by Karah Karah | Mar 22, 2017 | Prescriptions for your Practice
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Disability coverage isn’t something most dentists think about, especially when they feel young and bulletproof at the beginning of their careers. But my guest today, Chris Bransgrove, knows that dentists need to consider the possibility that they could develop a disability and jeopardize their practice and career.
Chris is an advisor at Lucet Advisors and specializes in helping dentists understand the kind of disability coverage they need. When insurance companies know how to stack the deck against your practice, it’s important to have someone on your side that knows the ins and outs of contracts and disability coverage.
Chris and I break down some myths about disability insurance that you may believe and provide you with accurate information instead. We cover a lot of ground, including the definition of disability you want your contract to have; coverage for partial and residual disabilities; what you need to know about coverage for mental health; and much more. Many dentists don’t review this stuff often enough, so be sure to tune in and find out what you should be doing differently!
Key Quotes:
- The insurance companies themselves are smart – they know how to stack the odds against the doctor and in the insurance companies’ favor.
- Disablity insurance itself is nothing more than a promise to pay.
- Generally, when it comes to definitions, the shorter it is, sometimes the better – because if it’s longer, it can leave more room for interpretation.
- What’s important in the language of the contract are the triggers, where this partial benefit kicks in and starts to make up lost revenue.
- When a doctor gets disability insurance for the first time, the insurance company looks at their income and good health – and what a future increase option does is it takes the second requirement of good health off the table.
- An elimination period or a waiting period is basically like a deductible, but instead of being in dollars, it’s in days.
- With vendors now, you can get an additional benefit just to cover student loans.
- Depending on the contract, some claims may be excluded or limited – the biggest one is mental nervous claims, and I prefer there not to be any limiting in my doctors’ contracts.
- There is a policy called overhead expense that allows you to keep the lights on or buys you time to find a suitable buyer.
Featured on the Show:
Registered Representative and Financial Advisor of Park Avenue Securities, LLC (PAS), 6455 S Yosemite St., 3rd Floor, Greenwood Village CO. Securities products/services and advisory services are offered through PAS, a registered broker/dealer and investment advisor, 303-770-9020. Financial Representative, The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America (Guardian), New York, NY. PAS is an indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary of Guardian. Wealth Strategies Group is not an affiliate or subsidiary of PAS or Guardian. Lucet Advisors is not a registered investment advisor.
PAS is a member FINRA, SIPC
by Karah Karah | Feb 22, 2017 | Bold Biographies, Prescriptions for your Practice
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Fellow Relentless Dentists, this week I’m proud to bring you an interview with accomplished young dentist Dr. Josh Wren. Dr. Wren owns a practice in Mississippi, where he specializes in treating pediatric patients in a compassionate and efficient manner. He also publishes courses online about pediatric dentistry so fellow dentists can benefit from his wealth of knowledge.
Josh and I talk about his educational journey and how a great dental experience at age seven made him want to be a dentist. Josh also shares some technical tips about why stainless steel crowns should be a staple in your toolbox, and how to handle the parents of your young patients.
We then discuss how to know whether you should keep a patient in-house or refer them out. Josh also talks about struggling practices around the country, and how you can immediately increase your patient volume. Josh also offers an awesome discount for his upcoming live course in Chicago, “Pediatric Dental Pearls for the General Dentist,” taking place on May 19th & 20th this year – see details below!
Key Quotes:
- I don’t like the term behavior modification or management – I prefer the term behavior guidance.
- That’s my drive – for general dentists to have the knowledge that I as a board-certified pediatric dentist have.
- An expert in anything was once just a beginner.
- If you’re out there and don’t have a stainless steel crown kit but you have pediatric patients, do yourself a favor and get one. It’s the most predictable, efficient procedure we can do in dentistry.
- If you can get the child to trust you, and not hurt them, and finish all of the treatment in two appointments or less, keep them in-house as a general dentist.
- I’m a big believer in a 20-30 minute appointment, max, for a child under eight.
- I hear dentists are struggling these days with insurance-based practices, whether to go in-network because they’re struggling with patient base and volume – and one way to immediately increase that is to become more of a family dentist.
- We’ve gotta start focusing on the good and stop focusing on one failure out of fifty.
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by Karah Karah | Feb 10, 2015 | Bold Biographies
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Quotes & Notes:
- If you are afraid of failure, you will never succeed.
- Just do it. The most successful people show up before they’re ready.
- The time is never perfect, or if that time does come around, it is so rare or it takes so long your whole life passes you by while you are waiting for it.
- If you wait one year to do this, you will be one year older. Why not just now?
- Dentists just wanted to be helped in a simple manner.
- Our, late grandfather, was a surgeon. I admired him, and one of the things that I liked about him, was that he never took life too seriously.
- Our mom is a serial entrepreneur, I mean ever since I could remember, she had so many businesses, she used to sell wigs from the house, she was the Avon lady, she got into housing, and she had several stores. As a kid I always saw that she always enjoyed what she did. And you have to have that entrepreneurship sense in dentistry.
Our father started from scratch, and owned, a shoe factory in downtown east Baltimore, for many, many years. Both of our parents were entrepreneurs and I think that really rubbed off on us.
- Being innovative is so important. You always have to change, you can’t be afraid.
- You have to be a team. In the most successful practices, everyone has to be involved.
- It seems like the offices that have the most laughter, are the most successful.
- The people that are truly happy with their lives are the most successful financially and the most successful in a loving fulfilling way.
You can learn more or reach Drs. Dave and Rich Madow at madow.com, with [email protected] or by calling 1 (888) 88-MADOW. For out of country listeners, they can be reached also at 1(410) 526-4780.
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