 Hello everybody, Andrea Mayesky here. So let's talk about, as a new dental hygienist who owns her own practice, his or her own practice, you might be wondering, what do I charge? That is everybody's question. It doesn't matter what business you have, I feel every business who's just starting out will ask, what should I charge? Because you don't want to charge too high, you don't want to charge too low, it depends on where your business is, it depends on a lot of things. Let me first say, when I first started my dental hygiene business, so I am a mobile dental hygienist, plus I see patients in my own home, which you guys can't see that right now. But so I do a little bit of both. When I first started, I did under charge just because I wanted to get in as many patients as I could. I am starting a business, so I wanted to see patients. I was excited. I wanted them to know that I am here to help them. I'm not here to charge as much as possible and do as little as possible. I am here for them. But I soon came to realize that I was definitely under charging, because you soon realize it's a lot of work. Owning your own business, you have to do paperwork. There's all kinds of things that you have to order. There are expenses. None of that matters per se, because that has nothing to do with your patients. Your patients, your clients should always come first and business comes second. But you still have to charge what you're worth. So this is where this video comes in, charging what you're worth. So what do I charge? So you guys, I always download the newest Fee Guide. So here in Ontario, we have the ODHA Fee Guide. I'll show you guys. I have it on my iPad, so I can always look at it. The ODHA Fee Guide. What we have is we have every single service that we can offer plus the code to input in the computer and for the insurance, plus the fee. So check that out. So just so you guys can see. So as an example, they're showing the dental hygiene exams first. We have the code, then we have the fee right here. OK, some of the fees, as you guys can see, it goes from low to high. So that's basically up to you, but I charge what is in the Fee Guide. I talked to a number of dental hygienists who have opened up their own practices and they all say that they charge below the Fee Guide. And I asked them why I say, why do you charge below the Fee Guide? And they say, well, I feel that patients won't want to spend that much or I'm not a dentist, so why should I be charging high prices? Or all in all, they just feel that patients, clients will be upset with those higher fees, but that's just it. It's not higher fees. These are the fees that are in our fee, our Fee Guide. We're not just picking out a number. When I enter in these codes into the computer, a fee automatically comes up and it is what the fee is in the Fee Guide. So I just simply charge that plain and simple. I do that because I am offering them a service. Don't undervalue yourselves. OK, please do not because if you charge too low, it will be very hard for you to raise those prices in the near future. But of course, if you're charging too high prices, let's say, that are above the Fee Guide, well, nobody is going to come to you because even if they're covered by insurance, if you charge above the Fee Guide, insurance won't cover the whole thing. And then your client will come to you and say, why do I owe you five dollars when I'm usually 100 percent covered? Every other office, I don't owe them anything. I'm going to go back to them. You might be thinking, oh, it's only five dollars. What's the big deal? But patients pay attention. Patients, clients, you'll hear me say those words interchangeably, but they will notice. Having that said, you guys, talking about fees, it is now July 2020. Am I charging a separate fee? So we are allowed to charge. It's called a PPE fee because ever since COVID, we've had to buy a lot more PPE masks are four times the price. We have to buy hair caps. We have to buy disposable gowns, which I just happened to have one here because that will be my next video. We have to buy all kinds. I am probably spending, I don't know how much a month yet more. I haven't looked into that. But since my practice opened again with COVID in June, I was spending $2,000 more. You know, so I had to quickly purchase everything. $2,000, $3,000 later, that will last me a while. But you get the idea for a small business owner. It's kind of like I'm not I am not charging patients anything extra because I see it as a business expense. Why should my patients have to pay $5 more, $18 more per appointment? That's probably not going to be covered by insurance just because I want to stay open. That doesn't make sense to me. If you're charging more whoever is watching this, that's totally fine. I say good for you because you can get that money if patients are paying it and it's totally worth it. But I see it as a business expense. I'm not going to charge my patients more. It's kind of like if I was to go to a store and buy clothes, all of a sudden there is an extra five dollars tapped on to my bill. I would not want to shop at that store, but that's just me. So I hope that helps you guys depending on where you live. Your fees will be different. Just don't undercharge yourself and definitely don't overcharge because that's not helping go by the fee guide. That is what I do. So I hope that helps. Let me know if you guys have any questions and I'll see you guys in the next one.