Tips for Hiring an IT Professional for Your Dental Practice

As the leader of a healthcare technology company providing services that help dental practices communicate information to payers more efficiently and securely—and with many years in the business— I’ve developed a certain knack for understanding the technology needs of the modern practice. Practices seek software solutions to make their business lives easier. Software is designed and sold in similar fashion: to streamline workflows, eliminate needless tasks, enhance security and remove inefficiencies and obsolescence.

Many voices contribute to the conversation about how much and what type of technology a practice needs, not to mention how a practice should use that technology. There are far fewer conversations about the resources—employees— a practice must use to implement, manage and care for the technology. Most dental practices, especially smaller ones, don’t have time or resources to manage IT without some outside guidance because they are primarily focused on the delivery of care. The hiring process for new employees for such roles is often overwhelming and sometimes gets rushed along.

When hiring, you need to keep in mind the basic requirements of the position while also thinking beyond just the basics. Ask questions to test the forward-thinking abilities of the candidate. Anyone who works in IT should have a basic knowledge of information technology terms and protocols, but not everyone has the vision for how what they do can impact the business in which they work. With technology driving so many of the revenue streams in today’s dental practices, it’s critical that your IT team has ideas and experience to help maximize revenue while eliminating old technology and processes holding back the practice.

Ask if the candidate is aware of the trends currently taking place in the dental industry. The candidate should have in-depth knowledge of the relationship between IT and HIPAA compliance and how best to secure your practice’s data. It’s your responsibility to extrapolate that information

and make sure the candidate you hire knows not only technology, but also the special requirements of the dental industry. A candidate’s understanding of the laws around data security is something you should discuss in-depth.

Next, make sure that the candidate has people and technical skills. It’s inevitable that IT will be called upon at some point to provide advice and assistance to individuals throughout your practice and that those individuals may have varying levels of technical expertise. Whomever you hire needs to have knowledge, patience and the right personality to work effectively

with other team members. They must be able to develop protocols and provide guidance for such issues as a system crash or outages. How will these challenges be addressed?

out what they’d like to establish in the organization’s IT infrastructure, or even have them submit a proposal prior to a job offer so you can review the information with advisors to determine if the plan, and employee, are up to your expectations. Test the candidate with a real-world example your practice is currently taking on now. Ask for examples of their previous work and what they have done. What do they consider their specialty: security, implementation, maintenance, etc.?

Another thing to look for in candidates— other than basic credentials such as years of experience, education required and certifications needed—is interest. Do the interviewees show any real interest in the position? Do they seem to understand the landscape and the lingo needed to successfully lead the IT operations of your practice? Demonstrated knowledge means their heads and their hearts are in the game and will be on board with you to do whatever it takes to win.

And remember that a friendly personality is just as important for someone who doesn’t work directly with patients as it is for those who are 100-percent patient-facing. Just because your IT service professional won’t be chair-side caring for patients, there’s still a good chance that they’ll interact with patients at some level.

Finally, dive in. Get into the meat of the interview by providing relevant questions that help extrapolate the candidates’ information and demonstrate how they would handle certain situations, under a deadline, when needed.

Do not succumb too quickly to the need of filling the vacancy. Don’t rush to add an employee simply to fill a gap; hiring the wrong

Consider having the candidate list or draw

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person will only exacerbate problems in the long-run. If during the interview process you need a little support or assistance, consider bringing in someone from the outside who understands IT terminology and techniques. They can help you objectively identify potential disconnects between a candidate’s resume and his or her actual experience, qualifications and accomplishments.

Did you know that Eaglesoft Practice Management software can reach into every aspect of your practice to build efficiency? And it’s true – when you can manage patient information better, you can spend more time taking care of people.

And when you begin your transition to Eaglesoft today, we’ll include a sampling of our groundbreaking digital services as part of our introductory offer, valued at $3,500: • Eaglesoft Advanced Charting Module • 3 months of eStatements • 3 months of eClaims • 2 months of a backup solution (DDS Rescue or PattLock) • 1 month of RevenueWell

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Career Suicide – The Easy Way

Dale Wagman, DDS

It’s easy to kill a practice. You can over-treatment plan. You can overcharge. You can insist on treatments patients don’t want. You can refuse to honor insurances. You can have an unpleasant chairside manor. You can mistreat staff. The list goes on. Unfortunately, you can kill an entire career even more easily–often before you ever get one started–by making one critical mistake.

