The Dental Marketer

‍

How can a dentist like you navigate a career spanning over three decades AND keep their practice fresh and innovative? In this engaging replay episode, I sit down with Dr. Ivan Valcarenghi, a seasoned dentist from Elmhurst, Illinois, to uncover the secrets behind his 36-year-long journey in the dental industry. Dr. Ivan reveals how the charm of Illinois seasons influenced his choice to stay rooted amidst an exodus to warmer climates. More importantly, Dr. Ivan shares his strategies for combating professional burnout by continuously reinventing his practice. From transitioning from public health service to establishing his own practice, and always opting for quality treatments like tooth-colored fillings, Dr. Ivan emphasizes the importance of standing out in the dental field.

Dr. Ivan also shows us the business side of dentistry, which is often overlooked in traditional dental education. He recounts how learning business and marketing skills through consulting and attending business school played a pivotal role in growing his practice from a modest two-operatory office to a bustling, successful enterprise. Building strong patient relations through excellent communication, using digital technology to educate patients, and viewing dental care as a valuable investment are some of the key approaches discussed. Furthermore, Dr. Ivan’s innovative move to combine dental care with facial aesthetics under one practice showcases his forward-thinking mindset, which has greatly attracted patients and added value to his services.

What You'll Learn in This Episode:

• How Dr. Ivan has avoided professional burnout over a 36-year career
• The significance of distinguishing oneself in the dental profession
• The impact of quality treatments on building a solid practice reputation
• Dr. Ivan’s journey from public health service to his own dental practice
• Essential business and marketing skills for growing a dental practice
• The importance of effective patient communication and education
• Integrating digital technology for better patient understanding and treatment acceptance
• Viewing and positioning dental care as a life-enhancing investment
• Adding facial aesthetics to a dental practice and its benefits
• Navigating economic downturns while maintaining practice growth and success

Tune in to hear Dr. Ivan's insightful journey and transformative tips for any dental professional seeking inspiration and practical advice!

‍

(This episode originally aired on 9/8/2022)

‍

‍Guest: Dr. Ivan Valcarenghi
Practice Name: Radiante Facial & DentalCheck out Ivan's Media:

Website: https://www.radiantedentalfacial.com/

Email: [email protected]

‍

Host: Michael Arias‍Website: The Dental Marketer

Join my newsletter: https://thedentalmarketer.lpages.co/newsletter/‍

Join this podcast's Facebook Group: The Dental Marketer Society

‍
Please don't forget to share with us on Instagram when you are listening to the podcast AND if you are really wanting to show us love, then please leave a 5 star review on iTunes! [Click here to leave a review on iTunes]

‍

p.s. Some links are affiliate links, which means that if you choose to make a purchase, I will earn a commission. This commission comes at no additional cost to you. Please understand that we have experience with these products/ company, and I recommend them because they are helpful and useful, not because of the small commissions we make if you decide to buy something. Please do not spend any money unless you feel you need them or that they will help you with your goals.

‍

Are you an aspiring practice owner feeling overwhelmed by the prospect of starting or buying your own practice? In this episode, Kevin Klingshirn offers indispensable guidance tailored just for you. Drawing from his vast experience, Kevin emphasizes the power of resilience, the importance of seeking mentorship, and the critical need for a clear vision of your ideal practice. We explore how Dentagraphics can be a game-changer in helping you make well-informed decisions by providing location and demographic insights.

We dive deep into the intricate challenges that come with starting a business, from spotting the right opportunities to understanding market dynamics. Kevin shares his wisdom on leveraging patient demographics and assessing competition, ensuring you’re well-prepared to build a thriving practice. This episode is a must-listen for anyone wanting to harness the power of vision, comprehensive market analysis, and strategic planning in their journey toward successful practice ownership.

What You'll Learn in This Episode:

• Why it's essential not to fear failure in practice ownership.
• The benefits of seeking help and mentorship in your journey.
• How to define a clear vision for your practice.
• The role of Dentagraphics in location and demographic assessments.
• Key challenges practice owners practice owners face and how to overcome them.
• The importance of understanding patient demographics and competition.

Don't miss this chance to turn your practice ownership dreams into reality. Tune in now!

‍

‍

Sponsors:

Studio 8E8: Dentistry’s story-driven marketing agency. Traditional marketing repels. Story-first dental marketing attracts.

We bring your story to life in a way that captivates and connects: https://s8e8.com/affiliates/tdm?utm_source=tdm&utm_medium=affiliate&wc_clear=true

‍

You can reach out to Kevin Klingshirn here:

Website: https://www.dentagraphics.com/

Email: [email protected]

‍

‍

Mentions and Links:

Businesses/Brands:

Starbucks

Chipotle

Target

Bank of America

‍

Software/Tools:

Google Meet

‍

If you want your questions answered on Monday Morning Episodes, ask me on these platforms:

My Newsletter: https://thedentalmarketer.lpages.co/newsletter/

The Dental Marketer Society Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2031814726927041

‍

Episode Transcript (Auto-Generated - Please Excuse Errors)

‍

Michael: Hey, Kevin. So talk to us. What's one piece of advice you can give us this Monday morning,

Kevin: Monday morning piece of advice knowing your listeners, know, the primary audience is going to be. Young practice owners, and I'll gear this towards those that haven't started a practice or bought a practice, basically haven't entered practice ownership.

This is what we help doctors with. one piece of the big puzzle, right? We'll talk more about it in a bit, but demographics, we help doctors figure out like where to start a practice, where to buy a practice, if a location is good or not. We talk to a lot of nervous practice owners. So what I mean by that is.

They're going to be first time business owners. They're going to be serious business owners. The general practice is a serious thing. It's a big production. And it comes with a lot of responsibilities. My advice would be just get used to not knowing what you're doing. Get used to asking for help, get used to doing things that are really unfamiliar and you have no idea how they work.

The reason why I can relate to it is just because we started this business about 10 years ago now. Seems like a really long time when you say it out loud, but in those 10 years, just as a, a small business owner here at demographics, we've had to do a lot in terms of running a business, hiring operations, fulfillment of the reports and products that we offer, taxes.

everything that comes with just being a small business owner. I would guess the idea is, don't be afraid to fail. Don't be afraid to not know, you're always going to be intimidated, but day. The course, why I want to loop this back is a lot of practice owners. They just won't jump in or they're scared to jump in.

it's scary. You're never completely ready. We probably weren't completely ready to. Started business when we started a business, but just with time, with talking to people, figuring out, who, good for your team, who's bad for your team, all the world works. that's the only way you're going to get through it.

And that's now how we've created a very successful businesses 10 years later. And I think there's a lot of parallels to practice ownership.

Michael: Nice, man. One thing you mentioned is, even if you feel like you're, like, completely unready, still you need to jump in, but what would you say if you're looking at two people who are potentially wanting to own a practice, and you tell them, hey, give it more time to one, and then you tell the other one, oh, no, you're ready, you're just overthinking it.

what are the signs of give it more time?

Kevin: our case, specifically, give it more time in somebody that just doesn't really know where they want to go. They don't know the type of practice that they want to eventually own.They don't have that vision currently laid out.

They maybe have just been almost like peer pressured into, I'm of the age where a lot of my peers are starting or buying dental practices. Therefore I should be as well. Everybody's path different. and this goes back to what I was talking about. You don't need to be ready to handle every part of running a business because you probably never will be.

somebody has been trained in a very specialized way through school. And then they do. An associate job for however many years. They still don't learn how to run a business. You'll never know exactly how to run a business, until you really just start doing it. But somebody who is ready versus somebody who's not is having a pretty clear vision for the type of practice that they want to do.

Own, they know where, and that's really what we help them with. somebody that doesn't, say, you know, type of patient that I want to work with anybody, where should I go anywhere? Well, I'll make money. That's probably not somebody that's quite ready to jump in.

Michael: Now, at Denti Graphics, do you see that a lot?

Do you see where people are like, Hey man, I'm just going to be peer pressured?

Kevin: The term peer pressure doesn't really come up because it's Negative scary. And maybe they don't want to admit that it is peer pressure, but people that just gone through the motion of school associate work, and now it's probably time to buy a practice or start a practice.

So that's what I should be doing, but they're just not ready for it.

Michael: Gotcha. Anything you recommend that we can like self evaluate? Because I'm sure some people are listening to this and then they're thinking, Snaps, maybe I've been peer pressured. Maybe I'm looking at my Facebook groups and I'm like, it's time for me to be a practice owner too.

Kevin: So for me, I just gauge it by talking to people and you can just tell who's ready, who's not, who's taking this seriously versus who's, just asking the questions that they maybe think they should be asking, or, you know, really green questions. Like, I don't know anything about this. I think I'm looking to start a practice for the first time or buy a practice for the first time.

and I guess I should start here. I would go back again to like, knowing generally the type of practice that you want to start or buy in the type of community where you want to start or buy in the general area where you want to start or buy.

things like that are what come to mind there.

Michael: Gotcha. Okay. And then you also mentioned to get used to asking for help when it comes to what y'all initially do, Is that how that kind of came out to be is like, Hey we'll find the right location, the exact specific thing because you felt that wasn't happening or,

Kevin: the business was started by my partner here, Kent, uh, 10 years ago, and his background was in like city planning and figuring out like where within a city might be a good place for a project to take place. my brother actually worked in the dental space. He still does. he was with Bank of America 10 years ago, and he was the one who said, Kent, you know, I think that there's an opportunity for this.

and I think you'd be really good at it. And Ken kind of checked it out and he's like, yeah, I do think I'd be really good at that. I jumped on board about a year and a half later, when the business got big enough where he couldn't do it all on his own, but it all started with just like identifying an opportunity.

It sounds a little cheesier, funny, but kind of with a focus on things like maps and data demographics. Figuring out like where within a city would be a good place do something. I've always been intrigued with like, how does Starbucks and Chipotle and target, how do they figure out where to put their stores?

So then when we had a target on the dental space. It was both, a good opportunity to tackle, and Kent had experience in it. I did not to be frank, but something that interests me, just from the job and everything's where I took off from there.

Michael: Nice man. Now I've heard of this and I've seen this and we've had a lot of, uh, people on the podcast who either have looked at a location and then they said, the demographics don't work, but I'm still going to do it.

