Have you ever considered combining your Ortho practice with a Pedo practice? Are you concerned that your competition may do so? If so, this management pearl may help you to put your mind at ease.
1) An established Ortho practice that brings in a new pediatric dentist (who doesn’t have an established Pedo practice) to increase their Ortho practice referrals.
The major con is the time it takes for the orthodontist to help the pediatric dentist build a Pedo patient base, which can take years before the Pedo patients are ready for ortho Tx. Another con is, of course, local dentists do not want to refer to an orthodontic practice with a pediatric dentist for fear of losing their young patients. The only pro is, if the Pedo practice does build up a following that it is a good source of Ortho referrals, but again, this can take many years. It seems that the most effective associations of this kind are when the Ortho and Pedo dentist are relatives that help each other grow their practices.
2) An established Ortho practice that merges with an established Pedo practice.
The major con is, again that most of your DDS referrers will probably not refer to your Ortho/Pedo practice for fear of losing their young patients. But if the Ortho practice is mature with dwindling DDS referrals or does not receive many DDS referrals anyway, then this Ortho-Pedo merger is ideal. This type also works if the potential Pedo referrals will become a better source of Ortho referrals then the present DDS referrals; but there should be some mutual referral history between the Ortho and Pedo practices before they merge.
3) An established Pedo practice that brings in an unestablished orthodontist to treat their ortho patients.
The third type of Ortho/Pedo association is when an established Pedo practice brings in a new orthodontist who does not have an established Ortho practice. The Ortho and Pedo dentists may eventually become partners and share the net. Or, the orthodontist can work for the pediatric practice, taking a percentage of the amount generated by the orthodontist. The major concern for any association is that the relationship between the partners or associates must be advantageous to both parties.
If you are considering associating with a pediatric dentist, the following is recommended to have the most pros and the least cons:
1: You must create an Ortho practice that provides a wonderful experience for the patient, so that your patients refer their family and friends. You must create the same service experience in the Pedo part of the practice.
2: You must create an understanding between the Ortho and referring DDS practices that their patients will be returned to them and not ushered over to the Pedo practice.
3: The established Ortho practice should merge with an established Pedo practice (unless the non-established pediatric dentist is a family member and needs to build a new practice anyway).
4: If the Ortho and Pedo practices share the same common space such as waiting rooms, clerical staff, records equipment, etc., they should have separate treatment areas, receptionists and schedules using separate computer systems.
5: It is best to be in a building with other "friendly" dentists (GP, surgical, endo, etc.) to promote the feeling that patients will not be lost to the Ortho-Pedo practice. If this group of dentists also own the building (condo-type offices), they have more of a stake in making sure all are successful (to pay the overhead) and keep other competing dentists out of the building.
6: Make sure the personality of the Ortho and Pedo practices are similar: people-oriented doctors (socializer or relator) or task-oriented doctors (director and analyzer) work well together for the patients. Mixing socializer and analyzer practices (doctors) or mixing relator and director practices confuses the patients who typically prefer one or the other. Basically, if the Ortho and Pedo doctors get along well, so will the merger.
If you want the ideal partnership, consider employing the "Partners/Associates and Retiring" management kit.
