Read this and increase your clinic's annual revenue by at least Rs.50,000.

I was on a consultation one day when I witnessed this scene in that clinic.

"Dr. sahib ko dikhana hai, kitni fees hai"

"Uncle Rs 300 consultation hai sir ki"

"Achcha, theek hai."

The patient pays the consultation fee and the dentist in that clinic after examining found that uncle had a carious molar which was troubling him. Now he needed to shoot one x ray to find out how deep the carious lesion is.

So he shot one and told him that since the caries was very deep he will need either an extraction or a root canal, in case if he wanted to save the tooth.

"Do whatever is necessary beta, I want to save the tooth. After all I am old and I need teeth to chew properly.

"Uncle the total charges for the root canal will be Rs 3500.Crown charges will be separate"

"No problem please go ahead with the treatment."

The dentist started with the access opening.

I kept on looking at the dentist in half frustration and half astonishment.

Have you, my esteemed reader, understood the reason for my frustration in this whole scene?

Let me share another situation with you :

Once the uncle was told the root canal charges there were two possibilities, one he could have accepted the treatment or he would have said "Beta, can we start from tomorrow?

I need to talk to my wife about it so ill come tomorrow."

"Ok Uncle, I'll see you tomorrow."

The uncle gets up and and goes away. He may or may not come back tomorrow.

Now let me give you another situation :

"Let's keep the appointment for tomorrow ok?"

"ok uncle."

As uncle is about to leave the consultation chamber, you, the dentist, tell him,

"Uncle please pay Rs. 200 for the x ray at the reception"

"Charges for X ray? But that you took for your diagnosis, isn't it?

And nobody informed that it was chargeable. I thought it was included in the consultation fee."

(You have just realized where I was going with this all this while.)

Now you the gentle dentist will obviously not argue with a patient who is of the age of your father and who might come for a root canal tomorrow so you just smile and say,

"No problem uncle, see you tomorrow"

So why don't majority of the dentists not charge for the x ray?

The reasoning that I get is, "Since he has started with the treatment it is odd to ask for 200 bucks more for a small x ray."

While this is absolutely rubbish reasoning it still is ok for situation 1.

But what about situation 2 where the patient might or might not come back the next day or what about situation 3 where the dentist did ask the patient to pay for the X ray but the patient did not pay as he was not informed or assumed that it is included in the consultation charges.

I think the patient is absolutely right in situation 3. Keep your self in his shoes and you will feel the same way.

Let's do some basic mathematics :

Let's say you have an average one new patient walking in everyday.

That is 30 new patients in a month.

30*200 =6000

6000 per month and in 12 months it will be

6000*12 = Rs. 72000

Some of you might say that we do not work for all 365 days, some might say we are able to take x ray charges from half our new patient etc. etc.

Look, let's not kid ourselves, the number that I have calculated above is very conservative.

Considering that some of you might be getting more than 1 new patient a day and some of you might also be working on a Sunday, the actual revenue lost by not charging for the X ray is going to be north of Rs 72000.

Now let me show you the significance of this unrealized Rs 72000.

Let's say you start with an SIP of Rs 6000 in an equity mutual fund that will give you a return of 12% over 30 years.

Can you imagine what will be the amount that you can get after 30 years?

So the principal amount invested is 6000*12*30 = Rs 21,60,000 (Twenty one lakhs and sixty thousand)

and if you get a return of 12% on it at the end of 30 years you will convert this 21 lakhs 60 thousand into .............hold your breath...stay tight in that chair...you might fall off...

Rs 2,11,79,483.

Yeah baby ! a figure upwards of 2.5 crores.

(For the ones with skeptical bent of mine please go to https://groww.in/calculators/sip-calculator put in the numbers and you will get your answer.)

Did you just fall out of your chair?

My fellow gladiator, wake up, It's time to tackle this problem head on and the solution is very very simple.

First things first.

The x ray and the RVG sensor is a separate investment that needs to generate revenue for you. You can not just say that "since he started with the treatment I should not charge him." Sorry this is not a valid line of thinking.

You have to charge for every single thing that you have paid for to make your life easy.

Let's say you went to a orthopedic surgeon with a sprained ankle and he orders an x ray to check if there is any minor fracture. You have to pay for that x ray right?

Whether you get a plaster afterwards or not is totally immaterial. You have to pay for that bloody x ray !! simple !

Then why not in your clinic should a patient pay for that very x ray?

Change your mindset please, it's important that you start valuing the service that you are providing. Only when you attach a value to your efforts will you be able to ask for your dues with authority.

Secondly

This is a simple management problem. Your receptionist has not been trained to inform every new or for that matter any old patient about x ray charges.

I have seen in many clinics boards like this to inform patients for x ray charges.

This again is flawed, Dentists are assuming that the patient will read and their job is done.

You have to train your staff so that they can verbally inform the patient every time they walk in your clinic for a new consultation.

Every single time ! Even if it is a patient who has been coming to you from day 1 of your practice. Ask your staff not to assume anything. Everything has to be communicated to the patient before they enter your chamber for consultation.

There are no two ways about it.

No matter at what stage in your career as a dentist you are, but you have to start valuing your services, every penny counts and when compounded over years of practice that small amount can become huge.

Enough to fund your child's education in an ivy league college. Trust me one this !!

I hope you find the post valuable. If you do please let me know in the comments section your thoughts about it and also please share with your friends and fellow professionals.

My fight is simple : to make dentistry and dentists glamourous. I certainly can not do it alone !!