Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1491661
12 BECKER'S DENTAL + DSO REVIEW // VOL. 2023 NO. 1 DENTAL SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS 'This dynamic is completely out of balance': The challenge of DSOs working with payers By Riz Hatton T ension between DSOs and practice owners and payers is growing as operating costs continue to rise while reimbursement rates remain low. Michael Schwartz, chair and CEO of Nashville, Tenn.-based Specialty Dental Brands, connected with Becker's on Dec. 6 to discuss DSO-payer relations in today's economy. Editor's note: This response was edited lightly for clarity and brevity. Question: What challenges are DSOs up against in 2023? Michael Schwartz: One of the biggest challenges is working with insurance companies due to the rising input costs hitting dental offices such as labor shortages and wage and supply inflation. Every dental office in the U.S. has seen these expenses dramatically increase, yet the average dental insurance company provides fee increases of 3 percent if you are lucky every two to five years. This dynamic is completely out of balance. The legislation passed in Massachusetts in November is the first step in addressing this problem. n Why practice owners are partnering with DSOs By Cameron Cortigiano M athieu Murphy, DDS, is an owner of three dental practices in North Carolina and an affiliate with Chicago-based Aspen Dental. He spoke with Becker's about benefits for dentists to move from individual practice ownership to partnering with a DSO. Question: Why did you choose to move from an independent practice to working and partnering with a DSO? What were some of the factors that led to that decision? Dr. Mathieu Murphy: Joining the DSO model allowed me to be able to still practice clinical dentistry, still be able to be an owner, but without all of the work that goes into being an individual getting his offices off the ground. The big attraction for me was knowing, for one, Aspen was an established brand that had a great reputation and a great business model that worked well with my personality while still being able to support my family and be with my family. Q: Do you think your previous experience before moving into owning your own practice was one of the reasons why you decided to partner with Aspen instead of any of the other DSOs out there? MM: In private practice, it's a lot more difficult to scale up because you're a solo guy and there's not a lot of support for individual practice owners. So being in the Aspen model with the intention of wanting to open and run multiple practices and transitioning eventually to mentoring doctors, the model fit perfectly for me. Q: How is your experience as a private practice owner different compared to being an affiliate of a DSO? What kind of things do you see that are benefits of being part of a DSO? MM: Just to simplify all the advantages into one phrase, it would just be the support that I get in all phases of running a business. It could be anything from needing to hire new doctors or new staff all the way down to what materials should I be ordering; Aspen has all those resources available to us to make sure my practices run well and efficient. Q: What do you see in the future for your practices? How might your goals be different being part of Aspen Dental compared to if you were an individual practice owner? MM: I run my practices almost like a private practice model. Not only should the owner be invested, but really everybody in the entire organization. From the dental assistants to the associate doctors, lab techs and front desk staff, I want them invested in the practice emotionally as well, and I think that is part of my success. n "I believe it is the future of healthcare. In fact, I believe that integrated delivery systems are the future of healthcare," Barry Arbuckle, PhD, CEO of MemorialCare, told Becker's. "We look forward to seeing other health systems across the country follow this same path as they continue to move toward integrated delivery." This partnership has lit a spark in the dental-medical community, according to Carolyn Ghazal, DDS, a founding owner- dentist at Pacific Dental. "There's a lot that needs to be navigated. However, the announcement of this partnership has piqued the interest of a lot of clinicians." Dr. Ghazal told Becker's. "I've had a lot of people, dentists specifically, reach out to me with questions about this. I think it's the beginning of something remarkable, and I'm very excited to be a part of it." n