Finance

Feel free to contact J. Haden Werhan, CPA/PFS, principal and owner of Thomas Wirig Doll, an accounting and wealth management firm that works with dentists. He can be reached at haden@twdadvisors.com or (877) 939-2500.

Articles

With year-end approaching it is time for dentists to think about making equipment and technology purchases if they want to expense (depreciate) those assets on their 2016 tax return. While the rules for depreciating equipment have changed dramatically, one thing remains constant. Equipment must be “placed into service” before any depreciation may be taken.

3 things dentists need to know about year-end purchases

Should your staff understand your practice’s financials? The short answer is yes. How can your team appreciate the effects of their actions unless they do?

Should your staff understand your dental practice's financials?

Dr. Roger P. Levin is the CEO of Levin Group, a leading dental management consulting firm. Founded in 1985, Levin Group has worked with over 30,000 dental practices. Dr. Levin is one of the most sought-after speakers in dentistry and is a leading authority on dental practice success and sustainable growth. Through extensive research and cutting-edge innovation, Dr. Levin is a recognized expert on propelling practices into the top 10 percent. He has authored 65 books and over 4,000 articles on dental practice management and marketing. He has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Time magazine and is the creator of the Levin Group Tip of the Day, which has over 30,000 subscribers. To contact Dr. Levin, visit www.levingroup.com or email rlevin@levingroup.com. 

One of the biggest mistakes in the realm of personal financial management is not having an estate plan created by an expert in estate tax.

The biggest mistakes dentists make: Not having a tax-based estate plan

Teresa Duncan, MS, FADIA, FAADOM is an international speaker who focuses on revenue, dental insurance & management issues. She is a Fellow of the American Association of Dental Office Managers. Her memberships include the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, National Speakers Association and the Academy of Dental Management Consultants. She has been named one of the Top 25 Women in Dentistry by Dental Products Report. Teresa received her Master’s Degree in Healthcare Management.

Insurance experts Teresa Duncan and Bridget Fay break down the things you need to know about insurance in the dental practice.

5 best practices for fee schedules in the dental practice

Bruce Bryen is a certified public accountant with over 45 years of experience and is a part of Baratz & Associates CPAs. He specializes in deferred compensation, such as retirement planning design; income and estate tax planning; determination of the proper organizational business structure; asset protection and structuring loan packages for presentation to financial institutions. He is experienced in providing litigation support services to dentists with Valuation and Expert Witness testimony in matrimonial and partnership dispute cases. He is also a financial writer for several dental journals. You may contact him at 609-502-0691 or at 

Since it is rare for a dentist to be involved with a court and lawsuit, the unknown time, effort and cost of such a disposition of value in the hands of attorneys, experts and a judge is almost surely something that the dentist is not aware.

What dentists need to know about dual representation involving divorce valuations

Ryan Hamm is the former Editorial Director for Dental Products Report and Digital Esthetics.






Digital Esthetics magazine explores the shadowy world of the gray market, where people can buy unverified dental products for cheap-and possibly endanger patients in the process.

The hidden danger of the gray market

Laura Hatch is an Office Manager that has started and successfully grown two dental offices and is also the founder of Front Office Rocks, a fully comprehensive online front office training program. For more information, visit www.FrontOfficeRocks.com.






Case acceptance is a hot topic in our industry-how to get the patient to want to spend money on dentistry. I have heard so many different presenters teach various different ways to accomplish this.

3 key factors in case acceptance

Drawing on over 40 years of clinical experience, Dr. Black focuses on speaking and coaching through in-office consultation. Dr. Black has Pankey-Dawson clinical training and has retained staff an average of 20 years each. He has distilled the wisdom of major national consulting firms into a successful restorative and cosmetic practice in a small suburban town. Dr. Black brings these qualities and more to help both new doctors and associateships needing to increase their productivity by attention to systems. He has proven leadership and administrative skill, and is a dental leader in the local society and MOM’s projects, community boards, and state dental board of directors, committees and task forces.

Hiring a consultant is not cheap, so to get your money’s worth, there are several pitfalls you should be sure to avoid.

4 ways you may be wasting your dental consulting dollars

Alitta Boechler is a marketing manager at Sikka Software. She holds a Doctorate of Audiology from the University of Iowa and an MBA from the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University.  You can contact her at alitta.boechler@sikkasoftware.com or (408) 359-3014.  For more information about The Practice Optimizer CompanyÂ® please visit https://www.sikkasoft.com/dental/sikka-apps/practice-optimizer-dental/

Seasonality trends are something most dentists experience, and deciding how your practice will deal with the highs and lows is important to keeping your practice healthy. Here are five tips on how to manage seasonality in your practice.

5 ways to manage seasonality trends in the dental practice

Mike Uretz is a nationally-recognized Dental software and Electronic Health Records (EHR) expert. Mike has helped hundreds of individual practices and multi-clinic groups properly evaluate and select software vendors and solutions, structure and negotiate pricing and contracts, provide implementation oversight and vendor management. Mike was a member of the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology EHR vendor certification workgroup, and has been a member of various federal and state working committees for EHR business practices and policy. Having been involved with the EHR Incentive program from day one, Mike has helped a number of states, to evaluate and select EHR vendors, structure contracts and agreements, and manage vendor issues. As co-chairman of the Best practices advisory committee for EHR Contracts, Mike has been instrumental in developing standards for structuring vendor contracts and pricing for use by state programs nationwide He is the founder and editorial director of DentalSoftwareAdvisor.com, a trusted and objective online resource on all matters related to dental software. He is also the point person for Advanstar’s coverage of dental EHRs and their evolving role in the dental industry and can be reached by e-mail at mikeu@dentalsoftwareadvisor.com.

Learn how Dentimax is helping dentists navigate the ins and outs of EHR incentive claims and the associated meaningful use guidelines.

Money