The Hidden Costs of Starting a Dental Practice

For greater success, new dental practice owners need to keep an eye on the indirect or hidden costs that can hinder profitability.

Hidden costs can add up to more than half of the total cost of practice ownership. The cost of starting a practice today can be as high as $500,000. This figure doesn’t include hidden costs such as:

• Loan interest
• Technology
• Low productivity
• Technical support
• System downtime.

The right practice management software can reduce these hidden costs significantly. A cloud-based practice solution can reduce or eliminate them completely.

Let’s see how a cloud-based solution handles five typical hidden costs.

Loan Interest

Loan interest rates are determined by a combination of factors, including credit score, term, borrowed amount, down payment amount and construction timetable. Using cloud-based software won’t reduce the loan interest but it can lower the total borrowed amount.

Startup costs are lower for cloud-based practices because they don’t need server hardware, they can use any device with web access, and up-front costs for applications and other software are paid monthly—not up front.

Technology

Cloud-based practices have lower technology costs because there is no server to buy, and client devices can be inexpensive tablets.

The monthly subscription fee includes application and software costs, updates and upgrades, virus protection, and data backup and storage.

Low Productivity

Several factors affect productivity in a dental practice. A properly installed cloud solution can eliminate the following causes of low productivity:

• Slow computer network
• Viruses and malware
• Hours spent updating software
• Outdated software or applications
• Poor workflow
• Untrained users
• Untracked time

The right practice management system automates and monitors many office tasks, raising practice productivity. Some software even offers customized to-do lists to keep each team member on track.

Technical Support

Cloud-based systems are monitored by IT experts. Most technical problems are caught before they affect the end user. This is why downtime is minimal in cloud-based practices. And, no time is wasted waiting for a technical specialist to come on site to repair problems because the system is in the cloud, not on site.

System Downtime

As mentioned above, cloud solutions have no unscheduled downtime because the software is always available. Upgrades, backups and system maintenance happen in a remote data center and don’t affect practice uptime. In case of power outages, user errors or natural disasters, the practice’s system can be restored almost immediately.

Keeping hidden costs low helps new dental practices achieve profitability sooner rather than later. For more information, download “Launching Your Own Dental Practice,” a free eBook from Dentrix Ascend.