Do You Already Have a Million-Dollar Practice?

What is a patient worth to you?

I realize this is a loaded question. As a dentist, you’re in a profession where you give personal care and attention to a number of people you’ve come to know well. The value of a patient is measured in much more than dollars, just as the value of great dentistry can’t be measured by money, either. However, your ability to deliver great clinical care depends largely on your business success.

It’s the Mayo Clinic model: They don’t put a value on patients, but they know they must be economically responsible to provide their renowned high level of care. When it comes to being the best clinically, economic considerations are very real.

The myth of the ideal patient

So, what is a patient worth to the practice in economic terms? The obvious answer is, it depends on the patient. But is that really true? I’ve spoken before about the myth of the ideal patient, the idea there are patients out there who value dentistry and their oral health highly and want to have the best care possible, all the time. These people do exist, but in most cases they already have a dentist and their treatment is already up to date. You can’t base a realistic growth strategy on attracting those elusive patients who say yes to everything.

On the other hand, it’s more likely that you could be undervaluing the patients you already have.

Consider some basic numbers: If a patient simply returns for hygiene twice a year and you retain them for 20 years, that’s $4,000 right there (based on a very conservative average of $100 per visit). Add to that an estimated $6,000 in restorative treatment over that time and you get $10,000 in value from every patient.

That means if we’re talking about 1,000 patients retained over 20 years, we’re talking about $500,000 annually. Now, of course you’re not going to retain all 1,000 patients, but it’s also true that you’ll have many patients doing much more than $6,000 over the course of 20 years. (These are hypothetical numbers to give us some context.)

Everyday dentistry delivered steadfastly

Now if each of those people refers just one more patient within five years, your production doubles to $1 million. If they do it again in the next five years, you’re up to $2 million. Remember, this is growth that has nothing to do with large cases or value-added care; it’s just simple everyday dentistry delivered steadfastly over several years.

Retention is never going to be 100% and your mileage may vary, but the point is there’s immense value in being true to the essentials of patient-centered foundational dentistry. If you get this right, you’ll find that the bigger stuff will flow in naturally.