DEO MAY-JUNE 23

It Takes A Village

This trio of dental professionals have the expertise, systems, and proven results to fast track your business to success.  p30

Become Unstoppable

The art of resisting impulses and maintaining focus to deliver through the power of discipline.  p4

5 A.I. Prompts for Dental Entrepreneurs to Maximize Time and Resources

Leverage the latest technology to save money and time, and create efficiencies.  p8

From Chaos to Control

The proven framework, specific to dental, that will transform your organization.  p20

Leading the way together

Ivoclar is dedicated to supporting your DSO.

Together, we will work to deliver best-in-class, best-in-service treatments to your patients, now and into the future.

– Grow your practice with unique clinically proven solutions and exclusive pricing opportunities

– Take advantage of personalized immersive training and education

– Benefit from a dedicated team of clinical restorative experts

MANAGING EDITOR

Graham Garrison ggarrison@sharemovingmedia.com

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Pete Mercer pmercer@sharemovingmedia.com

CONTENT WRITER

Jenna Hughes jhughes@sharemovingmedia.com

CIRCULATION

Laura Gantert lgantert@sharemovingmedia.com

ART DIRECTOR

Brent Cashman bcashman@sharemovingmedia.com

EDITORIAL BOARD

Dr. Eric Roman, DEO

Josey Sewell, DEO

Rachel Shipley, DEO

Hilda Gonzalez, DEO

Cassidy Parker-Knight, DEO

PUBLISHER

Jake Puhl jacobpuhl@deodentalgroup.com

VP OF MEDIA

Amy

acochran@sharemovingmedia.com 619.886.5842

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The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Dentist Entrepreneur Organization, LLC, DEO Dental Media, LLC, or DEO Magazine. Also, the information in this publication is meant to give readers general information that they may find of interest. It is not intended to substitute for compliance, audit, advisory, tax, legal, or other professional advice. Readers should consult with appropriate professionals before making a decision to use any of the material presented in this publication.

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The Places You (Could) Go

As we put the finishing touches on this issue of DEO Magazine, schools across the country are hosting graduation ceremonies. It’s an exciting time for the students, both to celebrate their accomplishments and gaze out into their potential career journey ahead.

One gift that graduates often receive is Dr. Seuss’ classic, “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” There are lots of nuggets of wisdom packed into the poem, but reading through it recently, one part stood out:

“You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And you are the one who’ll decide where to go.”

“You’re on your own.” That statement sounds more daunting than encouraging, doesn’t it?

Already known as an industry where feelings of isolation and loneliness are common, dental actually doesn’t have to be that way. At the DEO we are extremely proud to be disrupting this narrative and contributing to an industry where inclusivity and a supportive network of peers are common. Plus, not only have we curated a community of dental leaders that rely on each other as a support system, we’ve taken it to the next level and made it our mission to ensure that the entire dental organization is thriving.

I’ve been looking forward to sharing this issue with you since last year when we mapped out content for 2023. This issue is a representation of what we’ve been working on for the last couple years and details the

educational curriculum that serves as the backbone for our Immersion and Implementation programs. As the first dental operating system, the systems and framework are already making an impact. So much so, that we created a Slack channel dedicated to the comments and feedback we receive from customers that solidifies we are on the right track. This is not another program we are selling. It is the intellectual property that our team of dental professionals built together to support our members as they build their organizations.

Want to install your operating system faster and have a dedicated guide supporting you every step of the way? This program is designed for those wanting to make an investment to grow as efficiently and quickly as possible. This is possible by working 1:1 with one of our highly trained Implementer/ Coaches who lead you and your executive team through a customized journey to install the system. Read more about this game changing program on page 30.

There are plenty of other dental leaders willing to walk this journey with you. Using these tools and insights, we’re confident that whatever you decide, you’ll have a clearer picture of where your organization is headed.

Cheers!

Executive Leadership: The Power of Discipline

A disciplined leader has the ability to resist distracting impulses, maintain focus and see projects through to the end.

What does discipline look like to you? Many might assume that discipline is the negative consequences that come with a misguided choice or mistake, but it can also refer to the operating standards put in place by leadership. A disciplined leader has the ability to resist distracting impulses, maintain focus and see projects through to the end.

This topic is a personal one for me. Recently, after 25 years of being overweight, I discovered how powerful discipline is in all aspects of my life. After a failing grade in my health and mental discipline,

I joined a group of like-minded fathers with the goal of transforming my mindset and my body. Through this new mindset and a more disciplined approach to my schedule, I lost weight, gained

muscle, and even completed my first half marathon.

Effective leadership requires discipline. It will improve your daily processes, increase productivity, and facilitate better communication with your staff. Discipline is an often misunderstood, yet powerful tool that leaders can use to set the standard for your organization, while holding your employees accountable for what needs to be done.

What is discipline?

By providing discipline, you set a standard that when the motivation sinks and things get hard, your team is still going to do the tasks needed to be successful. One of the best ways that leaders can show discipline is by being organized and systemized. One of the principles I teach is the IDOPE principle, which refers to this process:

> Idea

> Document

> Organize

> Prioritize

> Execute

When leaders get too caught up in the “visionary” aspect, they

become more of a scattered leader than one that provides focus towards a mission. Discipline needs that organizational component. Leadership is so critical right now because there are so many people that are sitting on a lot of mental exhaustion – individuals can only take on so much.

Communication is fast and random these days because of all the technology we use, making the brain the bottleneck for productivity. It’s no longer, “Could I do that?” We now must ask, “Do I have the mental capacity anymore to do that?” As leaders, if we aren’t disciplined people, we come across

as tone-deaf and not empathetic to the realities of what people are dealing with every day.

Disciplined leaders use project management

As a leader, you need to develop to a point where the activities you’re doing are the ones that are most supportive to your team and what they are trying to execute. This requires transparency about your calendar and the processes you have put in place for your team. It’s important to check in with your team to ensure that they are receiving the support they need, where they need it.

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Disciplined leaders have very clear project management processes. I will often hear leaders say, “We have been talking about this for a long time, why hasn’t it gotten done?” I always want to respond, “Because talking is not the same thing as getting something done.” Project management processes will give you very clear tasks and a breakdown of ideas that will help your team to execute those tasks and ideas.

A lot of entrepreneurs start off as dopamine addicts that are excited to solve problems in the marketplace. When they achieve that by helping a customer, they experience an enormous amount of euphoria. Most of what they are doing is selling and making promises before the real work happens. We usually just see these opportunities to help, and we provide help, but we are not usually sensitive to the operational components that need to take place.

Disciplined leaders time block

The one thing that entrepreneurs have not been able to create is more time, even if they are great at creating communication products and various technologies. ChatGPT is getting a ton of leverage by using A.I., but we are still limited by the amount of time that we have.

The most critical thing for entrepreneurs to learn about their usage of time is learning when to step back now that they have so many opportunities. This risk with time management is that we have a digestion problem, not a starvation problem. We consume too much and there aren’t enough nutrients in what we are consuming.

When you look at someone’s calendar, you can tell a lot about what a person is focused on and where their energy is at. Time blocking is critical to entrepreneurs – by blocking off your time, you can ensure that your time is spent on the things that are most critical for you and your business. Time blocking is a discipline that will greatly leverage and accelerate your success.

Habits of disciplined leaders

One of the biggest components of discipline is forming winning habits that encourage hard work from your team and fosters success for your organization. Here are some habits of disciplined leaders:

1 They are intense about how they spend their time – Time is an invaluable, nonrenewable resource. Time management and time blocking are critical practices for disciplined

leaders, because they are so intense about how their time is spent.

2 They are thoughtful about the ideas that they share – Part of what sets disciplined leaders apart from non-disciplined leaders is the amount of thought put into the ideas that they share with their teams. Disciplined leaders have spent a great deal of time developing ideas about how

to grow their business, making sure that no stone is uncovered.

3 They use some sort of project management platform – Essentially, this comes down to organization. Using a project management platform ensures that your team is kept up to date on the workflow and tasks they are assigned each day, reducing confusion and streamlining your processes.

4 They take a lot of input from the team on what works and what doesn’t – As important as it is for disciplined leaders to share their ideas with the team, it’s equally important to listen to the team about what works and what doesn’t in the workflow. Disciplined leaders are invested in business outcomes, and business outcomes depend on the processes and standards your team uses every day.

As a leader, you need to develop to a point where the activities you’re doing are the ones that are most supportive to your team and what they are trying to execute.

Teledentistry: Promise or Peril for the Unwary

The adoption and use of teledentistry services expanded significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic as an effective means to provide remote dental care, including diagnosis, consultation and treatment planning. This article will explore some of the legal implications of teledentistry and how dentists can ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations.

State by State

One of the primary legal concerns associated with teledentistry is the regulation of the practice of dentistry across state lines. State dental boards are responsible for regulating the practice of dentistry within their respective states, including licensing dentists, setting practice standards and enforcing disciplinary action. The practice of teledentistry, however, often involves providing care to patients in jurisdictions that are different from the providing dentist. This raises questions about which state’s dental board has jurisdiction over the provider and whether the provider needs to obtain a license in each state where the patients are located when the teledental services are provided.

To address these issues, some states have enacted laws and regulations specifically addressing teledentistry. For example, California requires out-of-state providers to obtain a license from the California Dental Board if they provide teledentistry services to patients located in California.

Patient Privacy and Data Security

Another legal concern associated with teledentistry is ensuring patient privacy and data security. Teledentistry involves transmitting and storing electronic health information, which is subject to state and federal privacy and security regulations. Dentists and other healthcare providers must comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and state data privacy and breach notification laws to protect patient data from unauthorized access, use or disclosure.

To ensure compliance with these regulations, dentists should consider how and when to implement appropriate privacy and security measures, such as encryption, firewalls and access controls. In some states, dentists are required to obtain patient consent before using telecommunication technologies to transmit or store patient health information and provide patients with notice of their privacy rights and how their data will be used.

Quality of Care

A third legal concern associated with teledentistry involves quality of care. Generally speaking, dentists must adhere to the same standards of care when providing teledentistry services as they would when providing in-person care. This includes conducting an appropriate patient evaluation, making an accurate diagnosis, developing

a treatment plan and providing appropriate follow-up care.

Compliance with these standards often requires that dentists establish protocols and guidelines for providing teledentistry services, including conducting an initial patient evaluation, documenting patient history and symptoms, using appropriate diagnostic tools and establishing a treatment plan.

