Since COVID-19 has upended your practice finances for 2020, it makes planning for 2021 more important than ever. Here’s what you need to consider in making the necessary decisions to develop your practice budget for next year.

While 99% of dental practices have reopened, patient volume has not returned to pre-pandemic levels for most practices. According to the ADA, patient volume remains about 20% below those levels. Fortunately, our members are doing much better, with 31% operating at full (100%) capacity, while another 28% are operating at 90-99% capacity, and 25% are operating at 80-89% capacity. Thus, only 16% of our member practices are operating below 80% of their pre-COVID-19 busyness levels.

Upon reopening, most dental practices reported being extremely busy, largely due to the pent-up demand from being closed for approximately two months. While that demand has largely been satisfied, there are several new possibilities for increasing production that are...