Procedure Frequency Survey – What is it?

Each year Impact Economic Consultants, along with the BCDA, NSDA DAPEI, CDSS and NBDS, conducts Procedure Frequency Survey beginning of January. If you have never participated in this survey before we would like to further highlight what it is all about.

What is involved in participation?

It is very easy to complete this survey: simply email, mail or fax a copy of your annual production reports along with the accompanying header sheet (an electronic version of this can be requested by emailing our office) to Impact. The header sheet asks a few necessary questions such as annual hours worked for certain employees, the number of chairs used in your practice, and so on. This information helps us calculate each dentist’s individual reports correctly.  The production report requires only a few clicks in your practice management software.

What is the information used for?

This information is collected primarily to update the Suggested Fee Guide and the model used to produce it. The data we collect allows us to see how the quantities of procedures vary over time. We analyze all the current and historical data to see how price changes affect the quantities demanded of each procedure or categories of procedures. We also calculate the average total revenues for each dentist. This helps us see how gross revenues are changing from year-to-year. Also, each code in the guide is weighted by the relative frequencies to estimate the overall Suggested Fee Guide increase. Codes that are performed more frequently, such as scaling, will carry a heavier weighting toward the overall increase.

Another use of this information is to calculate what we refer to as the ‘street fees’ – the average fees that dentists actually charge patients. This is simply the total revenues for each procedure divided by the number of times that procedure was performed. This helps us gauge whether certain levels of fees are appropriate for the current market.

What do you receive?

As an incentive for participating, dentists receive a feedback report comparing their practice to the average of the other participating practices in the province. Your street fees will be compared to the average street fees so that you can see areas you may be discounting more than you realize. You will also see how you rank compared to others in terms of total procedures and total revenues, how your procedure mix compares to the others, the top 5 procedures that differ from the average, and many other very useful metrics.

Impact is always available and happy to answer questions regarding the data collection process. The more information we receive, the more reliable the results will be. All information Impact receives is treated as highly confidential and does not leave the office. Once it is no longer needed, the production reports are shredded on-site.

All dentists are encouraged to participate in this great benefit to you and the profession!