Beyond Bitewings

When a new patient calls, are you confident your front desk is handling everything correctly?

In today's Beyond Bitewings episode, the team at Edwards & Associates is finding out how well your front desk team is handling new patient calls, and the results may surprise you.

Are they collecting information to reach back out to people who don't schedule an appointment? Are they simply answering questions or going above and beyond? Are they leaving potential patients on hold for long periods of time? Are they even answering the phone?

In this episode, you'll get a behind-the-scenes look at a few actual calls and hear first-hand how to improve your process and how little things can make a big difference in getting new patients and growing your practice. Curious how your team measures up in comparison? Make sure you listen!

If you have specific questions about this episode or if you'd like to have your question answered on a future podcast, please make sure to reach out to the Edwards & Associates team. Or contact any one of the excellent ADCPA affiliates across the nation at www.ADCPA.org.

PCI Compliance, as a Dental Practice owner, do you have it? Do you even know why it’s important?

PCI Compliance is one of those areas that many practice owners know about, and know that they have to consider it. However, actually making sure their practice is compliant can be a whole different thing.

On today’s episode of Beyond Bitewings, the Edwards and Associates team welcome 

Danielle McKinley, a Certified HIPAA Advisor with 10+ years of experience in risk management, and Director of Partnerships at PCIHIPAA. 

Danielle brings her wealth of knowledge to discuss PCI Compliance and why one of the biggest mistakes practice owners make is pushing it off to the side. 

She discusses why having someone come in to help with a risk assessment is so important in addition to common myths about PCI Compliance, and why having an association agreement is so important, plus so much more!

If you have specific questions about this, please make sure to reach out to the team. Or if you'd like to have your question answered on a future podcast, contact Edwards & Associates. Or contact any one of the excellent ADCPA affiliates across the nation at www.ADCPA.org.

In today’s episode of Beyond Bitewings, the team at Edwards & Associates is discussing the Provider Relief Fund (formerly HHS). As we enter the fourth quarter of 2021, there are many questions about this relief and the team is here to answer them.

Just like many of the other programs that were developed due to the pandemic, the Provider Relief Fund also has constant changes in the rules and regulations on when it should be reported and if it should be paid back.

The team discusses what this program is, what it was initially designed for and why that’s important to understand when you’re reporting it. They also talk about how you should be reporting it, and most importantly, if you should hire a professional or not to do this for you (the answer may surprise you.) Plus they discuss when you need to be ready for each phase.

If you have specific questions about this, please make sure to reach out to the team. Or if you'd like to have your question answered on a future podcast, contact Edwards & Associates. Or contact any one of the excellent ADCPA affiliates across the nation at www.ADCPA.org.

You may not believe embezzlement can happen in your practice, but it’s something one in every six dental offices in the United States experience. So although you may not think it is happening in your practice, it could very easily happen to you. 

Allen Schiff, Certified Fraud Examiner, joins the team at Edwards & Associates to discuss embezzlement and what dental offices need to know about preventing and handling it. 

Allen discusses the different ways embezzlement can show up, from staff cashing checks made out of the office and writing out checks to fake companies for services never rendered to selling supplies that never made it to the supply shelf through sites like eBay.

Unfortunately, there are many different ways employees can take advantage of a practice. However, the good news is that you can put some pretty simple practices in place to help prevent it and find ways to check and balance to make sure you don't fall victim to embezzlement.

If you want to connect with Allen, visit Schiffcpa.com. And you can email him at [email protected].

If you'd like to have your question answered on a future podcast, contact Edwards & Associates. Or contact any one of the excellent ADCPA affiliates across the nation at www.ADCPA.org

When running a dental practice your front desk must be running as efficiently as possible, and one of the biggest wastes of time can be finding out the details of a patient’s dental plan. 

Figuring out what is covered, how much etc., based on every single employer’s plan can take hours for your staff.

Luckily, there’s a great solution, and Karen Newton of Dental Systems, Inc. is joining the Edwards and Associates team to talk about their product IAPlus.

IAPlus helps dental offices save time by having all of the details of each employers’ plans right at their fingertips. This allows the office to find out what the patients’ responsibilities will be, in addition to all of the nitty-gritty processing guidelines that can sometimes take hours to find.

What’s also great, is they also offer a guarantee on the information they provide, so offices can be sure about what they’re charging and presenting to their patients. And although IAPlus has competitors, Karen explains why cheaper isn’t always better.

