Introduction

 

A number of decisions go into determining the financial feasibility of your clinic. Some of the fundamental decisions stem from the goals and objectives or the preliminary decisions you made regarding clinic size and staffing. The Dental Clinic Comparison Chart in Chapter 2 illustrated typical costs for various size clinics and recommended staffing patterns. At this point, what you want to know is "what will our clinic cost?" Then, you will need to get to the bottom line by comparing that cost with your anticipated revenue from patient care and other sources. At the heart of this chapter is an interactive budget planning worksheet to help you do just that.

This chapter helps you "crunch the numbers" for achieving balance between access to dental care for low-income populations and financial sustainability by addressing:

  • Financial feasibility (Getting to the "bottom line")
    • Factors that affect patient care revenue
    • Start-up and maintenance expenses
    • Build your own budget and explore various "what if" scenarios with an interactive budget planning worksheet
  • Managing your clinic's finances
    • Using budgets and financial reports
    • Using a long-range business plan
  • Bringing in additional dollars to supplement patient care revenue
    • Grant seeking and writing tips
    • Fundraising