Setting and monitoring production goals is an important component of any effective practice management system. At the same time, production is only one of several measurements that is used to determine how well a practice is performing.
It is important to keep in perspective that production represents an outcome of how well a team is utilizing their systems in providing treatment, service and care to patients and not the focus for providing treatment, service, and care to patients.
It is often assumed that attempting to achieve high levels of productivity necessitates compromising the standards of treatment, service and care provided to patients. However, from a systems perspective, the opposite is true. It is important to keep in mind that the implementation of systems enables dental teams to more efficiently and effectively deliver service and care to patients. This directly results in increased levels of practice productivity along with decreased levels of inefficiency and stress.
Production goals can be used as guidelines to help team members understand how well their systems are performing. They play an important role in the monitoring of the effectiveness of practice systems and preventing slippage from occurring.