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Get registered by going to beckersdental.com
and clicking on the events page. Hello. This
is Arianna Portallatin with the Becker's Dental and
DSO Review podcast.
I'm thrilled to be joined today by Brian
Hamilton, the chief development officer at Allied OMS.
Brian, thank you so much for being here
today. Thanks for having me. Yeah. To start
us off, can you introduce yourself and tell
us a little bit about your background?
Sure.
So, yeah, my name is Brian Hamilton.
I'm the managing director
at Dune Glass Capital. I'm chairman of the
board at phase 1 Equity,
in orthodontic
and pediatric dentistry,
platform. And I'm also the chief development officer
at Allied OMS, which is an oral and
maxillofacial
platform.
At Ewinglass Capital, every team member
has doctors
and nurses in their family. And, you know,
candidly, we felt like the current private equity
models just weren't transparent or fair to doctors,
and that's actually why we came together and
started Allied in phase 1.
Great. Thank you for that. And what are
some of the biggest issues that you're following
in the dental industry right now?
Yeah. Good good question.
I'm sure
many of your listeners have read a number
of the articles that you guys have and,
you know, some of the issues, because, of
course, I'm reading them, that you guys have
covered include everything from doctor recruitment,
employee turnover,
wage inflation.
With all that said,
honestly, one of the biggest issues
or concerns that I'm following
is this inaccurate picture that's being painted about
private equity and healthcare by the media.
Look, there's some regulators
or so called experts that I think mistakenly
extend to the ill effects
of investment that's occurred in hospitals and health
systems or even in payers, which is definitely
different than the model of investment and partnership
at the practice level that certainly we believe
in at DynGlass, and I think a lot
of our
a lot of the other folks out there
in this space are are utilizing today.
Okay.
How would you say this, sort of negative
depiction of private equity got started?
Well, I think, you know, there's been a
lot of
challenges with some of the investors and candidly
with,
just operators in general, whether that's doctors, whether
that's private investors,
professional managers.
And I think a lot of that has
come out and played negatively in the media.
And that's a very different model
certainly that we use at DuneGlass, really more
of a partnership model where the doctor stays
in control.
And so I think it's being negatively depicted
and unfortunately probably having some
negative effects, in the the DSO space.
Yeah. I could imagine that some dentists,
might be more cautious or hesitant to join
an organization such as Allied OMS or Dune
Glass, just based on, you know, if they're
familiar with,
these negative depictions?
Yeah. I think that, you know, what what
folks read as well as
the folks that they know that may have
partnered with different people,
either within dentistry or in any other medical
specialties is is gonna give them a perspective.
And so, you know, generally speaking, what I
always
talk to folks about is, you know, talk
to some of our doctors,
understand, you know, what their life looks like
now. You know, have there been improvements?
What's different? What's the same?
And see if it's something that that makes
sense to them more long term.
Yeah. Definitely. That makes sense.
Moving on to our next question here. What
are you most excited about when it comes
to dentistry right now, and what makes you
nervous?
Yeah.
Another good question. So I think, you know,
kind of to build on what I was
saying earlier is I think one of the
things that excites me the most
is that I know that our partnership model
works. It's proven, right?
It's best for doctors. It doesn't replace private
practice.
They remain in control of their destiny and
it honestly, it provides the best
access and care to patients, which I think
is evidenced by
some of the recent growth stories that have
come out about Allied OMS and just its
continued interest from investors.
And and that's exactly what we're replicating at
phase one equity.
Okay. Is there anything that makes you nervous
right now about the dental industry?
You know, I think that some of the
other concerns that folks have had,
you know, in regards to wage inflation
or in regards to
I think I think it's it's challenging to
find
employees.
Everyone from maybe the folks that you might
hire early on in their career to later
in their career and that includes doctors.
And so I think that being able to
make sure that
we are out there and making investments
in the recruiting space is really, important for
us to make sure that we have a
very
successful business into the long term.
Okay. Yeah. Could you go into a little
bit more detail about the strategies Allied is
using as far as recruiting more staff members?
Yeah. Absolutely.
We've recently hired and continue to hire folks,
in the recruitment side of, human resources.
Whether it's whether it's doing,
doctor recruiting dinners,
whether it's utilizing
innovative tools to help us with hiring and
how to make that more effective.
I think one of the challenges
that a number of groups could have
is that,
at least for us,
every practice maintains
its branding.
And so as you can imagine, it's a
little bit more challenging to say, well, how
does this practice,
what is its culture versus the culture of
one that might be in a state over?
And so being able to make sure that
we can effectively
communicate those things,
engage our doctors and our employees at each
practice
to help and assist across the hiring
spectrum, I think that's what's really allowed us
to grow and find the right people for
our continued success.
Okay.
And what will the most effective healthcare leaders
need to be successful in the next 2
to 3 years?
You know, I think there's
2 things.
I think that you need a belief that
the investment in the partnerships,
is good for patients, staff, doctors, and candidly
the US healthcare industry.
As long as leaders ensure that clinical autonomy
and patient care remains in the hands of
doctors and their teams.
And I think maybe lastly, just the commitment,
the values and expertise to build platforms to
provide
robust business and operational support
that that honestly, that just protects the doctor
centric model and ability to optimize value at
each practice.
Well, thank you for joining us today, Brian.
It's been a pleasure speaking with you, and
I look forward to connecting with you again
in the future. Great. Thanks for having me.