Time To Take A Stand

Studies over the years have shown that–believe it or not–what staff want more than sex and money are two things: one is acknowledgment and sincere appreciation by the boss for a job well done, and two is the opportunity to influence and/or participate in management decisions that affect the practice and their jobs. My feeling is that in the times in which we currently live, both of those desires are superceded by the necessity for healthcare insurance.

We all know that it is not possible to attract quality staff members without providing healthcare as a benefit of employment. But the cost of medical coverage is skyrocketing! Ten years ago the premium for single person healthcare was in the neighborhood of $300/month. Currently that cost–even with higher deductibles and larger co-pays–is closer to $600/month. As a dentist owner, there is no other overhead item that is rising faster and with apparently no end in sight than the cost of health insurance. Supplies, staff salaries, lab, occupancy–nothing else has even come close to doubling in that same time period.

There are many reasons for these continuous cost increases. Physicians are forced to practice medicine defensively, necessitating the ordering of every test under the sun because of the litigious society in which we live here in the United States. So until limits are placed on malpractice judgments–or a change in our legal system occurs that will prevent an attorney from taking a case on contingency– I don’t see costs going down. Another contributing factor to escalating healthcare premiums are the heroic costly hospitalizations of terminally ill patients. End of life medical costs need to be controlled in some humane fashion with greater integration of hospice care.

Unfortunately, we as dentists have little control over these issues. So much of the discussion about health care is political, and a lot of smart people have failed in their attempt to make improvements. Meanwhile we dentists as employers just continue to pay increasing premiums for health care. So what to do? My recommendation is to cap the dollar allotment that you pay as a benefit. Whatever you are currently paying for single person coverage–whether that is a percentage or a dollar amount–announce to your staff that as of January 2014–that dollar amount is the maximum that you will pay, and staff members will be required to pay the increase. Give your staff the better part of the year to prepare–you don’t want to announce this new policy in November.

Staff surely understand this dynamic of continuous rising costs of health coverage. In many dental practices, staff have been affected with no or minimal salary increases because of this upward pressure on medical costs. Unfortunately, you as the doctor cannot continue on this path. It is time to take a stand.