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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 and operations of a SC

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and the future of dentistry.

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I'm currently joined by
Kristen Cusack, who is the CEO

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of Phase one Equity.

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Kristen, thanks so much
for joining me today,

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and I would love to have you take a moment

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to introduce yourself further

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and tell us a little bit more about your

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background. Thanks,

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- Grace.

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Great to be here. I've been
enjoying the conference so far.

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Um, I'm the CEO of phase
one, as you mentioned.

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And Phase one is a company
that is really taking the DSO

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and making it more of a dental
partnership organization

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and an equity company.

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So actually what I'm, my role

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and responsibility is to build
both a private equity company

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and A DSO or in our case, A DPO,

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and build those from the ground up.

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So, um, my background is really
in healthcare leadership,

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so I've actually been to a
fair amount of conferences,

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like the one we're sitting in right now.

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And, um, I've been in
that for about 25 years.

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And I'm really new to
dental, so I'm bringing kind

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of a different perspective as a new person

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to dental for the last year or so.

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- Love that. Well, let's get started.

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Um, I'd love to hear

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what the biggest issues
you're currently following

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in the dental space are.

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- Yeah, you know, I mean,

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I think probably it's not
surprising to anyone to hear

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that the biggest issue
in dental is hiring,

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um, and retaining.

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So staffing is a real challenge.

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It's definitely loosening a bit.

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Um, we've seen that get better,
uh, since, um, you know,

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the economy has shifted just a bit.

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Um, some of the, the
folks who really wanted

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to have a lot more flexibility
realized maybe they

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want just a little more stability.

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Um, so that's been helpful and, um,

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but it definitely still poses a challenge.

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The the wages are still up.

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Um, it's still hard to find those great

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people who wanna stay.

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Um, and you really do want
consistency in your staffing.

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So I would say that's
probably the number one

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thing that we see.

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Um, I think the other
thing I notice a lot,

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not completely different
tack, is there's a lot

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of fragmentation in dentistry.

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And by that I mean, we've got
a lot of services that are,

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um, there's 30 providers
doing very similar work

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and, you know, coming from healthcare we'd

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already consolidated a lot.

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So it's, it's a bit of a
shock almost to see as much,

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um, fragmentation as there still is.

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And so I think we're in for
some positive change, um,

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as those consolidations happen, um,

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generally you can get
some strengths from both

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or from several different organizations.

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So hopefully that continues.

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Um, but we, we could really
use some consolidation

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'cause it's, it's pretty tough out there.

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There's so many vendors and
so many people, um, you know,

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so many different services,
especially as we're, um,

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having new partners join us.

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There's just a lot to
try to align when there's

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so many different people
providing very similar work.

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- 100%. And my next question is kind of a,

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a two-pronged question.

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So first, what are you most
excited about in dentistry?

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And then second, what makes
you most nervous? Mm-Hmm.

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- <affirmative>. Yeah, I would
say, you know, there's a lot

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to be excited about.

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One of the things that, um,

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for me right now in dentistry is, is, and,

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and one of the reasons
that I'm here, um, is

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that there's just such great opportunity

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and sort of that kind of to go down

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that fragmentation vein
that I was talking about.

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You know, we are seeing
a lot more, um, joining

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of DSOs bringing of practices together.

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And I think it's a great
opportunity to learn from

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what worked and didn't on
the healthcare side of things

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and see how we can continue
to make that better.

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But also I'm seeing some great choices

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and I really like that.

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Um, our, uh, model is
really is not for everybody.

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Um, it's, uh, it's a very
entrepreneurial driven model.

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Um, it's, um, the doctors
are very involved.

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They have a lot of leadership
and a lot of autonomy

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and, um, the way that we structure that so

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that not only do they have those things,

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but get the best financial deal,
it also means that they get

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that financial deal a
few years later, right?

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So that's not gonna be for everybody.

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And what's nice is you also
have, if you're the kind

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of doctor who loves practicing

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but doesn't like all the rest
of the things that come along

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with it, there's models for you too.

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So I really do like that every,

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and they're those two at bookends

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and then everything in between.

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So I think that's, that's a
great thing to be excited about

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because I do think I
see some learning from,

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from the consolidation of
healthcare coming to play.

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Um, you know, people like
myself who, who saw it

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and lived it are really
thoughtful about it,

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and I think others are as well.

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So I, I really do like that
about what, what's happening

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- And then what makes you nervous?

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- You know, I think that, um,
there's, uh, there's, I mean,

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uh, one of the things that
I've noticed in, in dental is

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that, um, there are so many good things.

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So, so I almost don't
feel like there's a lot

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that can't be resolved.

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You know, one of the
things that's great about

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dentistry is it's so resilient.

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You know, we saw that during Covid.

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I mean the, the, the
comeback was fast and strong

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and, um, continues to be.

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Um, but I do think that, you
know, with all of this change,

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you, there's always
some fallout, you know,

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so when you see consolidation
happening, you know,

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I talk about the need for it.

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I do think there is a need for it,

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but I also know that with that,
you know, comes times when

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you may, um, lose a a provider
that's great, you know,

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or, you know, I don't mean
lose a, a dental provider,

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but a, a vendor that's really
great at their services,

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but just couldn't do the
business side of things.

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And, um, that, you know,

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you may not end up with the best product.

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So sometimes that'll
happen in consolidation.

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Um, and I do think that
there'll be some doctors who

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just don't get in, you know,

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don't really get the message soon enough

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and perhaps wait too long.

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And I think that always makes
me a little nervous too.

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I don't want someone to miss out on the

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opportunities that there are today.

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- Absolutely. Um, and
then my final question

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for you today is, what
will the most effective,

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how care leaders need

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to be successful in the
next two to three years?

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- You know, um, I think
we, if, if you, uh,

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if you don't like change,

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you're probably not in
the right <laugh> in the

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right area and profession.

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So that attitude, um,
and ability to, to change

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and to continue to be, uh,

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resilient is gonna be really
critical for everyone.

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I think that, you know,
we are seeing some change,

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not just in, um, not in the,
just in the dental space,

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but of course everywhere that's
touched by private equity,

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um, which is pretty much everywhere,

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and that's definitely
affecting people right now.

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So that really trying to understand, um,

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how you can best be positioned

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and make sure that you really are ready

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and you are resilient

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as this shift in the way things are paid

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for this shift in the financial side is

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happening and it's moving through.

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I do see some lights at
the end of the tunnel

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and it's good to be, you know,
we wanna be ready for that.

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So I think that's really
important that we really, um,

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think about how we can
be resilient and strong.

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I think lining up, um,

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with great partners will really make

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a big difference as well.

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Just as I said, there's so
many, um, great partners,

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and so you do have to sift
through a bit in, in dental

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to find those partners that
are the right fit for you.

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And I think, again, we
have some great ones.

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So if you, if we, you
know, can be ready to shift

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and change as we need
to, um, really continue

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to strengthen our resiliency

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and have the great partners
with us, I think that's,

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that's a lot of good
preparation for what's to come.

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- A hundred percent.
Well, thank you so much

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for joining me today on the
Becker's Healthcare Podcast.

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Again, we're live at the
business and operations of ASCs

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and the Future of Dentistry Roundtable.

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Thanks so much. Thanks, grace.

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