survey to determine financial benchmarks
TRANSCRIPT
By Suzanne M. Adolphson, MSW, MHA
Director of Patient Care Services
Western University of Health Sciences
College of Dental Medicine
Survey To Determine
Financial Benchmarks
BACKGROUND Dental education has not yet developed a set of
benchmarks that evaluate relate to our financial
efficiency or our staffing ratios.
We often rely on established benchmarks that are from
a private dental practice, a large dental clinic or those
from medicine.
Data from private practice and medicine does not take
into account the specific nuances present in a dental
education setting.
Pre-doctoral students are often the slowest producers
working at the lowest fees.
SURVEY
Collected data from dental education facilities.
To establish useable benchmarks related to clinic
revenue.
To establish usable staffing ratios related to
clinical education.
To provide us with insight related to our unique
position in healthcare education.
Goals
SURVEY METHODOLOGY
The survey was awarded IRB exemption.
The 12 question survey was sent to the finance
directors/managers of 61 dental schools using Qualtrics
Survey Tool.
Qualtrics was used to ensure confidentiality of responses.
The survey collected data that is specific to pre-doctoral
dental (DDS/DMD) programs.
SURVEY METHODOLOGY (CONT.)
The data was complied and analyzed using simple
descriptive statistics.
Where applicable data was analyzed to determine any
statistical correlations that exist between the institution's
financial efficiency and the data related to clinic operations
and demographics.
SURVEY METHODOLOGY (CONT.) The survey collected data on categorical and numerical
variables.
Consisted of 12 questions.
7 questions related to clinic operations and demographics
1. Public system vs. private.
2. Number of pre-doctoral students admitted per class.
3. Number of chairs available for pre-doctoral students.
4. The number of full time staff or full time staff equivalents
dedicated to pre-doctoral clinical activities.
5. Patient appointments for the pre-doctoral students scheduled by the staff or students.
6. Submission of 3rd party claims using an electronic or paper format.
7. Payor mix of patient population.
SURVEY METHODOLOGY (CONT.)
Five areas of financial management:
1. % of production adjusted off
2. Average days in AR
3. % of AR over 90 days
4. % of AR over 120 days
5. Bad debt as an expense of % of net
revenue
DATA ANALYSIS
How many Schools responded to the survey and what
questions were answered?
• 61 Schools were solicited for information.
• 40 responded to at least one question, for a 66%
response rate.
• However, not all of the participants answered all of
the questions.
• Overall response rate 23 of the 61 Schools = 37%
response rate.
Questions Answered
40 of the 61 Schools answered at least one question = 66% response rate
Overall 23 of the 61 Schools answered all of the questions = 37% response
rate
TYPE OF SCHOOL
40 of the 61 Schools responded.
32.50% consider themselves private while
67.50% say public/state related.
SCHOOL TYPE
COMPARISON WITH FINANCIAL DATA
NUMBER OF PRE-DOCTORAL
STUDENTS
34 Schools responded
Average amount of students per School = 360.26
Ranges from 62 students to 1275 with the mean at 333
students.
NUMBER OF CHAIRS
27 Schools responded
Total chairs reported = 3615
Average number of chairs per School = 134
Number of clinical students per chair = 1.69** ** assumes ½ of the total students not in clinic
STAFFING • Number of staff
dedicated to pre-
doctoral students
•25 Schools
responded
• Total staff
reported 974.80
STAFF TYPE NUMBER AVERAGE PERCENT
DENTAL ASSISTANTS 265.70 10.63 27.3%
DISPENSARY STAFF 174.00 6.96 17.8%
FINANCIAL STAFF 215.30 8.61 22.1%
ADMINISTRATIVE/CLERICA
L
319.80 12.79 32.8%