Conclusion

Teledentistry, when done right, can offer many benefits to patients, including increased access to care, improved convenience and reduced costs. However, dentists and other healthcare providers must ensure compliance with applicable legal and regulatory requirements to avoid potential liability and protect patient privacy and data security, and these regulatory requirements are often changing as the industry, and dental boards, experience more success and failure of treatment via teledentistry. By following appropriate guidelines and protocols, and staying up to date on the evolving regulatory landscape, dentists can provide safe, effective and legally compliant teledentistry services to patients.

A. Scalzo is a partner in Holland & Knight’s Nashville, Tennessee, office.

5 A.I. Prompts for Dental Entrepreneurs to Maximize Time and Resources

Leverage the latest technology to save money and time, and create efficiencies.

A.I. technology is everywhere in the news and on social media. There are examples of A.I. creating masterful art, precise answers in moments, and funny raps about historical figures, but how can A.I. help dental leaders? Learning to effectively prompt A.I. is quickly becoming a skill that all business leaders will need.

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed or even intimidated by the thought of using it in your dental company. But, A.I. chatbots (ChatGPT) aren’t something to be afraid of – in fact, they can be an incredibly powerful tool for your business. The key is to start small and test the waters!

A.I. writing prompts can help get you the content you need most of the way there (approximately 75% accurate) so you can maximize your time and resources to leverage elsewhere.

A.I. Prompts To Try > CREATE A BLOG

As a dental leader, you know that you need an online presence and content to help drive patients your way. But creating that content can be difficult and time-consuming. Let A.I. do some of the leg work. Try this prompt when you need a new blog for your website or long-form content for social media.

Prompt

Please write a [NUMBER] word blog on [TOPIC] with a clear beginning, middle, and end. Please include a bulleted

list of benefits and acknowledge any references while providing links to the references. The target audience is [DEMOGRAPHIC]. Please write in the style of [STYLE or CELEBRITY].

Example

Please write a 500-word blog on the importance of flossing with a clear beginning, middle, and end. Please include a bulleted list of benefits and acknowledge any references while providing links to the references. The target audience is teenagers. Please write in the style of Dwayne the Rock Johnson.

> SUMMARIZE MEETING NOTES

Sometimes putting together meeting notes takes longer than the meeting itself. A.I. can help. If you have virtual meetings and use the transcribe service of Zoom or a note-taking tool, this can be super helpful.

Prompt & Example

Can you please summarize the following meeting notes into a bulleted list and highlight the most important items, action items, or any good ideas?

Meeting Notes:

[ADD YOUR MEETING NOTES HERE]

Three More A.I. Prompts to Try

> SCRIPT CUSTOMER SERVICE

RESPONSES: When customers email about specific policies or want refunds, use A.I. to create template responses to have on hand.

> IMPROVE EXISTING CONTENT ON YOUR WEBSITE: Use A.I. to improve your website content such as service explanations, practice information, “about us” etc.

> DEVELOP JOB RECRUITMENT

ADS: A.I. can help you get your ad up faster with a prompt noting the specifics to fit the job you are looking for.

These prompts can be an excellent starting point to begin harnessing the power of A.I. for your dental company!

For more information and to get the exact text prompt for each, download DEO’s NEW complimentary resource: Maximizing Your Time and Resources:

5 A.I. Prompts for Dental Entrepreneurs. Scan the QR code below:

Evaluating Risk When Selling Your Practice

“I want a 9X on 1.8MM in EBITDA, 80% cash at close and no earnout!” “I want an 8X on 550k in EBITDA, 100% cash at close and a 12-month employment agreement.”

I sit back and wonder where it all comes from and how these expectations began. There are many funnels of information that can find their way into the dental population; however, I believe there is a vast chasm between expectations and reality now that must be addressed, and the fault lies everywhere.

Selling in today’s space is a landmine laden playing field that is difficult to successfully traverse while maintaining all the emotional speed bumps that you would imagine selling your life’s work would bring with it. Understanding expectations from both the buyer and seller is critical as is gaining a better understanding of how valuations are driven, and the components that influence valuation.

DSO Valuations –Risk Mitigation and Opportunity for Growth

Fast forward a couple of decades from when valuations were consistently between 70% and 90% of prior year collections, and we have the influx of private capital into the dental space, bringing with it far more complex mechanisms, analytics, and a new term, EBITDA. Essentially a base

profitability metric, this now shown a light brightly on those practices that operated efficiently and profitably, vs. those that were just revenue hogs without efficiency. Acquisitions increased at a frenetic pace, as did the thrill of victory for those sellers that rang the bell, and subsequently, the agony of defeat for those that couldn’t. So, how do you as a practice owner plan for your inevitable transition?

Evaluating Risk

It’s important to realize DSO valuations are largely driven by a measure of risk. Here are a few considerations that play heavily into a practice valuation.

1 Provider Risk: Will it be easy to recruit a replacement? Is there significant key-man risk? Will the lead doctor commit to 4 or 5 years post close? All are significant considerations in a DSO transaction, and factor heavily into the valuation they provide.

2 Payor Risk: Heavy PPO involvement can provide a significant amount of upside lift for a large DSO that’s heavily negotiated their reimbursement rates. However, a practice

that has a heavy delta premier presence will lose that benefit at re-credentialing with most acquirers, impacting overall profitability. Most buyers shy away from any concentration higher than about 20% or so of Medicaid. Similarly, fee for service can be a warning signal to some buyers, as FFS practices tend to be largely reputation dependent within their local markets.

3 Geography: States that have favorable tax environments, and population growth are valued at a premium, and those experiencing decline simply do not. DSOs want to go where the patients are, and they want practices where the patients are going.

The Good News

There are hundreds of buyers in the dental space, and a few “hot hands” in the acquisition market who are utilizing whatever environmental factors to their advantage to hit growth targets. This can have a muting effect on many of the above factors and finding those golden ticket buyers can alleviate issues. Tusk Partners works with over 200 buyers and finding the optimal partner while maximizing your value at exit is our job. Understanding fluctuations in the industry will go a long way towards ensuring a favorable process for you, your team, and your family!

Emerging Group Spotlight: Aria Dental Studio

How Dr. Ali Mehio has built a successful practice through technology-based treatments and company culture.

“I see my patients like family. It is important to me to provide my patients with the best treatment that I can provide. I’m always training and mentoring staff to make the practice more predictable and to improve their diagnostic entry skills,” Dr. Mehio said.

A large part of running a trusted business is maintaining a healthy company culture. At Aria Dental Studio, staff strive to treat patients with evidence-based methods while using the latest technological advances, and they treat patients as they would want their own dentist to treat them.

Many dentists know that their calling is dentistry at a very young age, and others find the passion for dental work through experience in the industry. For Dr. Ali Mehio, it was his experience in dental residency that provided him with the confidence and expertise to manage his own practice.

Dr. Mehio began the first five years of his dental career in Montreal building his first practice after graduating from McGill University Faculty of Dentistry in 2002. After university, he enrolled in a one-year program in Advanced Education in General Dentistry Residency (AEGD) at the University of Michigan.

Dr. Mehio’s current practice, Aria Dental Studio, was opened in

2009 in British Columbia, Canada. After getting married to his wife, he relocated to British Columbia from Montreal and opened the practice in the heart of downtown Vancouver. The boutique family dental office consists of eight staff, including receptionists, dental hygienists, and CPAs. They treat a wide range of patients from young children to retired people.

Managing a practice in a pandemic

Similar to many other companies within the dental industry, the team at Aria Dental Studio has faced the challenge of labor shortages. To motivate staff, Dr. Mehio implemented wage increases and staff bonuses in addition to the introduction of work from home capabilities for staff. These staff benefits encourage the team to perform at their best and also helps them to respond with resiliency in the face of workplace challenges.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Mehio anticipated the challenges

that would lie ahead, and his practice acted quicky. “We acted really early in the COVID-19 pandemic, even before official guidelines had been set. Our practice purchased filtration units, N-95 masks for all staff, and medical gowns. We were only closed for a short time during the COVID lockdowns in early 2020. Within two months, Aria Dental Studio was up and operating.”

Technology sets a practice apart

Dr. Mehio began his career with an initial interest in engineering.

Following in his parent’s healthcare footsteps (his mother is a pathologist and his father a surgeon), he double majored in computer engineering and health sciences. He then went on to dental school, but it wasn’t until later in his career that he found a passion that combined both of his interests within the dental field.

“When I went to Michigan to do my residency, I was introduced to the CAD/CAM software system and concepts like 3D milling and printing. That’s where dentistry became interesting to me. In my current office, I have two scanners, a milling machine, two printers and a designing software that I use every day and they make everything about running a dental practice more predictable. I solve the problem virtually first and then am able to develop a predictable outcome,” said Dr. Mehio.

These automated systems provide the needed support for Aria Dental Studio to treat patients with the most current, technology-based treatments.

Advice to aspiring practitioners

Going forward, Dr. Mehio hopes to expand the practice to the space next door, hire another practitioner, and increase patient volume.

“I enjoy practicing dentistry and going to work every day. My goal is to have someone that I can mentor that will take over the practice eventually,” said Dr. Mehio.

Dr. Mehio said the success of his practice lies in showing up every day prepared to do your best work. “A dental practice’s reputation is everything. If you have consistent results and strive to improve, people

are going to keep coming back. If you are committed to excellence, patients will notice,” he said. He attributes his practice’s continued growth to consistency and the commitment to strive for the best results in all aspects of the business.

“Sometimes I lose money doing certain procedures, but I just want to do the right thing and have the best possible outcome. To me, the outcome and a patient’s satisfaction are more important than financial gain. What comes first is giving the patients what they paid for and more,” said Dr. Mehio.

Maximizing Dental Care with Efficient Esthetics

As busy practitioners, we are always looking for ways to minimize the time the patient spends in the chair while maximizing the predictable delivery of highly esthetic, long-lasting restorations.

From a business perspective, these improvements were developed to help the clinician to do more and better dentistry in less time, promoting the profitability of working more productively. However, simply working faster is not a solution to working efficiently unless these advancements are optimized from the ground up to work together as a coordinated system solution.

