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. This is
Laura Dirda with the Becker's Healthcare podcast.
I'm thrilled today to be joined by Travis
Franklin, CFO at Heartland Dental, and Kevin Prane,
president at Concord Career Colleges.
Travis, Kevin, it's a pleasure to have you
both on the podcast today.
Thanks for having us, Laura.
Yeah. Thank you so much for having us.
Absolutely. I'm excited for our conversation because it
seems like the
word of the year in the health care
space has been partnerships.
And especially thinking through partnerships around,
you know, accessibility
in workforce and those kinds of things. And
so I'm looking forward to learning more about
how you both are working together.
But before we dive in, could you please,
tell us a little bit more about yourself
and and how Heartland Dental and Concord Career
Colleges are working together, for the future?
So I can start. I can start. I'm
I'm Kevin Frayn,
again, president of Concord Career Colleges, and we're
the health care division of Universal Technical Technical
Institute, Inc.
I've been in in health care education for
about 20 years in a variety of operational
roles. Been with Concord
a little over 5 years now,
first as the the COO and now the
the division president.
Concord,
prepares the next generation of
health care and and dental professionals for, for
rewarding careers.
We've got about 10,000 students across the country.
We operate in 17,
we operate in 8 states and 17 campuses.
About 1800 of those are enrolled in our
dental hygiene and dental assistant programs.
And we are
very proud to,
say that we produce the highest number of
dental hygienist graduates and the 2nd highest number
of dental assistant graduates in the in the
country.
A little bit about the the Heartland,
Concord partnership, and I'm sure Travis can,
expand on this.
But this is a a first of its
kind partnership,
between,
an educator and a and a employer,
to develop a co branded campus for dental
hygiene and dental assistant programs.
And we we we entered into this partnership
to help address,
Heartland Dental practices,
Heartland Dental supported practices,
significant demand for hygienists and assistance and specific
markets. And so the first campus that we'll,
build together,
scheduled right now to open at the end
of 2025,
is in Fort Myers, Florida.
And we'll train up to a 120 hygienists
and 72
dental assistants,
annually.
We'll use Concord's curriculum,
instructors and all of our student support services.
And then Heartland is funding the total cost
of the construction
equipment,
supplies, and is also providing scholarships to to
students. So we're extremely excited about the partnership
and,
look forward to the future and and,
you know, hopefully, this is the first of
many.
Yeah. My only add to that is, you
know, many years ago,
I think we've been tracking, I'll say, for
multiple years,
especially coming out of COVID when the the
amount of total hygienists,
left there were about 7% of hygienists that
left kind of the the space or
or discontinued
employment,
across the entire United States.
And then we've continued to study the 345
different CODIS schools
that are
graduating hygienists across the US, and we just
continue to see,
a decline in that,
in the amount that we're graduating. And
and we looked to our partners in Florida
where
we had been hiring,
a lot of hygienists off of their campuses
that they,
that they currently have. And we said, hey.
We've got this idea in Florida, and, you
know, would you guys wanna partner? And I
think, that's,
effectively what Kevin shared with you today that,
of where we've we've ultimately,
gotten to,
because I think there's a real need,
for providers,
based upon the demand for services in many
many cities and states,
especially in high growth or high net migratory
states like Florida.
That makes a lot of sense. You know?
And it's really cool to hear how you've
been able to work together and partner,
to troubleshoot a really big issue in health
care, as you mentioned, especially,
on the staffing side, trying to fill some
of the hygienists that left, the space during
COVID 19.
Definitely not an easy task. So,
it's just really
cool to see the innovative and and creative
partnership there.
And, Travis, from your perspective, you know, in
Heartland as well,
you're you're definitely,
jumping in in in putting a lot of,
financial resources and efforts into this partnership. And
so, you know, when you looked at,
that, how did you make the decision that
this was the the right call, something you
really needed to invest in and wanted to,
jump into and support, a 100%?
Yeah. I mean, for us, it was, I'll
say, a relatively easy,
easy decision,
because,
you know, what we continue to see is
that we've we've grown nicely in the state
of Florida.
I think one of the keys, I think,
for the entire state,
is that,
we continue to be able to attract
and retain talent in those offices that we
support.
And so as we continue to study the
amount of
of of new people moving into the state,
the amount of supply of hygienists coming out
of the state
or, coming out of the different,
hygiene schools in the state,
and, subsequently, the retirement rates of current hygienists,
not to include the attrition just from the
from the job.
We just said, hey. This is something I
think we broadly have to do,
in order to meet the demands of of
of the communities that that we serve or
the offices that we serve.
And so as we heard from the dentists
that we support,
one of the overarching
needs that they had was supply of of
of hygienists and,
and assistance.
And so
for us, this is this is an innovative
and creative response to that market need,
and, couldn't just couldn't be more, happy to
do with Concord.
That's great to hear. Now I'm wondering, you
know, what are some of the other big
issues that you're following in dental space right
now? What's kind of top of mind for
you? And and, Travis, I'd love to hear
your perspective from Heartland Dental and then, Kevin,
to some of the things that you're thinking,
at the Concord level as well.
