Hey there, dental professionals and industry enthusiasts.
Picture this. It's October, and you're in the
middle of one of the most transformative
experiences of your career. You're at the Becker's
fall future of dentistry roundtable in the vibrant
city of Chicago, fresh off an incredible 3
days at the Hyatt Regency. Imagine yourself inspired
and invigorated after attending captivating keynote sessions by
none other than the legendary boxing world champion
and CEO, Lila Elite, and the extraordinary professional
player, Caitlin Clark. See yourself engaged in lively
discussions, exchanging ideas, and collecting a stack of
business cards from fellow dental experts and potential
partners. You've networked with over 350
attendees and learned from more than 80 speakers
who are at the forefront of dental innovation.
You sat in on educational
sessions exploring topics that elevate dental care as
a critical element of whole person health. You've
witnessed firsthand how digital technology is revolutionizing
patient outcomes
and how both large DSOs and independent practices
are flourishing.
Get ready to transform your career and don't
miss out on this incredible opportunity. The Becker's
fall future of dentistry roundtable is from October
30th to November 1, 2024.
Get registered by going to beckersdental.com
and clicking on the events page.
Welcome everyone to the Becker's Healthcare podcast series.
I'm Rya Muhammad, writer and moderator with Becker's
Healthcare, and thrilled to have with me today
Cammy Luchak, senior director of operations for the
Midwest at Imagine Dental Partners. Cammy, welcome to
the Becker's Healthcare podcast. We're very excited to
have you join us today. To get us
started, would you mind please introducing yourself and
telling us a bit about your background?
Yeah. Thanks, Mariah, for having me today. Excited
to be here.
So Cammy Lujak,
like Mariah said, senior director of operations right
now for Imagine Dental Partners.
Currently reside in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
I've been in dentistry for about 13 years,
both on the clinical side, business development, and
operations side.
I was actually predental in college about 15
years ago and worked as a dental assistant
to gain experience in the dental field.
And when I didn't get into dental school
my 1st year, I became an office manager
of a dental office, and that really truly
sparked my passion for more of the operations
and business side of dentistry versus the clinical
side.
So I've worked for
multiple DSOs,
but currently, you know, working with Imagine Dental
Partners.
My main role in the organization is to
strategize
with our partner practices on how are we
gonna grow their practices over the next couple
of years. Is it adding additional providers like
hygienists and associates,
or is it expanding our, clinicians' clinical skill
set through technology and education and adding a
new service to the practice like clear aligners
or implants. And so that's my current role
within the organization.
Wonderful. Thank you so much for giving us
that background. I'm sure it'll definitely,
put into play,
some of your responses for, you know, the
rest of the podcast.
The first thing I really wanted to ask
you, Cammy, is what are the biggest issues
you're following in dental right now?
I'm sure there are a lot of different
topics that you're working with being the senior
director of operations.
But what are some of the biggest things
that you're following in the news? Anything that's,
impacting you right now?
Yeah. I think this is a hot topic
between a lot of different organizations,
you know, between DSOs and DPOs, but definitely
recruiting and staffing shortages.
You know, post COVID, it's just been a
completely different market for talent.
And we really need to expand and increase
our enrollment for hygiene and assisting programs so
that they can help
fill the need of the open positions that
we have at our partner practices and then
at other practices across the country.
But because of the staffing shortages, I think
that we're all seeing that labor costs are
increasing significantly,
especially in hygiene.
Team members are leaving for higher pay,
and in turn, it's really affecting our access
to patient
or our access to care for patients.
I actually just read an article recently, and
it said almost 70% of practices are looking
for one team member at least,
which is a little crazy to think about.
So when we want the best patient experience,
it's hard when you don't have the talent,
or the rotating staff in your dental practices.
So definitely recruiting and staffing has been, a
challenge across the industry.
Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. I I completely hear you.
I think a lot of people that I
talked to in, you know, the dental space
kinda say the exact same thing, and I
think it it's going across multiple different fields
in health care right now. Is there anything
else that's kinda making you nervous or anything
that you are excited about, whether it's anything
that you're dealing with in your organization or
anything else that you're kinda seeing on the
news?
Yeah.
I actually attended the last Becker's review in
Chicago,
which was a great event, and really kind
of the hot trend right now is AI
technology.
It's really fascinating
that it can be both used clinically and
administratively.
You know, there's platforms out there like Pearl,
Overjet, Venti AI
that can offer opportunities to help improve clinical
alignment, diagnostics, and patient care.
But it's cool also too to hear how
AI can better support administrative processes and efficiencies,
especially in the RCM wheelhouse.
Like, Inside Desk, that was one of the
ones that they talked about, at the last
Becker's review.
And they had a new tool. I think
it was called Inside Dial,
but actually using AI to follow-up on AR
and with insurance companies. And so that can
help create efficiencies.
And also in marketing, you know, AI call
tracking systems not only record calls, but they
analyze them so that you can help convert
more leads for your dental practices. But it
also creates better training for your front desk.
They can listen in and understand why
a patient did or didn't accept,
that that new appointment within your practice.
So I think that AI is kind of
the hot topic and hot trend right now
in dentistry. And I know across our organization,
we're using it in in multiple ways, which
is exciting.
What's making me nervous,
I think, is the increase in interest rates
in the economy and just the uncertainty there,
and also the low in reimbursements from insurance
companies as costs are rising. I think patients
are being more cautious
in their
income and buyers,
also being more cautious and financing conditions are
becoming a little bit less favorable. So little
bit on of uncertainty there in the economy.
So that's definitely what we've been watching a
little bit.
Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Well, first, I'm glad you
enjoyed the dental roundtable. You know, I've heard
from a lot of executives, you know, talk
about the AI tech. And I think this
topic will definitely continue to develop, and, people's
opinions will continue to sway.
But I I am glad to hear that
AI can be used in multiple different fronts
of health care, which is really nice. And,
Cammy, before I let you go, the last
thing I wanted to ask you is, what
do you think the most effective health care
leaders need in order to be successful in
the next 2 to 3 years do you
think?
Yeah. I think that recruiting and retaining strong
talent
really focus on
retaining those a players is what we like
to call them. If you can develop trust,
be have good communication and transparency with your
team,
motivate them by listening, listen to their ideas,
and implement it into your your practice and
your workflows,
I think that you will boost their productivity
and have good retention. And they'll be happy
in their role, and they don't want to
leave your organization.
It's hard to grow when you don't have
good talent. And I think that not only
applies to your direct reports,
but also to the dental practices as well
and to your dental providers. You know? I
always say if you've got happy doctors,
and a happy team, you have happy patients.
So really thinking about how you can retain
your good talent.
Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Well, thank you so much
for those final thoughts, Cammy. This has definitely
been an informative discussion. So, again, I wanna
thank you so much for coming on Becker's
Healthcare. I hope you had a good first
time on the podcast.
And I look forward to connecting with you
again soon.
Yeah. Thank you so much. Appreciate,
you asking me today. Have a great day.
You too.