Is Private Practice Dead?

Episode #420 with Corinne Jameson-Kuehl, RDH, BS

DSOs have become more prevalent. But it doesn't mean private practice is dead! In fact, it’s thriving, and Kirk Behrendt brings in Corinne Jameson-Kuehl, owner of Custom Dental Solutions, to share her knowledge and experience to help you succeed in getting started. Whether you're buying a new practice, starting from scratch, going group or solo, she offers her best practices so you can achieve your practice goals and thrive. To learn more, listen to Episode 420 of The Best Practices Show!

Main Takeaways:

Private practice dentistry is still alive and thriving.

Understand the key foundational pieces for success.

Be aware of innocent misunderstandings to avoid.

Prepare appropriately so you're more likely to succeed.  

Quotes:

“We’ve seen through the years with dentistry, private practice can thrive and really do well with the right parameters in place. I don't believe, as a whole, a lot of our new owners need anything other than a really good foundation to start their practices, get a few pieces in place that maybe they didn't learn in dental school, and then, at the right time, bring in their consulting group to ramp up their production and evaluate efficiencies and all these types of things. And they really can manage quite effectively on their own without giving some outside company a percentage of what they're working so hard for on a day-to-day basis.” (4:10—4:51)

“There are a few pieces that [practice owners] need in place to be successful. Number one, we want to make sure they get credentialed appropriately. If they're going to be in an environment where it is insurance-based versus fee-for-service, which most new owners, we encourage they need to take some insurances and they need to build that rapport before they would even consider going fee-for-service. So, fraudulently, a lot of these people do not get credentialed appropriately and they think they can work under the previous owner’s name or their license or something, which is big fraud.” (5:54—6:27)

“I just told a new owner the other day, because she said, ‘Well, I don't know about this. I don't know about that.’ And I said, ‘We just need to start. We just need to protect it from the beginning. You can bring all the fancy stuff later, after the smoke clears. But we do need to have policies of what's expected of you as an employer, and then what's expected of them as employees. And then, written job descriptions. We need that in place as well before we start hiring people. Or if we’re transitioning with the team that the previous owner had, is there a transition agreement in place? What does that look like? How are we moving forward with that relationship?’ So, those are foundational.” (6:58—7:36)

“There truly are some innocent misunderstandings about [the credentialing] process, and I think people mean well when they just don't understand, and they think it’s okay. The reality is, each licensed professional, meaning a dentist, needs to apply for their own credential with that insurance company. So, if they're purchasing a practice where they're Delta Premier — which is wonderful; this is great — they themselves need to apply for that as well. It is fraud to work under the previous owner’s Premiere status or anything like that. And unfortunately, we see that all the time. And most of the time, it truly is innocent. People really don't know any better. But I would really hate to have somebody who’s just starting off start off on the wrong foot simply because they just didn't do their research to know that this is what needs to be in place.”  (8:14—9:05)

“You can have different providers in the same location taking different insurances. But it is a nightmare for the administrators and for the schedulers as well, because we