Working smarter

This is particularly true when it comes to direct composite restorations, which are the cornerstone of any dental practice. Using products and workflows that increase efficiency without compromising the quality and esthetics of the final restoration improves the profitability of these procedures and the profitability of the practice. Plus, it offers clinicians the satisfaction of providing patients with a great final outcome using the most efficient process.

Let’s face it, our patients want to get in and out of the chair as quickly as possible. The COVID years exacerbated patient desire for optimized efficiency in dental care with the same demands for highly esthetic, natural looking results.

Over the years many advancements have been made in an attempt

to overcome the inefficiencies in the direct composite process from a multitude of technique sensitive steps to incremental layering and curing. Until now, refinements in direct composite materials, tools, and technology meant to streamline the process have been incremental with no real focus on the process as a whole. Improvements in light curing technology have shortened treatment times. Material science advances have minimized polymerization shrinkage, decreased tooth sensitivity, and increased the delivery of a final restoration that retains its esthetics over the years. Improvements in sculpting and polishing instruments have decreased the steps needed to manipulate composite materials and final polish to a high luster.

Today, we finally have fully coordinated product systems, such as Ivoclar’s Efficient Esthetic Workflow, that offer product-based solutions optimized to work together to streamline restorative posterior workflows. The workflow helps minimize chair time while maximizing the esthetics of our restorations. Composite materials such as Tetric PowerFill and Tetric PowerFlow have been reformulated to cure faster and harder without the shrinkage forces that cause sensitivity and marginal breakdown. New curing technology within the Bluephase PowerCure curing light works in tandem with the Tetric PowerFill and Tetric PowerFlow composites to cure a single 4mm layer in only 3 seconds, saving you valuable treatment time. New universal shade technology narrows selection to three shades within a composite family, limiting

your inventory. Non-stick sculpting instruments and one-step polishers streamline placement and finishing of the final restoration.

Using a portfolio of materials, technology and instruments designed to work as a coordinated system reduces working steps for composite restorations in the posterior. It is estimated the working steps needed to restore a posterior tooth have been reduced by 50% to 60%, without sacrificing the final esthetics or durability of the final restoration. Over the course of a single day, using a systemized approach that optimizes efficiency offers the ability of practitioners to effectively see and treat more patients, which leads to higher productivity and increased profitability.

Maximize practice efficiency and profitability

Adopting an efficient esthetics approach in your practice not only maximizes your productivity and profitability, but also guarantees your team will be working more efficiently. Using a synchronized line of products means less confusion and stress on the part of your team. It also means that staff can be trained in one-third of the time to get them up to speed on treatment protocols, operatory set up and breakdown. The ability of staff to quickly set up treatment rooms with the necessary tools and materials is essential to practice efficiency. Having a synchronized line of products for treatment of a posterior restoration not only simplifies treatment room set up but also directly impacts inventory and inventory management, which helps reduce costs.

There are myriad ways to streamline procedures and increase efficiencies in the dental practice. Optimizing efficiencies in all areas of the practice from scheduling to billing, will help you and your team get the most out of every minute of the day and lead to a thriving practice.

Direct composite restorations were tackled here because they are the bread-and-butter procedure most often encountered in our dental practices. By simplifying and streamlining direct restorative procedures from isolation of the restorative site to bonding and curing of the composite while achieving high-quality esthetic restorations offer treatments you can perform with greater efficiency and predictability.

Most importantly, adopting an efficient esthetics approach optimizes the patient experience. Minimizing chair time while maximizing the esthetic and durability demands of the patient, builds patient/dentist trust and confidence.

Scan the QR code to learn more about the products included in Ivoclar’s Efficient Esthetics Workflow. These products can help make you and your team more effective and efficient.

Dr. David M. Juliani, DDS is the Senior Director for Clinical Operations for Smile Partners USA and maintains a private practice in Rochester Hills, Michigan. He is a national educator in the use of dental CAD/CAM technology and practice technology integration. A 1993 graduate of the University of Detroit Mercy School of Dentistry, he completed a one year General Practice Residency, after which he served two years at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. A CAD/CAM user since 2003, Dr. Juliani is a Cerec® basic and advanced trainer, Ivoclar KOL and beta tester, a member of the American Dental Association, Michigan Dental Association, and Academy of General Dentistry. For the ninth consecutive year, he has been listed as one of America’s Top Dentists by the Consumer Research Council of America, and one of Detroit’s Top Dentists by Hour Detroit Magazine

The Legislative Route to Expanded Dental Care Access

The consequences of this lack of access to care are much greater than cavities and root canals. In fact, a growing body of dental research has consistently demonstrated direct links between lacking oral health and serious conditions such as heart disease, diabetes and Alzheimer’s. Given the obvious importance of this issue, it is clear that we must look into the nature and cause of this dental professional shortage and pursue solutions that will help ensure patients get care where and when they need it.

Contributing factors

The current shortage of dental professionals is being felt across the country. It is a regular experience that patients attempting to book appointments for routine checkups or necessary procedures are told that the closest available date is weeks or even months away. This situation is not only frustrating, but leads to significantly worse dental health for patients who often delay or forgo needed dental work altogether, exacerbating existing problems and increasing the eventual cost of care.

Among the factors contributing to a lack of access to dental care across the United States are the burdensome regulations encountered by dental professionals who are looking to move and operate in a new state. States decide the rules for dental licensing virtually everywhere, meaning legislators are the ones who decide dental licensing requirements. Currently, the laws and licensing across the various states do not play nicely with each other.

This means that dentists and dental hygienists who wish to move to states where their services might be in more demand will almost certainly encounter significant

financial burdens due to the cost and time it takes to obtain a new license in their intended place of residence. The undesirable result is that these professionals often decide to throw in the towel and not to move at all, leaving areas that desperately need injections of out of state dental talent continually understaffed.

Fortunately, legislators in many states are now aware of this problem and have begun introducing and pushing forward legislation that addresses the current suboptimal state of affairs. Under these newly proposed laws, such as

those currently being considered in Florida and Texas, dentists and hygienists planning moves will see much greater flexibility in transferring their existing licenses to their new home states. States that pass such laws would have greater ability to acknowledge previous licenses in the state a professional is moving from and offer a much easier and expedited path to licensure.

This clearly would make the move to these states much more appealing for dental professionals considering a move, and in the end help ensure they are able to more

easily relocate to where access to care is the lowest and their services are in the highest demand.

As an organization deeply embedded in the dental community, I know this is a topic the industry is passionate about. Patients should have the greatest possible access to quality care regardless of which state they live in. The ADSO not only hopes to see the passage of this commonsense legislation in the states where it is pending, but also to see more lawmakers prioritize the dental health of their constituents by introducing similar legislation in their own states.

Let’s Grow Your Practice

Creating and Implementing Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for Your Dental Office

Step No. 2

Give each team member a sheet of paper and a pen. Have them keep it for two weeks and write down in detail everything they do. Take out the trash, process returned mail, change the paper in the credit card machine, spore testing… EVERYTHING! Remind them that these lists are to establish exactly what they do in their role. It’s important to get a very complex list of what happens both clinically and on the business side.

“No one ever taught me how to do that.”

“That’s not how Stacy taught me to do that?”

Almost every practice manager has heard these comments. It’s important to look into creating a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) manual. For many, the term SOP can be quite overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. It’s easier than you think to create them, and once you have them implemented in your office, you can be assured that each team member will perform the same way, the correct way, and you’ll have SOPs ready for new team members.

It doesn’t have to be a “one-man band.” This is a team effort!

Step No. 1

This is to coalesce your team as one with seeing the need for SOPs. Ask them how they would benefit from having a SOP manual and what it would mean for the training of your new hires. Get them excited about the process. With everyone on board, you can begin the creative process for the SOPs. Remember, don’t overwhelm your team by leveraging all the steps in the beginning or putting unrealistic due dates on the creation. Instead, take baby steps. Show them a sample of a completed SOP, its format, and how it will benefit the team.

Step No. 3

Compile the lists into one for clinical and one for business, knowing that some tasks and duties may overlap. How you compile the list is up to you, but a suggestion is to allow someone on your team to take the lead on this manual. Not you! You have a lot on your plate and most likely have others on your team that are longing to take on a leadership role. One quick way to accomplish this task is to gather your team and have one person behind a whiteboard. Have each person list one duty on their list to put on the board. Anyone who has that task on their list crosses it off until all tasks are listed. Then you review the list to make sure everything is listed.

Step No. 4

Have your team take this list of tasks and divide them up one or two ways. One suggestion is to prioritize the duties as to what someone who is new to your practice would have to learn first, second, third, etc. Another suggestion is to divide the tasks into daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, and rarely.

Step No. 5

Determine what kind of a team you have. If you ask for volunteers to create these SOPs, will they do it? If they create them, will they be correct and usable? You know your team best. Most work better with small assignments, because after all, you are asking them to add this into their already busy daily routine. One common suggestion is to have them each select one task at first. Ask them when they could complete it. If they reply two days, give them one week to make sure no one has any excuses for not accomplishing the task. If they say two weeks, ask them what they would need to complete it in one week. Provide them with the format and the rules of creation.

All SOPs should be vetted by a team member before they are officially implemented. Consider using a volunteer that didn’t create the SOPs, but will be extremely critical of each process and the holes that may exist. Start off with one SOP and schedule a meeting to go over what was created. When they are turned in, tested, corrected, and everyone agrees to the SOP, provide each person whose SOP passes the test with a small prize.

Step No. 6

Make a plan for the completion of all the SOPs. Are people going to volunteer to do them? Are you going to assign three or four at a time? When is the due date? Ask your team for honest feedback on what they feel would work best. Be careful not to allow one team member to create them all. Play a round robin game of selection and each person picks which ones they are doing with a certain amount of time to complete them. This process looks different depending on your team. Bottom line, make it a team effort and a fun process that improves your team’s efficiency.

captain to go through the materials and sign off on the sheet that confirms the new hire comprehends how to complete that task. At the end of each week, sign off that the team member understands and can complete that task as the SOP manual directs. These weekly sheets are added to their personal work file so there is no misunderstanding on their training topics.

Step No. 8

Celebrate the completion of your SOP manual! As a reminder, processes and operations in a dental office change over time. With each new hire or annually, review the SOPs to ascertain it is still relevant to your office. Create all new SOPs as needed and implement them to your entire team!

