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 basketball 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.
Hello. This is Arianna Portellatin with the Becker's
Dental and DSO Review podcast. I'm thrilled to
be joined today by Holly Stevenson, the vice
president of affiliate and government relations at Dental
Lifeline Network. Holly, thank you so much for
being here today.
Thank you. I am really excited to be
here. Becker's does such a great service, and
I'm glad to be here. A little bit
of background about myself. I am a lawyer
by background.
I've worked for corporations, state government, and in
the nonprofit sector for the last 15 years
and in various areas of healthcare for about
20 years.
So, as was mentioned, I,
work at dental lifeline network and I've been
here,
Oh gosh, about 12 years. So dental lifeline
network is a nonprofit
and we're actually celebrating 50 years this year.
Through our history, we've learned that people in
the dental community are very philanthropic
and we provide a turnkey program that helps
dentists and labs give back to their communities.
Patients are seen in dentist offices
and labs donate materials and appliances as well.
Our programs help people living with disabilities
who are elderly or medically compromising
cannot afford the dental healthcare.
And we do prioritize veterans through our program
and those, our patients receive comprehensive dental care
through our volunteers.
This program, this particular program is called the
donated dental services
program, and it started almost 40 years ago
in Denver
and now operates in every state. Over a
169,000
patients
have received almost $557,000,000
in donated care.
Great. Thank you so much for that. It's
great to hear more about your organization.
To get our conversation started, first question here,
what are some of the biggest issues that
you're following in the dental industry this year?
Yeah. Absolutely.
So first, I would say the changes in
ownership of dental practices.
Lifeline network. Historically, we've worked very closely with
the American Dental Association and state Dental Associations.
But recently we developed a strategic plan and
a 3 year operational plan included
as a key strategy was to put more
focus in with group practices and the DSO
area
and really expand our partnerships with DSOs and
group practices.
So over a year ago, we hired a
new director. Her name is Katie Winicki and
she primarily works with group practices, DSOs and
strategic partners.
Since then we've been attending lots of DSO
conferences and really networking.
And this gave us an opportunity to really
network with individuals in this particular area of
dentistry.
As you know, more new dentists are joining
group practices for various reasons,
especially younger and newer dentists.
Many of them have a large amount of
debt that they've accumulated through their student loans.
And these new dentists we've talked to want
to give
back to their communities. In addition,
dentists are nearing retirement and selling their practices
and more and more to group practices or
to DSOs.
And as they retire, they are no longer
able to volunteer with our program.
So we are really trying many different ways
to introduce DLN to the DSO world.
And we're beginning to see results in expanding
our group practice partnerships from just a little
over a year, about 3 organizations. And, now
we're,
partnering with about 16
and we're also working with another 15 to
20 who are also interested.
So another issue we are really following closely
are the workforce shortages
that continue to impact dentists. And this includes
dental hygienists as well as assistants.
So these shortages impact recruitment and also services
that are volunteer dentists and labs are able
to provide.
So treatment for our patient used to take
about 6 months to a year, and now
we're seeing the treatment is taking 12 months
to 18 months.
So that's a big issue for us. Another
big issue that we continue to follow are,
Medicaid and Medicare dental benefits,
primarily the Medicaid dental benefits and the type
of coverage States provide through their programs.
We've seen an expansion of state benefits. However,
the reimbursement rates in most of those States
have not kept up with actual costs.
And, it'll be interesting to see many people
being removed from Medicaid, how that will really
impact our programs and how many will need,
treatment through our programs.
So we follow med the Medicare issues since
Medicare does not include dental benefits. We are
seeing an increase in seniors needing our services.
And although Medicare started reimbursing for some dental
care related to other medical issues,
dentists may not actually want to become a
Medicare provider.
And we find that some of our volunteers
tell us they'd rather work with our program
and provide pro bono work than become Medicaid
or Medicare providers. So those are,
several of the big issues that we're following.
Yeah. Definitely, a lot of important issues that
you mentioned there. I wanted to follow-up on
what you mentioned about Medicaid and Medicare expansion.
You said that, a lot of dental providers
don't wanna necessarily become Medicaid and Medicare providers.
Can you kinda go into a little bit
more detail about why that is? Yeah. What
we've heard is there's a couple reasons. 1,
to become a Medicaid provider, you have to
be certified through, a state agency.
And secondly,
depending on the state, some of the reimbursement
rates are very low.
And so what we've heard is sometimes it's
a hassle to become a Medicaid provider. So
they would rather just not do that.
And then I've even, you know, heard of
some dentists that what they're doing is they
become Medicaid providers, but they have to really
balance that with their private pay, private insurance
pay patients, just because they're being under, paid
through Medicaid.
Medicare is just a real, it's a small
niche.