Or they've gone the other way, right? Where doesn't work and I'm not going to do it. Now, the ones where it says, I'm still going to do it. What I guess to you, would you recommend if someone goes through this whole process and says, I still want to do it here and it's okay, then just do it.

Kevin: Sure.

Michael: But is there a, better solution or what do you think?

Kevin: I've always saw it. Cause we've talked to people like that. It's like, I'm from this quaint town in California. That's really competitive. And I'm going to start or buy a practice there. I'm going to start a practice there because there's no practices there to buy. If that's your mindset and that's what you want to do, you should do that.

doesn't matter how much competition there is. would say, look at, the type of practice that you want to start or buy. And presumably, if you're familiar with the community, you're familiar with the type of dentistry that you'd be doing there. But I think that the right practice owner can take a practice.

Really competitive, challenging market through the lines of a startup and make it work just by being driven, standing out, being different, good marketing. but it is our job to assess it and say like, Hey, based on what you want to do, this could either be tough or this looks like a. full go green light.

Now, when we do identify those opportunities where the doctor wants to be there, and then we look at it and it's like, Hey, this looks pretty good. got to think that you're gonna have a better shot there initially than a really competitive market. A lot of it comes down to just like supply and demand.

Supply of existing practices in an area demand through demand for dental care to kind of simple things that we want to measure to figure out if it's a good area, not considering what this, practice owner might want to do, but anybody that's just dead set on like, Hey, this area I'm from there.

This is where I'm going to open their dental practice. Good for you. You've already identified like, one piece of this vision puzzle that I Talked about initially where what's your vision? What's your goal? Like, What do you want to do? What kind of practice do you want to have? If you already know exactly where that practice is going to be, who am I to tell you that you can't have a successful practice there?

Michael: Yeah. Interesting, man. So does dendrographics kind of like you guys assess all that with the practice owner? Cause I always, I don't know why I always just thought like, Oh no, we're just going to find you your location and that's it. Kind of thing. Or like, we're going to look at your demographics and that's it.

But do you go through that whole background with them?

Kevin: We always want to start with describe to us your ideal patient base. And then how a typical process will look like is it's like, okay, I'm in, greater Charlotte. I'll start a practice anywhere in greater Charlotte that matches my ideal patient base.

So if this person tells us my ideal patient base is upper middle income homeowners that's a family centric area with strong home ownership and it's stable and high growth and everything like that. let's go out and find you a practical area. think like population density.

There's a large market there for dental care large enough. People living in the area, basically, let's not recommend that you start over a national park because there's no competition. And the few people that live there are in your target, patient profile, we find you a practical area that matches your ideal patient base.

That's also. Not hyper competitive relative to the area, the less competition, the better. If we can match those other two things, practicality, and then a fit with the patient base that you're going for.

Michael: So then in

Kevin: the case of like greater Charlotte, if we go through the entire area, we'll come back and we'll say, Hey, these top areas, they match what you're looking for the best.

Now it's part two of the job is then to go out and we don't know inventory of available. Real estate. Right. So can you go out and figure out where are there available properties in these areas like in greater Charlotte that matches what you're looking for that's in the areas where we've recommended and of course consider other things.

The terms of the real estate that you're looking at, uh, are you fond of the area? And that's all part of the site selection process until ideally in the very end, you find a location somewhere that you're fond of somewhere where the price is right. The terms are right. and then where we've generally recommended that you look when we assess the market at the beginning.

Michael: Gotcha. Okay, man. That's interesting. So all that kind of comes into, and then is that like a specific, if you don't mind me asking, Uh, for that, is it everybody's different or is it like a set thing or what does that look like?

Kevin: So in terms of our services or products we have two types. We have a platform software basically where somebody can go on there.

It's a little bit more DIY. And run their own research, work with us directly to like assess areas. So picture you get access to software and then you're working with me on the side to like do Google meets and look at different areas and assess locations. So that would be our subscription side of the business.

On the other side is what we call like our legacy business, and that's our custom reports. There's two reports that we sell. There's a single site study and there's an area analysis. The area analysis, that's the first one I laid out where doctors in greater Charlotte, they don't know where to go. We're going to recommend where we think are the top areas for them based on again, competition, ideal patient base, practicality.

That area analysis is 699. The site study, that's As in depth as we can get on one specific office location. So is one, two, three main street, Concord, North Carolina, good location for the startup dental practice that I want to get going here. So everything we can tell a doctor about one, two, three main street.

Is it a fit with your patient base from very weak to very strong? You know, How do we assess it? But between the. Software in the report side of the business, two different types that we, I would say at this point about equally, sell in terms of like what people buy, but it's, do you want to do it the more do it yourself route?

So this is people getting on our web app, running their own searches, we have a lot of cool tools in there. We wouldn't, you know, 15 minutes, unfortunately, wouldn't cover. A full like product overview, but like you can send mailers to off market dental practices. If you're looking to, purchase a dental practice, you can run an instant search on a location.

And we've even rolled out like a new tier, which is designed more for like the existing practice owner. It's called the grow tier, where. You can plot your patients at an active dental practice on a map. So like if I have two locations in greater Columbus, Ohio, and they're five miles apart, but I want to see like every patient down to the address level, like where they fall on a map within drive times, where they're coming from, if there's a part of Columbus where you're not getting a ton of patients, but you know, that's an area where.

the demographics match your preferred, like patient type. We can like market to those areas. And then there's also a direct mail tool now that we just wrote out it's targeted direct mail, where we can say like, all right, I'm in Columbus, Ohio, I want to target, a pediatric dentist in Columbus, Ohio, I want to go after new movers.

With children income of, this number and above how many households meet that criteria. And then directly through our app, send them direct mail at like 59 cents a piece. So it's really affordable. It's super targeted. And it's another tool that we've rolled out to help, not just those starting by doctors, which has primarily been over the past decade, our wheelhouse, but now to, Existing practice centers to help grow their practices.

So again, if we did like a total product overview, it would take a bit, but we've grown a lot since those legacy reports, the area analysis, the single site study don't sell a ton of them. But, uh, we're of course always looking for new ways to like fill in gaps where maybe we don't fit. We don't have a product that fits exactly what somebody is looking for.

can we create products to do that?

Michael: Yeah.

Kevin: all sort of under the umbrella of data analysis, competition, mapping, and things like that.

Michael: Awesome. Awesome, Kevin. I appreciate your time. And if anyone has further questions, where can they reach out to you directly?

Kevin: I am easy to get ahold of my emails.

Kevin at denta graphics. com. our website is denta graphics. com. You can book a demo on there just to meet one of us here and talk about where you're at in this process, how we can help discuss your search, things like But yeah, we're easy to get a hold of. So anybody that wants to reach out again, Kevin at dendrographics.

com is my email or the website's dendrographics. com.

Michael: Awesome. So that's going to be in the show notes below. And Kevin, thank you for being with me on this Monday morning episode.

Kevin: Thank you, Michael. Appreciate you having me here.

‍

‍

What does it take to successfully market a practice and bring in new patients in today's world? In this compelling episode I'm sitting down with, Karen Galley, the insightful co-owner and president of Patient News and Practice ZEBRA. With over 30 years of specialized experience in dental marketing, Karen takes us on a journey through the foundational elements of successful dental marketing strategies. She sheds light on the unique offerings of Practice ZEBRA, a versatile software product that enhances marketing efforts through comprehensive services like call tracking, scoring, and detailed KPIs for marketing success. Whether you are just starting out or looking to optimize your current marketing, Karen's vast knowledge provides a robust solution tailored precisely for dental practices.

Throughout our conversation, Karen digs up the common marketing pitfalls that dental practices often encounter. Karen provides a magnifying glass into these errors, breaking them into three categories: strategic, operational, and executional. From the lack of clear differentiation in a practice's mission, to operational inefficiencies like poor call handling, each mistake is explored with an eye toward solutions and optimization. Karen’s advice doesn’t just stop at identifying problems though; she offers actionable strategies to improve your marketing approach by emphasizing consistent brand messaging, thorough market research, and effective budget allocation. This episode is an indispensable guide for dental professionals looking to enhance their marketing game.

What You'll Learn in This Episode:

• How to identify and correct strategic, operational, and executional marketing mistakes in your practice.
• The unique features of Practice ZEBRA and how it can streamline your marketing efforts.
• The importance of understanding your practice's unique selling proposition.
• Advice for aligning marketing strategies with your practice’s vision and goals.
• Tips for efficient resource and budget allocation in dental marketing.
• How to analyze marketing attribution and channel ROI to maximize returns.
• Insights into refreshing your online presence with modern web design and SEO practices.

Let's transform your practice's marketing efforts with, Karen Galley, today!

‍

‍
Sponsors:
‍

Oryx: an all-in-one cloud-based dental software created by dentists for dentists.
Patient engagement, clinical, and practice management software that helps your dental practice grow without compromise. Visit Oryx today for a special TDM offer! (Just click or copy and paste the link here) https://thedentalmarketer.lpages.co/oryx/

‍Guest: Karen GalleyBusiness Name: Patient NewsCheck out Karen's Media:

Website: http://patientnews.com‍

Free Consultation & Demographic Review: https://patientnews.com/consultation‍

More New Patients/Practice Awareness: https://patientnews.com/portfolio/direct-mail-neighborhood-newsletters‍

Websites & SEO:
https://patientnews.com/portfolio/websites-seo
https://patientnews.com/messy-mistakes-in-dental-websites‍

Free Downloads:
https://patientnews.com/whitepaper-download-how-top-dentists-generate-revenue
https://patientnews.com/whitepaper-download-is-direct-mail-dead

‍

Other Mentions and Links:

‍

Software/Tools:

Google Ads

Practice ZEBRA

‍

Helpful Resources:

Practice Growth Calculator

‍

Books:

Understanding Dental Insurance: A Guide for Dentists and their Teams

‍

People:

Dr. Shahin Safarian

Dr. Travis Campbell

‍

Host: Michael Arias‍Website: The Dental Marketer

Join my newsletter: https://thedentalmarketer.lpages.co/newsletter/‍

Join this podcast's Facebook Group: The Dental Marketer Society

‍
Please don't forget to share with us on Instagram when you are listening to the podcast AND if you are really wanting to show us love, then please leave a 5 star review on iTunes! [Click here to leave a review on iTunes]

‍

p.s. Some links are affiliate links, which means that if you choose to make a purchase, I will earn a commission. This commission comes at no additional cost to you. Please understand that we have experience with these products/ company, and I recommend them because they are helpful and useful, not because of the small commissions we make if you decide to buy something. Please do not spend any money unless you feel you need them or that they will help you with your goals.