Step No. 7

Organize your SOPs and create a 90-day training program. Show new hires what they will be learning week one, week two, and up to week eight so they fully understand the organization. Assign them a list of tasks they will be required to learn in each week along with the SOPs for those tasks. Delegate a training

Working with Support DDS can be beneficial in establishing, documenting and seeing all training is completed for these processes. You can delegate a team member in your office to train a remote team member on a task and record it via Zoom. The remote team member can create an SOP based on the training they received and you can review the SOP together and determine if the training was accurate and create a standard of excellence and performance for that task. Many of our dentists have found using this technique has been highly beneficial for their practices and eases the burden of their in-office team.

Whatever method or style you choose, the key is to GET STARTED!

From Chaos to Control — The Dental Operating System

Built by dental professionals, for the dental industry, The Dental Operating System is a set of frameworks that unites the disparate systems and processes inside your business; setting the foundation for transformation.

As your company grows from a practice to a business to an organization, things start to become more and more complex.

Things that used to work are no longer effective.

The success you’ve achieved thus far has been through hustle and sheer force of will, and the goal line seems to keep getting further away.

Your team is unable to produce consistent results and morale is low.

You worry about retaining your most talented people. You are starting to feel burned out and no longer have enough time to grow like you want to.

In short, you’re stuck.

Most entrepreneurs are great at building the plane while they are flying it. They’re problem solvers and quick to make the necessary adjustments while still in the air. In comparison, most employees more than likely do not possess those same skills, so in order to replicate the

successful result the entrepreneur was able to deliver, and do it faster, better, and more efficiently, they need an exact framework with processes and systems to follow. That framework is the power an operating system provides.

What is an operating system?

An operating system is a comprehensive approach to running a business. It is a set of interconnected and structured processes that provide a clear roadmap to achieve your business goals. It allows your entire organization to execute in the most efficient way possible, and creates a consistent, common language that drives clarity and alignment.

Businesses with operating systems tend to grow faster and healthier than businesses without one, so having any type of operating system will eventually guide you towards growth. However, having the right operating system will result in mass acceleration and growth.

With the right operating system, your vision will become clearer to both you and the leaders in your organization, and connecting your high-level objectives to the day-to-day operations will become a lot easier.

Choosing the right operating system

There are plenty of well respected operating systems out there such as EOS or Scaling Up. They are all great…but share one problem…none of them were built for a dental company. Fortunately, that’s where organizations like the DEO come in. Through training and education, we have created the first-ever operating system specific to the dental industry.

Built just for you in this critical time in dentistry, The Dental Operating System is the culmination of our best work, and our gift to the industry. It will make your life less stressful, your impact more meaningful, and your business more successful.

Dental Operating System

Built for Dental Leaders — The Dental Operating System

Building a business is hard work. From the moment you decide what industry you want to work in to developing the first seedlings of a business idea, it’s a long, hard journey for everyone. Business leaders require a certain amount of fearlessness to stake out a claim for their business idea.

It might even be harder for dentists because dental schools cannot provide the level of business education and acumen required to successfully own and operate your own dental practice. There’s a huge divide between the operational and the clinical, and it can be challenging to manage all of that on your own.

We believe dental companies are best served by implementing a dental specific operating system because they face unique challenges that generic operating systems and coaches cannot adequately address.

will come to a point when the coach and the operating system can no longer serve you because they lack industry knowledge and processes. It will still feel like you have to “reinvent the wheel” if you use a generic operating system.

The Dental Operating System (DOS) is the operating system capable of growing with you from one location to hundreds and exponentially magnifies your team and your vision. It is the system we wish we had when we were building a dental group.

Let’s dive into some of the key components of the Dental Operating System.

Vision

A clear and compelling vision is the driving force that shapes purpose, direction and long-term goals. Each operating system defines vision a little bit differently. We believe the components of a company vision include:

For example, when building an org chart, how do you account for Associate dentists who may have a local leader they are accountable to (office manager) but need a clear clinical leader for the dentist to dentist relationship?

When determining your scoreboard, a generic coach will not have the experience to ensure you are tracking the right numbers, or have any idea what appropriate goals and benchmarks should be.

As your company grows and your team expands, a general business coach will lack the industry knowledge to help you determine if revenue cycle management belongs in operations or finance.

A general operating system will encourage the use of systems, but the dental operating system will ensure you have mission critical systems created AND have a framework and an example for you to work from.

Any operating system will absolutely help get you and your team organized, provide a set of rules to live by and give you power to grow; however, you

> Who you are as determined by your core values. These values should be the behaviors you hire, fire, review, reward and recognize around.

> Why you exist. Your mission statement gives you and your team purpose.

> Where you are headed. We refer to this as your longterm destination, it has gone by several other names in the history of business like a BHAG (big, hairy, audacious goal) or even a Wildly Important Goals or long-term target. This represents a goal we can track to in the distant future (5-15 years out) and something to continually reverse engineer and work against. The purpose of your organization is much more than a certain revenue goal or number of locations, however, we find it helpful to put some initial numbers to work against in determining appropriate resources, team, strategy, funding mechanisms etc.

> Speed or pace of growth provides clarity to the team and allows for appropriate prioritization. A group

While other operating systems utilize similar annual and quarterly planning processes, we have education and tools to teach leaders how to effectively scope and manage projects.

that grows by one or two locations per year is very different from a group that adds 15-20 locations per year.

> Your authentic power and “secret sauce” can be found at the center point of what the company is uniquely good at, what you love to do and your economic engine. Once these ideas are clarified they serve as a filtering mechanism for decision making, innovation and focus.

Strategy

Vision without strategy is just a dream. The Dental Operating System is about action, accountability and moving the business closer to the vision one quarter at a time. The Strategic planning within DOS starts by clarifying key decisions, things like:

> Acquisition or de novo

> Associates or partners

> General, specialty, or a mix of both

> Geographic footprint

> Insurance participation

> Exit strategies (legacy organization or build to sell)

> If going to market- Private Equity or DSO

While a company can always adapt, pivot or even change course, these decisions made early on and shared with the leadership team keep a team focused and aligned on critical decisions before they find themselves down the road with an organization they never intended to build. In addition to clarifying these strategic decisions, our team helps companies build out a one year plan and quarterly plans. These plans include revenue goals, profit goals, key success indicators, and a handful of critical goals and projects that are mission critical to moving the business forward. The process of creating these plans is about careful facilitation and constructive meetings led by our trained Implementers. While other operating systems utilize similar annual and quarterly planning processes, we have education and tools to teach leaders how to effectively scope and manage projects. This has been the missing piece in many other operating systems that we have included in the DOS. Project management and change management are necessary to growth.

Meetings and Data

The company vision and strategic plan provide direction and clarity, however, execution comes from effective weekly meetings and the appropriate use of data. Most people hate meetings, for good reasons. We teach our teams a simple, powerful way to have weekly meetings that drive communication, accountability and results. Imagine a world where meetings start on time and end on time without exception. Imagine an agenda that is easy to follow and focuses on critical metrics, projects, and critical tasks. Imagine a leadership team that views their weekly meeting as “game time” and come prepared, own their seat at the table and everyone is driving to the same goal. We have seen this meeting change companies and the leaders who participate in very positive ways. In addition to executive leadership meetings, we teach companies how to determine a meeting cadence for their entire organization – where else can you learn what type of meetings dentists or hygienists or office managers should participate in and how to help them understand necessary metrics?

Culture

Your vision won’t work unless your people do. Gallup research shows that the greatest economic disparity is the inability to unleash human potential. The heart of the Dental Operating System can be found in the education, tools and resources for team culture. Our tools include things like job ads, job descriptions, onboarding plans, an entire system for performance improvement and personal development.

The companies that are winning in the war for talent are the ones who have an environment where employees feel safe and have structured processes to connect in meaningful ways with their people, measure their performance and coach them.

As dental professionals and clinicians ourselves, we understand the need to provide clinicians the opportunity to grow and be mentored. We have a tool called

Career Development Pathways for each position inside a dental team that can be customized to the company model and utilized to help people grow in a structured way that puts the team member in the driver seat of their career.

Dental Systems

Nobody in the industry is free from economic uncertainties, rising costs, and wage inflation; in times like these companies do not have the luxury of learning by trial and error. Leveraging critical dental systems built and utilized by successful practices and groups across the country is a faster, safer way to drive revenue, decrease costs and improve efficiencies. Traditional consultants offer systems that are often too narrow in focus and cannot transcend different models, specialties, and sizes. Our approach to systems is to identify, document, train, measure, and refine. One of our most utilized systems is Patient Experience where we teach practices to create a customer journey, outline critical milestones like attract, convert, diagnose, treat, maintain with clear definitions, ideal outcomes and scoreboards to measure success in each milestone and clear processes to deliver the ideal outcomes. This allows for a “surgical” approach to revenue generation rather than focusing on general items or obsessing over the number of new patients while ignoring diagnostic percentage and case acceptance. Another popular system is our easy to follow process to build your clinical standards of care to align your team and ensure clinical quality. This can be an overwhelming task for most practices, we’ve made it simple and straightforward.

Though these components are just the beginning, we believe that this system has the potential to positively impact this industry in ways we cannot begin to currently comprehend.

We cannot wait to see you become the best version of you, and to see your organization thriving!

Traditional consultants offer systems that are often too narrow in focus and cannot transcend different models, specialties, and sizes.

Success Stories Using The Dental Operating System

Adam Postel, DMD Partner / Dentist, Adelberg Montalvan Pediatric Dentistry

We all wear multiple hats within multiple practices, and The Dental Operating System will open your world to more organized meetings, clearly defined roles, and goals that will drive success for the future. We look forward to our quarterly and annual meetings to reflect on all of our hard work and to celebrate our achievements. With this system, and the support of the DEO team (Josey), it’s more fun to run the business! Working with someone who’s been in the trenches, just like us, and who can share those experiences and

advice has been really helpful. It has been a collaborative process and we are very grateful for all we have learned.

When I look back at all the decisions we have made building our company, The Dental Operating System has easily been the most impactful. I remember my first call with Josey and how fearful I was to really open up to our team – about our wins and failures – around my vision and the why driving what we are building. Our team was apprehensive at first, feeling like they’re already overworked and stressed and this would be “one more thing.” Josey quickly dismantled this with our first day session. As a team, we built our core values and mission that we live by. I was able to share my macro

goals with the team and was met with support and love. The Dental Operating System is the foundation that our leadership team is built on. It helps unify us under a shared vision and values. Now we look forward to our Weekly Sync meetings and seeing our gaps and gains from the previous quarter. Our team is inspired and eager to shoot through goals and support each other. Culture is no longer a buzzword and we are so proud of what our company stands for. Thank you, Josey, for helping unify us under our shared mission.

