The 100-Chart Audit

One number you did not know: the share of the "active" list not seen in eighteen months, written beside the number the appraisal claims. And one action that changes the price or the plan: re-price, add a condition, or walk. In 2026 the sheet that produces it ended a deal I was six weeks into, on the payer-mix line beside it: one in ten on a government plan in the appraisal, more than sixty of a hundred in the sample.

Free. No credit card, no call required. The form asks for four things.

In 2026 I was six weeks into diligence on a practice. The appraisal was clean. The numbers were good. The broker was patient. My accountant had finished the financial side and nothing was wrong. Then I sat down in the seller's office on a quiet afternoon with their practice management system, their office manager beside me, and a blank sheet with nine columns. I pulled every nth chart from the active list. One hundred charts. Two hours. The appraisal implied that roughly one patient in ten was on a government plan. The sample found more than sixty of a hundred. That is not a rounding error. It is a different practice, with different revenue per visit, a different collections process and a different treatment-acceptance pattern than the one that was priced. I asked for the data to be reconciled. It could not be. I withdrew. This is that sheet. It is free because every dentist who buys a practice should run it, and most do not know it exists.

• The method: how to get access, how to pick the charts, what to record, what to compute.
• The sampling sheet (nine columns, 100 rows, no patient identifiers).
• The five numbers, and the two-column table that compares each one to the appraisal.
• The risk read-out: three bands per number, and what each band changes.
• The reading guide: what a result means and what to do about it.
• The script for asking the seller, and what it means if they say no.
• Lesson one of the free email course that follows the sheet.
• A one-page checklist you can print and take with you.

Owner track

• Day 0, the sheet, with one line: run it on your own active list first.
• Day 1, the leak calculator, built on our own count: about 6,500 of 12,488 active files with no next appointment in October 2026.
• Day 3, one question by email: what was your 18-month number.
• Day 7, lesson one of the email course.
• On completion, the read-out call, offered by a person within one business day.
• Day 14, one more note if nothing came back, then silence; no third ask.

Associate track

• Day 0, the sheet, with the LOI wording as a block to paste.
• Day 1, one question by email: when do you plan to buy, this year, next year, or someday.
• Day 3, the rule before you start, as one page, so the sample day goes into the LOI.
• Day 7, lesson one of the email course.
• On completion, the read-out call, offered by a person within one business day.
• Day 14, the same.

Everyone who completes the audit is offered a fifteen-minute read-out call. A person who has read the numbers books it, within one business day of the completion; not a bot.

Minute by minute:

• 0 to 2, the deal in three sentences, no seller, broker or staff names.
• 2 to 8, the five numbers, one at a time: the claim, the result, the band.
• 8 to 12, the one action: re-price, condition, or walk, and the date you will act.
• 12 to 14, the proof ask.
• 14 to 15, the next step, offered once, as A or B.

What we never pitch on the call

Nothing in the first twelve minutes. Never Practice Audit Day, Practice OS Install or the advisory; those start from a conversation the dentist opens. Never a legal, accounting or clinical opinion on the deal; "ask your lawyer" is a complete sentence. Never a second call "to think about it"; one offer, one answer.

The next step, A or B

If you are buying inside the next twelve months, A is the cohort, Buy an Ontario Practice, five Tuesday evenings from January 12, 2027. If you already own, and the number you want to fix is your own, B is Dr. Maro OS. Or neither. A dentist who walks away from a bad deal because of this sheet has had the full value of the call.

The proof ask

At minute twelve, with your permission, we log two numbers and one line of what happened, with nothing that identifies you or the practice; never a name.

Comment OWNER on any post on @doctor.marwan. The tool replies in public within a second and sends the sheet by DM. AUDIT is the fallback and delivers the same sheet. Nothing is for sale in that message.

Can I do this before the LOI?

Rarely. Most sellers allow it only inside the diligence window. Put it in the LOI as a condition so there is no argument later.

What if the system cannot produce a clean active list?

Use the recall list, or the list of patients with a visit in the last 24 months. Note which list you used. A practice that cannot produce an active list is telling you something about its systems.

Is 100 enough?

For the shape, yes. If one number surprises you, pull another 100 on that measure only. Do not pull 500 and call it a census.

What if the seller gets offended?

The request is normal in any serious purchase and your lender's reviewer will understand it. Be polite, be supervised, be quick, and leave nothing behind. Most sellers respect a buyer who checks.

Does this replace the accountant's work?

No. The accountant verifies the money. This verifies the patients the money came from. You need both.