Practice CEO · practiceceo.com · Sample practice. Invented for demonstration. Not a real practice. Educational software, not tax, legal or investment advice.
Sample practice. Invented for demonstration. Not a real practice.
Your moves, Dr. Vargas.
You own Maple Street Dental: five chairs, two hygienists, a loan from 2022 and a good year behind you. Here is what your officers read this month, and what they would do about it.
A solo general practice in a suburb of a mid-size US metro: 5 operatories, Dr. Elena Vargas, 2 hygienists, 1.5 assistants and 1.5 at the front desk. Payers: 41% fee-for-service, 34% PPO A, 25% PPO B. About 26 new patients a month.
| Year | Collections | Net production | Collected | What the practice paid you | % of collections |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | $850,000 | $881,000 | 96.5% | $334,025 | 39.3% |
| 2024 | $930,000 | $965,000 | 96.4% | $364,535 | 39.2% |
| 2025 | $1,015,000 | $1,053,000 | 96.4% | $393,780 | 38.8% |
| 2026 (Jan to Sep) | $760,000 | $788,000 | 96.4% | $278,870 | 36.7% |
What the practice paid you is your own pay plus what was left after costs, before interest, depreciation and one-time items. Net production is gross production less PPO adjustments.
This month, do these three.
The top action from each officer, each with the whole plan and the three buttons. Tick them off; next month the free read shows what got done.
Check how supplies are coded, then get quotes
Supplies are 8.7% of collections, up from 7.4% in 2023 and above the usual top of 8%. $10,400 of the $66,100 is on a "Small equipment" line inside supplies. Without it supplies read 7.33%, inside the range. Arithmetic illustration, not a forecast or a promise. Equipment is often coded to supplies, so this may be a coding question before it is a spending one.
First step. Ask your bookkeeper which small-equipment purchases belong in another account (your CPA sets the rule), then get one competing quote on your top three clinical items.
Book the next hygiene visit before the patient leaves
68% of hygiene patients leave with their next visit booked, so about 32 in every 100 walk out without one. Targets in consultant and practice-software articles run 80 to 90%.
First step. Make it the default at checkout: the hygienist says the date in the chair, the front desk books it before the patient reaches the desk, and nobody leaves without a date or a reason written down. Post the percentage every Friday.
Make every dollar name a patient
Ask each new patient how they found you and write it down for a month. Pause the weakest paid channel first and watch new patients, not clicks.
Card fees have crept up
Card processing was 2.25% of collections in 2023 and is 3.3% this year. On this year's pace that is about $10,600 a year more than the 2023 rate.
A 9.75% loan worth a question to a lender
Practice loan: 9.75% fixed, started in 2022, about $468,100 left. That is about $45,600 a year in interest, and each full point of rate is about $4,700 a year.
Your pay was sitting inside wages
Wages as booked read 42.9% of collections. $108,750 of that is Dr. Vargas's own W-2. Without it staff cost is 28.6%, inside the usual range.
A strength: fee-for-service and collections
41% of the practice is fee-for-service, and collections run 96.4% of net production. Both are the habits worth protecting.
Two things nobody mentioned.
A bill that jumped: Summit Business Internet
It was $189 a month from January through July and has been $389 since August. That is $2,400 more a year. Often a promotional rate ended; the vendor can say which.
A charge that appeared: Bookrite Scheduler App
$149 a month, every month since June, and nothing like it before. About $1,788 a year. Nobody on the team mentioned signing up for it.
Found by reading nine months of the practice's bank file on this device. Real files work the same way.
AI Finance OfficerStaff cost with and without your pay, where the cash goes, every line against its range
Your pay was found inside wages, so staff cost reads 28.6%, in range. Three money moves: supplies coding, card fees and a loan question.
Usual for a general practice: about 24 to 30%. Your own pay is not a staffing cost, so it is taken out before staff cost is compared.
Where the cash goes, each month
An average month over the 9 months read.
Why it can feel tight even when the practice makes money: collections come in, then costs, your pay, loans, the card and taxes take their share. Add what you know; every box is optional.
- Collections$84,444
- Costs of running the practice−$53,859
- Your pay−$12,083
- Loan payments−$7,675
- Retirement contributions−$1,500
- Big annual bills, a month at a time−$800
- Card paydown (balance over 12 months, before interest)−$2,192
- Left to live on$6,336
The card line is a 12-month example, not advice. How fast to pay it down, and in what order against other debt, is a question for your CPA or financial adviser.
Add cash on hand and big annual bills
Saved only on this device. Taxes, loan structure and retirement are questions for your CPA: take these numbers with you and ask. This is arithmetic from what you enter, not advice.
Shaded bar is the typical range; the dark marker is you.
Staff cost: 42.9% with your own pay, 28.6% without it. The read below uses the second number.
Typical ranges are for a general practice, as a share of collections, from published dental-industry sources and our own estimates (including for California). They vary by market, payer mix and how a line is counted; they are ranges, not targets. Last updated October 2026.
Questions to bring your CPA
- Before December 31: which year-end items on my checklist apply to me, and what has to run through payroll by about December 20?
AI Operations OfficerThe front-office numbers, and a Friday check for the office manager
Hygiene reappointment is the one gap. Case acceptance, collections and broken appointments are in range.
Friday 15 minutes, for the office manager
- Count next week's open hygiene and doctor time, and who on the short-notice list could fill it.
- Share this week's hygiene reappointment percentage with the team.
- Check how many of the top 20 unscheduled treatment calls got an answer.
- Name one patient comment from this week, good or bad, and what changes because of it.
AI Marketing OfficerSpend per new patient, reviews and where new patients came from
Marketing notes for this month, tied to your numbers.
Your own month, in about ten minutes.
Free right now, no signup.
Where the ranges come from: method and sources.