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 Cameron Cortagiano with the Becker's
Dental and DSO Review podcast.
Those will be joined today by doctor Jason
Auerbach,
founder and president of Riverside Oral Surgery,
as well as founder and co CEO of
Max Surgical Specialty Management.
Doctor Auerbach, thank you so much for being
here today.
Thank you for having me, Cameron. Looking forward
to it. To start us off today, can
you introduce yourself and tell us a little
bit about your background?
Sure. My name is Jason Auerbach. I'm a
board certified oral maxillofacial
surgeon. I trained and finished training in full
scope oral maxillofacial
surgery
back in 2003.
Started,
from scratch Riverside Oral Surgery in Northern New
Jersey in
2007. Grew Riverside Oral Surgery,
over the course of about 15 years to
about 11 locations serving Northern and Central New
Jersey.
And then ultimately
set out to find
a direct investment
through private equity and,
founded and are now coheading with Mark Zentoprano
of Guardian Dental Partners,
as co CEOs,
Max Surgical Specialty
Management,
which is a northeast based
surgeon led
oral maxillofacial
surgery only
platform,
serving now 4 about to be 5 states
throughout the northeast.
Great. Thanks for that.
And our first question today, what are some
of the biggest issues that you're following,
throughout the dental industry
so far in 2024?
So on a on a practice level, it's
really all about trying to,
implement
the best technology
and broaden the scope of our practices to
serve as many patients as we
can, in as optimal a way as possible.
So everything that we do at the practice
level is aimed at optimizing the patient experience,
whether it's through technology
or education
or collaboration among surgeons. That's my that's my
primary focus at the practice level.
At the at the platform level
in terms of finance and RCM
and,
human resources
and operations,
it's about
really kind of looking at best in class
practices out there, understanding what kind of technology
we can leverage to better support our surgeons
and our practices,
and overall just build a team of
incredible human beings who can
support,
a team of incredible surgeons.
Great. And when you kind of talk about
that technology that you're looking to implement,
is it maybe AI, 3 d printing,
maybe a combination of both, maybe some other
tech? What what what are some of those
technologies that you're adding?
Yeah. So
I I I look at it kind of
in a bifurcated way.
And, really, it's funny because, you know, being
a platform now,
we really are in 2 different businesses.
The practice level,
doctor level, team level,
like I said is really all about enhancing
the patient experience whether it's looking for more
reproducible and predictable outcomes
through technological
advantages
like,
3 d
imaging and intraoral scanning and guided surgery through
3 d printing or, you know, just trying
to do whatever we can to implement technology
at the practice level
versus what we're doing at the platform level
in RCM
and claims submission
and even just operations in terms of the
way our teams manage the
to really kind of leverage that newer
technology
to really make
the systems
within the practice or within the business operations
of the practice
more efficient.
Got it. That makes
sense.
Something that I'm curious to get your thoughts
on are
what are some of the most exciting things
you're looking forward to in dentistry?
And what are some things
that are potentially making you a little bit
weary or a little bit nervous?
Well, I'll I'll I'll start, you know, I'll
start with the end and and move forward
on that. Things that are making me nervous
are just, you know, understanding what the unknowns
are. The macro
decreased interest rates can be a very, very
decreased interest rates
can be a very, very positive thing. Although
I think there's a lot still unknown
with where we're headed in the political cycle
in the United States in particular.
And I think that's probably my biggest concern
on a macro scale.
Cost of labor, you know, continues to rise,
but I do think that we do at
MAX a very good job of providing, you
know, basically
a wonderful benefit package and really competitive,
compensation packages
for
for all of our
team members.
