North Texas Dentistry Special Issue 2016 | Page 29
opportunity for professional interaction,
and enjoy collaborating on complex cases.
Perhaps most importantly, doctors in
multi-doctor or multi-specialty practices
find that the patient experience is
improved by collaborative, patientcentered care. This translates into greater
patient confidence, higher levels of satisfaction, and more referrals to friends and
family. As a pleasant side effect, staff stress
levels are reduced when patients are
happy, and patient accounts tend to be
paid promptly.
The Corporate Practice
Corporate practices are experiencing
tremendous success, and there has been
some concern among private practice
owners about competing with the corporate giants. However, since other dental
practices compete based on patient experience, while the corporate model of practice
markets their services to patients based on
pricing, privately-owned practices and
corporate practices are appealing to different demographics.
More Choices = Better Fit
The economy has put new pressures on
dentists to compete for a successful niche,
and the lifestyles of new graduates are
evolving to accommodate modern values.
As a result, dentists are considering alternatives to the traditional model of private
dental practice. One thing is certain – the
emergence of different practice models is
changing the way dentistry is practiced,
and offers both patients and dentists an
expanded set of options, and the ability to
choose what fits them best.
In the corporate model of practice, the
dentist provides clinical care in a facility
owned and managed by a corporation.
Corporate practices hold a number of
advantages for dentists and patients.
Dentists in the corporate setting are able to
offer convenient care at lower cost to
patients in underserved and less affluent
areas. The corporate dentist that accepts
government insurance may be an important means to access care for many patients
with limited incomes.
New dentists typically enter the profession
with burdensome educational debt, and
are more likely to opt for another point of
entry that involves a lower capital investment. Corporate dentistry often offers
relatively high pay for recent graduates,
and is a good fit for many dentists who seek
a practice model that allows them to hand
off administration duties and other business functions so they can devote their
time to patient care. The numbers of corporate dental practices is growing and will
continue to grow as baby boom dentists sell
their practices and retire, since corporations have ready capital to make those
purchases.
For some dentists, the corporate model
provides the freedom to maximize potential and minimize time spent on activities
they enjoy less. Dentists have responsibility for clinical care while the corporation
provides sales, marketing, IT support,
human resources, and bulk purchasing of
materials, equipment and supplies.
Corporate owners also handle real estate
development and replicate facility design
at each new location (usually in busy retail
areas) to drive down costs.
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