Have you ever considered how vulnerable your practice might be to a cyberattack? In this episode, Reuben and I delve into the alarming issue of cybersecurity threats targeting the dental industry. With recent warnings from the FBI about credible threats, it's clear that dental practices need to take cybersecurity seriously. We explore the potential consequences of these threats, the crucial need for comprehensive security awareness training for staff members, and essential steps to prevent email-based attacks.

The conversation goes in-depth into why using Microsoft 365 for enhanced email security is a game-changer for dental offices. Reuben also discuss the importance of working with IT experts to set up robust cybersecurity measures. Whether you're a dental professional or someone concerned about the security of sensitive patient information, this episode offers loads of practical advice. Don't miss out on this vital information that could protect your practice from devastating cyber attacks.

What You'll Learn in This Episode:

• What are the credible cybersecurity threats currently targeting dental practices?
• Why is security awareness training crucial for dental office staff?
• What steps you can take to prevent email-based threats
• How Microsoft 365 can enhance your dental practice's email security
• Why should dental practices consider consulting IT companies for cybersecurity solutions?

Take action today to secure your dental practice's email communications and protect sensitive patient information!

‍

‍

Sponsors:

For DSO integrations, startup solutions, and all your dental IT needs, let our sponsors, Darkhorse Tech, help out so you can focus on providing the amazing care that you do. For 1 month of FREE service, visit their link today! https://thedentalmarketer.lpages.co/darkhorse-deal/

‍

You can reach out to Reuben Kamp here:

Website: https://www.darkhorsetech.com/

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 800-868-4504

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DarkhorseTech

‍

Mentions and Links:

Businesses/Services:

Henry Schein

Aspen Dental

‍

Organizations:

HIPAA

FBI

Change Healthcare

UnitedHealthcare

‍

Software/Tools:

Dentrix

Eaglesoft

Open Dental

ChatGPT

Outlook

Microsoft 365

G Suite

‍

People:

Bill Gates

‍

If you want your questions answered on Monday Morning Episodes, ask me on these platforms:

My Newsletter: https://thedentalmarketer.lpages.co/newsletter/

The Dental Marketer Society Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2031814726927041

‍

Episode Transcript (Auto-Generated - Please Excuse Errors)

‍

Michael: Hey, Ruben. So talk to us. What's happening right now for this Monday morning episode, we're going to be talking about something specific when it comes to security, Michael: What's going on?

Reuben: Emergency pod. First of all, emergency pod, Michael. Michael: All Reuben: right. You know, those, uh, Reuben: those sirens Instagram are overused, but in this case it Reuben: does apply. FBI warns of credible cybersecurity threats of the dental industry. that's why we're talking today. Michael: Okay. So what's happening. This happened. One of the articles we're looking at is on may 8th, so Michael: like not less than a week ago, less than a week, a couple of days ago, something's going on specifically with this cyber security threat. To all Michael: dental practices everywhere in the nation or Reuben: yeah, so it is morphed into that over the last few days. So basically, uh, the FBI was monitoring, uh, a hacking group,

Reuben: connected to change healthcare, connected to United Healthcare, connected to Henry Schein, connected to Aspen. You know, all these groups have obviously made the Reuben: headlines in the last uh, year or so uh, change healthcare, obviously being uh, most recent, Reuben: they were actually investigating a threat because they were attacking the plastics. Surgery market. And Reuben: then they shifted their focus to Reuben: oral surgery. And that's kind of, that was the, the Reuben: splashy update from last week, right? Reuben: May 6th, May 8th. And now the FBI uh, FBI is Reuben: basically saying general dentistry is now being targeted as well. So, Reuben: See, it went from outside the dental industry to a dental, you know, specialty. And now to the majority of dental practices out there are you Uh, actively being targeted.

Michael: So then a couple of things, I mean, we Michael: obviously want to know what to look out for, but what's the consequences here? Michael: If let's just say. We did end up accidentally doing something that we weren't supposed to do, like Michael: opening up an email or clicking specific Michael: link, you know, stuff we don't really know.

Reuben: Yeah. Let's all the way to the end is you're bankrupting of practice, right? We Reuben: go back one step that is, you know, uh, the Reuben: overwhelming majority of practices that suffer a cybersecurity attack go out of business. All right. So we're starting at the end, we're working backwards. So that, that means. you, Or if you are a doctor or a staff member, you

Reuben: clicked on a staff member, clicked on it. an email, a link that downloaded a payload to your office, right? Ransomware is, is most of what we're talking about here. Reuben: And that ransomware, let's say you're running Dentrix or Eagle software, open dental, one of these, uh, you know, server based practice management Reuben: softwares, that ransomware was able to embed itself into your practice management software, right? Patient health information, Reuben: uh, x rays, uh, social security numbers, medical history. You know, all the stuff that we call protected health information or EPHI electronic protected health and Reuben: they get that data and they exfiltrate it or take it out of the office, that is a Reuben: breach, which then feeds me into most practices that go through a breach, go out of business, and then you're, you're no longer an owner of a practice, you're an associated at another practice. I guess that is actually the last step. And that Reuben: is why this is so important is because Reuben: it's so darn easy to protect yourself from this Reuben: happening. But only 6 percent of the dental offices out there are HIPAA compliant. So hackers go, wow, we have a 94 percent Reuben: chance of getting into this office. Thank God. But, and that's why, Reuben: Honestly, it's like Dennis and the, the only really industry Reuben: less compliant the dentistry, Reuben: you guys can make fun of them is chiropractors. Reuben: So, Hey, those are the industries that, that are go after because of the lowest hanging fruit. if you Reuben: have dogs at your house, and Michael, you know, Reuben: I have, you know, 10, 000 dogs that live with me, Reuben: a robber does not want to come rob my house, because they're going to be attacked by a bunch of dogs. they want to attack the house. That the owners are on vacation, there's no animals, it's dark, you know, they Reuben: are opportunistic just like any other profession. So Reuben: that is why they're going after the dental industry specifically.

Michael: Gotcha. Something you mentioned, man, where you said staff members click on it. I think the most common Michael: thing. I mean, one of the practices I worked at the actual doctor clicked on it and Michael: ended up paying. But like with, when it comes to the staff members. Do they need to receive specific training for this? Or

Reuben: yeah, we call it security awareness training or SAT for short. Uh, not to be confused with the test Reuben: that is, it is coming back now. turns out it's a great predictor. If you're going to be okay at college, Reuben: um, I digress. So basically security awareness training trains your staff. who, You Reuben: know, you got to give to them. They're Reuben: busy. They're your phone calls. There's patients in front of them. They're scheduling, their billing, they're checking people out. There's Reuben: a lot going on. So you kind of have to, you know, if they do have an email come through Reuben: and it looks like it's from UPS, or it looks like it's, you know, from a Reuben: credible source and they don't, they don't have their guard up and they click Reuben: on it. It's Reuben: really hard to come down Reuben: on that person right? Reuben: You're expecting a lot out of them. And, and, and also, you know, be, have your, you know, your hat on your cyber Reuben: hat on and be vigilant at all times for through. So it's really important that you set up like. Let's not do a free Gmail account, right? That Reuben: has no security protection. Reuben: It's really important that you have an email system. I recommend Microsoft Reuben: 365 for all businesses that will stop those emails from coming in to begin with, because it never made it through Reuben: the spam filter. Right. Uh, the phishing filter. Reuben: So what's it worth that your staff. Doesn't even have to see that email that's worth a lot, right? Reuben: And then secondarily, let's say it is something that's more sophisticated, right? AI is obviously Reuben: playing a huge role in these emerging threats because it's no longer, you know, Prince of Nigeria Reuben: asking you for money who doesn't speak good English. It's like a perfectly crafted Reuben: email that's written by, uh, Beauty. so what security awareness training does is it, uh, it's a campaign. So like, if Reuben: I set this up, I'll randomly send out emails to your employees, right? If they click on a message that they Reuben: shouldn't have. have. Reuben: They are forced Reuben: down the training loop of, okay, Reuben: you have to go to school to realize like, what does a real email looks like? You know, is this Reuben: an external sender? Is it an internal sender? So it Reuben: really, it's just another, uh, training element, but you know, we're in the prevention business, right? I don't, I don't want Reuben: to clean stuff up. I want to play default. I want to block stuff from happening. And Reuben: of course the client wants that too.

Michael: Gotcha. Okay. So then right now, what steps can we do or what to look out for? What can we look out for? What steps can we do when it comes to preventing this threat that's happening today? Absolutely. And

Reuben: I'm going to focus on email because that is, the Reuben: FBI is, the warning is specifically tied to email. It's the easy, again, we talked about ease of Reuben: access is the easiest way to get into a Reuben: business is to send someone email. I can Reuben: send Bill Gates an email right now. Right. It Reuben: It doesn't matter. I have his email. I get sent to him. and so there's hundreds, thousands of practices out there that use Reuben: friendly smiles at gmail. com. So the Reuben: to action is sign up for a Microsoft account. It's Reuben: going to do two things. One, uh, it's going to give you that increased protection we talked about. Reuben: Two, It's more professional, right? It's more professional to receive an email, not from friendly smiles at gmail. com, Reuben: but office at friendly smiles. com, right? You're using your domain name. Reuben: tied to your website. It's professional. Maybe you have a signature. It just gives your, the people you're communicating with Reuben: patients, staff labs. an air that, you know, you are a professional Reuben: business. So, it Reuben: just have to be for cybersecurity. It can be to kind of raise your professionalism as Reuben: a business. Gotcha. So get that first. Microsoft three, six, five. Reuben: Microsoft 365. It's a, it's a suite of products, right? We use Microsoft 365 Reuben: for open dental cloud hosting, but we also use Microsoft 365 for email for Microsoft teams, for one drive. So Reuben: there's a lot to it, but we're really specifically talking about, email or some people refer to as outlook, which Reuben: is a specific email product that Microsoft offers. Okay.

