The Strategic Partnership: Aligning Business and Clinical Priorities
In my previous article, I discussed the fundamentals of successful communication with your doctor. Here, I will share how to create a truly strategic partnerships that align business operations and clinical excellence.
After nearly three decades of owning my practice and having experience in dental practice management, I find that most thriving practices share a common trait: doctors and managers who function as complementary partners.
Financial Transparency and Collaboration
Financial issues are the number one issue creating tension between doctors and managers. While managers and doctors track the numbers daily, their interpretation of the numbers they are looking at is very different. They both assess overhead: payroll, rent or mortgage, supplies, equipment, etc.
However, as their main source of income, the doctor is also looking at their goals for the practice’s growth, along with personal finances. In this case, many managers believe they should be separate, but in reality, they are not.
When the two are both on the same page and understand how financial production and collection are viewed by the other, the business relationship will flourish.
Creating Financial Clarity
Successful partnerships develop financial communication systems that work for both parties:
- Create visual financial summaries highlighting key metrics your doctor cares about most
- Schedule regular (monthly at minimum) financial reviews
- Connect financial data to clinical decisions to make the information relevant
Understand How Collection Goals are Created
The doctor and OM should set a time at the beginning or end of each year to discuss how the goals were created. In most cases, it is not a subjective number, and attaining or not hitting those goals will dictate how the office works and, in many cases, the doctor’s mood.
Misunderstood, misaligned, and unrealistic goals create stress that ultimately diminishes clinical quality and practice culture.
Metrics That Matter to Both Roles
Successful partnerships identify and track metrics that bridge clinical and administrative perspectives.
Beyond Production: Holistic Practice Metrics
Consider tracking these metrics that reflect both clinical excellence and business health:
- Case acceptance rate: Reflects both treatment planning quality and financial presentation effectiveness
- Patient retention percentage: Indicates both clinical satisfaction and administrative efficiency
- Chair time utilization: Balances clinical thoroughness with business efficiency
- Pre-appointment rate: Reflects both clinical recommendation clarity and scheduling effectiveness
Develop visual representations of these metrics that present information succinctly, track trends over time, and connect directly to practice goals and strategy.
Moving Forward Together
The strategic partnership between doctor and office manager creates practices that survive and thrive through changing market conditions. By approaching financial management by understanding and setting goals and performance metrics, as true collaborators, you build a practice that delivers exceptional clinical care while achieving business objectives.
Schedule quarterly “partnership checkpoints” to step back from daily operations and focus on your collaborative leadership approach. During these sessions, assess what’s working well and what could be improved in your strategic alignment.
By bringing together clinical expertise and business partnership, you create a practice where patients receive outstanding care, the team feels supported, and both doctor and manager find fulfillment in their complementary roles.
About the Author
Laurie Spitz, DAADOM
Laurie and her husband, Steve, a prosthodontist, founded Smileboston Cosmetic and Implant Dentistry, a three-doctor dental practice outside Boston, MA.
Her business, marketing, and public relations degree has given her the background to successfully work in every office capacity (other than clinical), and anything her degree didn’t teach, life has.
As an AADOM spouse, Laurie has a unique perspective, allowing greater optics in every aspect of the organization.
Over the last 27 years, she built a business from scratch, purchased and sold a second office, and evolved to an OON office while raising three kids, two growing up in a pack-and-play behind her desk.
Laurie has been a member of AADOM since 2017 and earned her Fellowship in 2023. She earned her Mastership (MAADOM) in September of 2024 and her DAADOM status in 2025.
