AN ELEPHANT LESSON

Ever wonder how five-ton elephants are controlled by their trainers who simply secure one of the elephant’s legs to a fixed object?  How and why does this work when the huge animal could easily break the shackle and go free? A baby elephant’s training begins with a rope around its leg tied to a wooden post hammered into the ground.  The not-yet-strong baby is unable to break the rope or pull up the post.  Eventually it gives up.  After that, when the elephant’s leg is secured it believes it cannot get away.  It remembers the struggle as a baby and believes no escape is possible.  The now-grown animal is limited by old experiences.
 

Our thinking is often similarly limited.  Previous experiences may make us afraid to try again, afraid of failure, afraid of rejection, or afraid of being ridiculed.  Search your menu of New Year’s resolutions, your long-term dreams of achievement, your plans for change and improvement personally or in your practice.  Are you shackled to the way things have always been?  Learn from the elephant.  Don’t let yourself be limited by old ways, old habits, old ideas.  You are strong enough to break free, to overcome your fears and achieve things you never thought possible.

Remember, whether you think you CAN or think you CAN’T, you’ll be right.
 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

ELECTRONIC DEVICES DEMAND SECURE DATA PROTECTION

Smart phones, tablets, laptops---all in mega-use and all demanding privacy protection and secure back-up systems.  Technical failure, theft or loss (The FBI reports a laptop lost or stolen every 53 seconds.), compromised data, etc., are problems for dental practices as well as other businesses and individuals.  Your practice must have a data protection system that is the latest and best in order to protect all devices and the patient and business information they contain.  Additionally, in-office and off-site encrypted backups of all practice data must be provided for every electronic device used by you or your staff.

Suggestion:  check with your state dental society or computer system vendor about IT resources available in your area which can provide end to end data protection necessary in today’s mobile environment.

THE 2.3% MEDICAL DEVICE TAX WILL AFFECT YOUR PRACTICE

Imposed to help fund the cost of “Obamacare”, the new 2.3% medical device tax will take effect in 2013.  Quoting from The McGill Advisory, Volume 27, Issue 11, November 2012:  “The IRS expects to issue final regulations within the next few months.  However, at this point it is clear that the new 2.3% medical device tax does apply to dentistry, and that virtually all items of dental equipment and instruments, and a substantial portion of lab and supply items, will be subject to the new tax beginning in 2013, adding significantly to doctors’ overhead.”

Although the excise (sales) tax is to begin on January 1, 2013, the IRS has yet to hand down final regulations as noted in the quote above.  The Advisory article is an excellent one, describing what the medical device tax is, to what it is to be applied, and how it will affect dentistry.  The IRS has rejected all requests from the ADA and other dental organizations to exempt dentistry.  Under exemption rules, explained in The Advisory, only items such as toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss, denture adhesives, mouthwash, bleaching paraphernalia and mouth guards will be exempt from the tax.

Suggestions:  follow news about this tax closely and expect to see the 2.3% additional costs added to non-exempt items you purchase for your practice.  Your 2013 fee schedule should reflect this additional cost that will have to be passed to end users, your patients, in the form of fee increases.  And consider checking out this and future articles in The McGill Advisory:  newsletter@mcgillhillgroup.com.

PRACTICON HAPPENINGS IN 2012

You, our loyal customers, made 2012 another good year for Practicon.  We celebrated our 30th Anniversary.  Through your support these past 30 years, Practicon has grown to serve dental customers in 66 countries.  In 2012 our Research and Development Team paired with the Product Management Team to launch 719 new products to serve you, your staff, and your patients.  Our Fulfillment Center Team achieved a 99.6% accuracy rate in all shipments, and the Assembly and Imprint Team improved turnaround time on toothbrushes and other imprinted items to 2 ¼ days from order receipt to out-the-door, speeding to our customers.  The FlossBow Orthodontic Flosser, named a top product by Dental Products Report, and the Grosser, More Disgusting, Totally Cool Mouth Book were top sellers.

In short, although our growth rate slowed slightly in the still struggling economy, 2012 was another year of solid growth overall for Practicon.  WE THANK YOU!