If Life Could Be a Dream

Will crunching the numbers in a practice analysis help Shannon and Theresa get closer to the dream?

Shannon headed back in to work with a spring in her step. “Theresa,” she said, “do you remember when we first opened this place?”

Theresa smiled. “Of course. We were two crazy kids with a dream!”

“How close are we to that dream today?” Shannon asked.

“Pretty close,” said Theresa. “We’d be closer if we could redecorate the way you keep promising–”

Shannon laughed. “Seriously, how close are we?”

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“Seriously, I think we’ve accomplished a lot. We have a great practice here, we’re helping our patients, supporting a lot of good people, and adding value to the community. I think that’s what we wanted to do, and we’ve basically done it.”

“There are some things that we haven’t accomplished, though, aren’t there? And maybe new things that have come up since we started, too.”

“Like redecorating,” Theresa couldn’t resist saying. Then she went on more soberly. “You’re right, though. There are a lot of things that get put off for lack of time, and I guess you and I might not be earning what we thought we would by now… and maybe not getting as much time off as we expected to, either.”

“So do you think there’d be some value in doing that Dream Practice Analysis we’ve been talking about?”

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“If you want to do it, we’ll do it,” said Theresa tartly. “But I think you should consider the pros and cons. I agree that it might be helpful to have someone with a more numbers-oriented mindset to help us make sure we’re on the right path. Heck, it can be great just to have an objective outsider who doesn’t have so much emotion invested. But you’re talking about opening up our books to a stranger.”

“An expert. And I think we just share some information, the numbers they actually need and know what to do with — unlike you and me. I know we won’t have to share any information that shouldn’t be shared.”

“Fine. But will that information really let these experts give us an accurate prediction about how the software might be able to reduce our costs? We might just end up spending more because of double talk about saving.”

“I don’t think so,” Shannon objected. “I think that’s exactly why we need to go through the process. With actual data and someone who fully understands it, we could make our decision based on real information. We know that doing without things we really need is just false economy. We certainly did enough of that in the early days! But I don’t want to guess whether an investment is going to pay off. That’s why I think we should go through the process.”

Theresa agreed and turned back to the files she was working on, but she tossed a last question at Shannon as she moved away. “Can we ask about the ROI of redecorating while we’re at it?”

Will crunching the numbers in a practice analysis help Shannon and Theresa get closer to the dream?

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Disclaimer: For HIPAA compliance, all characters appearing in this post are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons or actual events is purely coincidental.