Michael: Okay. So we do that next steps. Would that be the only step or that's it?

Reuben: We're only going to focus on. Protecting yourself from the credible threat Reuben: the FBI, we can have a hour long about all the other stuff you need to do, but please, the takeaway from this is really bolster your email security.

Michael: Gotcha. Okay. So get that So if we have it already, we don't got to worry about Reuben: IT company check it your it company, check it out, Ask them a question. Hey, am I doing Reuben: I need to do? If you don't have an it company, I run one. I Reuben: can help you out, but there's a lot of companies out there. So, either, you know, if you have an incumbent IT company, just reach Reuben: out to them, say, Hey, Can you guys get me set up with this? Or hey, I'm running this. Is there anything better we can do? Cause Reuben: there are some nuances there that are a little technical, but you know, you as the, uh, you as the client really shouldn't really have to worry about setting that up. Gotcha.

Michael: Awesome, man. Any other pieces of advice you wanted to mention in this episode?

Reuben: The FBI got involved, so they don't just like, Reuben: uh, creep into the dental industry, Reuben: uh, just cause they get bored. Reuben: So this is, it's a credible threat and just, it's a great reminder to just do the, Reuben: honestly, I'm just asking you guys to do the bare minimum here. Reuben: it's just sign up for secure email, which is also a HIPAA Reuben: compliance requirement, just. Just for the record. Yeah.

Michael: Is that the only option? Microsoft Office Michael: 365? Or we can go with another one?

Reuben: I mean, G Suite is also an option. So there is free Gmail right at gmail. com. And G Suite is Google's business version. And Reuben: that, that does have a much higher level of security than the free Gmail. You Reuben: do have to add, uh, an encryption element to it to make it HIPAA compliant, but I Reuben: just bring up Microsoft 365 because it is the lowest expense, easiest way to do this. Oh, lowest expense. how

Michael: much is it? Reuben: Four bucks an email. Man. Yeah. So it's Michael: pretty easy. It's Reuben: cheaper than G suite. Yeah. It's, it's just, and then you don't have to worry about the whole. Encryption piece, uh, like you do with G suite. So

Reuben: that's why I mentioned Microsoft 365 and also most it companies have a relationship with Microsoft and they can set this up for you. Gotcha.

Michael: Awesome. Ruben, thank you so much for this. We appreciate it. Anybody listening go take action right now. Michael: And if anyone has further questions, where can they reach out to you?

Reuben: Hey, sales at dark horse tech. com. I'm all over Facebook. You can bother me Reuben: on there or 800 868 4504 be happy to help anybody out. Thanks Awesome. Michael: that's going to be in the show notes below and Ruben, thank you for being with me on this Monday morning episode. Reuben: Thanks Michael.

‍

How can an artist's creativity and eye for detail translate to success in the dental industry? Today we're diving into the journey of Dr. Jessica Pushee, an aspiring artist turned respected dentist, who shares her path from student to practice owner. Listen as Jessica unravels her realities – the challenges of shared ownership, the unexpected upheavals, the bounce back from failures, and the rekindling of her passion for ownership. Gain a unique understanding of her perspective on what it's like to construct one's own practice, from securing loans to pinpointing the perfect location.

The episode continues with an emphasis on the powerful role of community engagement and specialist referrals in building a solid patient base. Not only can you sneak a peek into Jessica's secret, strategic playbook, but you can also get a personal perspective on the delicate art of maintaining work-life balance, creating something uniquely personal, and nurturing a business culture rooted in integrity. Jessica also shows her forward-looking aspirations for her practice, marking her place in a fascinating narrative, laced with fortitude, resilience, and tenacity.

What You'll Learn in This Episode:

• The unique journey of an artist turned respected dentist
• The challenges and nuances of shared ownership in a dental practice
• The rigors and rewards of building a dental practice from scratch
• Artistic touches that set apart Jessica's practice
• Maintaining work-life balance as a successful dentist and business owner
• The significant role of community engagements and referrals in building a patient base
• The importance of business culture and integrity in growing a practice

Let's get into this episode with Dr. Jessica Pushee and witness the perfect blend of art and dentistry on her journey!

‍

‍
Sponsors:
‍

For high quality AND affordable dental supply options, visit The Dentists Supply Company(TDSC) website today! Our listeners get a special deal - 25% off on orders over $500 - Just type in the special code: TDM25 at checkout for your exclusive offer. AND if you're a member of your state's Dental Association, you may be eligible for additional savings upon providing your ADA number. Click or copy and paste the link here to save today! https://www.tdsc.com/

Guest: Dr. Jessica PusheeCheck out Jessica's Media:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/charmdentalma/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61560009046083

Email: [email protected]

‍

Other Mentions and Links:

‍

Software/Services:

Google Ads

Ideal Practices

CARR

Facebook Ads

LegalZoom

‍

Places/Establishments:

Tufts University

‍

Banks:

Bank of America

‍

Brands/Businesses:

Starbucks

Smoothie King

‍

Host: Michael Arias‍Website: The Dental Marketer

Join my newsletter: https://thedentalmarketer.lpages.co/newsletter/‍

Join this podcast's Facebook Group: The Dental Marketer Society

‍
Please don't forget to share with us on Instagram when you are listening to the podcast AND if you are really wanting to show us love, then please leave a 5 star review on iTunes! [Click here to leave a review on iTunes]

‍

p.s. Some links are affiliate links, which means that if you choose to make a purchase, I will earn a commission. This commission comes at no additional cost to you. Please understand that we have experience with these products/ company, and I recommend them because they are helpful and useful, not because of the small commissions we make if you decide to buy something. Please do not spend any money unless you feel you need them or that they will help you with your goals.

‍

‍

What could you implement TODAY to boost your practice's growth? In this episode, Dr. Addison Killeen provides a comprehensive and insightful take on the strategies and tactics to make this transformation a reality in your own practice. Addison gets into the process of monitoring and analyzing phone data, unraveling crucial details about practice operations and customer experience that could potentially boost your business visibility and growth significantly.

We shine a light on the significance of weekly scorecards as strategic tools for measuring progress. Addison explains how these scorecards can help you articulate your goals, track your key performance indicators (KPIs), and drive constructive improvements. As a bonus, we also discuss Addison's series of books on dental operations, marketing, front office management, and a whole lot more - a gold mine of valuable knowledge that's just a click away on Amazon.

What You'll Learn in This Episode:

• The impact of online scheduling on new patient calls.
• How to monitor and analyze phone data to improve operations.
• The significance of weekly scorecards in assessing key performance indicators.
• The strategic importance of monitoring trends in bookings and customer service.
• A review of Dr. Killeen’s multiple books on improving dental operations, marketing, and management.

Are you ready to expedite your growth and enhance your dental practice operations? Tune in to our conversation today!
‍

‍
Sponsors:
‍

For high quality AND affordable dental supply options, visit The Dentists Supply Company(TDSC) website today! Our listeners get a special deal - 25% off on orders over $500 - Just type in the special code: TDM25 at checkout for your exclusive offer. AND if you're a member of your state's Dental Association, you may be eligible for additional savings upon providing your ADA number. Click or copy and paste the link here to save today! https://www.tdsc.com/

‍

You can reach out to Dr. Addison Killeen here:

Website: https://www.addisonkilleen.com/

Dr. Killeen's Books: https://www.addisonkilleen.com/dental-manuals-books/

‍

Mentions and Links:

Services/Tools:

Mango Voice

‍

If you want your questions answered on Monday Morning Episodes, ask me on these platforms:

My Newsletter: https://thedentalmarketer.lpages.co/newsletter/

The Dental Marketer Society Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2031814726927041

‍

Episode Transcript (Auto-Generated - Please Excuse Errors)

‍

Michael: Addison. So talk to us. What's one piece of advice you can give us this Monday morning?

Addison: Yeah. So the one thing that I've found in the data recently picking through the business, the phone calls, uh, you know, new patients is that online scheduling leads to a huge increase in new patients.

But it's not that they are actually scheduling through online. It's that once they go online and then they see that you have availability, they will still call the office. So what we found was that when you didn't have online scheduling, phone calls to the office dropped, even though web traffic was the same, Facebook, uh, you know, traffic was the same.

But when you opened up online scheduling, people click that link and you, of course, you have people that click those links that they see, you know, the availability and stuff, and you have a significant portion that don't schedule. But we did see that even opening up online scheduling allowed for more phone calls to the practice just because you have online scheduling.

So my big key piece of advice here is that. Even though you might not see a ton of appointments coming through your online scheduling, maybe it's only 10 a month, or maybe it's only 15. But that is still super important for the other 15 or 20 or whatever appointments that come through because of just people checking that online scheduling calendar and then still calling in.

Michael: Interesting. How'd you figure that out then? Would you ask, was the front team asking, Hey, where'd you find us? How'd you find us?

Addison: Um, well, basically I was just, I love to watch my phone data. I'm like, I'm always looking at, okay, Google. How many clicks are we getting over to our website from Google? How many are coming from Facebook?

Um, so just watching all these trends. And then when my online scheduling broke, uh, that's when it was like, something is off here. I'm like, well, why is this not working? Um, of course we saw a drop in online schedules as well, but it was a more significant drop than that. So sometimes it's just the crazy instances where something breaks and you're like, oh my gosh, this is something is up here.

that really led to that insight of finding that.

Michael: You mentioned phone data. Yeah. What do you mean by that? Like, are you watching? What are you watching?

Addison: Yeah, so I check my phone data every week. Um, I go, I use Mango phones. Mango voice is super easy to set up. Um, you can watch, you know, when are most of the incoming calls coming in.

Uh, you can also watch when are most of the outgoing calls being made. You know, either following up with patients or confirming their appointments for next day. and basically, I try to dig through to see when are the spikes in incoming calls, when are the spikes in outgoing calls. Of course, outgoing is a system of the practice and so, You know, we can make sure those two peaks are not overlapping each other to make the front desk feel overwhelmed.

