Lean Dental Practice Management

What is it? Is it for me?

“Well, Art is Art, isn't it? Still, on the other hand, water is water. And east is east and west is west and if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce they taste much more like prunes than rhubarb does. Now you tell me what you know.” Groucho Marx

There is a lot of buzz and information in the business world about “Lean”. Not so much in the dental business. Most of what’s available is great if you’re managing a manufacturing facility; but, what about a dental office? There are a small number of consultants and dentists offering training on Lean to dental offices. I saw one recently that makes huge claims about what their office has accomplished in the way of Lean and how their revenue has grown astronomically. They offer courses and books that will help you do the same.

I congratulate them on their success, but that’s just all it is: their success. How helpful would it be for you to go to a seminar on endodontics and get the following from the presenter? :

  • “My patients are all the same age, the same demographic, the same state of health, the same sex, etc., etc.”
  • “I’m going to tell you in a 4 hour, or for those more interested, an 8 hour seminar how I do endo.”
  • “Now you known how to do a proper root canal – go and treat your patients the way I do mine and you’ll have the same success I do.”
  • “If you have any questions, you can study my book.”

Now, you get back to the office the week after the seminar and you’re all stoked-up and ready to make a killing in the profitable world of endo. Your first endo patient presents with symptoms that tell you she may have a need for root canal on #3. The patient is an 80 year- old female, has heart disease, middling dental hygiene, and a small mouth. You x-ray #3 and see a lesion mesial to what looks like the palatal canal, but it’s hard to tell. The canals barely, if at all, show on the Rx. Etc., etc…… But, hey, you’ve been to a course and the guy who gave it is making money hand-over-fist on endo and assured you the same if you do as he does.

Let me tell you how this little fable correlates to Lean practice management. All the following need to be taken into account when implementing Lean:

  • The personality, organization, and size of your staff.

Just like patients, every practice is unique; as are the people working in the practice. Let me ask about your practice’s culture: how many times have you brought in new programs, initiatives, consultants, seminar notes, etc. and the new idea barely lasts through the day and you’re back to the same habits? Or, you love the idea, but you just don’t have the time to get it implemented right now? Or, your office manager hates it and becomes the passive-aggressive wrecking crew?

Fact: Unless H x V x F > R, forget it! Your Hatred for your current reality, multiplied by your Vision of your ideal state, multiplied by the Fortitude (courage) to take the steps needed to close the gap between your current & desired states MUST BE GREATER THAN the Resistance to change that exists in your practice.

  • Lean is not moving towards a destination. Lean is an ongoing journey in continuous improvement. Lean is never complete.

Unless you and your staff are really committed to a new practice “religion”, which, like a religion, requires constant devotion – forget it.

  • Lean is not a tool; it is a principle that becomes foundational to your practice’s values.

 

In a nutshell, anything in your practice that does not add value to your patient needs to change or go.

 

  • The five Principles of Lean that need to be integral to your practice are:
  1. Directly observe work as activities, connections, and flows.
  2. Systematic waste elimination.
  3. Establish a high agreement of what & how.
  4. Systematic problem solving.
  5. Create a learning organization.

Do you have any confidence that you can accomplish the same results with your practice with the same tools as those who have had success with Lean by your going to a course, taking notes and handouts, and having a staff meeting to tell your staff that you want to be “Lean”?

Now, lest you think I’m trying to discourage you from implementing a Lean practice management philosophy, nothing could be further from the truth! Everyone who truly implements Lean into their company principles finds benefits that significantly outweigh the birth-pains of implementing Lean management; this is true whether you are an individual, a small, medium, or large dental practice, or Toyota. You will find that you can meet and exceed your goals. You will certainly exceed your initial goals, because Lean is about continuous improvement.

The only way to successfully implement Lean in your practice is to hire a Lean consultant to do the following:

  • Look at your current state & your desired state and help you and your staff see how Lean will close the gap.
  • Motivate your staff to accept the new management paradigm.
  • Train you & staff on the principles.
  • Walk through the procedures, sometimes many times, with you and your staff until you are comfortable with your ability to do so.
  • Assist your practice in building Lean tools that are custom-made for your office.
  • Help you through all the early birth pains and questions until there is confidence and consistency.
  • Train your staff to become experts at Lean.
  • Follow-up over time to assure that you are keeping with “the program” and providing any needed encouragement or course correction.

If you know where you are and have a vision of where you want to be, using Lean principles will close the gap better than any other way. If you use Lean properly, you will look back later and realize that you not only met your goals, but exceeded them beyond all your expectations. And, you’ll find that your stress level will be wonderfully reduced, your staff will get along better, you will make more revenue with less daily effort; and you will find yourself leading more and managing less.

For more information on the consulting services we offer for Lean Dental Practice Management, or to contact me for a free consultation to see if Lean is for you, check out my website leandentalsolutions.com to find contact information.