Should I convert dental clinic into family clinic?

I am a CA and I have started a chain of Dental Clinics in Gurgaon (at present only 2 clinics, We will be expanding in few months and we plan to open another 2 by March 2014). you can find more about the idea of starting Ivory Dental and our aim & USP at the end of this article.

I am planning to convert these two clinics into Family Clinics. 

Concept of Family Clinic

In medical sector there are clinics that are run by individual doctors and there are big corporate hospitals. Between them lies the concept of Family Clinic. These well-furnished clinics offer qualified doctors with good communication skills and most importantly, the time and patience to listen to your woes and history. Eg: Nationwide Clinic in Bangalore, Healthspring in Mumbai, Ross Clinics in Delhi NCR. 

Usually there is a General Physician, Pediatrician, Obst & Gynae doctor within a single clinic.

From the past few days this idea of converting my two clinics into family clinic is bouncing in my mind ( there is enough space in both the clinics to accommodate extra doctors). As both clinics have attained break-even within 6 months of opening, I don’t have to worry about paying salaries and rent anymore, so this keeda of doing something risk-worthy, is again germinating in me. 

Questions and doubts ?

1. My biggest doubt is that it will dilute the brand of “dental clinic”.

2. Would people prefer to go to a family clinic or the regular doctor will be their first choice.

3. Where to find good doctor’s as I have painfully learned that hardly 5% of dentists are worth calling doctors, remaining just have a paper degree that has word Dr. written in front of their name.(one of the assistant that I have hired is better skilled than 50% of dentists in this country)

Ivory Dental

Our Aim :

To re-define the way dentistry is conducted and perceived by being the most ethical and value oriented organization. Our plan to re-define is by providing decent services to our patients, having aesthetically pleasing clinics which are clean & hygienic, being extremely transparent in our dealings and hence providing for value to our patients, which ultimately leads to us becoming a patient centric organization.

Make money your goal and it will plague you like devil. –Henry Fielding

My aim is not to earn money from the first day but to build a brand that grows over the year and will be the first choice of anyone who is looking for a dentist.

Why start a dental clinic’s chain :

1.    Non existence of any major organised / branded dental clinic chain in Delhi NCR region catering to the middle class section. There are some high-end dental clinics like Clove & Axiss. There are super specialty hospitals like Artemis and Medicity but there is a huge gap in one individual operated clinics and value for money & patient centric dental chain in Delhi/NCR.

2.    Dentists operate under their own name and patient come because of that particular dentist so the scalability is limited, but if a brand like Mydentist is able to ensure quality service across all their clinics then the patients stops differentiating between doctors and will go by the name of the brand. People go to Apollo for the first time, not because they know some doctor there, but because they know that whoever will be the doctor, a particular standard of service will be maintained.

What makes us different :

1. Transparent Pricing – We never overcharge just because the patient can afford to pay more for the same treatment. Most of the doctors charge according to their perception about the paying capacity of patient.

2. Good Doctors – We pay handsomely to attract the best talent. Doctor’s salary is the largest expense of our clinic.

3. Quality Audit – Some other dentist comes every fortnight and discusses all the patients and their diagnosis and prognosis with the clinic’s regular dentist.