You’ve poured your heart and soul into building your dental practice, weathering the challenges that come up—no matter when they happen. The COVID-19 pandemic represents an unprecedented challenge for all of us. Even as dentists start offering more services as America reopens following quarantine, you have to make sure you have a sound strategy. Your dental industry experts at Bryant Consultants want to explore this issue, looking at what will help some practices thrive after COVID-19, and what will doom others to failure.
Ten percent of dental practices will close for good after COVID-19
For some dentists, the obstacles associated with reopening after a prolonged closure will be insurmountable.
Here are some of the qualities of dentists who will see their practices fail in a post-coronavirus world:
- Older dentists who lacked a clear plan for retiring or selling their practice may already have decided to end their careers a little earlier than expected.
- Dentists who spent quarantine ignoring their business or not spending any time working on a clear strategy after reopening.
- Dentists who are poor communicators. If you had to lay off or furlough your staff due to closure, have you been staying in touch with them? If not, you run the risk of those team members finding other opportunities.
- Self-funded dental service organizations (DSOs) will use the COVID-19 pandemic to remove any poor performing practices, consolidate patient bases, and trim overhead.
- Corporate dental chains also could be in jeopardy. One of these corporations, ImmediaDent, closed all its locations for good on March 17.
Nearly 20 percent of all practicing dentists will thrive in the wake of COVID-19
Take an honest look at yourself and your practice, assessing it in relation to the following questions:
- Are you ramping up your social media presence to keep your patients and the public aware of your practice?
- Are you staying connected with your patients through phone, email, and social media?
- Have you made efforts to remain connected to the members of your team?
- Have you used your time to cross-train your team as much as possible on every service, process, and system your practice has?
- Are you making the most of telehealth services and virtual conferencing, both with patients and staff?
- Do you already have appointments scheduled for when your practice reopens?
- Have you composed a COVID relief plan so that your patients can pay for services, now or in the future, without worrying about their finances due to job loss?
- Is your practice website as current as possible?
- Have you reached out to other businesses in your community and promoted them via social media?
- Did you use the hiatus of patient care to complete as much training and continuing education as possible?
Those who follow these steps are more likely to strategize for the future and then succeed.
Helping Your Practice Thrive After COVID-19
We understand the challenges your practice faces due to COVID-19. That’s why Bryant Consultants is currently offering a complimentary one-hour consultation for any dentist with questions or concerns about their future plans. Schedule your consultation today by calling (877) 768-4799. Also, be sure to follow us on social media through our channels on Facebook and Instagram.o
