- This is Hatton with the Becker Dental Podcast.
I'm thrilled to be joined today by Dr.
Depe Patel, founder
and CEO of Blueprint Smiles Dental Group.
Dr. Patel, thank you so much for being here today.
- Thanks for having me. - Great.
Could you start off by introducing yourself
and telling us a bit about your background?
- Absolutely. So, like you mentioned, I'm Dr. Dfeh Patel.
I am the current CEO Blueprint Smiles Dental Group.
It is a group based out of Atlanta, Georgia that I started,
uh, in about around 2015.
Um, I graduated, uh, from dental school in 2012,
bought my first practice in 2013.
Group was started in 2015.
I always joke that I'm a recovering dentist since
I no longer practice.
Full-time chair side.
Uh, actually, uh, stepped away from the chair, um,
about six months ago,
and my full dedication now to growing the organization
as their CEO.
- Very interesting. What's it like that transition
between the more clinical side
to the more administrative position?
- Well, I was, uh, technically doing both
for the longest time, but as the group started growing, uh,
I found more value in me mentoring the doctors,
helping the organization, uh, kind
of go in a different direction and, um, you know, take off
and, uh, all the things that we want to accomplish.
Uh, it, it, it is different, uh, you know, with, uh,
clinical dentistry, it has its challenges
and, uh, not saying that you ever conquer those challenges,
but a, after doing it for so long, a lot of it becomes, uh,
more routine and that, believe it
or not, a little bit less stressful.
Uh, although there are some clinical days
that are absolutely stressful.
So whoever's practicing kudos to you, uh, patients are tough
to deal with and so are some procedures.
The business side of things is,
uh, slightly a little bit different.
Uh, it's always ever changing, right?
So unlike routine of a filling,
I'm usually doing the same thing over
and over on the business side.
It's constantly adapting.
You're constantly dealing with, uh, humans, uh,
inside your business, outside your business,
and all the different other aspects that affect the, um,
business in itself where you don't always have the same
control that you may have felt
that you had when you were actually practicing.
So it's a different dynamic. It's spun both ways.
I think ultimately, you just have to find
what you're more passionate about
and where you can have a bigger impact on.
And, uh, for me it started
to lean towards the business side.
And so that's why I made the hard decision
of stepping it away from the chair
and letting our great clinicians take over
and, uh, do a great job there.
And, um, now I'm dedicated full-time to, uh,
running the organization and supporting them.
- Very interesting. Thanks for sharing.
So my first question for you is,
what are the biggest issues you're
following in dental today?
- I don't think it's really
changed over the last couple years.
I think it's been a pretty constant theme post covid.
Uh, HR is still probably one of the biggest issues.
Um, I think as a whole, the industry needs more hygienists
and assistance, uh, compared to, uh, those that are retiring
where a have exited dentistry altogether since Covid.
So I think there's, HR is still one of the biggest issues.
And, uh, secondarily, you know, dentistry's been, uh,
you know, they always said dentistry
was pretty recession proof.
And, uh, I know we didn't necessarily go
through a recession per se, uh, and,
and said it was inflation.
So no industry's really inflation proof.
And so really
that's the biggest issue alongside hr probably caused some
of that inflationary environment in dentistry,
but the margins have shrunk, uh,
and it's starting to hit dentistry, like it's hit, uh,
every other industry, uh, for the first time
that I can recall on a very long time.
So it's something that kind of following all, both
of 'em are kind of hand in hand.
The HR inflation has led to inflation overall in dentistry.
Um, and so margins are shrinking
and we're all having to be creative with, uh,
doing more with less.
- Yeah, definitely. Could you go a little more in depth
about, um, how Blueprint Milestones Group is doing more
with less and some strategies there?
- Yeah, so I think it goes down to like the fundamentals
of business, which I believe it's operations.
So it, it goes into, you know, diving deep into the core
of your organization and seeing
how operationally you can become more sound.
And what I mean by that is there's always a lot of waste
that we believe happens in, in an office and organization,
and we started eliminating that waste at Blueprint Smiles.
Uh, some of that is, you know, not needing as many fronts.
If there's technology we can supplement into the process,
then that can help, uh, you know, eliminate some
of the handoffs and some
of the time waste that happens in the office.
If you start doing some of these things,
then ultimately you can actually see a few extra patients
throughout the day that you may not
have been able to see before.
And, uh, that can actually help offset some of that revenue
that you need to, uh, combat some of that inflation.
So that's how we've been doing it.
We've been going deep into all of our operational systems
and cleaning them up, speeding them along, uh,
as best we can with a supplement of technology.
And, uh, when kind of done correctly, that effect isn't
so much on your teammates feeling like they're doing any bit
more in reality, they sometimes feel like it's efficiency,
making them feel like they're working less,
and then ultimately you can hopefully generate a little bit
more revenue without actually needing any more extra bodies.