We're focused on,
basically diversity and equity and making sure that
all of our all of our team members
feel included
and and make sure that they feel that
they are appropriately,
compensated and and, not just financially, but in
every way
at MAX. In terms
of what I'm really most excited for
overall is the implementation of technology. We spoke
about it to some degree,
what it's enabling us to do
in a quicker and more reproducible way,
and and really with better outcomes and and
more predictable outcomes
is is really exciting, especially for somebody who's
been doing it as long as I have
to be able to,
to help patients and help more patients
and help them get to a better place,
really across the board is for me what's
most exciting about dentistry right now. In fact,
you know, dentistry beautifully
has been always very embracing of technology,
but but as technology or as enhances in
technology
are
are are improving in terms of its rate
and, of course, in terms of its scale,
dentistry is really
adopting those technologies and and we really are
at the forefront at the practice level of
doing that. So I'm excited about that.
Awesome.
You kind of touched on the macroeconomic
conditions
that are impacting health care and dentistry.
You talked about the interest rates coming down
a little bit and but there's still a
lot of uncertainty going on. What do you,
expect
for the economy going forward in terms of
how it'll affect
dental practices and and DSOs and MSOs
and those kind of things? Maybe,
more activity,
more patients,
I guess anything like that?
Yeah. I I think oral maxillofacial
surgery in particular has has shown that it
is
pretty
resistant to some large shifts that we see
on a macro scale.
We've seen it in some significant economic downturns.
Again, I started my practice in 2007, so
we've been through a couple of different crises
financially,
over that time. And, of course,
COVID and and coming out of COVID, oral
maxillofacial surgery in by and large has done
well.
We provide
care
in an emergent and an urgent basis. We
provide much needed care
and by and large basis, patients
need to see us. So in in from
a business sense, we are we're fortunate in
that way. I also think, and you see
this across all businesses,
that those who really separate themselves in terms
of,
their focus on the patient or client or
customer experience
tend to shine. And those who are just
out there providing care for the sake of
care,
are not necessarily going to see themselves at
the top of the,
at the top of the food chain. Instead,
we as a as an organization,
pride ourselves on partnering with practices
and doctors and team members who wholeheartedly
believe in the importance of the patient experience.
It's it's it's in everything that we do.
It's in our mission and our vision.
It certainly has been from the time that
I started Riverside
that
as long as we continue to do right,
we pay attention to these little details that
the patients,
who need care will seek us out and
they they continue to and and I feel
very, very fortunate. Now again, there's plenty out
there that I can't know, I can't predict.
You know, the political climate, as I said,
might shift, it may not, who knows. But
those those are the things that I keep
my eye on in terms
of not understand that I have no control
over it, but need to be nimble and
and need to be aware.
So in any event, we can come out
stronger than we went in.
Got it. That makes a ton of sense.
In your view,
what will the most effective,
leaders in health care need in order to
be successful,
over the next 2 to 3 years?
So I think the technology piece is, I
won't say obvious, but it's clear.
The focus on the patient experience, the focus
on the way that the patient receives
not just the actual care,
but
the experience of having gone through
the entire from the first phone call to
the
billing experience or whatever,
that it needs to be really, really well
defined and honed. And I think that those
who pay attention to that are going to
really succeed,
to really understand that we're in the business
of taking care of patients. And
to forget that is to maybe
lose our way a little bit and I
don't know, you know, I think that by
and large our population has seen a little
bit of a decrease in the quality of
care that they perceive they receive and they
also perceive that,
it's because of the focus on corporate profits
etcetera, etcetera. But I think as long as,
the administrators
and the executives within the
platforms
within the larger
doctors and the teams that are providing care
to the patients,
and that care needs to be top notch,
maybe even at the expense of some,
at some profit level,
on a micro scale,
overall, the ROI on taking care of your
people, taking care of your patients, taking care
of your referring doctors
is substantially
great.
Definitely. Because, at the end of the day,
it really is about, delivering
the best care to the patient and and
also, you know, giving your providers a great
experience as well.
That's exactly right.
Well, I wanna thank you for joining us
today, doctor Auerbach, and sharing
valuable
expertise
and insights into the dental industry,
and and healthcare.
It's been a pleasure speaking with you today,
and I look forward to connecting with you
again in the future, hopefully.
Hey, Tamara. Thank you so much. I really
enjoyed it. And thank you to everyone listening.
Really appreciate, having the opportunity to be on.