Throughout my history as a private practice dentist, I’ve witnessed a production-focused narrative running through the industry. Too many dentists are concerned only with how much they’re producing, focusing on the big numbers over everything else. There’s so much pride and ego associated with production in dentistry, but now that I’m in the consulting and coaching world, I can say without a doubt that gross production is the most useless KPI in dentistry.
The reason is simple: gross production is only one part of the story. It’s just a number, and you don’t know what it took to get to that number. It doesn’t show the effort, time, people, or overhead it cost to produce that output. What this means is that two dentists can have the same gross production number, but their practices can be radically different, based on their PPO dependency or team size. Instead of focusing on producing more, answer these questions:
- Do you know your true production number?
- How many days did it take for you to get to your gross production?
- How many patients and visits did it take to get to your gross production?
- How much of your gross production will go away before you start collecting?
Depending on your adjustments, write offs, discounts, and collections, what you’re keeping can differ greatly from your gross production, so you shouldn’t focus solely on production.
On its own, gross production tells you nothing, but when you compare it to your net production and your collections, then you have a better picture of your finances. It’s important to look at those other numbers, because focusing solely on gross production will trap you in a cycle of working harder and harder with nothing to show for it. What you produce isn’t important—it’s what you keep that is.
