The My Practice My Business Dental Podcast

When is the last time you tested for leaks in your nitrous system? What is the danger level with leaks of nitrous when it comes to the child bearing years with our wonderful female employees? Check your system often!Support the show

I was asked to write an article on how to be profitable with PPO Plans, because that is our specialty here at My Practice My Business (MPMB). It’s honestly such a loaded request, as all of you who have been through our training here at MPMB understand, that I simply didn’t know where to start at first. However, I will be so bold in my old age as to state this: those who tell you to dump PPO Plans, or even a part of them, have no business clue what they are talking about. Put in other words, those who go through our training here at MPMB on how to be profitable with PPO Plans, and even experience “real” profitability with their own fee-for-service fees as most are not, would never drop their PPO Plans they take. After our trained dental teams understand the PPO contracts and state laws, they realize that it’s not the dental insurance companies fault they’re not profitable with them, it’s their own darn fault for not understanding the latitudes they have in those contracts, and how state laws protect them from doing “free” dentistry when they should be paid for their dental services they provide to their patients.Support the show

What I want to address is what one doc said to one of our team members at our booth. When our team member asked the doc if he had heard about My Practice My Business, he said, “Oh yes, I’ve heard about MPMB, both good and bad.” Now I understand I might offend some people, truth always does. But my team member wanted to know what “bad” he has heard about our company, because he has only experienced happy clients and non-clients alike with his interactions. The “bad” the doc referred to when asked was that we teach “upselling” and he feels dentistry should not be “upsold.” I was in hopes that he just didn’t like me. That would have been acceptable in my book. But when one of our colleagues openly admits, whether directly or indirectly, that they make business decisions that are not grounded in business, that really pisses me off. They spread that ignorance to others, and lead people into misinformative thought that costs dentists thousands of dollars in revenue each month. Support the show

After all that Tracy and I have seen, from the good to the ugly, it all comes down to one thing in dentistry: leadership! Here's to a fantastic 2024!Support the show

Before I start, let me be clear with what I do and why it matters to you. My husband and I work with dental insurance companies, insurance commissioners, state legislators, state dental associations, and representatives of the American Dental Association to ensure that both patients and their dental providers are protected against unfair and unethical practices by dental insurance companies. Why do we do this? Because there is no private entity in the US that exists simply to protect the quality of dental care with both the dentists and the patients they serve. There's a definite need, and we're here to fill it. My Practice My Business has been around since 2006, and we intend to remain practice advocates for years to come...Support the show

Titles and profits channel, or front-line advocacy channel? It’s time for the rose-colored glasses to come off, and either hold your state and national associations accountable to reality, or stop wasting your money on annual dues. May I suggest all of us stop taking a back seat, and put some pressure, a lot of pressure, on the ADA and your state dental association executives. Tell them to stop feeding us with platitudes of topics that have little action on what we do as dentists each day, and focus on legislation that protects us from the evil designs of third-party payers, like we did here in Utah. Tracy and I were doing some research on the ADA, looking for some statistical data, and just happened to find a very interesting article by Dr. Mike Barr, the content of which I have echoed many times, and deserves new coverage and commentary by Tracy and I. Support the show

A few weeks ago, I had a fellow colleague ask us to run an analysis on his practice to see how much revenue he was losing each year. We do this for offices who are interested in our Team Training here at MPMB. After showing him the hundreds of thousands of dollars our training would bring to his practice, he asked the worst question possible.“Rob, this number is amazing. I’ve talked with other docs who have gone through your training courses, and they are extremely happy. But the question I have is this: how much of that new revenue your MPMB training brings to my practice WILL THE PATIENT HAVE TO PAY?”Support the show

In dentistry, dental team meetings can become unproductive, and ideas may not be conveyed effectively. This podcast aims to explore the reasons why individuals may choose not to speak up in meetings, the implications of this behavior, and possible solutions to overcome it.In today’s world, meetings have become an essential aspect of organizational communication. Meetings are a platform for employees to express their opinions, ideas, and concerns about a project or task at hand. However, there are times when everyone in the meeting is thinking the same thing, but no one wants to speak out. Support the show

Dentistry is a field that requires not only clinical expertise but also strong managerial skills to run a successful dental practice. While many dentists excel in providing quality oral healthcare, there are so many instances, that Tracy and I have witnessed first-hand, where the Doc does not actively take charge of managing their dental office. I am going to explore some reasons why dentists may not fully embrace the role of leadership and management within their practice. Listen up my friends, its time gain insights in to the challenges we face as dentists and identify potential solutions to empower your practice management endeavors.Support the show

As I was gathering my thoughts on this topic, my mind was racing in many directions as to where I should start with this one. Let me first begin by saying, contrary to what we read from our dental association leadership, it is definitely not your fault doc, by you signing up with PPO plans, that third-party payers have such low reimbursement rates. It actually has everything to do with the dental insurance market, and the perceived ideologies that dental consultants have propagated for years when it comes to how we can bill the PPO patient.Dental insurance companies use sophisticated software to calculate the needed premiums required to pay us the reimbursement rates they set, while acquiring a 24%-32% corporate profit margin. This software, which Tracy and I have seen, and navigated intimately first hand, has unbelievable information on all of us docs, average billings we send in, and average payouts their clients have in our dental offices. Once again, nowhere in their calculations on contractual reimbursement rates does sending in our fee-for-service fees affect this process in determining what their reimbursement fees are per our contracts. Honestly people, stop lies from so many out there who teach such stupid things.Support the show

