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Hello. This is Arianna Portallatin with the Becker's
Dental and DSO Group podcast.
I'm thrilled to be joined today by Rose
House, the regional director of operations in Illinois
at P1 Dental Partners. Rose, thank you so
much for being here today.
I'm excited to be here. Thank you for
having me. Yeah. To start us off, can
you introduce yourself and tell us a little
bit about your background?
Sure.
I am a regional director of operations. I've
been in dentistry since I was in undergrad.
Absolutely love the field,
have a background
in private,
consulting as well.
So really working on top tier customer service
teams,
basically developing and launching
organizational protocols,
all the good stuff.
Great. Thank you for that introduction.
Our first question here, what are some of
the biggest issues that you're following in the
dental industry this year?
Honestly, I would say, first, I would say
access to care.
So as a regional director, I obviously have
offices in different
communities, and I'm always looking at the economic
barriers, the geographical barriers,
and how we as leaders can, affect change
in those areas.
Also watching the workforce cert shortages.
We are noticing a decline in applications for
open roles.
And then, obviously, we're excited about digital dentistry,
right, and all that comes with that. So
workflows
and how that impacts our patient and and
their care.
Okay. Great. And being the regional director
for, the Illinois region, what are some of
the accessibility issues that are specifically affecting this
area?
I would say cost and accessibility
in general. Right? Insurance challenges. So,
I'm always working to stay abreast of dental
insurance,
coverages, essential treatment,
because that obviously creates a financial barrier to
our patients.
And how can we overcome that. So it's
about education as well,
and just the high cost of care.
Things have certainly changed, I like to say,
pre COVID and post COVID. So our industry
has changed a lot. And it's important to
not only understand the changes from a cure
standpoint,
but also how it affects that access to
care. So it's really all interrelated.
Okay. Yeah. That's, that makes a lot of
sense. And as far as barcode shortages,
what positions,
are being most affected, that you've seen?
I would
definitely say the there's a hygienist shortage.
Right? I I often tell my teens, I'm
I'm in the wrong business. I need to
be in hygiene school,
because,
it affects not only our rural areas, but
also our metropolitan
areas.
And so as you can understand, it limits,
access to care again, all interrelated,
but also causes a strain to our existing
providers as as they strive to make sure
that they take care of their patient base.
So I would say the hygiene,
area is definitely short staffed at this time.
Okay. And I know those issues were exacerbated
by the COVID 19 pandemic, but have you
seen any improvement with those shortages since, the
pandemic has kind of alleviated?
I have not. I've seen an increase in
the shortages. Right? I think, there was this
complete mindset shift, I think, everyone experienced during
COVID. And so many hygienists simply did not
return to the field.
Right? And then others, you know, were they're
still in school. And so as we look
at hiring, we're looking at
cost of salary. We're looking at flexibility and
schedules. And so all of those things affect
the hiring of our hygiene team.
Right. Yeah. Definitely something that I've heard, across,
you know, many different practices and DSOs,
that I've spoken to recently. So that makes
a lot of sense.
Next question here. I know you talked a
little bit about, being excited
when it comes to digital dentistry. So can
you elaborate on what excites you about that
and anything else that's exciting you right now
about the dental industry?
Absolutely. So first, I think I'm really excited
about AI and machine learning. Right? So we've
got
these tools for diagnostics,
treatment planning,
patient management, patient follow-up. And so I'm finding
that this is becoming more prevalent in our
care on a day to day basis.
But I also think that it's excellent for
our patients as well. So while we are
excited about the technology,
I'm also excited for our patients to see,
it's almost like a second opinion right there
in the chair. Right? And so they're able
to see these visuals in real time, and
I think just overall, it just improves
overall care quality, I would say.
And then we have digital dentistry. Right? We
have 3 d printing. We have digital impressions
that we love to offer our patients. It
minimizes,
the number of visits to the office.
It just makes procedures a lot faster. They're
less invasive for our patients and quite honestly,
they're more accurate. So these are two things
that I'm really excited about in our field.
We're also seeing an increase in teledentistry.
So,
again, when we talk about breaking down barriers
to dental care,
especially for people who may be in remote
areas or underserved areas in terms of transportation,
I think,
virtual consultations,
follow ups,
and, you know, minor aspects of treatment, I
think, overall makes dental care more accessible.
Great. Thank you for sharing that. And I
know kind of following up on
what you mentioned when it comes to the
workforce shortages and accessibility
issues, is there anything else that is making
you nervous in particular about the dental industry?
Well, I think,
overall, it's a high cost. Right? Despite our
tech advancements, right, dental care can still be
pretty expensive for many patients. And so those
without adequate insurance coverage, I think, always worries
me. How are we going to deliver that
care? And so we work really hard to
be creative about,
access to care in that arena.
Also navigating
the insurance
landscape. Right?
Regulations are constantly changing.
Coding is constantly changing. And also,
you know,
that creates a financial barrier overall for both
patients as well as providers. Right? And so
we wanna make sure that we are educating
not only our team members, but also our
patients as they come in. I think that's
a great service that we we're proud to
do.
Great.
And last question here. What will the most
effective health care leaders need to be successful
within the next 2 to 3 years?
I would say flexibility.
As we are embracing technology, I think it's
important to keep an open mind and really
figure out how that works for your patient
base as well as your providers and team
members.
Also focusing on, I would say, enhancing that
patient experience.
We are such a technological society that I
think sometimes we don't remember that that one
on one communication with the patient, picking up
the telephone and actually having
conversation and making sure that they understand
treatment and the advancements in our field is
really critical.
And then also as a leader, I look
at the workforce management, right? How are we
fostering a resilient workforce, right? Do we are
we cultivating a culture where team members want
to come and work with us, right? And
how do we address those workforce shortages that
I just mentioned?
So all of those things I think are
really
important as leaders to be successful, and I
will say in the next 2 to 3
years for certain.
Great. Well, thank you so much for joining
us today, Rose. It's been a pleasure speaking
with you, and I look forward to connecting
with you again in the future. You as
well. Have a wonderful day.