When Cyndi Blalock took over an existing dental office to set up her own dental practice in 2014, the Missouri dentist knew she was going to have to spend some money to upgrade the equipment. "The practice I bought was from a dentist who retired," Blalock explains. "Everything was older technology."
But six months after she began running Cardinal Dental in the St. Peters suburb of St. Louis, she realized she was going to have to spend more money than she'd expected, and sooner, to make a big purchase if she was going accelerate the business's growth. She'd grown increasingly frustrated with long waits and uncertain fittings with dental crowns ordered from third-party labs. The solution was to acquire her own in-house crown-making capability. The problem was the six-figure purchase price.
But Blalock bit the bullet and ordered a Cerec machine, which allows her to digitally design crowns, bridges, veneers and other dental restorations, then create them in her own office. Patients formerly had to come in to have an impression taken and be fitted with a plastic temporary bridge. After a week or more, they would return to see if the crown fit.
"If it didn't fit, we would have to do it all over again," Blalock says. "It's a process that's very time-consuming and inconvenient for the patient. I hate it and patients hate it." With the Cerec, she can design restorations, taking into account factors such as tooth color that outside labs did not, and after a brief wait in her office, have a final fitting and send patients on their way.
"It's really revolutionized how I do dentistry," Blalock says. "Patients love it. We are able to do so much more for them in one visit." In-house crown-making capability lets her use her exam rooms more efficiently, and even provide additional services, such as immediately fitting emergency patients with new teeth to replace broken ones.
Looking back, Blalock claims she mostly regrets not buying the $130,000 appliance immediately after taking over the practice. Her message for other medical-industry business owners contemplating a big purchase is to not be shy. "Don't be afraid of technology," she says. "When they present the numbers and you think, 'How in the world am I going to pay for this?' you have to think about the big picture."
Big Purchase: Tech Upgrade
When Ryan McEniff, took over as owner of Minute Women Home Care in 2011, he found a similar need for a big purchase to update the office. The Lexington, Massachusetts, provider of medical and non-medical care had been in business in his family since 1969, "When I took over the company, we were still using very old technology from computer systems to phones to customers relationship management systems," he says.
For instance, coordinators used obsolete iMacs to schedule visits and answer calls. The tiny 14-inch screens on the aged Apple desktops forced them to switch between programs to deal with questions and requests. For a little over $4,000, or $800 for each of the five-person office staff, McEniff replaced the iMacs with modern PCs and equipped workstations with dual flat-screen monitors. The upgrade allowed coordinators to work faster and better.
In addition to replacing the hardware, McEniff switched to a cloud-based customer relationship management system that is easier to use, more reliable and accessible from any location. His next big purchase, he says, may be to upgrade the phones. "The phone system is our lifeline," he says. "If people can't call in, my business is going to have problems very quickly."
But for now he's happy with the way his big purchases in new computer hardware and cloud-based software are allowing him to expand the business faster and more cost-effectively. "We are able to handle more calls and more customers with fewer care coordinators," McEniff says. "When customers call up with questions, they're on and off the phone a lot faster than they used to be."
Big Purchase: Going Places
Sometimes the "big purchase" that can enable a medical business owner to reach a new level of growth isn't a thing but a place. Amy Baxter, a pediatrician and pain researcher, started a medical device company called MMJ Labs in her basement in 2006.
MMJ's initial product, the Buzzy pain relief device, was a success, and by October 2014, they'd grown to six employees. But she was still working and storing inventory in her Atlanta home's lower level.
Employees enjoyed telecommuting, and Baxter liked the convenience of having her office just a flight of stairs away. "But the bigger we got as a medical device company, the more ashamed I got of hosting an FDA inspector in my basement or inviting a potential international distributor to a business meeting in my house," she says.
During a 2014 Food and Drug Administration audit, her feelings boiled over. "I was insanely anxious, in part because of the business being in the basement," Baxter says. A few months later, she made the financial commitment to lease a 1,400-square-foot loft to serve as her base of operations and store inventory.
It all turned out well, and the FDA eventually approved a broad range of uses for the company's second product, a pain relief device called VibraCool. And Baxter claims they're appreciating having a dedicated office where they all work together and can share ideas.
When out-of-town team members visit, the loft has living quarters where they can stay. And a single deal with a new distributor that was inked at the new facility's spacious conference table pays enough to cover the $2,000 monthly rent.
In retrospect, Baxter wonders why she wasn't ready to commit to the expense to acquire dedicated quarters sooner. "There are so many intangible benefits from owning our own space," she said. "I didn't realize until we made the move."
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