Susie Plott, RDH Office Manager, Potomac Dental Centre

Our team has loved working with Josey each quarter and for our annual reset using the The Dental Operating System. The planning and organization we are getting has helped us so much with figuring out what we want for the future of the company. It has helped our office culture by utilizing our core values as a guide for current and future employees. There are too many things to mention but overall, we feel blessed to have this time set aside with Josey.

Dr. Mark Espinoza, DDS CEO, Dentist, Smile Max 365

Exceeded Expectations! I knew it was going to be good, but I didn’t know it was going to be this good… this clear, and this understandable. I feel like with The Dental Operating System we are going to gain a lot of traction and momentum which will snowball into an avalanche of success!

Dental Operating System

Dr. Raf Hussain, DDS and Dr. Rupin Malhotra, DDS Owners, Dentists, Bitesize Pediatric Dentistry

The Dental Operating System has been nothing but positive for our Bitesize Pediatric Dentistry. Implementation has been an incredible asset. It has allowed us to crystallize our goals and pave a clear path towards achieving them. This guidance has not only aided our personal growth but has also directly contributed to the growth of our organization as a whole. By providing valuable insights and strategies, DEO has helped streamline operations, resulting in reduced chair time for us owners and increased efficiency.

Moreover, Camie, our Implementation coach’s continuous support and mentorship have been instrumental in guiding us through our professional journey, ensuring we make informed decisions and achieve the best outcomes.

Dr. Melody Zamora, DMD and David Zamora Owners, ZamDental

We successfully implemented a popular business operating system a few years back, but even though it helped us get organized and begin to set up business processes, it still lacked the dental specific knowledge that we needed for growth. Upon joining the DEO, we transitioned from that operating system to The Dental Operating System, and added the Implementation Program to our membership as well. We immediately found solutions

to some long standing, unresolved issues specific to our business and industry. Upon returning from the DEO member event earlier this year, we realized that we had all the tools and frameworks we needed, and the DEO could not have made it any easier for us to take action.

The Dental Operating System is a treasure trove of knowledge and resources, plus with our membership we are surrounded by likeminded people. We feel that the amount of information and expert guidance at our fingertips is vast, and we no longer feel plateaued, but ready to hike up the next peak. Thank you Josey and DEO!

It Takes A Village

This trio of dental professionals have the expertise, systems, and proven results to fast track your business to success.

What do Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Eric Schmidt all have in common, besides achieving incredible success?

They’ve all received help from coaches, even well into their careers.

Once your business is established and moving in the right direction, setting goals for what’s next can be challenging. Enlisting the help of a coach, or in this case, an Implementer, can help you move past problems and strengthen your company. Unlike consultants, coaches don’t tell you what to do. Instead, a coach enables you to build a growth mindset, create goals, and solve problems today and in the future.

Through its programs, the DEO is uniquely equipped to help your organization grow and reach its greatest potential. All of the education and training based programs are designed to teach dental business owners how to effectively build a self-managing, growing, entrepreneurial dental company, using The Dental Operating System as a foundational component to build your business.

In the Implementation Program, the DEO works with you directly through a one-on-one implementation process that includes quarterly and annual sessions with a dedicated coach (Implementer) guiding you and your leadership team. This program, an extension of the Immersion Program, was started as a faster way to set the components of The Dental Operating System into motion for dental leaders to grow their businesses. Each Implementer

brings a different perspective and background to the conversations with clients to build dynamic frameworks that will survive the challenges of the dental industry. Since its launch in early 2022, the team has worked with dental leaders to help them make better decisions for their organizations.

The great opportunity with a program like this is its ability to answer all of the questions and solve a lot of the problems that many operating dentists have. It’s not designed to solve a singular, individual issue, but rather to tackle any and all of the challenges that any business-owner would have to face on their own.

Camie Worley, one of the DEO Implementers said, “For owners and implementers who want a better, faster, and stronger experience installing their Dental Operating System, we suggest adding on to your Immersion membership with the Implementation Program. With the addition of Implementation, you will have a highly trained, dedicated

coach working with you one-on-one in a systematic way that drives utilization and results.”

This program follows an initial 60-day curriculum calendar which consists of three initial major session days:

> Launch Day: The goal of Launch Day is to get the leadership team in the same boat, rowing in the same direction. We do this through a structured process to build your org chart, identify mis- sion critical projects, and teach teams how to solve problems as a group. We also review how to hold a Weekly Sync meeting with an appropriate agenda and ground rules, resetting meeting norms for teams. During this session, the Implementers also build a company Scoreboard, which contains the 5-15 critical numbers that determine the health of the company. Worley emphasized the importance of the weekly sync meetings because having successful and efficient

weekly team meetings isn’t really taught in dental school.

> Vision Day: Vision Day is a discovery process to get what is in the owner’s head and heart onto paper for the rest of the organization to understand for team alignment. Core values are built the right way through a discovery and evaluation process of ideal team members. The Implementers provide a structured process and questions to help teams articulate their why, their long-term destination, and their vivid vision.

> Planning Day: Planning Day is a full-day of strategic planning and the first of many activities that will help teams reverse engineer the vision and create a 90-day action plan that moves the business forward. By the end of Planning Day, teams will have Org Chart, Scoreboard, know how to have effective weekly meetings, a clear vision that includes why the company exists, who they serve,

Dental Operating System

where they are headed, when they intend to get there, a 3-year design, a 1-year plan with revenue, profit, 5-7 key goals and a Quarterly Plan that includes revenue, profit, key success indicators, Quarterly Priorities (projects), who is doing what, by when and how we measure success. Everything we do from here on out is to reverse engineer the vision and get us one quarter closer.

Once a team has completed Planning Day, they move into a 90-day cadence. Every 90 days the Implementer will lead the Leadership Team through a Quarterly Clarity session where they report on the results and completion of the previous quarter’s quarterly plan,

identify wins and lessons learned, learn new tools and resources, reset the next quarterly plan and solve key issues as a team.

Worley said, “We reflect on what they accomplished in the last 90 days, what they didn’t get to, really hit hard on the lessons learned, and develop our next 90-day goal. Then we start sprinkling in bits and pieces from our culture framework, which is actually my favorite part of it all. What sets us apart from other operating systems is that we have an

emphasis on culture where we make sure that we take care of our people, honor their life space, while showing them the importance of performance indicators and measuring their progress and performance.”

With the help of an Implementer as your coach and guide, you’ll be able to connect your team’s goals to real business outcomes, and move through the proven frameworks of The Dental Operating System more efficiently and with a clearer path towards success.

Meet the Implementers

The Implementation Team is a trio of dental experts with years of combined experience in the dental industry — Josey Sewell, a DEO Partner, with Camie Worley and Tom Williams, DEO Implementers. This seasoned group of individuals who have spent years building and refining businesses in the dental industry are now equipping other dental organizations with all of the expertise and knowledge they have gained over the years, helping you get to the place you imagine yourself being, but know you can’t achieve alone.

Josey Sewell

Josey is a Partner at the Dentist Entrepreneur Organization and the Co-Founder of The Dental Operating System — DEO MAP. She is an expert in operations and leadership and finds joy in helping teams overcome their toughest challenges. Josey discovered her passion for group dentistry when she made the jump from clinician to executive leader. She has held nearly every seat on the executive team including being the Chief Operating Officer of a rapid-growth, multi-location dental group. She has become one of the industry’s most sought-after coaches because of the positive relationships she builds with others and the results her clients see- in the quality of their personal life as well as their company performance. In the last two years she has facilitated over 150 full-day

The great opportunity with a program like this is its ability to answer all of the questions and solve a lot of the problems that many operating dentists have.

coaching sessions with executive teams across the country, that is over 1,500 hours of direct coaching and facilitation! Josey is a fierce advocate for teams and people and finds joy in helping leaders create an environment where team members can thrive. She is a dynamic leader who gives willingly of her time, expertise, and knowledge. Attendees of Josey’s presentations often comment how relatable she is and how valuable and practical her content is. Whether it is a webinar or a full-day session, you will leave her session feeling hopeful, confident and prepared to take the next step in achieving your goals.

Camie Worley

With more than 25 years experience in the dental field, Camie has developed skills and expertise in all aspects of dental and people operations. She began her journey as a dental assistant shortly after graduating from High School and was quickly elevated into the position of Clinical Manager within a small Family Dental Group. In 2010 Camie took a parttime dental assisting position with a mobile dental company. Within 1 month she was offered the Practice Manager position, and continued to grow within that company as Marketing Specialist, Regional Manager and eventually Director of Operations. During her 8+ years with that company she was recognized for 47% business growth as a result of successfully designing, constructing, staffing, and operating 27 new sites, mobile and fixed, on Fortune 500 client campuses. Camie built an excellent reputation for resolving problems, policy development, and staff management procedures positively impacting overall morale and productivity. Her true passion is not only operations, but developing people to become their best selves, and when the two come together is where Camie’s unicorn personality shines the most! Camie is looking forward to being your Guide through The Dental Operating System and bringing structure, vision, clarity to your organization.

Tom Williams

Tom joined a single dental office excited to implement his business and operational expertise as he was challenged by the owner dentist to grow the business. Tom provides authentic team building, patient care, and operational systems to accelerate the company to 4 locations, 50+ operatories, over 500 new patients a month and a team of 80+ people. Tom’s success was solidified when the owner dentist looked at him one day and said, “This has grown beyond my wildest dreams.” Tom is operating in his sweet spot when he can work with a vision and align it with operational strategy for a team’s clarity, business efficiency and profitability. He enjoys digging in deep with teams, leaving no stone unturned, when it comes to team health, strategic planning, and providing unique ideas to fit situations.

The Power of a Clear and Compelling Company Vision

There’s a difference between having a vision and operating one.

As a leader, you’ve probably heard the term “vision” countless times. It’s a term that’s often thrown around in leadership discussions and strategic planning sessions. But what does it really mean to have a vision for your company? And why is it so important?

