So, you’ve set your big goal for 2025! You looked back at all that you accomplished in 2024 and set your sights on new heights for this year. Way to go!
Now, when do you and your team start working on that new goal? The answer is right now. And rather than present a big, singular number to your team, let’s break it down into daily goals that everyone on your team can help to execute.
First, let’s take your overall gross production goal and divide it between the doctor team and hygiene team. Regardless of how big your team is, a good benchmark to aim for is that your hygiene team is responsible for producing 30% and the doctors 70%.
Then take these departmental goals and divide them further if you have multiple providers. Everyone should know what their overall gross production goal for the year is. Then use those big yearly goals to break them into your monthly goals. It’s a good idea to look at vacation schedules during this time as well. If someone is off for almost the whole month of June, maybe beef up the goal in May and July, so that when the numbers are low for May, it all evens out in the end. The more you think through these things, the more you can proactively ensure consistent production.
Lastly, take your monthly goals and divide them into the number of days each provider will work. In addition to your production goals, create your daily collection goal. Your front desk team will be responsible for making sure things are billed to insurance correctly and that payments from patients and insurances are collected.
Once your financial goals are set, we recommend taking them a step further. First, add these daily goals to your Practice Management Software so that your team can see them and work toward them, keeping them top of mind on a daily basis. Second, figuring out how many New Patients you need to see each month/day helps refocus your goals back on what you and your team do best: Serve Patients! Ultimately, that is what these goals are all about- how many patients can you serve this year. Set your New Patient goal and talk about your progress for this goal at your morning huddle and team meeting. Remember, a New Patient is a patient who has come in for a comprehensive exam and is becoming part of your practice recare program.
Setting a New Patient goal can also lead to the team brainstorming on how to increase New Patients, if that is something that you need. It also encourages the team to look at the schedule to ensure that you have room set aside to accommodate new patients. Do you need to add blocks to your schedule to be able to see the number of patients you would like to?
The bottom line is this: After the big goal is set, dig into it! Make it something that you work towards every day with your team and that you talk about it, keeping it top of mind. The more communication and feedback, the more you can ensure that you are building the path forward, together.
If you want more information on any of these topics …
- Determining your hygiene vs Doctor production goals
- How to maximize your usage of your practice management software to set goals
… please feel free to reach out to a member of our team. We are always here to help you become the best business advocate for your practice!
Stay tuned for our next blog post: How to keep your practice Patient-Centered and Profitable. For more information on how to use last year’s data to set this year’s goal, read our last post here.
