Corporate Offer Discussion....

[halfareallifedoctor]

So i'm about to wrap up my fourth year in school. I am originally from a rural northern state and with my student debt (~560k including interest) i'm wondering what your thoughts are. I have an offer from DSO as an Associate with an opportunity to progress to managing clinical director (blah blah blah, sounded like a load of crap frankly). They are offering me 600/day plus some raunchy sounding incentive thing where you get a % of the total office production that month based on patient satisfaction (also sounded like a load of crap). The guy I have been working with quoted me that, "last year the associates here made around 165k, before considering benefits etc."

If they are doing 600/day and I work ~250 days a year that gives me about 150 pretax. Then with this "magical bonus percent office production" he was discussing I get an extra 15k (taxed of course as a bonus so 25%). I'll be working M-F about 40-42 hrs a week, Friday is halfday.

I have no qualms about working with a DSO, I have heard the horror stories and frankly, if someone ends up telling me to make x$$$ production or whatever a month by compromising my integrity/pt care, i'll just leave. I really am only considering this because its the highest offer I have on the table. I have a family and frankly need to kick these loans in the teeth as fast out of the gate as possible.

Any thoughts from you folks on working corporate, salary offer, anything (beside the fact that OH YOU ARE SO SCREWED LOOK AT THAT DEBT AHHHH!!) would be greatly appreciated!

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[lemoncurry]

Aspen Dental? Been there, done that.

IMHO, you better be a baller on clinic if you're going to corporate right out of school. I don't feel that it is a very nurturing environment for a new grad but your results may vary. You will NOT see a production bonus probably for the first six months while you are getting your feet wet. My experience is that in order to get the bonus, you gotta go balls to the wall all day, every day. It takes time to get up to that kind of speed and operatory management.

Corporate dental can be valuable experience in terms of getting faster and managing more ops, making quicker treatment decisions, etc. However, I am of the opinion that you need a gentler environment to get started as a baby dentist.

 

[2TH MVR]

I'm at the other end of the age spectrum, but I'll offer my 2 cents since I am currently working PT in Corp after spending 26 years in private practice. As a young dentist raising a family and with student loan debt ... working for Corp is not bad as long as you view it as what it is .... a job with benefits. A temporary job that is.

Your options: Corp. Associateship. Buy or start a private practice.

In a perfect world .... you would locate an associateship leading to partnership within a short time frame: 18 months. This is what I did originally. The senior doc has to be serious about bringing in a partner. 6 months as a test to see if your both compatible. Partnership contract signed afterwards. Pros: 6 months to test drive the practice and senior doc. Built in mentor. You are exposed to the business aspects of running a small business. The task is locating this ideal situation. The senior dentist has to be serious about bringing in a future partner. Other associateships without possible ownership is just YOU working to make the senior dentist $$$$$$.

Other option is to work Corp PT and buy your own practice. Find a mentor that can guide you through the process of locating and buying a practice. If buying a practice .... start SMALL. Again .... get help here.

Corp should not be the goal. But it is a job until you can find/start your own practice. As for ethics in Corp. Well .... I'm an Orthodontist. I treat my ortho patients no differently than I did in private. Corp is no different than private practice where YOU pay all the bills. You have to treat efficiently and effectively in order to make a profit.