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- This is the Becker's
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Thanks for listening.
Now here's the episode.

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- This is Gracelyn Keller

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with the Becker's Healthcare Podcast,

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and we are live at the business

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and operations of AASC in the future

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of dentistry round table.

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This morning, I'm sitting
down with Richard Hewitt,

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who is the CEO of Beachside
Dental Consultants.

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So Richard, thanks so much
for joining me this morning.

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And I would love to start
our conversation off

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with introducing yourself

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and telling us a little
bit about your background.

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- Yeah, thank you Gracely.
Uh, it's great to be here.

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I guess the, the easiest way

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to introduce myself is
since we're in Chicago,

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I actually literally graduated
from dental school right down

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the street here at
Northwestern in the eighties.

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And, uh, at that time,
the, uh, interest rate,

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the prime interest rate was 18.5%.

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So I looked into alternatives
to private practice,

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which most of my colleagues were doing,

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and I did a, uh, direct, uh, commission

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to the Air Force for three years.

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And when I got out of
the, uh, the Air Force,

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I went directly, did a
scratch start in my hometown

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in southern Maine.

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And then, uh, about

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after nine years of that
kind of weather, I decided

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that Florida was probably a better place

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for me to practice in.

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And, uh, my wife and I
moved down to Florida

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and I set up a practice there,
bought an existing practice

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and merged several practices,

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and eventually, uh, sold
my practice in 2008,

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and that's when I started doing my

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consulting work full-time.

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- Very nice. Well, thanks so much

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for joining me this morning.

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Um, and I'd love to start with
what the biggest issues are

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that you're following in dental,

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- There are several issues,

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but I think, uh, the ones

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that always keep popping
up is the, uh, the, uh, one

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of the biggest right now
is the reimbursement issue

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with dental insurances, uh,
both from a patient point

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of view and from the insurance
company's point of view

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and the provider point of view.

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In other words, uh, you know,
it's a, it's a delicate dance.

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Uh, inflation has been
eroding, uh, you know,

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is increasing the overhead
in a dental office

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and it's eroding the, uh,
profits that a dental,

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dental office is

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because they have to spend
more money towards, uh,

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administration and also
supplies, et cetera.

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Wages have gone up quite a bit

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and it's also a, a tight
dental workforce right now.

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A lot of people competing
for a tremendous small amount

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of people competing for AS
uh, a large amount of jobs.

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- Absolutely. And what are
you specifically most excited

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about, and then what makes you nervous?

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Um, as we look at what we're
watching in this space,

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- Okay, uh, what am I actually
exciting about is actually

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the merging of different
kinds of technology.

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I think that there's a tremendous amount

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of kinds of technologies.

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The key will be for somebody to come up

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with an integrated solution for that

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'cause it's just too much for
any office, whether it's small

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or large, to, uh, have all
these types of technologies

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and none of them talk to each other

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so much like anything else
in the business world.

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Uh, if you can get, if a company come in

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and merge that kind of technology
into one seamless path,

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then it's gonna be, it's gonna profit, uh,

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that particular office

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and any group that would
use utilize that technology.

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What keeps me up, I think
is, uh, I think actually

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the world events right now,
you, you can't ignore it.

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Uh, if we slip into a
recession, traditionally, uh,

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dental offices are on
the trailing edge of the,

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uh, a, a downturn.

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In other words, as long
as people have their jobs

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and they have their dental
benefits, they will continue

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to go to the dentist.

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Uh, but if you have a significant
layoff, uh, then, then

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dentistry gets caught up
on the other end where it,

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it's a little slower for them

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to come back into dental offices.

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So you do see a drop off after
a sustained, uh, recession.

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- 100%. Um,

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and my final question for you today is,

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what will the most effective
healthcare leaders need

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to be successful in the
next two to three years?

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- I think the vision has
to be for dental leaders.

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I think the vision is, is
they have to be one step ahead

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of problems that are coming.

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Uh, the worst thing that
could happen is we have the,

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we have the benefit in
dentistry to be able to see

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what medicine is doing
and to course adjust

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before as they head through.

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It's always been like that.

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It's been like that since I
was an ear, an early dentist

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where you could see what your
medical counterparts were

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doing, what they were struggling with.

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And dentistry had the
advantage of saying, well,

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that's coming our way too.

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And you can actually course correct.

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So if our leaders are smart,
they'll see where the, where,

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where the medical world is going

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and say, well, this is coming
to dentistry soon also.

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- Wonderful. Well,
Richard, thank you so much

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for taking the time to
join me this morning.

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Again, we are live at the
business and operations of ASC

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and the Future of Dentistry Roundtable,

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and this is the Becker's
Healthcare Podcast.

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