2016 Fee Survey Report: Price-Cutting Remains Rampant, C&B Hardest Hit

Citing concerns over a still-sputtering economy and tougher-than-ever price competition, nearly three-quarters of respondents to LMT’s 2016 Fee Survey admit they’re keeping their fees lower than they think is fair or appropriate.

In fact, more than half of our respondents haven’t raised prices within the last two years, and some acknowledge they’ve even dropped prices to compete. LMT’s data speaks volumes: not only have fees remained flat since 2014, but the last time we noticed any marked increase in overall laboratory fees was in 2008, before the Great Recession impacted our industry.

But there is a divide among laboratory types, with C&B laboratories painting the bleakest picture and removable laboratories coming through as the most optimistic. For example, while a whopping 88% of C&B respondents say fees have become a race to the bottom, only half of denture laboratories...