Why You Need A Strategic Partner to Help You Grow

Mar 31, 2021 | Dental Support Organization

By combining forces, a dental practice and their strategic partner can work together toward common goals to operate more efficiently and better serve patients as they grow.

A strategic partnership is a powerful tool to get the resources you need without a large investment of capital upfront, allowing dental practices the opportunity to gain access to new products and the latest technology. These cutting-edge technologies can include radiography, in-office CAM/CAM, or intraoral cameras, as well as upgraded online record keeping and scheduling.

Your business can become stronger than ever, as the right partner will also bring new insights and skills to your practice, allowing you to focus on what you do best—providing exceptional dental care.

Having a professional team supporting your back office means you’ll no longer be spending hours filing dental insurance forms or performing other administrative functions. This frees up extra time to spend with your patients, enabling you to deliver more personalized care and enrich their overall experience in your office.

Separating the Clinical from the Clerical

Traditionally, dentists and orthodontists not only see patients and take care of their dental issues, they are also tasked with hiring, retaining, and terminating employees, updating and maintaining equipment, seeing to the day-to-day operations like scheduling, keeping records, and so on. It’s incredibly challenging to manage administrative duties and staffing challenges while trying to stay focused on dental care for a growing patient base.

Dentists go to dental school, not business school, so by allowing a dental support organization (DSO) to support the management and nonclinical parts of your practice, you’ll have an expert in that field handling the clerical side of things. Support platforms create a more efficient and legally compliant dental practice as they have a standardized approach to nonclinical functions across all their practices.

The separation of the clinical from the clerical also tends to reduce overhead and increase reimbursement rates. By centralizing your non-clinical administrative support functions, you achieve economies of scale and will often get the benefit of volume-based discounts.

“By partnering with Oakpoint, you not only receive competitive pricing on your dental supplies and equipment, we supply you with actionable data insight via our proprietary dashboard,” Mick Janness, CEO of Oakpoint said. “We base all of our strategy on facts, not gut assumptions or feel.”

Having support with payroll, accounting, collections, marketing, operations management, and more, allows doctors to deliver better, more focused care to patients while maximizing their practice. It’s a win-win situation.

Who can Benefit the Most from a Strategic Partner?

All types of doctors in different stages of their career can reap the rewards of working with a strategic partner.

New dentists, just leaving dental school with a large debt or loan to pay off, could highly benefit from partnering with a support organization. Not only can a partner help eliminate their dental education debt, they can reduce the professional overhead burden for new dentists just starting out.

According to the American Dental Education Association (ADEA) 18.1% of dentists intend to work in DSOs immediately after graduating. Many other dentists plan to enter DSOs at the end of their career as they start planning for retirement.

An established dentist who might be feeling over-burdened by the business side of dentistry can also benefit from the relief a DSO provides. This type of partnership will grant them the opportunity to have a better work-life balance without devoting all their time and energy to ever-present administrative demands.

A strategic partner that offers efficient business service and regulatory expertise is ideal for a doctor who simply wants to be a dentist and not a business owner.
They still stay in a practice leadership role but focus solely on their patients, thereby increasing and improving care standards.

More than 10% of dentists are affiliated with DSOs, as reported by the American Dental Association, and that percentage is growing. A dental support group is something that every dental professional should consider, whether they’re just going into dentistry, feel overburdened, or are in the latter part of their careers to plan for a successful retirement.

Finding the Right Strategic Partner

It’s important to find a partner that shares your vision, understands your market, and can help address any limitations you might have. Be honest about your strengths and weaknesses in your practice and see where you can leverage your potential partners services.

Look for a results-oriented strategic partner that offers the necessary skills and experience to enable your business to acquire new patients and grow. It’s critical to make sure they provide accurate ways to measure success.

Invest in Your Long-Term Success!

Oakpoint partners with leading dental care providers that are passionate about improving the quality of life for their patients – starting with their smile. Our partners have access to unparalleled support services backed by a dedicated clinical leadership team that share your passion. Contact us if you’d like to learn more!