A few tips and questions I advise you get answered:
1. Get an accurate count of active patients. Often this is greatly inflated. If the software has been correctly entered for all patients then the active patient count will be good. However less than 1 in 10 practices will have accurate information as far as patients.
There are different opinions on how to arrive at an accurate active patient count. Some say go back 18 months others say only to count what is on the schedule for the next six months. Either way it is important that the numbers be accurate and evaluated against such factors as whether there is a robust reactivation program in place or not, etc.
2. Has there already been extensive dentistry done on patients? If so, then the only income you will get from the active patients, for the most part, will be in hygiene. The more complete dentistry done the less return on the investment there will be.
3. Location is very important as it is in any business. Visibility makes a big difference.
4. Does the equipment, in the case of an older practice, have to be replaced? Used dental equipment has almost no value.
5. Will the dentist stay on for an appropriate amount of time to introduce you to the patients and act as a good tag to build up the new dentist? How long depends depends on if there’s adequate patient base or not to feed both dentists. The new dentist usually has heavy debt load and needs to make as much income as possible. I’ve not seen a dentist staying on for a long period of time to be workable unless there is work to do as an associate and the other dentist can produce at a good level.
6. The staff in a practice that is old school will often be very computer illiterate. I’ve usually seen that staff that have been with the dentist 25 years or more are usually practicing a style of dentistry that is outmoded. If they are computer literate it’s okay but if they are not, the time and frustration to train them is generally not worth it. You don’t want to have wholesale changes in the hygiene and front desk positions if possible as these are usually the once the patients tend to bond with the most.
7. If it’s a buyer’s market try to negotiate that the dentist selling the practicenot get full payment until he has done the turnover which includes understanding the various systems and protocols in use in the practice such as financial arrangements, accounting, etc. Get introduced to as many active patients as possible. Again if it’s a buyer’s market I would recommend leaving a portion of the payment, say 10%, not to be given until a successful transition. What you can negotiate will to a large degree be dependent on whether you are in a buyers or sellers market but also most sales are 100% financed these days so you might be able to negotiate much along this line.
8. It should be in the contract that any re-dos of dental work that he or she did must be completed by that dentist and paid for including lab fees obviously. There’s usually a standard time of around 6 months from the time the new dentist takes over. If this clause is not in there I’ve seen people get the short end of the stick. Money can be placed in escrow for this.
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