Orthotown June 2021 - 26

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higher. If it is less than that, like a space maintainer, I don't want to count it as a start.
A young practice will not see the number infl ated too much compared to what an established
practice will. For example, an older practice will be charging out for a lot more lost or broken
retainers that, in my calculation, does not count as a start, so it infl ates your average case price.
The other option is to run a report that is only case start production instead of total production
and divide by starts. I don't do that because I like the quicker and easier calculation. If you are
looking at the same calculation every year for comparison, it works.
To try to give you some real-life info, here are my fi rst 3½ years of my private practice starts
by month. I started from scratch with zero patients on Day 1. I actually opened mid-July of that
fi rst year but had no actual starts for that half of the month. My fi rst full summer started that
next year, and boy was I excited to see the practice grow. Then look at the fi rst June. One start
and it was only a Phase I. Fun to look back every now and again. ■
August
September
October
November
December
3
2
2
4
6
17
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
10
11
15
12
10
11
19
11
11
9
10
5
134
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
6
10
6
8
7
1
14
9
12
8
11
10
102
17
15
15
12
19
25
22
20
14
16
17
17
209
1/31/2018
odell060
Member Since: 11/19/11
Post: 5 of 10
Expecting 100 starts your fi rst year when starting from scratch is very, very optimistic. I would
think actual numbers will be more around 35 starts, some limited and some comprehensive. If
you do better, awesome, but I wouldn't count chickens before they are hatched. ■
1/31/2018
drvic71
Member Since: 06/13/05
Post: 9 of 10
I agree on watching where your marketing dollars go. I wasted a lot of money on ads in local
magazines and newspapers. They are expensive and most people throw them away. I disagree on
GP lunches, though-I would go to lunches just to get to meet the local GP and other specialists.
It's not too expensive and puts a face to the name. Maybe I was lucky, but I did get a few offi ces
that weren't happy with their current ortho and decided to refer a few cases my way. After that,
it's up to you to make the patient happy so they go back and praise you. Schools were also a
good investment for me. I sponsored carnivals/fun runs or other events that had sponsorships
available. They were not too expensive and the money went to a good cause. I heard parents say
they saw my sponsorship at their kid's school and they decided to get a second opinion with me.
I was in the same situation as Fenrisúlfr and Charleston: I had a very slow fi rst year (just
under 30 starts). Starting from scratch is defi nitely a slow process.
I looked back and even though my average full treatment fee is between $5,000 and $6,000,
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