Don't let downtime in your hygiene schedule fool you into thinking there is no room for growth. Every schedule will have some down time. However, almost every practice has a gap between what they are producing in hygiene and what they could be producing. Try this quick assessment:
- Take the number of your active adult patients times the hygiene fee and multiply by two (for the average number of visits per year)
- Now do the same for children's visits
- Add the two results to get your total ideal hygiene production
- Subtract what you're producing now
The number you're looking at is your “hygiene gap;” it's the revenue you're leaving on the table. And this is just the obvious revenue, it doesn't include referrals from hygiene patients, or the inevitable rise in diagnosis and treatment that comes when you increase capacity. You also need to factor in case acceptance rates when you get more patients moving more effectively through the system. The hygiene department is the engine room of every GP practice, powering productivity throughout the business. It makes sense to know how big your gap is, and to ensure that the engine gets regular inspections and tune-ups.