In our last Data Snapshot, we broke down Production Per Day, and one of the factors that impacts it is today’s topic: Production Per Visit. It’s the average production generated during each patient appointment, and you can calculate it by dividing your total production by the number of patient visits over a set time period.
You can look at it for the office as a whole, or for individual providers or departments, but what it ultimately tells you is how effectively you’re using each appointment. Your time is one of your most precious commodities, so it’s important to be able to see if you’re using it meaningfully:
- If your Production Per Visit is low, then you’re filling time here and there with lower-value, single-tooth dentistry.
- If your Production Per Visit is high, it reflects strong treatment planning, a higher level of communication, and more treatment acceptance.
Having a high Production Per Visit is better for you, but it’s also better for the patient, because if you’re doing more per visit, it reduces how often they need to come back.
You can impact this metric right away, and it begins with awareness. Tracking and reporting on it will get you started, but you can go further by asking at every morning huddle, “Is there any additional care we can complete today that’s already been diagnosed?” Regularly posing this question will help you increase each visit’s value — without increasing your patient volume! Additionally, I recommend evaluating your service mix. By building in services like laser, antimicrobials, fluoride varnish, Perio Protect, and salivary testing to your hygiene department, you can offer more to your patients.
Production Per Visit isn’t a complex metric, but when you make incremental changes and improve it, you — and your patients — will see and feel a true difference.
