The sologroup model

Dr Phillip Palmer, Simon Palmer, February 2011 - For most practices when they are looking at maximising their profit they either need to increase their production (by working harder) or decrease their overhead. Decreasing overhead always seemed to be associated with things like lowering wages, shopping around for the cheapest supplies and finding a lab with the lowest fees. With all of these methods of decreasing overhead, you run the very real risk of decreasing the quality of treatment that you provide.
There is another way... It doesn’t involve you working any harder or longer hours, It doesn’t involve you penny pinching with each expense category – It is called the Sologroup model of practice.

What is Sologroup?

Sologroup is so named because it is a hybrid of the solo practice model and the group practice model.
It is like a group practice in that you have a partner in the facility.
It is like a solo practice in that only one of the two partners is working in the facility at any one time.
In essence the two partners are maximising the facility usage by working it in separate shifts.

Many taxis in major cities have at least two drivers. It is not uncommon for the car to be driven for a 10-12 hour shift and then when the driver needs to sleep he delivers the car to the next driver so that the car always stays on the road. Why is this? So that the owner of the taxi can maximise the return from his asset- the car.
If taxis do this with a car worth $30,000 why is it that dentists only use their practices on average 32-50 hours per week and their practices are worth $300,000 and above.

Most dentists will work 32-40 hours per week sometime between 8am and 6pm, Monday to Friday. The rest of the time the facility space and equipment lie dormant. The Sologroup model would mean finding a way for two dentists to use the same space between 64-80 hours per week in an equitable and sustainable way (one dentist getting the midnight till dawn shift is not sustainable).

I have seen many creative ways that this has been accomplished. Here are some simple examples:

Model 1

In this model two dentists (Dr Brown and Dr Blue) take it in turns working 7am-7pm three days per week (with an early finish on Fridays).

Model 2

In this model Drs Blue and Brown alternate working 7am-1pm and 1-7pm (with an early finish on Fridays). 

Model 3

This model is similar to Model 2.Drs Blue and Brown alternate weeks working morning shift 7am-1pm and afternoon shift 1-7pm (with an early finish on Fridays).

All three of these examples only involve two dentists, don’t involve any weekend shifts or any work outside the hours of 7am-7pm. There are of course ways that you could involve all of these extra variables too. The only limits are in your imagination.

Can it work?

Absolutely, In fact I (Dr Palmer) worked in model number 2 for many years with a dentist partner, and my brother in law (also a dentist) worked in model 3.

Why do it?

There are several advantages to the Sologroup model:

1. Drastically reducing your practice overhead (and thereby increasing profit) by sharing facility and equipment costs with another practice owner.
2. Can be a practice builder as being open extended hours can attract patients who cannot come in during business hours.
3. There are lifestyle enhancements that come with not working 8-5, 5 days per week. For example, you could take kids to school every second day, pick them up every second day, get to the beach, play golf, etc
4. Greater ability to buy sophisticated equipment, which leads to greater ability to expand the procedures you do e.g. cerec, laser, opg

What are the challenges?

• Recruitment can be a challenge as the hours may be unusual For some the hours can be challenging. For others they are a boon!
• You may need to work some evenings, which may interfere with social activities.
• Your practice isn’t always available to you whenever you want it. You may want to come in and use your practice when it is not your rostered time. (Forcing a dentist to keep to his time off may well be a good thing though!)
• You need a sense of generosity of spirit to make it work. If you are not a good ‘sharer’, it may not be for you.

Conclusion

The Sologroup model of practice isn’t for everyone. The demand for extended hour service needs to be there from the patient base. The dentists involved need to be of a dynamic mindset as at first the schedule seems highly unusual. If the practice has the right patient base and dentist involved the move to Sologroup model has huge potential benefits to lifestyle and bottom line profitability.