STAFFING AVERAGES
AVERAGE NUMBER OF STAFF 9.75
AVERAGE NUMBER OF STUDENTS
PER STAFF
18.74
AVERAGE NUMBER OF CHAIRS PER
STAFF
13.74
STAFFING
DENTAL ASSISTANTS
DENTAL ASSISTANTS N=25
NUMBER OF DENTAL ASSISTANTS REPORTED 265.7
AVERAGE NUMBER OF DENTAL ASSISTANTS 10.63
AVERAGE NUMBER OF STUDENTS PER DENTAL
ASSISTANTS
16.94
AVERAGE NUMBER OF CHAIRS PER DENTAL ASSISTANTS 12.60
STAFFING
COMPARISON WITH FINANCIAL DATA
DENTAL ASSISTANTS (CONT.) AVERAGE = 10.63
STAFFING
DISPENSARY STAFF
DISPENSARY STAFF N=25
TOTAL NUMBER OF DISPENSARY STAFF 174
AVERAGE NUMBER OF DISPENSARY STAFF 6.96
AVERAGE NUMBER OF STUDENTS PER
DISPENSARY STAFF
25.08
AVERAGE NUMBER OF CHAIRS PER DISPENSARY
STAFF
19.25
STAFFING
COMPARISON WITH FINANCIAL DATA
DISPENSARY STAFF (CONT.) AVERAGE = 6.96
STAFFING
FINANCIAL STAFF
FINANCIAL STAFF N=25
TOTAL NUMBER OF FINANCIAL STAFF 215.3
AVERAGE NUMBER OF FINANCIAL STAFF 8.61
AVERAGE NUMBER OF STUDENTS PER FINANCIAL
STAFF
20.92
AVERAGE NUMBER OF CHAIRS PER FINANCIAL
STAFF
15.56
STAFFING
COMPARISON WITH FINANCIAL DATA
FINANCIAL STAFF (CONT.) AVERAGE = 8.61
STAFFING
ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF
ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF N=24
ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF REPORTED 319.8
AVERAGE NUMBER OF ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF 12.79
AVERAGE NUMBER OF STUDENTS PER ADMINISTRATIVE
STAFF
14.08
AVERAGE NUMBER OF CHAIRS PER ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF 10.47
Staffing
Comparison with Financial Data
Administrative Staff (cont.) Average = 12.79
PATIENT
APPOINTMENT SCHEDULING
BY POLICY, WHO SCHEDULES THE PATIENT
APPOINTMENTS? N=24
CLINIC STAFF 37.04%
PRE-DOCTORAL STUDENTS 14.81%
BOTH STUDENTS AND CLINIC STAFF 48.15%
Patient Appointment Scheduling
Comparison with Financial Data
3RD PARTY BILLING
HOW DO YOU MOST OFTEN SEND YOUR
THIRD PARTY CLAIMS?
ELECTRONIC 44%
PAPER 16%
BOTH ELECTRONIC AND PAPER 40%
3RD PARTY BILLING
COMPARISON WITH FINANCIAL DATA
FINANCIAL DATA
% OF PRODUCTION WRITTEN OFF (EXCLUDING BAD
DEBT)
% OF PROD. WRITTEN-
OFF
NUMBER OF
RESPONSES
PERCENT
0-15% 15 60%
16-20% 4 16%
21-30% 5 20%
31-50% 1 4%
+50% 0 0%
FINANCIAL DATA
SPECIFIC TO YOUR PRE-DOCTORAL CLINIC WHAT IS
YOUR AVERAGE DAYS IN AR
DAYS IN AR NUMBER OF
RESPONSES
PERCENT
0-30 DAYS 5 20%
31-45 DAYS 2 8%
46-60% DAYS 9 36%
+60 DAYS 9 36%
FINANCIAL DATA
SPECIFIC TO YOUR PRE-DOCTORAL CLINIC,
WHAT IS YOUR PERCENT OF AR AT 90 DAYS
% OF AR AT 90 DAYS NUMBER OF RESPONSES PERCENT
0-15% 13 54.17%
16-20% 2 8.33%
21-30% 5 20.83%
+30% 4 16.67%
FINANCIAL DATA
SPECIFIC TO YOUR PRE-DOCTORAL CLINIC
WHAT BEST REPRESENTS YOUR BAD DEBT
AS A PERCENT OF NET REVENUE
% OF BAD DEBT NUMBER OF RESPONSES PERCENT
0-5% 9 39.13%
4-6% 6 26.09%
7-9% 6 26.09%
+10% 2 8.70%
CONCLUSIONS
1. Related to Financial efficiency:
60% of the respondents adjust off 0-15% of production.
36% of the respondents find that their Average Days is AR
are at 60 days.
54.17% of the respondents report their percent of AR at 90
days is 15%.
30.13 % of the respondents report bad debt as a % of net
revenue is 0-3%
CONCLUSIONS
2. Related to Staff Information
Average number of staff = 9.75
Average number of student per staff = 18.74
Average number of chair per staff = 13.74
NEXT STEPS
More participation is needed to be able to use the data
effectively.
Revise survey that looks at the information based on the
entire School operation not just information related to pre-
doctoral students.
Revise survey to include patient encounters and provide
analysis that cross tabulates patient encounters with
financial information and staffing information.
Create a blog or website that allows for Schools to put their
input as to what questions might be asked.
QUESTIONS AND DISCUSSION