And basically what I learned was that most of the incoming calls are between 8, 7. 30 in the morning and 10 a. m. and so, okay, hey, let's wait until 10. 30 before we start making outgoing calls. Like, no one should be calling out early in the morning unless it's to fill an appointment for that day. Like, you know, don't be doing any of those mundane tasks or following up on collections.

Don't do that until after 10. 30 in the morning. Uh, and then days of the week, like when, which days of the week are most active? When should we have all hands on deck? When should we give people their half day off or something? Or when, you know, if you're going to run errands, when should you be running them away from the front desk?

And then also looking at that phone data to see how many phone calls are getting answered in general. Now I track that scorecard. Um, the last couple of weeks I've been at 92. 2%. Of all phone calls coming into the practice get answered by a person. and that includes even after hours calls. So, obviously when we're closed, we're closed.

But, um, and that's probably about the 8%. But we do miss some calls during the day. But, uh, that's the average of all the time, you know, the whatever 160 some hours a week. Um, we answer 92%. Now, that is a really good, um, a really good number. I've seen it though in other practices across country where it's been pretty bad, like 60%, sometimes 40%.

And of course, if you're trying to get new patients in the door, or you're serve your existing patients, if you're not answering the phone, that's pretty bad. And so you could be wasting tons of money, on marketing or internal marketing, or just you could be losing your existing patient base, because if they call in, And they don't get to talk to anyone, they're going to get pissed off.

And so, that's just one thing to put yourself in their shoes. And it's like, man, I try to call my dental office and they never pick up the phone. And it takes them an hour to call me back. Like, that's just irritating. You know, if that's what you think about your general practice physician, or heck, your barber.

Or any other person in your life, if they don't ever answer the phone, you're going to feel kind of slighted. As dentists in the dental office, we should absolutely be aware that that phone call answer rate is a huge customer service indicator.

Michael: Interesting. Okay. So then you mentioned it spikes early in the morning.

Do you have people answering that early? The phones?

Addison: Yeah, we actually bring in, um, the front desk starts at like 7 15. A couple of people come in 7 15, one comes in 7 30. Everyone then takes a break at 7 45 because we go do cuddle for about 10 minutes. Um, but you know, people always text, you know, early in the morning or they leave a voicemail and they say, Hey, I'm sick.

I can't come in today. So I always want the front desk team to be there about 45 minutes early so that they can start managing the schedule. And so their most important job, you know, a make sure the waiting room is clean, but that should be done 5 PM the night before. So they should come in and just manage the schedule.

If there's holes that pop up like Swiss cheese, let's fill those holes. Let's make sure that every, you know, appointment is the appropriate length. Cause if someone does, Hey, I only want to do one extraction today rather than full mouth extractions, well, let's, let's shorten that appointment. Let's, you know, fill something in after that.

So, they double check all that, uh, just to prepare for morning huddle, because morning huddle is that huge communication time when they can then say, Hey, if you wanted to add in extra treatment, do it right here. Um, you know, we had a couple patients drop off, so if you wanted to do some same day or if you have an emergency, let's throw them in here.

Stuff like that.

Michael: Gotcha. Okay. And then what days of the week would you say are the spikes? And then the days where it's like, no, it's not a good day, half days are here.

Addison: Yeah, the, it's usually Monday is close to top Tuesday's top Wednesday, Thursday, Friday is like a slow downward slog.

Michael: Interesting. Okay. So, Monday, Tuesday, all hands on, that kind of thing.

Addison: Yeah. Yeah. So, Tuesday, I don't give anyone time off up front. Uh, Monday afternoon, one of my employees goes home at like two o'clock. And then, yeah, Wednesday, Thursday, and then Friday, everyone else gets a half day off as well. Nice.

Michael: Okay. And then you mentioned a weekly scorecard. Cool. what is that?

Addison: Yeah.

So it's, you know, like if you wait till the end of the month to run your numbers, look at your profit and loss statement, look at your month end analytics, whatever, you know, whether that's an online dashboard you get or whatever, however you run your numbers, if you're waiting till the end of the month, you're going to miss so much data.

And so when you look at it week by week, I always go in Sunday night, Monday morning, like sometimes the first thing I do Monday morning at like 5am when I wake up. Is like I go through and I run the numbers from the past week and that is takes about 10 minutes Maybe five to ten minutes and I just pull about 25 of the top numbers and that was kind of the basis for my first book by the numbers super short little read there, but it's basically like okay.

What should you look at every week? leading indicators because you can always look at the production and the income later on. I mean, that's like, that's the end of the month. See how you did, but you want to look at like, what are your treatment planning? what's your phone answer rate? How far out are you scheduling?

What does your accounts receivable look like? You know, and those little things, it takes me about 10 minutes and I don't. Um, give that to any other employee. I could totally pass it off and some other team member could do it, but I actually want to be the one doing it because it gives me all the indicators of how I need to lead the team that week.

You know, it also gives me the wins. So in that morning huddle, I could say, Hey guys, you guys are killing it. 92. 2 percent is a great phone call answer rate. I'd love how everyone's helping out. Like we have a phone in the back sterilization so that if it's ringing and it's like, Oh, that's three rings.

I should pick it up. sterile tech could pick it up. or, you know, like, Hey, our number of fluorides versus the pro fee rate, you know, so our fluoride delivery rate drop below 80%. Let's just make sure to pick that up this week. Let's make sure we're offering fluoride to every patient who needs it. Um, that sort of thing.

or treatment plan, you know, like, Hey, Last week, for whatever reason, we just didn't seem to treatment plan as much as our normal average, you know, just make sure that we're spending the time educating our patients and like teaching them what's going on with their mouths, and hopefully we can get that back up to our average.

So stuff like that, and doing that weekly, I think it's just the most appropriate cadence because Sometimes I can't remember what happened, what I ate for breakfast. And if I, you asked me what happened three and a half weeks ago, I'm absolutely not going to know. But if you ask me Monday morning, like how did last week go?

I was like, well, I took a day off. Okay. Well, of course the numbers are going to drop pretty significantly if I take a day off. So just knowing that and doing the weekly scorecard, and I just have it in a simple, dumb spreadsheet and I just go line of data is just another row down. And some of the data cells are color coded so that they show up like more green if they're good and more reddish tones if they're bad.

And so, yeah, that's what I do weekly.

Michael: you have that in one of your books? The weekly scorecard?

Addison: Yeah. So that's in the by the numbers one for sale on Amazon.

Michael: Okay. Okay. So we can find it there. Look at it. Cause each, I guess sometimes I feel like, and I'm speaking for myself, but like other people, you tend to put all these other analytics on there and you don't really know what's the most important.

I mean, maybe like you do, right? Like production collection, things like that. Right. But then there's stuff where, I don't know, you're worried about when it comes to marketing, like impressions. Right. And you're like, is that butts in chairs? What is that? No. Kind of thing.

Addison: Yeah. And so that's, yeah. And that's the biggest thing that I think some of the analytics tools out there, they, they love to feed you data.

They love to get your dopamine rush with like bright colors and graphs. But sometimes I think the most educational thing is dumbing it down to the simplest level and just being like, no, like we need to answer the phone. Like that's because yeah, impressions are obviously important, but that would be one of like that level of data digging in there would be like a, let's do that once a month type thing on my.

If I'm going to dedicate like two hours to reviewing all the marketing efforts for the past month or the future months, let's do that on one day a month. But then this weekly scorecard would just be like, Oh, you know, the phone call is not getting answered. Or maybe you have the other problem. Maybe you're booked out really far.

And so one of the well, two of the things on the scorecard are how far out you're scheduling both in hygiene. And then in the doctor side, and so like what's the next one hour free block of doctor time where I could do like a crown or a simple root canal, something like major, like when's the closest new free hour?

Is that four days out? Is that today? Or is it like 26 days out? And if it's 26, oh man, maybe e. You need to either look at hiring another assistant if you have chair time, or maybe you need to think about an associate. then again on the hygiene side, it's like, okay, when is the next hour and a half new patient block?

Because if a new patient calls your practice and says, Hey, I want to join your practice and you say, well, great, I'll book you in four months. They're going to say, well, thanks, but no thanks. I'll call another office. And whereas if it's in like the next seven days, if you have like an option in seven days, they're going to be like, okay.

It's maybe, Oh, I've got three options in the next two to three weeks. That's much more normal. Um, but you know, of course, I think we see a lot of dentists across the country who are scheduling out pretty far and that's where it's like, okay, well, let's maybe change what kind of patients you're going after.

Maybe you need more emergency patients. Maybe you don't want them in hygiene. Um, or maybe you need to consider dropping some insurance participation, which would thereby lose you some patients, but it would Probably gain you more higher paying patients. So there's so many levers to turn, but by watching that weekly, you can see some of those indicators and it's, and it's, yeah, like I said, they're super simple.

Um, almost to the point of, you know, just it's black and white numbers, but, uh, they are mostly instructive forward looking metrics that will help you kind of guide what decisions you want to make.

Michael: Hmm. And then real quick, have you ever seen like a, like a, like a Uh, in your performance, it's spike and you're like, man, that was great, but maybe it might've been a fluke or you know what I mean?

Where it's like, what did we do that week? And we're like, we didn't really do, I don't know what we did kind of thing. Does that happen?

Addison: Oh yeah. Or yeah. Or, or drops and you're just like, well, what the heck? Like, and, and so, yeah, you always see those and you know, sometimes it's a, it's a, it's you just didn't treat my plan as much, but every patient accepted something and you're like, I got 100 percent case exceptions, right?

And so you're super happy and you're like, well, that was just a fluke of, you know, you had a bunch of patients that love you and trust you. And so, yeah, sometimes you, you see that. Um, so it's always good to kind of watch when you watch these numbers with a weekly frequency, they're always in your head.

And you kind of understand them. You don't have to kind of review back of like, well, what's the average or what's the high, what's the low. You just kind of know, okay, well that's a good number or this is a bad trend. And of course, one week of one bad number is not going to affect you. But when you start to see like, man, three numbers above that on the spreadsheet don't look very good.

That's when you start to see, well, three or four weeks, that's a trend. And that's where. The data isn't, you know, just noise. It's actually a signal telling you something is wrong.

Michael: Interesting. Okay. And then real quick, I know all the, that was your first book, right? You've come out with many more since then.