In a conversation about vision, it’s important to acknowledge that it’s a term that can often trigger different reactions from people. Some may roll their eyes, thinking, “Not another conversation about vision.” Others may feel they already have a vision for their company and don’t see the need for further discussion. However, there’s a big difference between merely having a vision and operating by a vision. A true vision is not just a statement on paper, but a powerful force that guides and shapes every aspect of your organization.

So, what should be included in a great company vision? Let’s delve into some key elements that can make a vision truly impactful.

Paint a picture of an attractive future

A vision should go beyond a generic statement and paint a vivid picture of a future that is far better than the present. It should be aspirational and inspirational, creating excitement and enthusiasm among your team members. A compelling vision should make your employees feel that they are part of something meaningful and worthwhile, and that their work is contributing to a larger purpose.

Define the benefits and outcomes

A great vision should clearly communicate the benefits and outcomes that will be achieved when the vision is fulfilled. It should answer the question, “What’s in it for us and our customers?” This helps your team members understand the value and impact of their work, and motivates them to strive towards achieving the vision.

Establish behavioral boundaries

Your company’s vision should also define the values and behaviors that are expected from your team members. It should set the tone for how your organization operates, and establish the behavioral boundaries that guide decision-making, actions, projects, and initiatives. A clear vision helps create a cohesive and aligned culture, and helps identify the right fit for your organization.

Define your ideal client and delivery methods

A vision should also include a clear definition of your ideal client and how you plan to deliver value to them. It should outline your primary focus and the unique qualities of your company that set you apart from your competition. Moreover, a well-crafted vision should have long-term capacity, allowing for flexibility and adaptation as the business landscape evolves.

Clearly define measurables

A vision should have measurable goals that help you track progress and success. It should outline where

you want to be in the long-term, as well as shorter-term milestones to keep you on track. Measurable outcomes provide clarity and focus, and help ensure that your team is working towards a common goal.

Excite and engage your team

A compelling vision should excite and engage your team members. It should be a source of energy and motivation, driving them to go above and beyond in their work. When your team is aligned with your vision and feels passionate about it, they are more likely to be committed, motivated, and productive.

should be continuously reviewed and adjusted. As you learn and grow as a company, your vision may need to evolve. It’s important to regularly revisit your vision, assess your progress, and make necessary adjustments to keep it relevant and aligned with your company’s goals and aspirations.

A clear and compelling company vision is a powerful tool that can drive your organization towards success. It goes beyond a mere statement on paper and serves as a guiding force that aligns and motivates your team. A great vision paints a picture of an attractive future,

Use your vision as an alignment tool

Your company’s vision is not just a statement on paper, but a powerful tool for alignment. It serves as a guide for decision-making and helps ensure that everyone in the organization is moving in the same direction. If someone is not aligned with the vision, they may not be a good fit for your company, and it’s important to address that misalignment.

Continuously review and adjust

A great vision is not set in stone, but rather a living document that

defines the benefits and outcomes, establishes behavioral boundaries, defines your ideal client and delivery methods, clearly defines measurables, excites and engages your team, serves as an alignment tool, and is continuously reviewed and adjusted. When your team is united and inspired by a shared vision, they are more likely to be committed, motivated, and productive, leading to increased success for your organization. So, take the time to craft a clear and compelling vision for your company, and harness the power of vision to drive your organization towards a brighter future.

It’s important to regularly revisit your vision, assess your progress, and make necessary adjustments to keep it relevant and aligned with your company’s goals and aspirations.

Not Just Words on a Wall

Why your core values are an integral part of your operating system and how to bring them to life.

The idea of core values is used all the time in books and talks about business and team dynamics. Most people believe you should have a set of core values, and most companies have attempted to determine their core values and maybe even have them on a poster or painted on the wall. That is often where it stops; a few nice words on the wall with very little action, intent or truly living the core values. This article is a mini-course on how to take your core values from being pretty words on a wall to truly something that can define the identity of your company and team.

Your core values are not for your patients; this is not a way to market to patients and help them believe you should be their dental provider. Core values are for the team. Core values should differentiate “your people” from the general population. Are you familiar with the term “right

people in the right seats”? Right people = people that live your core values. They belong in your organization. Right seats = the person is right for the position they are in. You should hire, fire, review, reward, and recognize based on your core values, and I will show you how.

Discover & define

It would be a mistake to sit down as the owner or leader of a company and simply write down some values that sound nice or make a snappy acronym. Core values should already be present within your team. The appropriate exercise is to discover your core values by evaluating

and reflecting on your ideal team members. Once you discover your core values, you need to narrow them down. The rule of thumb is 4-6 values; less is more. You want your team to be able to remember them, recite them, and understand them. You can be as creative as you want because these values are for your internal team; they aren’t for your patients. It also doesn’t have to mean anything to anyone outside your team. The core values can be simple words, or they can also be phrases. This is where you have the opportunity to be as creative and fun as you like. Take Ume Dental in Idaho for example; they used

superheroes as personas representing certain values they expect their team members to have. They chose Samwise Gamgee from the Lord of the Rings to represent humility and being an enthusiastic supporter of others. CarolinasDentist has a core value called “funergetic” which is a combination of adding an element of fun to everything they do and also doing it with enthusiasm and energy. Energy is contagious and they wanted to hire team members based on their positive energy and willingness not to take themselves too seriously. Don’t turn your core values into corporate speak that team

members cannot relate to, make them as unique as your personality. Following the discovery and selection process, you must clearly define them. These definitions should be on one page. A few bullet points or sentences for each value including a possible antivalue to ensure the team knows what you mean by each core value. When your core values are decided and defined, the fun work begins.

Hire

Values are not something that are always apparent or obvious in a job interview, so is it really possible to hire for core values? The answer

is yes, absolutely, and we can create a system around it. I’ve worked with hundreds of hiring managers who feel like they hire around core values, but the truth is, they use the core values as a mental model and try to check the values off in theory only. I would encourage you to move from using core values as a mental model to actually building a systemized process around your core values. Here are a few best practices to get you started:

> Use behavioral-based interview questions to write one or two open-ended questions for each of your core values.

> What not to do – “One of our values is humility, are you humble?” Remember, people are professional interviewers and will answer the question based on what you want to hear, and not what reality is.

> What to do instead – “Can you tell me about a time when you made a mistake and how you handled that mistake?” When you give people a scenario or ask them to tell you a story about their life, you are going to learn more about how they actually behave. You should be listening for keywords or phrases that would lead you to believe this person is actually humble. Can they admit when they are wrong, can they own up to mistakes, ask for help or ask for forgiveness? If so, they are probably humble.

> Create a point system for the questions. Simple check for yes and X for no. If you have six core values but only answered two out of six in a way that leads you to believe they have that core value, they may not fit your organization.

for your culture and they aren’t performing well in their job. Exit quickly and kindly.

> Right person, wrong seat. The person is right for your organization (value fit) but they are in the wrong seat. If you have a seat that is better for

> Standardize and train your team and hiring managers to use the same questions and point system and continually come back and work together to refine and improve the questions you ask. This ensures that no matter who is doing the interview or the hiring, we have a consistent process for evaluating based on core values and are not overly dependent on one person to do the hiring.

Fire

A point in time will come, if it hasn’t already, that will test your commitment to your core values. When you are willing to make a tough decision based solely on core values and exit someone who may be good at their job but not a fit for your culture, you will know if the values are real or just a story you tell. When working with people, you will have only a few problems.

> Wrong person, wrong seat. This is actually the easiest scenario. Someone isn’t right

them, move them to the seat. Be very careful creating new seats that would not normally exist in your organization, because it usually doesn’t end well. You may love this person but have to exit them because the right seat isn’t available.

> Wrong person, right seat. This will test your commitment to your values. You might have someone who is a high performer, maybe even a provider, but they are not a core value fit. You can easily justify that it is too hard to recruit and hire and keep this person, but personal experience across hundreds of practices will tell you – these are culture killers. You get what you tolerate. When you allow high performers who are not value fits to stay in your organization, it deteriorates and eats away at your culture and team. There is a certain level of discipline you must have to live your values.

There are team members that know how to put on a good face when the boss is present but are awful to work with for peers.

> The difference between being a core value fit and not being a core value fit must be defined by you. We use the Fit Filter tool to help teams set their standard expectations and outline in a point system to make these emotional decisions much simpler and easier.

Review

Did you know, there is zero research that shows annual performance reviews actually improve performance? Team members want feedback far more frequently than once a year. We recommend a structured quarterly process we call the Quarterly Check-in. The structure

we follow is Connect, Measure, Coach. In the measure portion of the process we have team members report on their key performance indicators, self-evaluate their alignment to the company vision, and rate themselves on how well they live the core values. The process also has the manager rate the team member on how well they live the core values and it is discussed on a quarterly basis. This opens up meaningful conversations and direct feedback on a timely basis so theteam members know exactly where they stand. This also makes it really easy for team members to self-identify and self-select out if they don’t fit the

values. This makes managing teams so simple and so much easier.

Recognize & reward

When we use core values only to review or fire team members, they become a weapon and a punishment. You will have greater adoption, engagement, and even ownership of core values from your team when you do a great job recognizing and rewarding around them. When we moved to intentionally and systematically recognizing and rewarding our team, our values came to life. So much so that I remember one day a dental assistant called our dentist owner and said, “Dr. Roman, you hired this dentist and dropped

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him in my office, but he is not relationship-based, and he isn’t humbly confident. You need to get down here and fix it or let him go.” Imagine the conviction it takes for a dental assistant to call the owner and point out that a dentist wasn’t a fit! It was an environment of true mutual accountability for the standards and behaviors we expected, and it was a team effort and not a burden placed solely on the leadership team. Here are some fun ideas how to recognize and reward based on core values:

> Core Value call outs. Weekly we had Team Messaging that went out to the whole company from our Visionary. Inside that communication were five to six core value call outs and the team was excited to read it weekly to see if they made the shoutouts. We would include the person’s name, their actions, and how they connected to a specific core value. You have to be intentional about connecting behaviors to certain core values so the team sees how the values are being lived.

> Punch cards. Each team member had a Core Value punch card. It was a business card with our logo on the front, our values on the back and two “punches” for each core value. Our managers had a special hole punch. When they caught the team living core values, they would give them a “punch”. When the team member got all the punches, they would get a special fleece jacket with our logo and their

name embroidered on it. We kept this SWAG a specific color so that it was easily recognized as a core value award and meant a great deal to our team members. They would start over with a new punch card and when that was filled up we had a SWAG store and let them pick what they wanted.

