OPASYST is dedicated to open and honest communication regarding the costs and opportunities within your dental practice. With Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) now the new elephant in the room, what is the new reality for your practice? Will you be buried in increased costs?
The short answer is no, but there will be some increase in supply costs to account for this new reality. Historically, infection control has always been the biggest category. Items generally included in that category are surface disinfectants, pouches and wrap, gloves, masks, barriers, eye protection and others. Items you have never needed to use before may now be added to that list as standard equipment, such as gowns, face shields, and N95 masks.
So, how will these new items you adapt into your practice affect your supply costs?
OPASYST has developed a simple PPE Calculator to provide you with a transparent look at the increased costs associated with additional personal protection equipment you may be planning to purchase for your practice. The calculator is designed to be utilized without the need to pull reports from your practice management software. See the PPE Calculator here.
The first question is how many patients do you see in your practice per day? In the fields top fields of the calculator, you will input the number of patients the Doctor sees (for procedures, etc.), then enter the amount of hygiene appointments in the Hygienist field. For example, if you have two Hygienists that see eight patients per day, enter sixteen into the field. The total will include an assistant in the Doctor calculation and a Doctor check in the Hygienist calculation. These totals will carry through the rest of the calculator.
The following fields are for the individual PPE item categories (gloves, masks, face shields, etc.). The quantity needed field will auto-populate from the total patient number above, but you may also manually change that number if you prefer (if you will not be needing shoe covers, you may change that to zero, for example). There are also two additional uncategorized field that you may use for items specific to you (perhaps if you want a line for barriers or other protective materials).
For each item, an average price range is listed, determined by historical costs, and is for informational purposes only. The field to the right is where you can input your costs per each item. The quantity needed field and the cost you enter will calculate for the total of that item.
At the bottom of the form, your daily PPE cost will calculate from the information you provided. Next to that total is a place to enter how many days your practice is open each month. From that number, your monthly and yearly total cost will calculate.
It is important to remember that cost and availability of PPE items can change. For example, the average price range listed for masks is $.10 – $1.75 each, but recently Dentists have paid up to $5.00 each for N95 masks. Is a Level 3 mask acceptable for certain procedures instead? These are the types of questions you will need to consider.
Through all of the changes the world and the dental industry are experiencing, it is vital to be aware of costs, and more importantly, cash flow. Use this calculator as a tool to meet with your supplier(s) to help with overhead and inventory management.
We hope you will find this calculator helpful, and would love your feedback. Please feel free to email is at opasystdental@gmail.com, or leave a comment below. We are happy to answer any questions about the calculator, or more specific questions about your practice’s needs.