Addison: Yeah. So we got, yeah, seven more. I think we have the dental operations manual, the dental marketing manual, the dental front office manual, the associates manual, the startup and the acquisitions manual. Cool. Oh, and the dental supply ordering manual. That's the one we just put out. I should remember that first, but, uh, that's a little bit of a smaller one. It's only like a hundred pages. it's the manual size. It's got tons of spreadsheets and stuff. Cause man, us dentists, we get ripped off a lot by, Companies that sell supplies for more expensive than they should be.

So that book will save people like 20 grand right away. So that's, that's a big, big one. But the next book I'm excited about that'll probably be coming out in about a month to a month and a half will be the dental assisting manual. And that one's going to be really cool. So that if you're out there trying to train up dental assistants and teach them, okay.

Cause I mean, a lot of us have good dental assistants, but like, what does it take to be really, really good? Like what thought processes, what systems can you put in place to help train up somebody maybe from scratch to be really, truly great. Um, and like, how should you set up those systems to take them from, you know, rookie to rockstar essentially.

Michael: Nice. Awesome. So where can people find you if they have any questions or concerns, or they want to know more information about the books?

Addison: Yeah. So, uh, all the books for sale on Amazon. com so you can order them there. Um, or you can check, uh, out any of my information and stuff at, uh, AddisonKilleen. com. So A D D I S O N and then K I L L E E N.

com.

Michael: Awesome. So that's going to be in the show notes below. And Addison, thank you for being with me on this Monday morning episode.

Addison: Thank you.

‍

‍

Do you have a passion for the entrepreneurial journey but don't know where to start? Dr. Ilona Casellini's exciting path from a budding veterinarian to a successful dentist might be the inspiration you need. Straying from the familiar path sparked by a chance encounter and mentorship from a prosthodontist, Ilona dives into details of starting her own dental practice right out of dental school. Amidst the numerous obstacles in her journey, the key to her success was the mentorship she received, her parents' support, and her pursuit of independence and entrepreneurship.

Ilona sheds light on an area often overlooked by entrepreneurs. She discusses the pivotal role of staffing in her groundbreaking success. Facing the challenges of integrating a retiring dentist's staff into her practice, she transformed hurdles into opportunities. She ends the episode by narrating her boutique-like patient-centric approach that fuels her professional satisfaction and success.

What You'll Learn in This Episode:

• How mentorship shaped Ilona's career in dentistry.
• Strategies and challenges of starting a dental practice immediately after school.
• The complexities of integrating staff in a dental practice.
• How Ilona's patient-centered approach leads to her fulfilling career and practice's success.
• The power of strong supportive outlets in the journey of entrepreneurship.

Ready to delve deeper into the strength behind mentorship, a patient-centric approach, and important staffing decisions for entrepreneurial success? Let's jump into this captivating episode with Dr. Ilona Casellini!
‍

‍
Learn More About the Ground Marketing Course Here:

Website: https://thedentalmarketer.lpages.co/the-ground-marketing-course-open-enrollment/

‍
Guest: Dr. Ilona CaselliniPractice Name: Swiss Quality SmileCheck out Ilona's Media:

Website: https://www.swissqualitysmile.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/swissqualitysmile/‍

‍

Other Mentions and Links:

‍

Software/Services:

Google Adwords

Darby (dental supplier)

Dentrix (practice management software)

Dexus (xray software)

Sesame (texting/message software)

‍

Establishments:

The University of Vermont

Penn State University

‍

Artists/Songs:

Bill Withers - Just the Two of Us

‍

Communities:

Dentaltown

‍

Sports:

Pickle ball

‍

Host: Michael Arias‍Website: The Dental Marketer

Join my newsletter: https://thedentalmarketer.lpages.co/newsletter/‍

Join this podcast's Facebook Group: The Dental Marketer Society

‍
Please don't forget to share with us on Instagram when you are listening to the podcast AND if you are really wanting to show us love, then please leave a 5 star review on iTunes! [Click here to leave a review on iTunes]

‍

p.s. Some links are affiliate links, which means that if you choose to make a purchase, I will earn a commission. This commission comes at no additional cost to you. Please understand that we have experience with these products/ company, and I recommend them because they are helpful and useful, not because of the small commissions we make if you decide to buy something. Please do not spend any money unless you feel you need them or that they will help you with your goals.

‍

‍

‍

How can you strategically grow your practice without the risk of losing everything? In this soul-stirring episode, our guest, Luke Infinger, provides the tools you need to stand tall in your field. He dives deep into the importance of mastering your existing practices, before even considering expansion, underlining the necessity of building a robust foundation and optimizing your operations for overall success. Luke's guidance will help you identify the right time to scale, steering you on a path of continuous and sustainable growth.

In the second leg of the journey, Luke uncovers the crucial role of profitability and planning in expanding your practice. His words serve as a wakeup call, reminding dentists and practice owners alike that profit isn't all about numbers - it's the lifeline of your growing business. His riveting advice and personal experiences will guide you into understanding the intricate relationship between strategic growth, profitability, and optimal planning.

What You'll Learn in This Episode:

• Importance of mastering your existing practices before planning expansion
• How to build a strong foundation for your dental practice
• The role of optimizing your business operations for success
• Identifying the perfect time to scale your practice
• The connection between strategic growth and profitability
• Understanding the value of proper planning in expanding your practice

Ready to skyrocket your dental practice to a whole new level of success? Tune in to this episode with Luke Infinger!

‍

‍
Learn More About the Ground Marketing Course Here:

Website: https://thedentalmarketer.lpages.co/the-ground-marketing-course-open-enrollment/

‍

You can reach out to Luke Infinger here:
‍
Website: https://hip.agency/

HIP Resources: https://hip.agency/resources/

‍

Mentions and Links:

Software/Tools:

Organizational Chart

Audible

Apple Books

‍

Personality Tests:

The Predictive Index

StrengthsFinders

Enneagram

‍

Books/Publications:

The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It

The New York Times

‍

If you want your questions answered on Monday Morning Episodes, ask me on these platforms:

My Newsletter: https://thedentalmarketer.lpages.co/newsletter/

The Dental Marketer Society Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2031814726927041

‍

Episode Transcript (Auto-Generated - Please Excuse Errors)

‍

Michael: Hey Luke. So talk to us. What's one piece of advice you can give us this Monday morning?

Luke: So one piece of advice for dentists, orthodontists, or really a lot of business owners. Uh, I've had the pleasure of working with probably about a thousand dentists or orthodontists, uh, within the past 10 years.And I think a false belief and, it's probably taught or, you know, talked to, uh, amongst peers is you need to be able to scale your practice through acquiring locations and adding more doctors. And while that could be the case, I see people do this way too quickly. Absolutely. they'll have a low production practice.They'll also be carrying a lot of debt. and think I need more cash flow. I need to look for my second location. I need to look for another associate doctor. And I've actually seen a lot of practices go under this way because they become over leveraged. So I always tell people, focus on what you have.Grass is not always greener, build what you have, prove the concept, get your business to an A player, and then duplicate that. Nobody wants to duplicate a D player. You know what I mean? So if I have a business, it's not performing super well, it's probably not time to duplicate the model.

Michael: Interesting. Okay.So then what's too quickly in your experience? If we're specifically talking about, let's go with like a general practice. Sure. And they're busy, too busy, right? So they're assuming, Oh my gosh, I need a doctor. I need an associate. I need a more hygienist. Right. Would that be too quickly?

Luke: Well, it really depends on the specific situation.It could be time. But. Most of the time I've never met a dentist or orthodontist that's actually too busy. It's very rare and I'll explain why. The reason why we become too busy when running a business is we're doing the wrong things. Thanks. Very rarely do you talk to a dentist or orthodontist running the practice.I mean, again, this could be any other specialty within dentistry or maybe even any small business. And I've done this myself as a business owner. Well, who is, uh, looking at payroll? Who's looking at our credit card statements? maybe a security camera goes out. We need that. I mean, you get the idea.We carry all this stuff and there's a lot of things we don't delegate. So if you look at an org chart within a dental practice, typically it's the doctor, Maybe an office manager and everybody else. And the office manager probably also does other things. Maybe she has to be an assistant some days, or maybe she has to pick up the phone or things like that.And so I think if the doctor sets up an org chart to just be a doctor, which is going to produce the most amount for the practice. That's why they went to forever, you know, because they're, they are the only ones who can do what they do. So on your genius and delegate everything else. The doctor within a practice.In the day to day should be the technician. And I don't mean like a dental tech. I mean, if you read the book, the E myth, which is one of the most popular books in the world for small business, there's technician, the manager, and the visionary. A dentist can be the technician and the visionary. They never want to be the manager.everything else has to be delegated. They have to be the dentist and outside of 8 to 5 or maybe on breaks or specific planned meetings. They can float into the visionarybecause they're the owner. So their vision, their mission is going to set the practice apart and have a unique identity, but they should not be managing.And this is where most dentists, I would say 98 percent get stuck on the hamster wheel and they can't grow. The number one thing we hear, I don't know if you hear this, is we just need more new patients. Makes sense. But I asked them, well, how many people filled out a form on your website last year?Well, I don't know. Well, where do those people go? Well, I think they go to Cindy. Well, does Cindy have a list? Um, no, I think she just like calls them then and sees if they pick up. Okay, well, how do we track that? How many times did we call them? What did we say? So you don't necessarily need more patients.You need better systems, right? Because if I scale marketing and just bring you more of those types of leads and they're falling by the wayside, do you need more patients or should we first fix system and then you may already have. The leads that you need to scale to your goal.