Almost every month, transition consultants will typically get a call from a young dentist who is working on killing his or hers. They tell the consultant that they have been an associate for the last three or more years and have increased their speed and knowledge exponentially since graduation. They will mention the hours of continuing education they have had. They will expound on their skills and ability to perform a vast array of dental procedures. They may discuss their financial situation and credit possibilities. Some may even claim to be pre-qualified by some bank for a purchase.

Naturally, the consultant is thinking, “This is a client I can help.” Then, the young dentist drops the inevitable bombshell. “Oh by the way,” they

will say. “The practice I am looking for must be located within 30 minutes from the intersection of Fifth and Main Street.” Bam! One sentence and this young dentist may have just destroyed their entire career potential. They may have doomed themselves to mediocracy by eliminating a potential opportunity that may have rocket propelled their financial viability for years. They may have become one more among the many waiting for success to find them.

Realistically, the average dentist has between 30-40 years to practice. During that time, they have to pay off student loans, pay off practice debt, raise a family, pay off a home, build equity in a practice that they can sell later, save up some extra money for retirement and maybe, if they are lucky, actually live a little–by traveling or perhaps by buying a toy or two. Moreover, they have to do all that while paying taxes, fighting competition, resisting corporate challenges, acquiescing to staffing realities and surviving continual pressure from insurance companies and other third parties. Let’s face it! They really can’t afford to waste time, and they certainly can’t

afford to trap their future by building artificial geographic walls around their potential.

is that just two counties away—a little over an hour drive—the population to dentist ratio is approximately 2557-to-1.

Sure, the urge to live a normal life is strong after dental school. You want to have a home and settle down. You want to have some kids and get a nice family started. You want to start staking out some territory. You want to stick your chest out and start letting the world know you are finally free - no longer a prisoner of academia and ready for the world. And, of course, if you have a spouse, he or she will want to see you do all of that too—and probably much more. However, you have to be realistic. It could take years for even a mediocre opportunity to become available in any pre-defined location almost anywhere in the country. Finding a good one could take even longer. Just simply settling on something because you are tired of waiting could be a huge, life-defining mistake.

dentist has between 30-40 years to practice.

How many patients can you see in a day? Probably many more than 10, right? How long are you willing to wait for a practice that has only the bare-minimum number of potential patients? At that pace, how long will it take you to pay off all your debt and put together a decent retirement plan? If 844-to-1 is the mathematical norm for a particular area, how long will it take to find a practice that has twice that many patients–a full week of patients, say? And, more importantly, with how many other dentists will you be competing, just to get a shot at buying it? Essentially, you could find yourself standing in line to buy half a practice and unless you are very skilled at building practices, you will end up with half a career.

Let’s look at just one example. According to data available at the time of this writing, the population-to-dentist ratio in one very desirable Midwestern county, in which many young dentists want to live and practice, is approximately 844-to-1. An 844-patient practice is just a two-day per week practice to a new dentist who can see only eight patients a day. It is not even a two-day practice to a dentist who can see just 10 patients a day. The irony here

Approved PACE Program Provider FAGD/MAGD Credit Approval does not imply acceptance by a state or provincial board of dentistry or AGD endorsement 4/1/2016 to 3/31/2020 Provider ID# 302387.

is also the key to career success. When good opportunities–ones that will provide sufficient revenue to reach all of your goals–become available, you need to be able to react quickly and take advantage of them. You often can’t afford to wait until you sell a house. You can’t afford to wait until your kids matriculate from one school to another. You can’t afford to wait–period! Opportunity knocks very softly sometimes, and it doesn’t always knock on the door you want it to.

Realistically, the average

The old adage, “Money won’t come to you, you have to go to it,” is very true. Don’t limit your success by limiting your geography.

Dale E. Wagman, D.D.S. has been a PARAGON Dental transition Consultant since 2007. He owned and operated a large dental practice for almost 30 years. He has authored numerous dental management articles, as well as a best-selling textbook on the history and self-management of Dental PPOs. He lives with his wife in Northwestern Michigan. He can be reached at 517-375-3740

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