Interview Questions for Every Dental Practice Role
By Megan Urban, Practice Transition Advisor
Businesses across the country are struggling with staffing issues and the dental world is NO exception. During the pre-pandemic years finding great staff was a challenge, but since the pandemic began finding and retaining great staff has become a tumultuous experience. What follows are some interview questions that have helped dentists and their practice managers sift through their potential candidates – when you can get candidates. And the increased competition for workers has made this an employee-driven vs. employer-driven market. You’ve got to know your budget and get clear on what additional perks or benefits you may be able to offer in this now highly-competitive hiring process.
General Questions for Every Role – Dentists, Hygienists, Office Managers, Dental Assistants, Front Office, and Sterile Techs
1. What are you looking for in a team and an office?
2. What does self-motivation mean to you?
3. What in particular motivates you?
4. How do you organize your day?
5. In a perfect world, how many hours per day and per week would you like to work?
6. How do you deal with conflict in the workplace? Describe a specific situation and how you dealt with it. Would you do anything differently now that you have had time to reflect?
7. How would the previous dentist who employed you describe you if I were to call him/her? What about the other team members, what would they say? Would they say you were on time every day? Easy to get along with? Fun? Great with the patients?
8. What do you think are your greatest strengths? And what are your greatest challenges?
9. Describe a situation when a patient was upset and describe what you did to rectify the situation or help.
10. What are three things you liked most about your last two positions/offices? What are three things you would have changed and why?
11. Describe a great day at the office.
12. What work situations, tasks, or duties cause you stress?
13. Where would you like to see yourself in two years. Where would you like to see yourself in five years?
14. If you weren’t in the dentistry field, what would you be doing? What are you most passionate about?
15. What qualities in a person do you think are important for this position?
16. How would you set the pay scale for this position? What qualifying events or skills would warrant a different pay scale or increase in compensation?
17. What do you think a bonus should be based on?
18. What benefits are most meaningful to you?
19. What have you learned during the pandemic? How did it affect your short and long-term goals?
20. Did you work remotely? Was that easy or difficult for you? How do you feel about being back in an office, working with a team, and having interaction with patients all day?
Additional Questions for Specific Roles:
Hygiene
1. Describe your normal routine with new patients.
2. What protocol do you follow with perio?
3. What are your thoughts about Arestin, rinses, etcetera.?
4. How do you talk with patients about perio disease? What if they have been undertreated and you are now proposing perio treatment?
5. What is your favorite part of being a hygienist?
6. What have you done in the past to build and grow the hygiene department in an office?
7. How do you discuss unfinished treatment and recall? Provide an example.
8. What do you do if you have a broken appointment? In other offices have you been expected to work your own recall and try to fill your schedule?
9. Are you comfortable working when the dentist is out of the office? (If it’s legal in your area?).
Dental Assistant
1. Have you been involved with placing dental supply orders? Explain your process.
2. What have you normally done during downtime?
3. How do you talk with patients about unfinished treatment and recall? Provide an example.
4. What are your most/least favorite procedures?
5. Describe the perfect dentist to assist and why?
Office/Practice Manager
1. How would you describe your management style?
2. What are your thoughts about micro-managing?
3. What steps do you take when you realize that you have made a hiring mistake?
4. Do you enjoy being at the front desk or in an office behind the scenes?
5. What do you bring to a team to keep them motivated and smiling?
6. In your previous office did you have full responsibility for the accounts receivable? What was your average production to collection ratio?
7. In your previous offices, how would staff describe you?
Front Office
1. How do you welcome new patients to the practice?
2. What have your past responsibilities been? Which did you enjoy most?
3. How do you talk with patients about treatment costs? Provide an exact example of presenting treatment and negotiating a financial arrangement.
4. How do you discuss unfinished treatment and recall?
5. How do you describe a perfect schedule and how do you create it?
6. How do you fill any last-minute appointments?
7. Do you enjoy recall and scheduling?
8. How much experience have you had setting up insurance, submitting claims, and following up with insurance companies for payment?
Dentist
1. What does a perfect schedule look like to you?
2. What is your perio protocol?
3. How do you encourage patients to finish incomplete treatment?
4. How do you ask for referrals from existing patients?
5. What do you do at a new patient appointment?
6. What types of procedures do you most enjoy?
7. Are you comfortable being the only dentist working in the office?
8. What is your typical production per day?
9. How would your current/past dental assistant describe you? How would an owner doctor or office manager describe you?
10. What are your goals for each patient and each day?
11. Is this office located outside any current non-compete you may have?
12. Will you be able to legally bring any patients with you?
Settling Liens Prior to Listing Your Practice
By Jen Bennett, Omni Practice Group
In preparation for listing your practice, there are several steps to consider, but one important step that is often overlooked is settling any outstanding liens against your practice. As you know, “A lien is a claim or legal right against assets that are typically used as collateral to satisfy a debt. A creditor or a legal judgment could establish a lien. A lien serves to guarantee an underlying obligation, such as the repayment of a loan.”
All liens tied to your dental practice must be settled prior to, or at closing. In some cases, the seller can use the proceeds of the sale to pay off outstanding debts such as equipment loans or business loans, which would be settled during the escrow process.