Michael: And I guess that's where that, it of comes in where the front office sometimes, do you get this sometimes Luke where like they tell you, patients you're sending me, the quality is not good.I need better quality patients. And you're like, the only job is to be getting you leads, right? It's up to you to, you're not converting it kind of

Luke: And And this is any sales process. Yeah. I don't care what business you're in. Uh, people are guarded. I don't know about you, but I've opted in to a lot of things.I missed an appointment with my chiropractor. I've been for like three years. Totally forgot. Am I a bad patient? Well, probably not. but we have access to anything we want right here. We have a supercomputer in our pocket at all times. And so, you know, dentists and orthodontists, and I can appreciate this.Typically, there's a little bit of an ego there. Hey, I'm a very specialized person. I'm a smart person. I'm skilled. I can help you. Um, you should come to me, but we don't know that as the consumer, we look at dentistry now, largely as, a commodity. And so you have to put yourself in the shoes of the patient, the consumer, the client, If they don't know, if they opt into a lot of things and click on a lot of things and forget.Or it's not at the top of the priority list. If my tooth's not in pain, how do we nurture them and establish a relationship and bring their guard down and let them know that we are the practice of choice? that is a real holistic sales process that we've forgotten because we think people should just click on our stuff and then show up in our practice.Doesn't really work that way. would challenge a lot of people listening to look at how they behave. When's the last time you checked your voicemails? Do you respond to all text messages? Do you call every number back that's red on your phone? Because red is like, on my phone, that's the missed calls. I never check my voicemails.only when it says 95 percent full. And I never call the numbers back that are red. And my phone, I haven't looked into changing the settings. Thanks. But if I don't have your number saved in my phone, it won't even ring. it takes you straight to voicemail. So if a practice is calling me and I opted in, do I save their phone number?When I opt into the ad. No, of course not. That would be ridiculous. So don't have your number saved. You go straight to voicemail. I don't check my voicemail. Did you send me a text? What did the tech say? You know, was it personable? Did it sound like a robot? Cause that's another thing is like people are getting spam texts all the time.I probably get five, maybe 10 a day. So we have to look at ourselves, uh, and this is why the rest of the team in the practice is so important as people who genuinely want to help people and know that people probably most people, especially when it comes into digital opt ins, they're on step one. If step 10 is getting them in the practice, what do we have to do to bond with that person, get that person's trust.Make them realize they do want to come in to see us when it's time to fix X, Y, and Z. And the people doing that should love doing that. They should not be complaining about doing it. If they're complaining about doing it, they're not in the right role.

Michael: Interesting. If they're not in the right role, what do we do then?

Luke: We have to either move them to another seat, Or move them off the bus. This is why planning is so important. If you don't build an org chart, if you don't look at the different roles, if you don't plan, if youdon't, give uh, tests to your team, like, predictive index is a test that we use. There's others, maybe, uh, strength finders, Enneagram, maybe all of them see what their strengths are, see what what they like to do.Even if someone's not highly trained, you're going to know if they have a passion for something. Based on their giftings and what they're genuinely, uh, succeeding at, right. They may need a lot of help, but they have a natural inclination to do this thing. Um, Uh, and that was me on the phones. Like I, I sold, uh, New York times in a call center.So I was like cold calling people and have to turn it into a game. and you have to have fun with it. And if you can't have fun in whatever role you're in, even as a dentist, if you can't have fun doing it, maybe you shouldn't be doing it.

Michael: Interesting. Okay. So then if we scale back a little bit or rewind back a little bit, you mentioned when you have an A practice, like an A practice, that's when it's okay, let's start scaling.So then how can we tell, all right, this is an A player practice

Luke: profitability. So it's not about how much money you make. It's about what you keep. ThereThere is a an average, healthy business when you look at profitability and you know, within based, it's probably about 30 percent is the benchmark.Now dentistry and then specialties within dentistry like orthodontics could even be higher. You know, your average orthodontic practice on the low end is going to be 30 percent net. I know some people who are 60 percent net, which is kind of unheard of. But we should be shooting for somewhere in there.Now, certainly if there's lab fees and you're doing, um, more indirect bonding or things like that, profitability may be a little bit lower. but that's the benchmark you should look at. You should be working with a CFO, like fractional CFO, accounting firm, whatever, to define that. and I would also look at.total revenue profitability and your time, you know, if my time and I'm 30 percent net and you know, at a, at a good run rate. If I still could add a day in, well, would I go start another location? Because I can still maximize where I'm at. So, you know, maybe I open Fridays, maybe I open up a half day Saturday.Now, if I don't want to all the time, then I would bring in that associate to cover the Friday and half day Saturday. While I went out and spent that time looking for that satellite location. Then when I create the satellite location, they're already trained. They've been working with you in the main location.Now you can place them into the satellite. Once you ramp that up.

Michael: Gotcha. Okay. So that's when the associate kind of comes right? That that's when you're like, okay, It's a super need Now bring them in while looking. Interesting. Okay. Interesting. Okay. Awesome. of advice for this? this?

Luke: Not I think you have to look at the flip side.And, and what I mentioned early on was people do it way too fast. what are you taking home? Uh, how are you having to pay these other doctors? What loans do you already have? How much are you going to have to pay for that new location? And if all those things are going to put you in a bad financial place, don't do it.you can focus on what you have and grow what you have. And so, like I said, I mean, I've seen people go under, people are producing very little, maybe even half a million a year. And they're like, I got to bring in a doctor. I got to get another location. It's like, with what? Like, you don't have the resources to do it.This doesn't make any sense. So slow down, pump the brakes, take a deep breath, get strategic, grow the practice that you have. Get it to a good place, then look at scaling and you may not want to scale. That's the thing. Like you don't have to do this. You could create a lifestyle practice three days a week, and it could be what you want.And then you only have one practice in one building and one note to worry about instead of two or three or four.

Michael: Yeah, you're right, man. Bigger isn't always better. Yeah. Awesome. Awesome. Luke, thank you so much for being with us. I appreciate your time. And if anyone has further questions, where can they find you?Luke: Uh, can find me at hip dot agency. You could also reach out to us on the contact form And we have all this stuff in books. So we have several books, that are applicable for any specialty within dentistry that go through all this stuff. This one really talks about the org chart scaling and how to grow the right way.Um, and then I even created one for the doctor's mindset, which I think is very key, but yeah, you could, you know, Hit us up there. Uh, we'll actually ship all these to you for free. If you don't want to wait for hard copies though, you could just go pick your copy up on audible iBooks. They're on e readers and, and all audio platforms as well for purchase.

Michael: Nice. Awesome. that's going to be in the show notes below for you to check out. Awesome, man. And Luke, thank you so much for being with me on this Monday morning episode.

Luke: Absolutely. Thanks for having me.

‍

Today we're navigating the complex world of dentistry with authenticity, resilience, and an open heart. But, what does it take to embody these key values? In this episode, Dr. Maggie Augustyn takes us on her transformative journey from graduating dental school to becoming a successful, compassionate dentist. Overcoming initial challenges that nearly derailed her early career, Maggie offers an intimate window into her personal evolution, unpacking the layers of self-reflection and mentorship that led her to shed false identities and fully commit to her passion.

Maggie dives deep into her professional trajectory, sharing her transition from working in less-than-ideal conditions to taking the formidable step of opening her own practice - a venture fraught with financial fears and management challenges. Throughout these enlightening windows into her growth, one element remains consistent: the dedication to becoming a better dentist and a better person. Exploring the internal tug-of-war of wanting to be liked and needing to deliver honest, sometimes hard-to-swallow treatment plans, Maggie emphasizes the supreme importance of empathy and genuine patient connections in her practice. Her reflections on battling cancer and the integral role of personal and professional integrity in managing her practice through these tough times offer an inspiring testament to her resilience.

What You'll Learn in This Episode:

• The early challenges and misunderstandings that young practitioners face in their medical journey.
• The importance of shedding false identities and embracing authenticity in the field of dentistry.
• How to navigate the financial and leadership aspects of launching and managing a private practice.
• The value of compassion, empathy, and honest communication in patient care.
• How personal turmoil and struggles can impact and shape professional growth and perspective.

Don't miss out on this insightful, heartwarming journey of transformation and growth in the world of dentistry! Tune in to share in Dr. Maggie's wisdom gathered from her diverse experiences.
‍

‍
Sponsors:‍

For high quality AND affordable dental supply options, visit The Dentists Supply Company(TDSC) website today! Our listeners get a special deal - 25% off on orders over $500 - Just type in the special code: TDM25 at checkout for your exclusive offer. AND if you're a member of your state's Dental Association, you may be eligible for additional savings upon providing your ADA number. Click or copy and paste the link here to save today! https://www.tdsc.com/

‍
Guest: Dr. Maggie AugustynPractice Name: Happy ToothCheck out Maggie's Media:

Practice Website: https://myhappytooth.com/

Personal Website: https://maggieaugustyn.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dr.maggieaugustyn

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr.maggieaugustyn/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-maggie-augustyn-dds-faaip-ficoi-7a9502122/

‍

Other Mentions and Links:

‍

Services:

Productive Dentist Academy

‍

People:

Dr. Talcott Parsons

Dr. Bruce B. Baird & Dr. Victoria Peterson (Productive Dentist Academy)

‍

Dr. Augustyn Presentations:

Lie to Me: The Destructive Nature of Self Comparison

Beyond The Drill: From Struggle to Success

‍

Host: Michael Arias‍Website: The Dental Marketer

Join my newsletter: https://thedentalmarketer.lpages.co/newsletter/‍

Join this podcast's Facebook Group: The Dental Marketer Society

‍
Please don't forget to share with us on Instagram when you are listening to the podcast AND if you are really wanting to show us love, then please leave a 5 star review on iTunes! [Click here to leave a review on iTunes]

‍

p.s. Some links are affiliate links, which means that if you choose to make a purchase, I will earn a commission. This commission comes at no additional cost to you. Please understand that we have experience with these products/ company, and I recommend them because they are helpful and useful, not because of the small commissions we make if you decide to buy something. Please do not spend any money unless you feel you need them or that they will help you with your goals.

‍

‍

How essential IS understanding insurance contracts in the dental field? Join us in this Monday Morning Episode as Laura Radloff and I delve into this critical aspect of your dental practice. We underscore the necessity for dentists not just to skim but attentively read through the terms of contracts to sidestep potential pitfalls such as insurance fraud. Laura shares from her vast wealth of experience some common mistakes dental practices make and drives home the essentiality of proper billing practices.

In the second half of our discourse, we explore the incredible advantages of utilizing Oryx software for billing purposes. We put a spotlight on the tremendous support provided by the Oryx team. The takeaway of this episode revamps the importance of thorough understanding and transparent communication in dealing with claims and operating a successful dental practice.

