Your Practice Has Zero Business Continuity Plan. Here's What It Costs
Your Practice Has Zero Business Continuity Plan. Here's What It Costs
Your Practice Has Zero Business Continuity Plan. Here's What It Costs
You get in a car accident tomorrow and can't work for three weeks. What happens? Your practice closes. Your team goes unpaid or gets reassigned. Patients reschedule or leave. Insurance cases lapse. You lose $35K in production and your team loses income.
Most solo practitioners have zero plan. No backup clinician. No delegated authority. No documented procedures. When you go down, the practice goes down.
The setup: identify your one clinically irreplaceable asset. Is it you? Get a coverage agreement with an associate or local dentist now. Agree on a daily rate for emergency coverage (usually $2K-3K/day). Does your team run the business? Good. Have an associate review financials quarterly and have signing authority on checks above a threshold. Is your lead hygienist irreplacible? Cross-train a second hygienist and pay them accordingly.
The cost: $500 annually for the coverage agreement. The benefit: your practice survives your absence. Most practices lose the business entirely when a key person goes down.
OPERATOR MATH
Your practice produces $1.5M annually. That's $125K per month, $28,800 per week, $5,750 per day (assuming 5-day weeks).
You're out for 3 weeks after surgery. No coverage plan in place.
Lost production: 15 days × $5,750 = $86,250
Staff costs (still paying them): $18,000
Fixed overhead (rent, insurance, etc.): $12,000
Patient attrition (10% don't reschedule): $8,625 in future lost revenue
Total cost: $124,875
Now run the same scenario with a backup coverage agreement:
Annual agreement cost: $500
Coverage dentist fee: 15 days × $2,500/day = $37,500
Production maintained: 15 days × $5,750 = $86,250
Net production after coverage fee: $86,250 - $37,500 = $48,750
Fixed costs covered: Yes
Patient attrition: Near zero
Total outcome: +$18,750 net vs. -$124,875 loss
The delta: $143,625. That's the value of having a continuity plan. One accident. One illness. One unplanned absence.
THE TAKEAWAY
Identify your single point of failure this week. Is it you as the primary clinician? Your office manager who handles all billing? Your one hygienist?
Call two colleagues in your area. Propose a mutual backup coverage agreement: "If I go down, you cover my emergency patients at $2,500/day. If you go down, I do the same." Get it in writing. Add clauses for malpractice coverage verification and patient communication protocols.
Document your critical business procedures. Where are the bank accounts? Who has signing authority? What's the payroll schedule? Create a one-page emergency operations guide.
Test it annually. Have your backup dentist shadow you for half a day. Make sure they know your systems, your team, your patient base. A plan that's never tested isn't a plan.
Sources: Small Business Administration continuity planning guidance, dental practice risk analysis