By investing time and resources into your team, you’re not only improving their work experience but also creating a positive atmosphere that can enhance patient care. Start by:

• Communicating specific needs instead of vague goals
• Creating an atmosphere of accountability
• Establishing servant leadership in management to understand your staff better
• Knowing that your employees are individuals with personal goals

Regular training and development programs can help the staff stay in-the-know about best practices in dentistry. At the same time, recognizing and rewarding their hard work can make staff feel valued and appreciated, which in turn, encourages loyalty and decreases the likelihood of turnover.  Dental Zing is an incredible resource for continuing education and enrichment for your staff, and gives them the tools they need to keep your practice profitable.

How outsourcing dental billing reduces practice turnover

One highly effective way to reduce dental turnover is by outsourcing time-consuming tasks like dental billing. By doing so, you can help free up your team to focus more on providing excellent patient care, and less on mundane administrative tasks like:

• Having to know the latest CDT codes
• Knowing what clinical documentation to attach and when on claims
• Keeping track of 30-, 60-, and 90-day accounts for insurance and patient billing
• How to build a narrative that gets a claim paid

Outsourced dental billing services leverage experts who are well-versed in the complexities of insurance policies and dental codes. They ensure accuracy, compliance, and timely filing of claims, which helps in improving the revenue cycle.

The link between profitability and dental practice turnover

When you reduce dental turnover, the entire practice stands to benefit. High turnover rates often lead to higher operational costs due to the constant need for recruitment and training of new staff. Contrasting the initial signs of turnover, your office reduces turnover when there is:

• Consistency in expectations and work output
• Setting personal and business goals
• Being able to communicate with management about concerns
• Exceptional customer service/patient care

All of these factors work to increase your productivity and profit. But it all starts with removing the elephant in the room: the dental billing process. But if not your staff, who can you trust to supplement their expertise, without increasing overhead costs?

Your solution to costly dental turnover

eAssist Dental Solutions has created a comprehensive, bespoke platform of solutions for every aspect of practice and revenue cycle management. You can benefit from:

• Increased collections through streamlined dental billing
• Decreased staff turnover by removing tedious processes
• Accountability reports that show you results, not effort
• A partner in profitability to get you 100% of what you’re rightfully owed
• A platform made by dentists, for dentists who know what your practice needs

Your journey to increased staff retention and collections begins with a single no-obligation consultation. eAssist is here to help your staff become the best versions of themselves, for themselves, as well as your practice. Our Business Development Specialists are here to listen to your vision of success. Do you need to increase collections and decrease AR? Help with scheduling patient recare? Or simply a partner in profitability in revenue cycle management? Schedule below and tell us where you want your practice to be. We can help you get there.