If you want to compete among the most successful mobile dentists near you and stand out, then you need to know some of the best ways to establish a successful mobile clinic. You need to know every step to start your mobile dentistry business and how to run it.
Establish a scope of services
Every step in the process of starting a mobile clinic is identifying a need in a certain population and measurable objectives. This will guide the actions you take to achieve your goals as well as provide the quantifiable success indicators.
You should do a community needs assessment to determine the gaps between what people lack and the existing services. You should narrow the scope of your services and determine eligibility. The needs will be greater than your capacity, and you should respect the parameters you have in place. You need t determine whether you will focus on one-time visits or screening. Are you going to provide follow-ups for your clients? You need to be realistic about your efforts’ impacts.
The scope of your mobile services will affect equipment and funding needs so you should consider realistic things within the constraints of your mobile clinic. You should know whether you can justify your resources, costs and equipment needed, and the time spent on each surgery/examination plus follow up care.
Determine your delivery strategy
Before you start your mobile dental clinic, you must determine your delivery strategy. You should evaluate your options for locations where you will be treating your patients and how you will be doing it. You will need the right equipment and set your location. Potential sites include under-served schools, nursing homes, and remote communities, among others. Your goal here is to reduce interruption in the day of your patient and logistic complications. You should know the common area where you can meet most people within your demographic.
When choosing your equipment, you should also remember a mobile dental vehicle which could be one of the most expensive things you purchase. You should decide whether you will be leasing or buying a pre-owned vehicle or a new vehicle. The vehicle will require insurance, maintenance and a driver. You should consider a vehicle with disability access to provide care for all patients.
Determine labour and fiscal needs
Most of your labour and fiscal needs will be guided by your scope of services. Your budget should account for initial procurement and overhead and fixed costs. You should include everything necessary to start offering services such as dental treatment equipment, salaried workers, equipment replacement and repairs, computer and the necessary software systems, administrative costs, office supplies, vehicle maintenance, mobile site rental, vehicle insurance, depreciation of assets and gasoline.
Fundraise
Unless you are very wealthy or well-funded, you will not immediately have state of the art equipment to compete with established mobile dentists near you. You need to have a plan on how to raise these funds. Build a good relationship with people who believe in your clinic and want to be part of the business. If you have people who can contribute, you should ask them to.
Written by Bilal Fadel
