Projections

The Gaidge Projections module is part of the Executive Membership package and allows you set multiple goals at the same time based on your practice’s previous performance. You can modify various items to project different outcomes. You can then track your progress towards those goals and adjust during the year using your progress as a guide.

With Projections you can enter an increase, for example, add 5% to Net Production and the system calculates how many Starts, Exams, and New Patients you would need to achieve that goal, based on how your practice performed during the previous year.  You might also start by increasing the number of Starts for next year, which will, in turn, increase Net Production, Net Collection, New Patients Added, and Total Exams.

Getting Started

Click on Goals then Projections at the left of your screen. 

The system defaults to this year, you may select next year if desired. You may change the location from your default to the entire practice, an individual location, or a location pod from the drop-down box at the top of your screen. If goals have been set previously under Practice Management, they will display on the Projections screen.  If goals have not been set, Projections will use the values from the previous year as goals for the current year.

At the top right are three buttons: Reset Goals, Remove Goals and Save Goals.  Goals can also be downloaded to a CSV file. Show Projections / Clinical Day will be discussed later in this document.

• Reset Goals - Resets any changes made on this screen back to the numbers that were in the Projections form the last time it was opened or refreshed.
• Remove Goals - Removes any goals that have been set from either the Projections form or Practice Management.
• Save Goals - Saves your changes and updates Goals

The Projections screen has eight columns: 

Goal, % Increase, Current Year Actual, Current Year Goal,
Prior Year Actual, Goal Change, % Change and Locks.  

The current year goal (in our example 2021 Goal) displays the sum of values attained for the months completed and goals amounts for future months this year. Prior Year (in our example 2020 Actual) shows the values attained in the prior year. Goal Change displays the dollar amount of the change created by setting or adjusting goals on this screen, and % Change is the amount changed based on a percentage.

2021 was selected as the goal year. The previous year’s numbers (2020, in this example) automatically populate into the 2021 Goal Column. 

Select a starting point for entering goals, often Net Production or Net Collection. Drag the slider towards the + button (right) or click the + button to add a Goal to Net Production.  

For each click on the +, the Net Projection Goal Change will increase approximately $10,000.  The actual amount is based on the distribution of starts.  

In our example, the increase to the Net Production goal also increases goals for Net Collection, New Pts Added, Total Exams, and Starts as indicated by green amounts in both the Goal Change and % Change columns. The Net Collection goal is based on the average contract amount per start.

In the Starts section, 12 new starts are added. These are allocated across treatment types based on the previous year’s activity.

From the numbers of starts needed, Projections calculates the number of Total Exams and New Patients Added required based on the Case Acceptance and New Patient to Exam percentages of the prior year. So, in this example, to generate 12 additional starts, the practice needs 19 additional new patient phone calls which will then generate 16 completed exams. Note that these calculations are be based on the remainder of this year.

You might also start by increasing the number of Starts, which will, in turn, increase Net Production, Net Collection, New Patients Added, and Total Exams.

So far, we have only looked at yearly totals. Click on any goal name and the monthly detail opens.

In this example with the goal year 2021, the actual values for January through June 2021 are shown in the 2021 Actual column.  July through December display previously set goals or have the actual values from 2020 if no goals have been set. When changing goals in projections mid-year, only this month and future months are affected.  

Each of the highlighted fields can be edited individually in the highlighted boxes, or collectively using the slider or entering a percentage. For example, if you took a week off last September, but are not planning to this year, you may want to increase your goal for that month.

When viewing start type detail, you can see how the additional starts are allocated. In this example, of the 8 starts, 3 went to July (the busiest month), and then one each was applied to August through December.

Locks

Locking different goals allows you to explore different scenarios. For example, you might lock Net Production at 5%, then increase your case acceptance goal which will decrease the number of new patients added and exams needed. Some locks are affected by other locks, after locking the Net Production goal by clicking the Lock icon, Net Collection is automatically locked as well.

Any row can be locked. Since New Patients Added and Total Exams determine the New Patients to Exam %, all 3 cannot be locked at the same time.

Weights - Adjusting the Mix of Treatment Types

The Starts section includes the total plus the individual types of starts: Full, Phase 1, Phase 2, Aligner, Limited and Other. When setting goals, the month with the most activity will receive the first additional start.  If subsequent starts are added, they will be distributed according to last year’s activity of each treatment type and month.

The W icon lets you change the mix of treatment types.  For example, you may not want to include limited and other starts in your goals, or you may want to increase aligner treatment while decreasing braces. Use the slider or click on the + / - buttons to increase or decrease the percentage of any treatment type. To undo changes., click Reset Weights

Many practices do not set goals for limited or other starts.  You can remove them from the goal-setting by clicking on the Toggle button to turn off a start type, its numbers revert to 0.

If you are entering your monthly clinical days, you can also view your projections per day. Click on the toggle switch to Show Projections / Clinical Day.  Note:  The Projections / Clinical Day is based on the Previous Year’s clinical days having been entered.  

The display changes to show your daily goals.