There have been several very important and impactful changes to the “normal” in the hiring and staffing world today.  Many of these changes have happened over the past 5 years slowly and you may have missed them and find yourself facing difficulties because of them. 

I wanted to write this article to help you identify them, but more importantly, so you can adjust and hopefully rid yourself of any of these problems if you are facing them. 

The Cost of Staff: Where AI and Outsourcing Work, and Where They Fall Short

The first and probably most impactful change is the cost of staff—specifically salaries.  If we start by looking at the minimum wage increases various high population states have implemented since 2019, you are looking at numbers like: 41% increase in CA, 45% increase in NY, 77% increase in FL and 43% increase in WA.  Just to name a few.  And that’s just minimum wage, which then drives all working salaries up.  Now, I’m sure you‘ve noticed this one, but what you are doing in response is what may be hurting you more than you realize. 

With labor costs going up, many companies are pitching AI and outsourcing as a solution to your “workforce woes”.  And some of these solutions are great and will help cut costs and increase or maintain production.  However, some of these solutions are only driving business away from your practice and compounding the problem. 

For example, many offices today are turning to AI receptionists to answer their phones during working hours.  Or automated services that ask the caller to choose which area of the office they need to speak to before they get to speak to a live human.  These services can have value, but not during normal business hours.  These services cost you new patients.  People still expect to speak to a human when they call a medical office.  They want to feel important, cared for and safe. 

Additionally, it is so easy to find businesses today online, prospective patients will quickly move on to the next google listing if they aren’t handled quickly and efficiently.  People also expect things to be close to instant today and an AI receptionist is just not there yet.  Maybe in the future, but not yet.

To drive home my point: consider how many marketing dollars you are losing when that patient calls the office down the street, plus the lifetime value that new patient has to your office (national averages are $5,000 to $15,000 LTV).  Now look, let’s say you miss 10 potential new patients a month because they did not get converted to patients in the chair.  And 10 is being generous.  The average lifetime value of a new patient is $5,000 – $15,000.  If we take the middle ground at $10,000 that’s potentially $100,000 in LTV lost that month… I would venture to say you could cover the current payrate of a skilled receptionist even if you only converted half of them. 

I am not going to hash out the importance and value of your receptionist in this article.  You can check out these two articles one by our COO, Jeff Blumberg and one by myself for a more in-depth explanation of the importance of your reception position: Why your Marketing Isn’t Working and Hiring the Right Receptionist for your Dental Practice

But the point I am making is that while the costs of a receptionist may seem too high and the AI solution may sound like a great deal to save you money; you are really losing more than you could ever save by outsourcing that particular position. 

On the other side of the coin, we see many practices not outsourcing things that could potentially save them money and provide them with another employee.  I’m specifically referring to insurance filing.  Several companies now exist that will do your insurance filing for you, for a fraction of the cost of a full-time employee.  The added bonus is if you have an employee currently doing that job, you can give them a new job in your office and just like that you fill a position without having to place one ad, do one interview or hope that the person is a good fit for your office.  Many of our clients are using Smile Care Claims.  

Understaffing and Undertraining Your Team 

We have also seen many offices operating with less staff than they need to properly function and grow.  Working without enough Dental Assistants, Hygienists and administrative staff seems like a way to save money; but if you really take a look all you are doing is lowering your customer service/patient experience and overworking yourself and your team.  That model only works so long before you start to lose patients and staff. 

I hear all the time, “Well, Ashley, I can’t find any good staff.”  And my first question usually is, “Are you paying competitively for your area?” If yes, I’ll ask, “Do you have a good training system in place so you can make great staff?”. Think about it, have you ever gone to a Chick-Fil–A that didn’t have enough staff?  I haven’t, and those staff are usually efficient, friendly and professional (they have a great training system).  You might say that a dental office isn’t a fast-food restaurant.  Well ok.  But it is a business.  And if you want a successful business, you have to have a team and that team has to know what they are doing.  To create a team that knows what they are doing, you need training systems.  Many dentists think this is harder than it truly is, which is why they’re having trouble with it.  

This vicious downward spiral is becoming more common in dental offices; not hiring because you feel you can’t afford it, overworking yourself and your team, finally breaking down and hiring someone, but then not truly training them to be great at their job. Eventually, you either lose the employee or continue losing money because they are not producing what they should. One of the key factors driving this cycle is rising pay rates, combined with inflation and the increasing cost of doing business.

If you need any help with this subject, reach out to us. We have staff training programs that can make this process a lot less daunting. 

Thinking HR Regulations and Changes Won’t Affect You 

This is bit of a controversial subject, but I will bring up an area that many doctors continue to ignore that can cost thousands in lawsuits that are truly avoidable. Today there seems to be an attorney billboard or ad or commercial everywhere you turn.  And just like you promote to get new patients, so do they.  Feeding this frenzy is the numerous changes to HR regulations across the US.  Here at MGE, we are a larger business, so I regularly keep myself in the know on the almost monthly changes that roll out across the country with regards to how you handle employees, breaks, dress code policies, overtime and exemption calculations, the list goes on. 

But many smaller businesses (dental offices) tend to ignore or not even think about these changes, and it is not cost effective for you to pay an employee to specialize in HR. As a result, many mistakes might occur that could be costly to the practice.  The solution I usually propose to our clients is to have a good HR company working for you.  Just like you have a CPA to help with your taxes because that’s not your specialty,  you must have an HR company that ensures you have a solid employee handbook, advises you on the rules and regulations of your state, and is there to help you navigate HR issues that every business inevitably has.  Things like performance reviews, overtime pay, employee correction, etc.

I bring this point up as one of the slow changes you might have missed.  Personally, my opinion is that it is no longer optional to not have some sort of HR support other than just the basic hiring process.  You leave yourself too exposed.  Unfortunately, many people don’t take me up on that advice until they have a problem – and most times that problem was avoidable and they are paying more now than they would have.   

Final Thoughts

While all of this may seem overwhelming or confusing, the good news is that these problems are not impossible to solve. It’s as simple as making smarter decisions about where human talent matters most, when outside support makes sense, properly training the team you already have, and protecting your practice from preventable compliance mistakes. Practices that recognize these shifts early and adjust accordingly will be in a much stronger position to grow without burning out their team or themselves. 

And again, if you need any help with any of these issues, feel free to reach out to us and schedule a free consultation. We will sit down one-on-one and figure out where you can improve and the next steps to get you on the path to success.