Why KPIs are a worthwhile investment of your time

Practice Plan Area Manager, Katrina James, pleads the case for measuring KPIs (key performance indicators) in practice.

A quote usually attributed to business guru, Peter Drucker is “If you can't measure it, you can't improve it.” I have found that most practices appreciate that they should be measuring certain aspects of their business, but for one reason or another, a lot of them aren’t doing so.

This could be because they are too busy to think about it. The idea of sitting to analyse figures leaves them cold as they want to be ‘doing dentistry’, or equally as likely, they don’t know how to go about things. Whatever the reason, being able to measure how well your business is performing against specific goals is vital for driving growth.

There are many different metrics you can apply to a business, but what I am suggesting is that you keep on top of the ones that will give you the best idea of how your practice is performing at the moment, and how it is likely to fare in the future. This is why we need to concentrate on the key performance indicators. Without this type of information, it is harder to assess whether you are on the right path to achieve your goals.

While different roles may have different KPIs attached to them, there are some basic factors that you should be measuring for an accurate picture of your business’ current and future performance. Keeping an eye on the following four key figures will give you a good overview of how your practice is doing.

Recall rates

Having an idea of how many of your patients return to you for appointments (your recall percentage return rate), is highly informative as it tells you more than just that one thing. Not only does it give an indication of how much business is in your pipeline, but it also gives an idea of patient satisfaction too. Patients who are happy with the service they received are likely to return. So, if your recall return rate is low, then perhaps you need to be asking why?

The percentage of patients coming back when they’re called gives a high-level view of things and allows you to dig deeper to uncover any issues that need to be fixed. For example, if it’s low, it may be that your patients have been happy with their clinical experience and would like to return however, problems with your current booking system have prevented them from making an appointment. By delving further, you can find the issue and put it right.

A possible cause of this could be that your practice is sending out reminders by text in bulk. This would mean lots of patients would receive their reminders at the same time and so large numbers of people could be trying to ring the practice to book their appointment but are unable to get through. This can be off-putting for some people, and they may choose to go to a competitor. By simply tweaking your recall protocol to one where follow-up appointments are scheduled in at the conclusion of the patient’s previous appointment, you could remove that particular obstacle and retain that patient’s custom.

While it’s still important to keep attracting new patients, it might be better to work smarter than harder. By focusing some time on monitoring and improving recall rates so you can make things easier for your existing patients to attend their regular appointments every six months, you’ll have a steady stream of existing patients. That’s much easier than having to worry about recruiting enough new patients to fill the gaps caused by those who don’t return.

Diary optimisation

Having some white spaces in the diary is sometimes a good thing, as it allows some time so you can accommodate emergencies. However, while it’s great to be able to help people out in their hour of need, it’s important to ensure you’re utilising your available clinical time to the full and not leaving spaces needlessly. It’s worth reviewing exactly how much time you do spend treating emergencies to make sure you’re not leaving too many gaps.

It's always good to keep an eye on gaps in your diary. However, if you feel there are more than you’d like, then investigating why they’re there gives you the chance to put things right. Perhaps patients are missing appointments because they were booked at their last examination six months before, but you failed to send a reminder, so they forgot about it. Or, if you did send a reminder text but your list of patient’s mobile numbers isn’t kept up to date, they may not have received it. It could also be that patients tried to ring to let you know they wouldn’t be able to make their appointment but couldn’t get through.

Again, knowing why things happen, will guide you as to what action to take. Having a look at your call data to establish how many calls go unanswered, or checking your text bounce rates, can help you to pin down the problem and take some remedial action. Perhaps having a longer appointment at the start of the day will allow your receptionist to answer more calls rather than having to greet lots of people arriving for their appointments. Or it could be you need to have more staff on reception to deal with the morning or lunchtime rush of calls. Whatever the solution, it’s easier to find one if you’re on top of the information.

Patient numbers

Practices need to keep growing their patient numbers. When patients find a dentist they like they usually are loyal and will often recommend them to their friends and family. I have known many cases where people have moved area but still chosen to travel back just to see their original dentist. So, if you’re still growing your patient numbers then that’s a reasonable indicator of patient satisfaction. However, if they’re dropping off it’s a good idea to investigate further, as it could mean you have unhappy patients.

As well as looking at patient numbers for the practice overall it’s helpful to check each individual dentist’s numbers. While you may be content with the figures for the practice as a whole, there may be disparities between individuals which could mean one dentist is being underutilised, or losing patients, while another is at capacity and may need some help. Without looking at the numbers, this may not be obvious.

Treatment conversion rates

Do your patients always take up what you believe to be the right treatments? If not, why not? Were they able to spend time with a treatment coordinator (TCO) or was everything done in surgery without much time for them to absorb the information? Could you offer them another appointment with a TCO to go through things in a less time pressured environment?

Perhaps they did want the treatment but payment options, such as patient finance, were left out of the discussion. Having a handle on your treatment conversion rate is important as it can have a knock-on effect if it’s lower than you’d like. It could result in patients not having the right treatment at the right time which could badly affect their oral health. This could then mean your patient satisfaction levels decrease; so people may not want to come back and you could lose patients. This is something you need to address to ensure the health of your business.

Although monitoring these aspects of your practice may require some time, it’s worth the investment as it can help you solve problems early or even head them off at the pass.

This year, Practice Plan celebrates 30 years of welcoming practices into the family, helping them to grow profitable businesses through the introduction of practice-branded membership plans. So, if you’re looking to switch provider or are considering a full or partial move away from the NHS and would like a provider who will hold your hand through the process whilst moving at a pace that’s right for you, why not start the conversation with Practice Plan, on 01691 684165, or for more information visit the Practice Plan website:practiceplan.co.uk

About Katrina

Katrina James is an Area Manager who joined the dental sector in 2018 after 25 years’ working in sales and people management roles. Practice Plan is the UK’s leading provider of practice-branded patient membership plans, partnering with over 2,000 dental practices and offering a wide range of business support services.