Dental Frustrations

You finally did it! After months of planning, hard work and regulatory hurdles you just opened your first practice — or perhaps an additional location. Congratulations!

Fast forward to after you’ve been open awhile and the newness has worn off. You survived your first round of hiring, firing, collection issues, regulatory inspections and more. But all of a sudden, pursuing your passion seems more like drudgery than enjoyment. What happened?

Perhaps you are worn out by one of the five frustrations Dr. Anthony Stefano discovered in his survey of more than 500 dentists. In his article titled, What Dentists Really Think of DSOs (A Survey), Dr. Stefano’s survey participants cite “dealing with regulations” as one of their top five frustrations about being a dentist (Group Dentistry Now, August 26, 2015).

Does this sound familiar? There’s no magic wand to make laws, rules and regulatory requirements disappear — and claiming ignorance can be costly. So how to minimize your frustration, stay out of legal hot water and not break your budget? Consider these three points.

First, start with an honest evaluation of your current compliance programs: determine what’s working and what’s not. Reducing your frustration by delegating regulatory compliance duties to key staff only works if you have allocated sufficient resources to allow them to master and sustain their efforts. Second, have you built accountability into this role, so it’s not being carried out haphazardly? Third, ensure your Compliance Coordinator really knows the regulatory requirements. Perhaps it’s time to consider advanced training for your Compliance Coordinator. Take a look at what the Institute for Dental Compliance and Risk Management has to offer. There’s no time like the present recapture your passion while optimizing compliance!