The 7th Annual Profitable Dentist Seminar
March 18 - 21, 1998
San Destin Resort
Destin, Florida

"Hey Joe," one brother said to the other, "we're so busy we need to buy a bigger truck!"

"You're right Sam," said Joe, "and if we hire a few people to help us, we can grow even more melons and make even more money."

The brothers already owned a good truck, even though it was used and had a few miles on it. And Sam even suggested they could make an extra trip or two from the farm and not have to buy another truck at all.

But caught up in the excitement of the moment, Joe and Sam bought a new Chevy V-8 with dual exhaust pipes and chrome mud flaps. They could have purchased a larger truck that was pre-owned and saved thousands of dollars . . . but hey, you only live once, right?

Now the brothers had a large monthly truck payment and several employees to support and they were starting to get a little stressed out.

In a desperate attempt to make more money, they decided to decrease the price of their melons by 20% hoping to make up the difference by selling more melons.

But for some reason, the boys were working harder, but making less money. So Sam decided to hire a consultant from the local college to look over their business.

After two days of consulting, the consultant determined that the boys would have to sell 300% more melons to make the same amount of money they made before decreasing the cost of their melons!

Totally frustrated, the two brothers decided to get out of farming and apply to dental school. After all, dentists make a lot of money, don't they?

To everyone's surprise both boys were accepted to dental school and graduated with honors! Things were going great - a new state-of-the-art office, new equipment, a new house, a new car, and a new wife for both. The only problem was neither dentist was busy enough and overhead was nearly 70% already!

"Joe, let's join an HMO," said Sam. "Good idea," said Joe.

I guess the morale of this story is that the laws of nature seldom change. PEOPLE CONTINUE TO REPEAT THEIR MISTAKES, ONLY AT DIFFERENT LEVELS.

Before you consider signing a managed care agreement, carefully study the chart below.

Produce More, Collect All,
Keep Half

by Summit Management
1-800-252-0955

An office with 30% profitability (70% overhead) that reduces fees by 20% must increase collections by 300% to maintain their previous profitability (and most Managed Care plans will cut your fees by 30-35%!)

These are mathematical facts, they don't change!

You can't beat the system unless you cheat the system by: 1) not seeing patients as required by the plan; 2) charging the patient the difference between your "normal fee" and what the plan allows; or 3) filling empty chair time with managed care patients.