Gallup research shows that the greatest economic disparity in the world is the inability to unlock human energy. If we could unlock that energy and had team members that were truly engaged and aligned with the business’s goals, the world would change overnight. Having meaningful core values that are alive and well in your organization and

> Annual awards. If you have an annual party you can include a nicer award each year for your core values. This might come with money or nicer awards that someone can keep and display. I strongly recommend this type of award be a peer-nominated award and not chosen by the leadership team alone. There are team members that know how to put on a good face when the boss is present but are awful to work with for peers. This ensures you aren’t awarding the people who work hard to just get your attention, but award those that day in and day out are living your values. There is also something incredibly special about being recognized by your peers, and from my experience usually leads to happy tears.

not just pretty words on a wall is a great first step to unlocking that human energy and aligning that energy with results.

When done well, living core values through hiring, firing, reviewing, rewarding, and recognizing will make your team and company stronger, more resilient, and subsequently more profitable. You will know the values are alive and working when you start to see those who are not a fit start to self-select out and that is an incredible gift to you and the business. I hope this article has given you some fresh perspective and ideas on how to bring your core values to life. If you want help discovering, defining and bringing your core values to life, consider joining our Implementation program where we work with you and your leadership team to define the values and create the systems to bring them to life.

When done well, living core values through hiring, firing, reviewing, rewarding, and recognizing will make your team and company stronger, more resilient, and subsequently more profitable.

Dykema’s 10th Annual Definitive Conference for DSOs brings together the industry’s most influential leaders to share their insights on DSO dentistry.

Access objective presentations to help achieve the goals of your business

Network with leaders in the industry

Integrate best practices to drive network value

Experience first-class entertainment

The Importance of an Org Chart

How gaining clarity into your organizational structure will propel your business forward.

Every business requires a certain semblance of structure, from top to bottom. In fact, structure and order can help to drive productivity and revenue for any business in any industry. That’s why organization charts are such a critical part of the equation. Organization charts are graphic representations of the structure of an organization showing the relationship between the positions within the organization.

Establishing and implementing an org chart for your business is the key to ensuring that your business is put in the best position to grow and thrive in a dynamic and challenging environment. Org charts are particularly important for the industry, as many doctors lack the business acumen to run their practices like a business. An org chart would clearly define the roles and responsibilities of each

person, solidifying the structure and workflow.

Why org charts are important Businesses need an org chart for clarity and accountability. We cannot drive accountability without clarity, and an org chart will provide the structure and organization that is necessary to effectively run your business. A good org chart includes departments,

positions, the roles and responsibilities of each, and key performance indicators (KPIs).

An org chart will help your business to plan for future growth and expansion, while working as a map to help guide you into a better, more profitable future. Without an org chart, it can feel like we are walking through mud. Your teams will spend a ton of energy and time without the results to show for it. The lack of accountability will make operations much more difficult: tasks will fall through the cracks, there will be duplicate work, and there will be a greater chance for conflict and frustration within your team.

A good org chart can determine whether your team members are working in the best roles for the organization, ensuring that the right people are in the right seats. When we appropriately and logically divide the responsibilities to the right people with total clarity, they can drive results. For those in your organization who will have direct reports, it’s important to make sure that they are equipped to manage and engage those people to help them grow in their roles as well. Using CMC (Connect, Measure, Coach), you can build an effective and trusting relationship that will allow for feedback on a regular basis.

Perhaps most importantly, a good org chart can help business leaders and owners sleep at night. Many owners and leaders are doing things that would be a better fit for another role, which could free those leaders to focus on how the company can continue to grow and impact the industry. They will know

with confidence that the most critical areas of their business are being covered and watched over by the most capable people.

How to implement an org chart

Part of the challenge of working with an org chart in your dental organization is building and implementing it so that it’s most effective for your team. Remember, these are intended to bring clarity and accountability to your dental organization. Here are some best practices when it comes to implementing an org chart:

A/B test and put pressure on the structure to make sure that it will hold up for your daily operations.

> Finish the chart – After you’re sure the structure is sound and the leadership team is set, finish building the chart for the next layer of your organization. If possible, you can also build out the chart for the rest of your organization so that everyone is on the same page.

> Roll out with good communication – Once your org chart is

> Build it the right way – First and foremost, you need to take the time to build it the right way. Make sure that your current or incoming leadership team is involved in the process. Take a “structure first, people second” approach to building your org chart. When you invest the time into getting the structure right, it will pay off down the road.

> Live in the structure – After the structure is established, it’s important to spend some time living in the structure that you’ve spent all this time building. Through this process, you can

ready, it’s time to launch it with a solid plan of communication. Help your team to understand the value of the org chart, who can answer their specific questions, how the chart can benefit them and what they should be using it for.

> Review it often – Implementation requires constant review of your org chart. There will be plenty of obstacles and challenges that will force you to make edits along the way. The org chart is a living, breathing document. It should fluctuate and change as your organization evolves.

There will be plenty of obstacles and challenges that will force you to make edits along the way. The org chart is a living, breathing document. It should fluctuate and change as your organization evolves.

What Gets Measured Gets Managed

How to create a scoreboard to move your business forward.

To increase productivity, DSOs need to keep score. A “scoreboard” is a system of measurement that keeps a dental company on track. It measures individual and company-wide progress through data, numbers, and actionable solutions. Through this system of tracking within a company, wins can be celebrated, and potential red flags identified.

To better understand the use of a scoreboard within the dental organization, imagine you are playing a basketball game. The game of basketball would be difficult if no one was aware of how the team was performing for an entire game. If the team doesn’t know the score, the coach is unable to plan the plays to run or offensive/defensive strategies. This

idea is similar to the way a business operates. How can a business keep track of how their employees are performing? Tracking and measuring data is a way to monitor the “score,” hence the law of the scoreboard.

Numbers and metrics can be utilized in the dental industry to improve patient care and retain patients. Every time patient care is delivered, someone is healthier and the company benefits. The more people you treat, the healthier people are.

Measuring workplace data and creating necessary systems to increase employee productivity allows DSOs of all sizes to stand apart from competitors. The following are key pieces of a DSO scoreboard.

Business performance in numbers

When creating a scoreboard, begin by brainstorming a list of actionable items that aim to increase business success. These actions should be measured using numbers. Each position at a company is responsible for their own individual numbers, or key performance indicators (KPIs). It is important to give each individual no more than three KPIs to work toward at a time. This ensures that workplace goals are actionable and achievable. If there are more than three goals at a time, individual employees begin to feel that the goals are unattainable and productivity decreases.

Goals for a business or dental practice can include increasing

appointments/scheduling, retaining patients, marketing to new patients, and more. Goals can vary by company. Once a list has been created, reduce it to five to 15 actionable items. Metrics measured should be distinct to each department depending on its individual goals. The way you choose to organize the hierarchy of scoring depends on the goals of the specific department; goals for the marketing department differ from the goals of a dental hygienist.

Reviewed weekly

Review progress toward actionable goals and numbers periodically. Progress checks can be broken into cycles (monthly, quarterly, etc.).

employees why this may be the case. Focus on the intention, results, and action of a certain goal. Make sure a strategy is in place to address numbers being off before moving to the analysis of the next goal.

For example, schedule production is a term for how much treatment is scheduled during the week. Weekly meetings should be held to go over if the number of appointments each week meets the projected goal. If weekly numbers were not met, then in a meeting, employees are able to discuss possible strategies to achieve the goal going forward. Following up with patients to schedule appointments, and contacting potential

is off, there is no need to measure the number in the first place. If you aren’t going to manage it, don’t measure it. Be sure all numbers being measured on the scoreboard have actionable goals.

To systematically move a number from being off to back on, first determine what a data point being off means, and how it can be addressed in the workplace. This is called the awareness response process. First, determine what the reaction should be to get the outcome that is needed. Then, turn the reaction into a repeatable process that each team member can understand and follow. When teams are given a strategy to achieve their goals, it becomes an automatic response.

Clear ownership

Going back to the basketball analogy, the scoreboard in a game displays the points and allows the team to determine game strategies based on the score so they are more likely to win. In the dental organization, the “score” can be monitored weekly or periodically to gain an understanding of individual and company-wide progress. If the score changes, strategies and workplace tactics can be set in place to course correct and plan better ways to assist patients.

Clear goals: on or off

When the scoreboard is reviewed in a progress check, and a number is off, it is a priority to discuss with

new patients for hygiene appointments, helps to achieve the goal of higher schedule productivity.

Systematically move a number from off to on

There are times when a team struggles to meet performance goals set in place on the scoreboard. It is important to acknowledge that the scoreboard is a measurement of long-term business success. When production is indicated as “off” on the scoreboard, determine five to 10 action items and strategies that a team can work toward to achieve long-term outcomes.

If employees lack a systematic approach to address when a number

There is a large amount of coaching, education, training, and support that comes with getting staff to increase their productivity. Actionable solutions will allow staff to take clear ownership of their responsibilities and understand what is expected of them on a monthly, weekly, and daily basis. Data can also exemplify how an employee can change their behavior at work to meet overall business performance goals.

Data has the potential to grow a successful and productive business. Data can provide employees with the tools they need to systematically improve their performance and numbers. Find wins and celebrate those wins with your team. As a positive exercise, have teams circle the top two numbers on the scoreboard and determine what strategies worked to get there.

When production is indicated as “off” on the scoreboard, determine five to 10 action items and strategies that a team can work toward to achieve long-term outcomes.

Unlock Your Team’s Potential

Shifting your mindset from ‘management’ to ‘engagement’.

Running a successful dental group practice takes more than just clinical expertise. A dental office is also a business, and managing employees is critical to make the office run smoothly. Managing employees along with caring for patients may seem daunting, but it can be simplified for businesses

in the dental industry through a set of easy-to-implement systems.

Engagement instead of management

All employees that work at a dental company must be managed. There is a responsibility within a business

for leaders to manage clinical team members and patient relationships. An employee also has a responsibility to themselves to keep track of their performance and ask for help when needed.

The term “management” in business settings often has a negative connotation because of its association

with supervision and micromanagement. The interaction between employees in the workplace can instead be thought of as employee “engagement.” An engaged team member knows a business’ vision and values, they’ve aligned their goals with company-specific key performance indicators, and they’re helping solve problems at work.