Dental leaders play an essential role in the dental industry, as they provide guidance and direction to dentists and other dental professionals. However, in recent years, some dental leaders have been answering questions that no dentist is asking, causing confusion and frustration among dental professionals. This report aims to explore why dental leaders are answering questions that no dentist is asking and the impact of this trend on the dental industry.Support the show

Let me be very clear from the start. Dental Insurance Companies, commonly called “third-party” payers, DO NOT SET THEIR REIMBURSEMENT FEES BASED UPON YOUR FEE-FOR-SERVICE FEES. For the ADA to imply this false statement is factual is unbelievable to me. They should know better. It’s articles like this that drive membership downward, because those of us in PPO driven states know this article to be anything but true. My goodness ADA, they set those reimbursement fees based upon their profit and loss of their company. How much comes in via premiums, and how much is paid out, guarding their set profit margins. Insurance companies are lowering negotiated fees to LESS than what was agreed to as a financial business strategy that is rarely caught by front office teams.  How would you catch this if you billed your FFS fee?  We caught TWO insurance companies doing this last year and when we called them out on it, they stated there was a “Bug” in the system, and they would fix it and send us another check to account for the percentage they should have paid.  How many offices are unnecessarily writing off or reducing services because they are billing their fee-for-service fees, and not seeing this little insurance tactic? You would almost never catch this little bait-and-switch tactic dental insurance companies do if you were sending in your full fees. Chew on that one little accounting problem if you don’t send in your contracted fees. Support the show

The American Dental Association (ADA) owns and licenses the use of Current Dental Terminology (CDT) codes, which are a standardized set of codes used to describe dental procedures and services provided to patients. The CDT codes are used by dental insurance companies to process claims and reimburse dentists for services provided to patients. If the ADA leases those codes to third-party payers, and the ADA receives a butt load of money from the insurance companies for the use of their codes, is that not a conflict of interest, speaking as a dentist who is a member of the ADA?Support the show

Dentistry is an essential component of healthcare, and the dental industry is a significant contributor to the economy. In recent years, however, the economy has had a profound impact on the dental industry, particularly on the revenue of dental practices. This podcast aims to explore how the economy is affecting dentists in terms of their income, patient volume, and business operations.Support the show

Running a dental practice with critical business thinking vs. “how does this make me feel” strategies is something that Tracy and I deal with constantly. It’s where dentists and front office team members, and sometimes every team member, fail the business test. It’s what separates the average practice from the great practices. Here we go…Support the show

Dentists play a crucial role in ensuring the oral health of individuals. However, many dentists are hesitant to speak out about dental insurance companies and the American Dental Association (ADA) when it comes to policies that negatively affect patient care. This podcast aims to discuss the reasons why dentists may be afraid to speak out about these organizations.Support the show

One of the books that Tracy makes a required read for the Advanced OM/FO Business Training talks about “bottlenecks” in a manufacturing plant. It was an amazing business read, and I quickly understood why she requires it for all our attendees. The similarities to what dental practices experience became strikingly similar.Just like the bottlenecks in a manufacturing plant that can cause inefficiencies and lost revenues, I want to identify six bottlenecks commonly seen in a dental practice.Support the show

We’ve trained hundreds of practices here at MPMB, both in state and out of state, and I would say roughly forty percent or more of them are not members of the ADA and their state associations. When I ask them why they chose not to be members, the answers have a common ground. Another problem I believe is contributing to the decrease in ADA and State dental membership is the fragmentation of efforts protecting dentists from state to state. If there is one thing that has become clear to Tracy and I as we have passed legislation and defended dentists against dental insurance company’s unethical policies, it’s the simple fact that the ADA picks their battles, and the state associations don’t know what battles to pick. Support the show

Shouldn't it be licensed dentists who determine generally accepted practice standards? Dental Insurance companies are trying to fill that role and need to be stopped.Tracy and I attempted this one topic for legislation, which reads:“Generally accepted practice standards for dentistry, are to be determined by the majority of professionally licensed dentists in Utah and managed by the state dental association.” Our talking point was this: Our proposal would prevent unlicensed dental plan executives from setting dental standards of care. Sounds simple…right?  The pushback was unbelievable...Support the show

How often do we hear dental thought leaders tell us to drop dental plans, or at least the worst ones? Inevitably, someone will ask the question, “which ones are the worst ones?” Or better yet, they ask, “please define what is meant by the ‘worst’ ones, aren’t they all bad?”Then there are the grumblings from all of us on how bad the reimbursement rates are, and how impossible it is to provide quality dentistry on a patient who is covered by a PPO plan you are a provider for. Last but not least is our front office team members who have to deal with the dental insurance plans, their reps, and the deceptive EOBs, not to mention the patients who love to complain about their insurance coverage, or lack thereof. I sometimes don’t understand why the majority of front office team members are not in group therapy in every state.I want to talk about the importance of fighting on principle, not on a platitude when protecting dentists and the patients we serve.Support the show