Practice Analysis - Production Summary: What Information Does it Give You?

At the end of each year, it’s beneficial to evaluate your practice to determine what went well during the year and what needs improvement. This can also be a good time to evaluate which procedures were completed throughout the year, and when estimating your practice’s 2020 budget, if new equipment or supplies should be purchased based on those completed procedures.

For example:

• If you find your office is generating most of its production doing crown and bridge procedures, you may want to consider purchasing a Cerec machine or a digital scanner.
• If your office is mainly providing periodontal services, you may want to invest in additional periodontal instruments. 
• If your office is placing a lot of implants (or referring them to a specialist), you may want to consider purchasing cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT).

In my opinion the best report to generate for information about which procedures your practice has completed during the year, is in the Practice Analysis. You can find the Practice Analysis Reports in the Office Manager by clicking Analysis > Practice. When the Dentrix Practice Analysis screen opens, click  Reports.

You have options to filter your Practice Analysis Reports by Provider and by Billing Type. For generating a report to determine which procedures you have completed for the year, I would suggest leaving both options set to <ALL>.

Next, select a date range. Then, in the Select Summary Reports section, check Production Summary. This report can be generated by category (for example Diagnostic, Preventive, Restorative, Endodontics etc.) or by procedure code. You can choose all procedure codes or a procedure code range. 

The Production Summary Report will provide:

• The number of procedures completed within the selected date range
• The total production generated by these procedures
• The average fee for the procedure
• The percentage these procedures contributed to the office's total production

This report can provide you with valuable information to evaluate future purchases for equipment or special supplies. This is good time to review these reports in order to make decisions for the upcoming year. 

Please contact me if you have any questions at vectordentalconsulting@gmail.com.


Charlotte Skaggs, Certified Dentrix Trainer

Charlotte Skaggs is the founder of Vector Dental Consulting LLC, a practice management firm focused on taking offices to the next level. Charlotte co-owned and managed a successful dental practice with her husband for 17 years. She has a unique approach to consulting based on the perspective of a practice owner. Charlotte has been using Dentrix for almost 20 years and is a certified Dentrix trainer. Contact Charlotte at vectordentalconsulting@gmail.com.