practice transitions
Adding an Associate to Your Practice
– Finding the Right Solution
A
by Richard V. Lyschik, DDS, FAGD
dentist recently called our office to set up an appointment to talk about adding an associate to his practice.
This was not an unusual request since many dentists
often want to add an associate for various and sundry reasons.
The first step is to analyze each doctor’s practice and personal
needs to see if adding an associate would serve the best needs
of the doctor. More times than not, the quest for adding an associate is more indicative of a need for change, either adding productivity to the practice or, at the opposite end of this spectrum,
a desire to improve the doctor’s “quality of life”.
Some doctors want an associate for the purpose of expanding their office hours. When questioned further they will usu-
12 NORTH TEXAS DENTISTRY | www.northtexasdentistry.com
ally come to the real issue, and that is the desire to grow the
patient base and build the office productivity in order to
increase personal net income. Adding an associate to an existing, inadequate patient base solves nothing, and as a matter of
fact, it can make a bad situation even worse. The real issue here
is finding a way to increase personal net income, not adding an
associate, and therefore a practice merger with a pre-sale seller
would probably be a better solution.
Some doctors want an associate to share the management
responsibilities. Some older doctors tire of the management of
a large practice and believe that adding an associate for the purpose of sharing management responsibilities will help. This is