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The monthly read.
Closing the books is half the job. The other half is an hour where someone tells you what they say.
Most practice owners get a statement package by email and file it. Nothing in it is wrong, and nothing in it is useful, because reading a P&L is not what they were trained to do and the person who prepared it was not hired to explain it.
The monthly read is the fix. Same call, same week, every month.
What you are looking at.
An illustrative package for a single-location general dental practice.
84% collection rate. Down 5 pts since March — the gap is aging claims, not pricing.
Two points above where this practice should sit. Staffing, not rent.
Illustrative example, not a client practice. This is the conversation, not the report — we walk it with you every month.
What the hour covers.
- What movedCollections against production, margin by provider and service line, overhead against your own trailing average. Not every line — the ones that changed.
- Why it movedA collection rate does not fall on its own. It falls because claims are aging, a payer slowed, or discounting grew. The number is the symptom; the call is where you find the cause.
- What it costs youTwo points of overhead on a practice your size is a real annual figure. Putting a dollar amount on the drift is what turns it into a decision.
- What to do before next monthOne or two things, with an owner and a date. A list of twelve improvements is a list nobody works.
What it runs on.
Closed books. The month is finished and the package is built before the call, so the hour is spent on what the numbers mean rather than on assembling them.
If the close needs attention first, that comes first. Bookkeeping and monthly close →
Questions
Frequently asked.
What is the monthly read?
A call each month where someone who has closed your books walks the statements with you: what moved, what caused it, and what decision it points to. It is the part most practices never get — the numbers arrive but nobody interprets them.
How long does it take?
Usually forty-five minutes to an hour. Practices working through something specific — an expansion, an associate buy-in, a sale process — often move to twice monthly for that period.
What do I need to prepare?
Nothing. The books are closed before the call and the package is built before you see it. You show up with questions.
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Let's talk about your practice.
Twenty minutes. Tell us about the practice and we will tell you what we would do, what it would cost, and what it would change.
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