CAD/CAM - international magazine of digital dentistry

_Exit planning has traditionally been a fairly simple task for dentists. The choices a dentist faced were either winding down the number of days worked, thereby gradually easing into retirement, orworkinguntilthreetosixmonthsbeforewanting to stop, and then advertising the practice for sale. After negotiations with the buyer, dentists would sell and walk away—much like a house sale. Some- times there would be a good handover of patients and staff, and sometimes this process would be less than ideal. More recently, other options for exit planning havebecomeavailableforpracticeowners.Overthe last three to four years, for example, many dentists in Australia having sold their practices stayed on to work as employee dentists for the new owner. This model in particular has increased in popularity re- centlywithcorporateentitiesoftenbeingthebuyer. Anothermodelisdeferredsale/employeewithview, whereby a new dentist (Dr Junior) works for a year as an employee for Dr Senior. If all goes well, a con- tract is signed for the purchase of half (or even all) 26 I I practice management _ passive income CAD/CAM 3_2011 The passive income practice Author_Dr Phillip Palmer, Australia The passive income practice Author_Dr Phillip Palmer, Australia