And,
it really has to do with those patients
who are undergoing another,
medical condition. And that's why they would, be
eligible
for some services through Medicare.
And so there, again,
I have seen historically where oral surgeons might
be Medicare providers, but again, it's, it's more
of a little bit of a niche on
where, they would want to be if they
would wanna be certified as, through Medicare.
Okay. Yeah. Thank you for providing some more
details there. Moving on to our next question.
What makes you the most excited when it
comes to dentistry right now, and is there
anything that makes you nervous?
Sure. So I think what I'm really excited
is to see the new generations of dentists
going into dentistry.
I think most dentists went into dentistry to
help people. The newer generations, gen X, millennials,
and gen Z are even more interested in
giving back,
but also they want to associate with practices
and organizations that are philanthropic.
In fact, our research shows that millennials, socially
conscious engage in causes to help other people
and want to provide charitable care
and charitable giving and corporate volunteerism
are very important to the millennial generation.
This generation often actually seeks employers
who are socially responsible.
They are more likely to stay loyal to
organizations that actively engage in corporate social responsibility
initiatives,
and they may even choose jobs based on
the organization's reputation and culture
organizations that integrate CSR into their culture can
really attract and retain millennial talent more effectively.
I think it's really important for DSOs to
communicate their philanthropic work and the charitable programs
they support regularly
millennials more than any other generation. One of
feel as though they are doing something that
means something
and they need to be aware of their
organization's CSR programs.
Forbes did a study recently and,
what they said is giving back or volunteering
is becoming a top retention strategy for corporations.
And this study, on talent retention also found
companies see a 52%
lower turnover
among newer employees when they participate in purpose
programs. So this isn't just dentists, but this
is also, dental staff as well.
So we've been operating our DDS program for
40 years and we really make it easy
to give back. It's very turnkey.
So the new generation of dentists really gives
me hope that we can continue to expand
the number of patients helped through our program.
So what makes me nervous? The second part
of your question. So working for a nonprofit
organization, I'm always nervous about funding.
Our revenue comes from state grants, private foundation
grants, and personal contributions.
We are very fortunate to have many dental
industry partners who have supported us over the
years. We are a strategic partner of the
ADA and have been endorsed or supported by
49 state Dental Associations.
Additional partners include Henry Schein, Patterson, Venco, Dentsply
Sirona,
and the Deltas and Guardian Life Insurance,
company have also been very generous partners.
And of course, many other private and state
specific foundations have helped support DLN over the
years.
Nevertheless, we're always looking for new partners and
different ways to expand our revenue so really
that we can help more people.
So if anyone is listening,
it would be interested in helping. Our website
is www.dentallifeline.org.
And, of course, they can always contact me
as well.
Great. Thank you so much for that.
Last question here. What will the most effective
health care leaders need to be successful within
the next 2 to 3 years? Yeah. That's
a great question. So I think health care
leaders need to be visionaries,
and they need to be willing to embrace
new technologies.
I think it's really exciting to see what's
happening to get today with AI and other
technology in general. And I think it's gonna
have a huge impact in the dental world.
I think leaders also need to be good
managers who will support and really adapt to
the new generation of healthcare workers.
And again, saying it again, it is important
for leaders to integrate a corporate social responsibility
initiative into their organization's culture.
Charitable giving and corporate volunteerism
are very important to the new generation of
dentists and dental workers. And they are going
to seek employers who are really socially responsible.
And they're more likely, as I mentioned earlier,
to stay loyal to organizations that really actively
engage in CSR initiatives.
I will say, as an example, one of
our dentists who lives in PA, she does
own her own practice. And as a millennial
recently mentioned
that a big reason that people don't see
dentists is because of the costs involved. She
said that dentists volunteering through Dionne's program
really is a gift to bridge that gap.
She also said it feels really good personally
to make sure a patient's life is better
based on what she can do to help
them. She said her staff love taking care
of our patients.
They are really committed to the patient's care
and appreciate the ability to help others. She
said it's really nice to be seen as
a practice where it's not always just about
dollars and cents, but really helping people.
Another one of our dentists who is a
millennial as well and owns a practice in
New Jersey
told us that when a DDS patient is
in his office, he said his whole staff
has a good day and really feels good
about helping the patient. And he said it's
really helped his morale when they have, one
of our patients in their office.
So as mentioned, DLN makes it really easy
for DSOs and group practices to give back
to the community,
and we can be a critical part of
their CSR initiative.
I'm always interested in talking to others about
DLN and how we might partner,
and,
I'm always available for questions.
Great. Well, thank you so much for joining
us today, Holly. It has been a pleasure
speaking with you, and I look forward to
connecting with you again in the future.
Alrighty. Well, thank you so much. And my
email address is hstevenson,
s t e v e n s o
n, at dental lifeline dotorg.
Or again, our website is www.dentallifeline.org.