- Interesting. Thank you. What are you most excited about
and what makes you nervous and dental?
- Let's, uh, let's start with the excited about.
So, uh, you know, for me it's always been
innovation makes me excited.
So I know there's been times in dentistry,
there's been a lot of new innovation that happened,
whether it was scanners in the past,
digital x-rays, things of that nature.
Is there innovations that, you know,
we went through in the past?
And I think more innovation's gonna unfold now due
to inflation, HR issues, uh, just like I mentioned, like
during covid, uh, made the industry change as a whole
and the operating models kind of got flipped upside down.
I believe the same is gonna start happening now as, uh,
groups and single practices and DSOs.
Uh, they start to become more innovative
because they're, they need to right
to maintain margins, to keep their doors open.
They have to do things that are different,
that are outside the norm.
And sometimes that pressure is what's
needed for an industry to change.
So I'm actually excited to see how all that unfolds.
You know, AI is becoming more rampant now, um, into industry
and I think a lot of that push is happening
because of a necessity.
So I'm excited about all, all those fronts.
Um, and as far as what kind of makes me nervous, uh,
is, is, uh, consumer behavior a little bit makes
me a little nervous, right?
And what I mean by that is, when I got started, you know,
10 plus years ago, uh, patients weren't as transient.
If you had a patient that came to your office,
there's a good chance the lifecycle
that patient was gonna be for, you know,
several years, maybe decades.
With you, I'm starting to see a trend
where patients are a little bit more transient than they
used to be, and dentistry
and dentists are being more treated as a commodity,
and that personal touch is kind of being lost
and it's kind of getting lost.
'cause patients I don't think need it as much as they need,
needed it before.
So we're seeing the uptick in no shows.
I'm seeing the uptick in cancellations,
and overall I'm seeing the lifecycle of patient seems
to be decreasing.
Um, so that is some things that make me nervous
because that means you have to acquire more patients
and retention could be a problem, uh, since they're moving
around more frequently.
Sometimes it has nothing to do
with the dentist or the office.
Now patients are more accustomed
to moving more frequently than they ever did in the past,
and as a result, they're looking for convenience
and they may not want to drive an
extra 20 minutes to come see you.
So, uh, that's kind of making me nervous
because, uh, it's not something
that we're typically used to.
We we're used to seeing these things
and other consumer industries, uh,
but now it's kind of getting into
healthcare a lot more and more.
And that makes me a little nervous
'cause it takes away some of that personal touch
that dentistry has always been about.
- Very interesting. Do you have any tips for,
for dental practices, um, for adapting
to this new consumer behavior?
- Uh, yeah. I mean, I think, uh, patients are going to need,
or offices are going to need to have more constant contact
with their own patients.
In the past, I thought it was, you know, you,
you can acquire a patient just to your office,
you treat 'em well, they'll see you in six months,
and that cycle will keep continuing.
I think now we almost have to think of it as,
as we're marketing towards new patients
that we've all been accustomed to doing,
I almost believe now you have to keep marketing
to your existing patients as well for them
to remember you more so than ever before.
So, uh, for anybody that's listening,
I would probably say think of marketing in the sense
of not just torturing new patients,
but think of marketing of
how can I market towards my existing patients to remember me
as if I need to reacquire them over and over and over.
And that might be a way to, uh, have them not leave
as quickly as the lifecycles kind of start to show.
- That's great advice, thank you.
What will the most effective healthcare leaders need
to be successful in the next two to three years?
- I would say it's almost the same.
That's, it's always been, uh,
but as a whole, that we're all gonna have
to be a little bit more flexible, um,
as generational changes happen.
And I think we've kind of seen that happen.
Uh, US leaders have to be more flexible
with our operation models or HR models
and kind of thinking outside of the box.
You know, one thing
that I think would help is we're gonna have
to adapt our training and operational philosophies
to match the HR trends and consumer behavior.
Uh, I think you might start seeing more groups
and practices, uh,
even on the general spectrum niche down a little bit,
just like if, if they were specialists, uh,
because that can help with the onboarding process.
Just like patients may not have a long, long, uh, life cycle
with us, our own teammates may not as well.
So that means you have
to onboard people a lot quicker than you used to, knowing
that by the time they get ramped up, you can't spend six
to nine months with 'em to get ramped up in your system
because if they leave by month 18, you don't have
as much time with them to get optimal,
uh, results from that.
So I would tell everyone that
the most effective leaders are gonna have to figure out
what in their operational system can help with that.
Uh, and uh, just kind of be flexible overall
to meet the consumer,
which in this instance is our own teammates, uh,
where they ultimately want to be at.
- Great. Yeah, it sounds like that flexibility
and adaptability is gonna be really key,
um, for future leaders.
Well, thank you so much Dr. Patel, for your
insights and your time today.
I look forward to connecting with you again in the future.
- I appreciate the time. Thank you.
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