An experienced venture capitalist recently identified some major trends which are affecting American health care and presumably your practice too!
- a shift from fee-for-service to compensation based on better health
- patients are becoming consumers who want a true retail experience
- personal medicine (and dentistry) based on risks
- an aging population which has more need for care, but which is smarter and has a mind-set of the fixed income crowd.
The venture capitalist summed up her observations by saying “hug a grandma” to get ahead of these factors.
Its hard to imagine in today’s world of fee-for-service surgical dentistry, that there will come a day when these factors shift the range of dental services from treatment to prevention.
But then consider what my friends in benefit consulting are saying about the unsustainable rise in group dental plan costs in Canada. And then consider that American dental visits have declined by 20% in the past decade, and with this decline a steady drop in dental incomes since 2006.
Perhaps the venture capitalist is looking too far down the path. Perhaps these factors have already arrived and will sort out those who are closest to meeting needs and wants versus those who simplify practice the same old same old.
By: Ross Perry
SOURCED: Partners In Prevention – http://partnersinprevention.ca/hug-a-grandma/
