After 20 webinars and over 9,000 total attendees, our webinar series wrapped up in September with a great session that included one of our clients describing her experience being embezzled.
We tackled lots of great issues over this series. Embezzlement, of course, but also hiring, firing, cybersecurity, financial oversight, and many other topics relevant to practice owners.
If you missed the live events, the webinars are all available HERE.
Want to Liven Up Your Speaking Event?
Want to start your post-Covid meetings with a bang?
We have great titles like "How to Outsmart the Thief in Your Practice."
If you would like to book a speaker for your event, please give us a call or use THIS LINK.
Here are some of the places you can see us soon:
Sep 30
American Dental Education Association
Virtual
Oct 7
MMCA
Vancouver BC
Oct 19
Comprehensive Care Club
Port Huron MI
Nov 11
Oral and Facial Surgery of Naperville
Naperville IL
Nov 17
Rhode Island Dental Association
North Kingstown RI
2022
Feb 25
Chicago Midwinter Meeting
Chicago IL
Mar 7
Benton/Franklin County Dental Society
Kennewick WA
Mar 8
Dr. Graham Jones Study Club
Monroe WA
Mar 10-11
Pacific Dental Conference
Vancouver BC
Mar 27
Massachusetts Society of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
Boston MA
May 6
Ontario Dental Association
Toronto ON
Did you miss a previous newsletter?
We archive them HERE.
A common theme at conferences and in dental media lately is a shortage of people to hire. The sustained pre-Covid economic
boom was already exerting pressure on the labor supply, and the past
eighteen months have made things much worse.
The American Association of Dental Hygienists states that 8% of dental
hygienists have left the profession since Covid struck, and we have
every reason to believe that the same is true for other dental office
positions.
Whether externally imposed or an office policy, a requirement for staff to be vaccinated can make things worse by further limiting the pool of available talent.
In the news last night, I saw that United Airlines is about to fire 600 employees who do not conform to its policy of universal vaccination.
In a narrow sense, this represents an opportunity for a dentist somewhere. The depleted labor pool is about to be augmented by people coming from a customer service field. There is probably much to criticize about how airlines treat passengers, but we have several former airline employees with whom we have had excellent experience.
More broadly, the trend towards mandatory employee vaccination is going to force dentists into difficult choices. I won't enter the science versus personal freedom debate. However, I see considerable discussion in dental forums
about how to handle vaccination inquiries from patients. Clearly, some patients expect their healthcare providers to be vaccinated, and will question you or your staff about status and policies, and saying "the vaccination status of our staff is a private health matter" will not be considered a satisfactory answer.
Not mandating staff vaccinations may cost you patients. A mandatory vaccination policy may run contrary to the beliefs of some team members and, as discussed in the article above, may shrink an already undersized applicant pool when hiring.
I have no "right answer" about whether mandating vaccination is something you should do, or how to answer patient questions if you do not. What is important is to recognize this emerging issue, discuss it with your staff, and hopefully reach a consensus acceptable to all.
In case you are wondering where Prosperident stands, our policy is that
any team member who works in our head office or
interfaces with the public (e.g., traveling or speaking for Prosperident) must be vaccinated.
As always, I'd love to hear from any dentist interested in lowering their vulnerability to embezzlement, or in confirming that it isn't taking place in their practice. Please reply to this email, or contact us at requests@prosperident.com.