On the other hand, disengaged employees are individuals that do the bare minimum to maintain their employment status. They clock in and out daily, doing just enough at work to remain employed, but never going above and beyond.

Employee engagement can be thought of as encouraging movement

or growth in the workplace. In orthodontics, a physician can engage a tooth versus placing passive pressure on the tooth. The difference in these clinical approaches is that when engaged, a tooth moves. This metaphor translates into how leaders can engage their employees to be active within the organization.

Engaging employees makes managing them easier. Employees can be engaged through structured growth paths developed by leadership. Employees want to know that they have a future within a company and that they can grow and achieve their goals, and following a clearly defined path can get them there.

Connect, measure, and coach

For company leaders, it is necessary to connect with, measure, and coach each employee that directly reports to them.

To connect is to engage in regular structured conversations about workplace performance with employees. Employees are increasingly looking for their personal and professional life to be integrated and for a sense of belonging in the workplace. Employees want to feel connected to the vision and values of an organization, and leaders can help contribute to creating that space.

Leaders should also measure their employee’s alignment with the company’s vision and values. Performance

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Caring for patients is your priority, helping you care for them is ours.

Engagement measurement in the workplace has the power to validate an employee and fill them with confidence in their position. It is important to provide employees with structured feedback on a regular basis so that they can make improvements and grow.

Coaching is the process of mentoring individuals either up into a different position, encouraging growth in their current position, or into potentially leaving the company because they are no longer a fit. Ask employees questions quarterly to determine how they are feeling within the company such as: how are you growing right now? Are you growing up into a different role? Or do you feel like you are growing out of the company? If these conversations are brought to the forefront, they can be addressed before they become a problem.

Connecting, measuring, and coaching employees throughout their time at a company retains team members in the long run. Often, employees leave a company because they believe that they can no longer reach their future goals there. If a leader consistently checks in, they can assist an employee in meeting their goals, and they are therefore less likely to leave.

The 5 Ps

Sometimes performance issues at work are caused by things happening in an employee’s personal life. It is important that leaders recognize that an employee’s personal life can bleed into their work life.

The 5 Ps are the foundation for joy, satisfaction, and retention of employees. These principles guide

the personal and professional lives of every individual in an organization and can be leveraged by a business’ leadership team to ensure employees are satisfied.

> Purpose: What an individual determines as their personal purpose in their life can help them to find a focus within the workplace.

> Power: Power can be thought of as an individual’s battery or energy. When employees are focused on their mental health and well-being, they have more potential to perform well in the workplace.

> People: Interpersonal relationships inside and outside of work affect an associate’s behavior in the workplace. Assure that positive working relationships are being maintained within your organization.

> Prosperity: Prosperity goes beyond earnings into an individual feeling like they have personal financial control at work and in their personal lives.

> Performance: Employees must be making progress and not staying static to be able to see that they have the potential to grow and accomplish goals.

Consistent meeting structure

Having a structured meeting cadence is an important system to integrate when managing employees. Leaders should strive to create a “pulse” in their employee relationships. This means having consistent

performance check-ins and reviews instead of waiting a year or more to address issues.

Daily, employees should take a moment to pause and consider how they performed throughout the day. In this self-reflection process, employees should take note of their time management, communication, and patient interactions so they can make improvements for the next day.

Employees should be responsible for tracking their key performance indicators weekly, and for sending an email to their manager addressing if they hit their goals or not. If an employee was off for the week, they should outline in the email their plans to get back on track.

Monthly, leaders should informally check-in with employees. These informal, unscheduled conversations allow employees to asynchronously check in with leadership. In these informal meetings, corrections can be made before a formal quarterly meeting should anything be trending off. Unstructured meetings build employee trust and let them know their leaders are listening.

A scheduled and structured performance review between a supervisor and an employee should be conducted quarterly. A quarterly meeting is where workplace performance can be formally addressed, and goals can be set for further growth and development. This performance review provides the greatest value for both parties so that the individual can go forward contributing their best to the business.

Dental Systems

Sneak Peek: DEO Dental Systems Deep Dive Event

DEO’s Summer 2023 Immersion Intensive presents an event to help your dental organization streamline its operating systems.

This August, DEO will host the Dental Systems Deep Dive Event at the Whitley Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia. The extensive program guides participants through practice level systems specific to the dental industry.

The event will highlight three business systems essential to building a thriving dental organization: marketing, finance, and operations.

The event will begin on Thursday, August 24 with an opening reception and continue Friday, August 25 and Saturday, August 26 with half-day programming about each of the three facets of running a successful dental business.

The programming is team-focused and ideal for all leaders of dental organizations including leadership teams, departmental leaders in operations, marketing, or finance, regional managers, and any team members that would benefit from business operations training.

Why are systems so important to dental companies?

Systems are integral to running a business because they allow organizations to perform well and with consistency in the industry. Systems such as marketing, finance, and operations are important to implement in both growing and established dental companies.

“Dental organizations can manage for a certain amount of time without systems, and then they get to a phase where they’ve grown and their team has grown, and they must streamline and systemize their operations to make things repeatable. Systems allow dental organizations to do that,” said Jess Pare of DEO Dental Group.

In the DEO MAP operating system, the metaphor of a mountain is used to guide dental organizations through the integration of business systems. Dental systems fall under the second “strategy” phase of the journey. This phase outlines how dental leaders can create systems for each part of a business. This includes systems to manage HR, finance, operations, clinical, business development and more within a business. Systems such as these

create repeatable processes and drive growth potential.

What to expect at the event

By attending this event, participants will gain crucial information on how to implement a dental system in their organization. Information presented will include a patient experience roadmap, critical marketing metrics to reach, the ability to read financial documents, and processes for managing marketing and finance specific to dental businesses.

“Since we are focusing so much on systems at the event, there will be a lot of opportunity for participants to work collaboratively with the teammates that they bring. We’ve found that the most effective and impactful events for members are the ones that mix learning and doing,” said Pare. The format of the event will include interactive activities, presentations, and a workbook that team members complete together.

DEO Members can reach out to their Community Manager to register for this event now. To find out how you can attend as a non-member, fill out some info and schedule a call with us by going to the link/scanning the QR code. Space is limited to the first 10 people that apply.

Dental Insurance Verification: Keeping Profits On Track, Not Going Off the Rails

Denied insurance claims cost thousands of dollars. Only about 50% of offices verify patient insurance.

If insurance verification is so critical to a practice’s financial well-being, why are so many offices failing to do it?

The Insurance Verification Board Game: Start here

One of the simplest methods might seem to be going directly to payer portals and sites. But payer web portals often have outdated or inaccurate information. That means a time- consuming phone call to the payer, which usually leads to getting put on hold. Sometimes for 20 minutes or more.

After that, entering the data into the patient record is just as critical. And just as time consuming. There’s no such thing as a “yes” or “no” eligibility confirmation. Staff has to know the deductible, co-pay, coinsurance, frequency limitations, covered services, plan minimums, and waiting periods of the patient’s plan.

Multiply all that by the number of plans an insurance company has, and it becomes clear why insurance verification is the single most expensive activity associated with claim generation.

A complicated process that also has to be accurate

Even when insurance verification is performed, if the information is not correct or current, the results can be costly, for the practice and for the patient experience. If, for example, the percentage of coverage is not correct, it can result in over-charging, which leads to dissatisfied patients.

When patients receive unexpected bills from denied claims because their dentist turns out to be an out-of-network provider, they stop making referrals to the practice. Or they leave. And since competition in the field is only increasing, an insurance verification that is not made becomes very, very expensive.

The professional solution: remove eligibility from the workflow

Insurance verification has reached a level of complexity that requires a professional to do the job right. Dental outsourcing that includes insurance verification removes the burden of checking eligibility and benefits from the workflow altogether.

A trusted eligibility and benefits verification partner can help:

> Increase staff focus on patient satisfaction rather than paperwork

> Have the security of knowing the practice is using the most accurate billing information

> Experience improved efficiency and lower labor costs

> Receive faster payments with claims paid upon first submission

Insurance Eligibility Verification is an important but tedious task. If it’s mishandled, it can be one of the most costly mistakes a practice can make. But when it’s done right by expert professionals, it can bring big rewards.

As a leading provider of dental insurance verification services, Medusind works with virtually every dental software platform. Our large team of experienced agents, ensures that dental practices get complete and accurate insurance information and that the information is entered in your practice management system.

Our clients use us to perform 55,000 verifications every day. Many have been with us for 10 years or more. Find out how outsourcing with Medusind can put your Insurance Eligibility Verification on track and your bottom line on a fast track to greater profitability.

Beyond the Microphone

Unlock the secrets to building a thriving dental organization with DEO’s Growth Secrets Podcast.

Emmet Scott, DEO Partner and host, interviews a diverse line-up of dental industry leaders, revealing the secrets behind their success and extracting the tactics and tools they used along the way that can be incorporated by all listeners. In each episode, guests share their wisdom and insights in never-before-told stories that dig deeper into the challenges, failures, and triumphs that leaders face as they strive to build thriving organizations.

EP 163: Unique Solutions for the Labor Shortage

Emmet hosts J.W. Oliver Jr., Managing Partner, SupportDDS, and Brenda McNulty, Dental Director, SupportDDS, to discuss growing labor costs, patient acquisition, the challenging financial landscape, and more. They cover unique solutions for the impacts U.S. demographic trends are having on the workforce such as baby boomers retiring, how technology can help mitigate the effects of an inflationary rollercoaster economy, and more.

EP 166: Begin with the End in Mind

Ken Kaufman is joined by Richard Low, CEO, and George Hariri, CFO, of Shared Practices respectively. They share their

perspectives with Ken on how a dentist should think about the growth of their first dental practice. George and Richard overview their recommendations for focusing on having a healthy practice(s) you can grow. Along with Ken, they detail what a healthy practice consists of from patient flow, EBITDA, profitability, staffing, and more.

EP 168: Turning Acceptance and Ownership into a Competitive Advantage

In this episode, Emmet hosts Summit Keynote speaker Peter Sheahan, Founder & Group CEO, Karrikins Group. Peter shares his thought-provoking leadership perspectives on how to flip the narrative when you face challenges. Emmet and Peter discuss how to react to the rollercoaster economy and labor market. They discuss the power of accepting the current reality and why taking ownership and action leads to the immediate experience of competitive advantage.