To find out more about Dental Systems and IAPlus, visit IAPlus.com

If you'd like to have your question answered on a future podcast, contact Edwards & Associates. Or contact any one of the excellent ADCPA affiliates across the nation at www.ADCPA.org

What is happening with your 2020 tax returns?

It’s a question asked of the Edwards and Associates Team on a frequent basis, and one that unfortunately doesn’t have an easy answer.

We can all agree the pandemic has thrown a few curve balls when it comes to running your practice, and unfortunately the 2020 tax returns are just one more area that’s being affected. 

In today’s episode the team talks about why all of the changes and confusions in the rules are holding up tax returns, a breakdown of the latest updates in ERC (Employee Retention Credit), and why dental office owners need to be careful about the advice they’re getting when it comes to ERC and the payback and forgiveness of PPP loans.

This is definitely a can’t miss episode as it’s crucial to stay up to date on these frequently changing products and rules.

If you'd like to have your question answered on a future podcast, contact Edwards & Associates at [email protected] or 972-267-9191. Or contact any one of the excellent ADCPA affiliates across the nation at www.ADCPA.org

Is buying a CEREC worth the investment?

It’s a question many dental practice owners are asking.

In this episode of Beyond Bitewings, Dr. Peter Hazim joins the team at Edwards & Associates to share his experience with implementing a CEREC machine into his practice.

Dr. Hazim shares how he bought his CEREC system right before the pandemic and how he has still seen a large return on his investment despite making this large investment during that difficult time.

In this episode, you’ll learn how you can write off a large portion of this expensive technology, why it may be a better investment than you think, and how Dr. Hazim has been seeing big returns not just for his practice but by improving his patients’ experience.

If you'd like to have your question answered on a future podcast, contact Edwards & Associates at [email protected] or 972-267-9191. Or contact any one of the excellent ADCPA affiliates across the nation at www.ADCPA.org

Are your patients excited about visiting your practice?

Many dentists have believed the answer to this question will never be ‘yes’ and that people just hate visiting the dentist. However, when Dr. Robin Bethel was building his first practice he was determined to build a practice where he would get an answer of ‘yes’ consistently from this question.

In this episode of Beyond Bitewings, Dr. Bethel joins the Edwards and Associates team to talk about how he focused on relationship building with his patients and how it has paid off dividends for his practice. Plus he discusses why this focus has helped him build three more successful practices in the Austin area.

Dr. Bethel’s practice has hundreds of Google Reviews with a 5-star average, which is almost unheard of in the dental industry.

He discusses how his goal for his practices isn’t about getting the most number of patients in and out, but it’s about creating the best experience for each patient that walks through his door. He also talks about why focusing on the culture of his practice helped him to expand to 4 practices and over 100 employees.

If you'd like to have your question answered on a future podcast, contact Edwards & Associates at [email protected] or 972-267-9191. Or contact any one of the excellent ADCPA affiliates across the nation at www.ADCPA.org

Can you require your employees to take a COVID shot? This is one of the most frequently asked questions of any business right now, and a very important topic within the dental community.

In this episode of Beyond Bitewings, the team at Edwards & Associates welcome back Joe MacGregor, attorney at MacGregor & Oblad.

They discuss why although there’s a pretty clear answer to this question now, this is an ever-evolving topic. They also talk about what happens if an employee is fired for refusing the vaccine and whether or not the laws change in their favor. Will the employer still be held liable? Plus so much more.

If you’re an employer trying to figure out how to best navigate this extremely delicate topic, then this is a can’t miss episode.

If you'd like to have your question answered on a future podcast, contact Edwards & Associates at [email protected] or 972-267-9191. Or contact any one of the excellent ADCPA affiliates across the nation at www.ADCPA.org

One of the hardest parts about running a dental practice can be feeling like you’re doing it all alone. Once you graduate from dental school, you’re no longer surrounded by peers. Yes, you hire staff, but leaning on them to help you overcome some of the struggles of running your business isn’t a possibility.

The good news is that there’s an answer to this problem, and that answer is Dental Study Clubs.

Dental Clubs consist of groups of dentists where they meet on a frequent basis to discuss best business practices, issues they may be having, plus many other topics that can help them build and grow their practice.

In this episode of Beyond Bitewings the Edwards and Associates Team discuss the different types of dental clubs, the pros and cons of being a part of one, and what you can expect when trying to find the right club that’s for you.

If you'd like to have your question answered on a future podcast, contact Edwards & Associates at [email protected] or 972-267-9191. Or contact any one of the excellent ADCPA affiliates across the nation at www.ADCPA.org