Offer Assessment

You’ve had the interview and the practice makes an offer. Now what do you do? Is it a good offer, great offer, or a time bomb ready to blow up in your face? Maybe you are trying to choose between more than one offer. Perhaps you are trying to determine whether you should take the first job you’ve been offered.

Before you accept an offer, you need to be able to answer the following questions:

• Will you be paid a percentage of collections or production?
  
• What is included in these numbers?
  
• Would most of your patients be Fee-for-Service, PPO, Traditional Insurance, Medicaid, HMO?
  
• Will you have a full schedule from day one or will there be a ramp-up period?
  
• Is there a guarantee? (Hourly, Daily, Weekly, Monthly)
  
• What is the restrictive covenant? What is a reasonable distance?
  
• How much notice needs to be given if things don’t work out?
  
• Is there a clear documented path to practice partnership or ownership?
  
• What are the practices fees?
  

Is it better to get 25% of production, with a full schedule in a fee-for-service, high-end practice or 40% of collections in a discounted fee-schedule, insurance-driven practice?

Is it better to make less during the first year in a practice that you could own in two years or make more in a practice where you will always be an employee?

Would it be smarter to accept an offer near my friends and my Dental school making a salary of $8,000 a month or move 50 minutes away and make between $150,000 and $200,000 my first year?