If your dental office is experiencing rising costs and staffing frustrations, you are not alone. In January 2023, Dental Economics and The Levin Group conducted a survey on dentists’ challenges in 2022 (Levin, 2023). That survey highlighted dentists’ most significant concerns, as shown here:

The 2023 Dental Economics Fee and Staffing Survey, conducted by Dental Economics and Endeavor Business Intelligence collected data on staffing challenges and fee schedules by region and practice location (Urban, Suburban, Rural). In this survey, Midwest region dentists reported the following:

• 79% of respondents had difficulty filling hygiene positions, 58% had trouble hiring assistants, and 28% struggled to hire office managers;
• 87% of respondents stated staffing costs negatively impacted their practices to varying degrees.

 

According to DeStefano (2023) hygienist shortages impact the timeliness of care and dental assistant shortages slow the practice’s pace resulting in an overall decrease in office production. Additionally, these shortages negatively impact the timeliness of patient care. Offices suffering from inadequate front office coverage may experience lapses in insurance filing and inefficient patient communication, resulting in lost opportunity and weaker profitability. To stress this disadvantage, DeStefano (2023) reveals that the average dental practice collections were 10% lower in 2023.

 

Roger Levin of the Levin Group argues (as cited in DeStefano, 2023) that productivity is further impacted by failure to align dental fees with price increases to maintain healthy profit margins. Levin supports annual fee updates of approximately 5% to keep up with rising inflation.

 

Overall, the Dental Economics Fee and Staffing Survey found that 65% of participants had increased fees within the last year. Multilocation practices were the most likely to have updated fees within the last 6 months. Interestingly, fee-for-service model or membership model practices were more likely to update more frequently than practices operating under a PPO model. Dr. David Rice, chief editor of Dentistry IQ states that PPO practices may be hesitant to raise fees since they operate under contract limitations, but reminds that this hesitancy prevents PPOs from updating reimbursement tables resulting in lower reimbursement for the practice itself and for nearby practices (DeStefano, 2023).

 

Although submitting an updated fee schedule is no guarantee of increased payer reimbursement, Levin remarks that it provides payers the opportunity to re-evaluate their fees (DeStefano, 2023).

 

If your office has not recently performed a fee update, the 2023 Fee and Staffing Survey provides a fee table by region for many dental CDT codes to help you align your fees more appropriately. You can find the survey results here Dental Economics 2023 Fee and Staffing Survey.

 

References

Levin, R. P. (2023, April 10). Profit down, overhead up (a lot!): Findings from the 2022 Dental Economics/Levin Group Annual Practice Survey. Dental Economics. Findings from the 2022 Dental Economics–Levin Group Annual Practice Survey | Dental Economics

DeStefano, A. W. (2023, August). The 2023 Dental Economics Fee and Staffing Survey. Dental Economics.com Download: The 2023 Dental Economics Fee and Staffing Survey | Dental Economics

• Category: Client Alerts, Dental & Health Care