Sellers are often unaware of liens still showing as active. By performing a UCC (Uniform Commercial Code) search liens can be identified. These debts may have already been settled, but the lien holder either failed to file the lien release or filed it incorrectly. For these reasons, I highly recommend performing your own UCC search prior to listing your practice for sale. A “UCC search is a process through which business owners contact the secretary of state for the state in which their business is located and request all the UCC information (related to your practice). In some states, you won’t have to contact your secretary of state’s office at all – instead, you can use an online database for UCC lookup.” For Washington State, visit the Department of Licensing website https://fortress.wa.gov/dol/ucc/ to conduct your own search.
If you find any active liens that have already been settled, simply contact the debtor directly and request that they file a UCC-3 Termination Statement, which is essentially proof of debt termination. And don’t forget to ask for a copy of the UCC-3 so you have documentation to provide to your escrow officer. This is a simple task but can slow down the closing process if not addressed in advance.
Read MoreWho Should be on Your Exit-Planning Team?
By Corey Young, MBA, CVA
Let’s discuss the best approach:
- Financial Planner. A financial planner helps clients meet their current money needs and long-term financial goals. They use a structured process to guide clients toward prudent financial decisions to maximize their potential for attaining life goals. Using their knowledge of personal finance, taxes, budgeting, and investments—combined with analytical tools and data that can illustrate potential outcomes—financial planners make recommendations, which help clients make informed decisions.
- CPA. Almost everyone reading this article has a CPA. While they are an invaluable resource, over-relying on them on a consultant basis can put them in a conflicting role when it comes time to exit your business. Per Investopedia, “Although some CPA firms serve as business consultants, the consulting role has been under scrutiny following the Enron scandal where Arthur Andersen simultaneously provided audit and consulting services which affected its ability to maintain independence in its audit duties If the CPA firm is auditing the same company that the firm also does consulting work for, then there is a conflict of interest. This conflict voids the CPA firm’s independence for multiple reasons, including: (1) the CPA firm would be auditing its own work or the work the firm suggested, and (2) the CPA firm may be pressured into unduly giving a positive (unmodified) audit opinion so as not to jeopardize the consulting revenue the firm receives from the client.”
- Transition Consultant. A business transition consultant helps a business owner assess the current asset value of the business and establish its attractiveness to various buyers. A transition consultant also helps owners assess where they’re at motivationally, as professionals and business owners in their readiness to sell. The consultant then works together with practice owners to develop exit strategies that could begin in the immediate future or develop over a couple of decades. Frequently, transition consultants also serve as the broker of practice sales. This is a real plus because their work in the open market makes their recommendations much more meaningful. A widely accepted recommendation is to engage a transition consultant long before you are ready to sell. Analogous to this recommendation is diagnosis and prevention. Waiting to contact a broker when you are ready to sell is considered emergency care.
- Attorney(s). Two different types of attorneys need to be engaged at some point during a well-developed exit strategy. First, an estate planning attorney to help set up wills and trusts. Second, an experienced transition attorney when the time comes to exit the business.
- Banker. Developing a solid relationship with a banker can open doors of possibility both currently and into the future. Because of banks’ (mostly outdated IMO) hiring and retention policies, bankers tend to move around quite a bit. My recommendation is to focus on the banker more than the bank.
Who do you currently have on your team?
Read More10 Tips to Help Make a Workback Successful
Bruce Johnson, DDS, Practice Transition Advisor at Omni Practice Group, has personally been involved with 3 practice sales and workback agreements. In this video, he provides you with 10 tips to help your workback transition be successful.
Read MoreLooking at Veterinary Practice Ownership in 2022
By Happy New Year! We want to wish you a happy and healthy 2022. As the new year gets underway, we have to look at some trends that will continue into the new year, some events that may be slowing down, and other news happening in the veterinary industry. Here are a few things to think about:
Veterinary Employee Shortage – This has been going on for several years now and there doesn’t appear to be an end in sight. There’s nothing that can happen overnight to help put an end to the shortage. Veterinary schools can’t graduate students fast enough and there are not any new veterinary schools that are starting up. Corporates are offering large bonuses for veterinary associates to join their practices. It’s tough for individual practice owners to compete for associates.
Burnout and Compassion Fatigue – This is one of the causes of labor shortage amongst veterinarians. Long work hours and days have been magnified with Covid. People are working from home and pay more attention to their animals. When they see their pet acting strangely, they immediately make an appointment with their veterinarian. Even before Covid, veterinarians typically face burnout after 5 to 10 years with some of them leaving the profession.
Veterinary Telemedicine – Telemedicine has become prominent in human medicine. Some health plans are even built around not going into the doctor’s office. There are companies offering telemedicine in the veterinary space. Will this become as prominent as it is in human medicine? Time will tell.
Corporate Buyer Consolidation – There are hundreds of groups buying veterinary practices paying exorbitant prices. Some of these groups have been purchased by larger groups. This buyer consolidation will continue for the next several years. What that may mean is less buyer competition for practices which may mean corporate buyers paying less for practices in the coming years.
Resurgence of Individual Practice Owners – This is a prediction more than based on fact. But, I believe individual veterinarians will get tired of working for corporate owners and will thus look to go out on their own either opening their own new practice or purchasing an existing practice. It will be a good and healthy thing for the veterinary industry as well as for the pet-owning public.
Inflation and its Impact on Veterinary Practices – I would say that inflation is coming, but we’re already seeing an increase in prices at the grocery store, gas stations, and other places. What this historically has meant for pet owners is that they think twice before they go in for what may be deemed by the general public as elective appointments such as canine checkups, consultations, and elective procedures. They will still have the non-elective procedures done when they are required.
These are just a few points to ponder going into the new year. We wish you a happy and healthy new year!
Read More