What You'll Learn in This Episode:

• Why understanding insurance contracts is vital in the dental field
• The common errors dental practices fall prey to and how to avoid them
• The indispensable role of diligent billing practices
• The remarkable benefits of implementing Oryx software for your billing
• The exceptional backing provided by the Oryx team in managing claims

Dive into this episode now to learn what you may be missing in your insurance contracts!

‍

‍
Sponsors:
‍

Oryx: an all-in-one cloud-based dental software created by dentists for dentists.
Patient engagement, clinical, and practice management software that helps your dental practice grow without compromise. Visit Oryx today for a special TDM offer! (Just click or copy and paste the link here) https://thedentalmarketer.lpages.co/oryx/

‍

You can reach out to Laura Radloff here:
‍
Website: https://www.oryxdentalsoftware.com/

‍

Mentions and Links:

Software/Tools:

• Open Dental
• Eaglesoft
• Dentrix
• Dentrix Ascend
• SoftDent
• Dentrix Enterprise
• iDental

Brands/Products:

• Invisalign

‍

If you want your questions answered on Monday Morning Episodes, ask me on these platforms:

My Newsletter: https://thedentalmarketer.lpages.co/newsletter/

The Dental Marketer Society Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2031814726927041

‍

Episode Transcript (Auto-Generated - Please Excuse Errors)

‍

Michael: Hey, Laura. So talk to us. What's one piece of advice you can give us this Monday morning.

Laura: So one piece of advice is. Really to make sure that you understand your contract with any, uh, your, any insurance company that you have chosen to contract with. There are a lot of rules that come with those contracts, and if you've chosen to be in network with a certain insurance company, they may have specific rules that you have to follow, such as you have to bill certain procedures out, even if they're not going to be covered.

So you just want to make sure that you really understand your contract before you start committing insurance fraud. And it's little things like, You may have a certain procedure that's not covered by that insurance, and you may choose not to bill out that to that insurance company, because you've decided since it's not going to be covered, we're not going to bill it out anyway.

But if your contract says that you should still be billing it out, you still need to make the insurance company aware that you did that procedure, even if you don't think you're going to get covered for it.

Michael: Okay, no, that's interesting. That's interesting. And then. You said understand your contract. Are some contracts difficult to understand?

Laura: They just vary. They vary a lot based on carrier and state. And especially once you start to get federal plans, it's more just making sure that you do read the fine print. Uh, some states say that you can't charge a patient if it's not covered. and some carriers say the same thing. So it's really just making sure you, You don't go outside of those lines and making sure that you are billing correctly, not only to your patient, but to the insurance company too.

Michael: In your experience, Laura, like what is the most difficult company? I guess you feel like you've worked with when it comes to like, Oh my God, this is all in the contract. Are you serious? Kind of thing.

Laura: I wish I could just say there's only one. I feel like every company is going to have their own quirks. and each one of them is going to have their own guidelines.

I just ran across a policy the other day that said, if you try to bill out the buildup the same day as your crown, then it won't get covered. And they told you in the contract, you should bill out the buildup separately, um, on the prep date and then your crown on the seat date. Because they're already telling you it's not going to be covered, but it was so fine print and it was way deep in the contract.

understanding that from the beginning, it's not very common that you would see that. So it's just making sure you understand you would hate to bill that out and then not get paid just because you billed it on the wrong day.

Michael: Yeah. How often does that happen? I mean, so real quick, if you can let us know, you're with Oryx, right?

their billing department or how does that work?

Laura: Yeah, so I am with Oryx. I actually come from a lot of other software background where I've used a bunch of different softwares throughout my almost 20 years in the dental field. And Oryx is my favorite. So when I was working with Oryx, I reached out to Oryx and I told them how much I absolutely love their company and how much I would love to be a part of their company.

So, now I am in, in charge of the outsourced billing department. So we actually helped newly converted offices with the conversion process. Um, and we allow additional trainings in regards to insurance. And billing. And then also we help with those services, especially for startups.

They're not a hundred percent aware of all of the ins and outs of insurance. So we're able to help guide them at least through the beginning phases to make sure that they're off on the right start.

Michael: Yeah. So then how often does that happen? Especially when it comes to, I guess, transitioning from a software to another software or like, where are you seeing the most common mistakes?

Laura: The most common errors is, I would say, a sense of if it's not going to be covered, I don't have to bill it anyway, or trying to charge additionally due to a downgrade or a fee that may not be exactly what's needed. billable. I know sometimes ortho cases, if you're contracted with an insurance company for an ortho case, you have to go by their contracted rate, but Invisalign has a flat fee that they charge no matter how, you know, just to get the case going.

So some offices have found that they want to try to charge that additional fee and some states and some insurance companies say too bad, it's all inclusive. Just because you picked Invisalign instead of brackets doesn't mean we're going to give you more money. So it's making sure that you understand that piece.

the biggest thing that we run into is just thinking that we can step outside of those contract guidelines. and not necessarily defining it as fraud. It's still considered a form of fraud if you're withholding information, if you're falsifying the information, submitting under a different provider just because they have different network statuses.

Things like that can all be considered forms of insurance fraud. So just being careful. Last thing you want is to go have huge fines, get your license revoked, or have your business shut down because of insurance fraud.

Michael: Yeah. Have you seen that happen? Like where somebody really didn't read the fine print and it just went downhill from there?

Laura: Yeah, unfortunately I haven't personally experienced it, but I've gone to continuing education courses where they've talked about the Somebody else, the business owner versus the dentist. And the business owner was doing billing out things a certain way. And then the owner, the business had to shut down.

Michael: So then what would be the difference here? Laura, like if, if I were to say, okay, I have listened to this episode, I'm going to make sure my team reads the fine print compared to having like. Outsourcing it, your team, Oryx or you, right. I'm going to read the fine print. What would be the difference in those two?

Laura: So there are a lot of credentialing companies that will help make sure that as you're getting credentialed, they can read that contract for you, so it's more just making sure that maybe whoever's helping you with your credentialing understands what your expectations are too, so that they don't sign you up for something that goes against the way that you want to run your business.

personally, I've been in the dental field for 20 years, but that doesn't necessarily mean that I know all the ins and out of every insurance company too. Since it is so specific to state and carrier, it's really important that you understand it within, yourself versus even relying on someone else to do it for you, because then you're also holding yourself and your team accountable for what's happening in your office too.

So as much as I would love to say, I'm a professional, I will read it for you and tell you all the things with my magic cape. at the end of the day, it's your license and it's your practice that's on the line. So making sure that whoever's doing your billing for you is doing it the way that aligns with your contract.

And. How you want your business ran.

Michael: Okay. Interesting. So then does this come with like, let's just say we decide to go with Oryx. Does it come with Oryx, this service or? The extra how does that work?

Laura: It would be something if you have questions, we would definitely be able to review with you. We're more focused on making sure that you get paid.

So we want to make sure that those claims, there's nothing holding them up from getting sent out that you've got all the necessary attachments documentation to be able to support the claim. And then we do catch some of those things like, Hey, I remember this insurance plan said you can't bill out the buildup and the crown on the same day.

Do you still want to, because That's how you do it, or do you want to align with how the plan does it? So we do catch those things as the claims are going out, but it's more just making sure on the front end that you understand how that's coming in too.

Michael: Yeah. That's so nice that Oryx does that, the claims, you know what I mean, for, for practice.

I feel like it takes off a lot of the front office, I guess you can say like their time and you know what I mean.

Laura: Oh yeah, it's huge because personally if I have a team member that I'm paying to be in office with me that's going to be patient facing, I want them to be patient facing, talk to them about their treatment plans, get them into the schedule.

I don't need them hiding behind closed doors talking to insurance companies, but I also want to get paid. So making, putting that on someone else, especially someone who's versed in the software and has a lot of insurance experience, we've got phenomenal team that's all there to support and make sure that those claims are going out and getting paid.

Michael: Yeah. Is it pretty difficult to learn for the team? Oryx?

Laura: we offer a lot of support. It's not that it's difficult, honestly. Like I said, I I've worked with open dental, Dentrix, EagleSoft, SoftDent, Dentrix Ascend, Dentrix Enterprise, iDental, I've worked with a large number of dental softwares and I found it.

Like with any software, there's definitely a learning curve, but once you really get into it, it has so many neat hidden features and neat things, and they're constantly evolving. I guarantee you, you tell Dentrix you want to change the way that they have something set up and they'll laugh at you. Oryx, we really try to consider how are our users using it and can we make it better as much as we can all the time.

Michael: Yeah, that's so true. I see that in the Facebook group, like the Oryx users, Facebook group, like somebody will be like, Hey, Hey, Rania, can we do this or can we do that? And working on it. We'll implement it. You know what I mean? And they're on it. So

Laura: yeah, we have developer meetings all the time. Like we're still as big as we are.

We're still small, right? We're still connecting with each other regularly to make sure, Hey, this is something that our front end user saw that we might be able to improve. Is it something we can implement? if it's only one person that wanted it, then it may not be the top of our list, but being just vocal about things that we could possibly do to improve helps too.

But I also think it's got a really strong base. So, while some people may see that there's areas to improve, it's got a lot of really great things already integrated into it. That helped me when I'm doing aging or when I'm doing the insurance stuff, this is my go to it's the fastest one to work out of.

It's got the most detail. I find less errors once I'm using the software correctly. it's just phenomenal in my opinion Might be a little biased but

Michael: No, that's awesome. And then what's one final piece of advice you can give us when it comes to claims and practice ownership

Laura: Um, there's no such thing as too much information You'd much rather have 15 photos a big strong narrative and x rays right before the procedure versus later Finding out that you needed that x ray narrative or photo and not have it

Michael: So there's never enough information.

Interesting. Awesome. Thank you so much for your time. I appreciate it. But if anybody had questions or concerns or anything like that, where can they find you?

Laura: If you're already an Oryx user, then you can put in a help ticket and they'll make sure that you're directed to the right department. I do specialize in billing and insurance, but we have a whole bunch of trainers that may be able to help with any other areas.

And then if you're on our Facebook group too, you'll be able to keep posted on how often our webinars are happening and what topics are coming up, or put in suggestions for future, future requests or other webinars that you want to see. So.

Michael: Nice. Awesome. So that's going to be in the show notes below.

And Lauren, thank you so much for being with me on this Monday morning episode.

Laura: Great to chat with you, Michael.