Yeah. So
from a Heartland perspective, I think some of
the biggest issues that that we're following in
dental would be,
you know, one of the themes of this
call today. I mean, you know, we've been
studying,
broadly the dental industry.
And if you look back, you know, data
goes all the way back to the 19
sixties. There's been this nice
and continued rise in demand for dental services,
about 4 to 5% a year over long
periods of time.
And then in kind of the early eighties,
dental school started
kinda slowing,
the amount of enrollments and the amount of
total graduates that were coming out of those
schools for about 2 decades.
And then they started increasing those those,
enrollments and more and graduating more in kind
of the late nineties is when that started
kicking in.
In the meantime, there just been nice growth
for for dental services all throughout that period.
And for us, you know, this does continue
to be one of the biggest issues broadly
in dental, whether it's it's, the dentist,
the the hygienist, the the assistants,
or even business assistants in the in the
offices that we support.
It's just the supply of of providers,
being able to say yes to
to the demand, for those services.
And what we see at Heartland is it's
just so critical.
I think there continues to be
you know, we've known this, I'll say, for
over a decade now, the the systemic link
between oral health care and overall body health,
and being able to have providers to be
able to take
care of
good basic oral health care in the communities
that we're serving,
I think, is just something that we're all
deeply
thinking about. Obviously, you're you're seeing an innovative
response to this, but it's clearly one of
the biggest issues,
I think in dental and I think broadly,
I e, since it's an issue in dental,
it's something that Heartland's,
specifically focused on.
That's great to hear. And definitely, you know,
makes a big difference, to have that strong
pipeline of providers and people coming in. You
can confidently
know we're gonna treat patients well and and
get great
outcomes. Definitely easier said than done, but, you
know, that that focus makes a lot of
sense, and thank you for kind of sharing
the trends that you've been seeing over the
last several years. And, you know, I was
wondering, Kevin, is there anything you'd like to
add there?
Well, the the workforce shortage is is certainly
the big one in terms of issues that
that we're following.
You know, Travis, said it very well in
terms of kind of outlining the the the
issue.
A couple of things, though, from an health
care education standpoint.
I think it's important to note that these
shortages
impact,
just like they impact our employer partners, it
also causes
challenges for us with hiring instructors
to teach the the next generation of, of
dental hygienists and and assistance. And so it
is a cyclical
problem.
The other challenge that, that we face
is,
often lengthy regulatory
approval process, which is, you know, essential to
ensuring that we you've got
academic quality, and we're producing
qualified hygienists. But,
it can it can be a lengthy process.
And so we, you know, have become experts
in, navigating that that process to ensure we
get new programs,
or expansions rolled out as quickly as possible,
and that's been our that's been our focus.
Beyond that, you know, dent dentistry is constantly
evolving, so I think some of the other
trends that we that we follow are new
technologies, new treatments.
I know I know Heartland, is on the
forefront
of that, and so we strive to keep
our programs
up to date, you know, with the latest
the latest trends.
Another reason we're so excited to partner with
Heartland,
is that we get a direct
lens into, you know, what's happening in the
field with their practices.
And this this cobranded campus will have the
latest,
Heartland approved,
equipment.
And I do wanna thank Travis just for
his, you know, words about, Concord and, you
know, that Heartland sees the the quality of
our programs and the the strong student outcomes
and and chose to partner with us. We're
very thankful for that.
Oh, that's fantastic to hear. You know? And
and really cool, like you said, to have
that openness and understanding
of, you know, what is needed to be
on the cutting edge, technology as well as
investments in the future. Now, Kevin, I wanna
start with you on this one. What are
you most excited about, and what makes you
nervous when you think about the next 2
to 3 years or so?
Well, what what what excites me the most
is is what we've been talking about, growth.
And, I mean, that can be employer partnerships,
but it can also just be, you know,
opening up new programs,
new campuses,
expanding our current offerings.
We're, you know, we're seeing an increased collaboration
between,
schools and employers,
who are who are doing innovative things like
this,
and to in order to ensure that we
are meeting the workforce needs. So this is
definitely what I'm most excited about. And then
I I guess the other side of the
coin is, you know, can we do it?
Right? And that makes me nervous. Right? Can
we do what we need to do to
meet meet the workforce demand?
And, you know, it's not a not a
coincidence that, the demand
for for health care workers is higher,
than national trends in in the states where
we have campuses. We
invest a lot in research into local employer
demand, into population dynamics,
and then the need for, you know, educational
programs when deciding where we, open campuses or
or expand,
new new programs.
But they it takes time, you know, and,
time is of the essence now as we,
face this this critical workforce challenge.
Absolutely. I think that makes a lot of
sense, you know, and certainly, it sounds like
you've got a great way and approach to
think about how you wanna grow and expand,
and fill some of those gaps.
Travis, is there anything else you wanted to
add? You know, when you look into the
future, what are you excited about, and would
you agree are the similar things making you
nervous?
Yeah. I would I would pretty much echo
what what Kevin said is that, you know,
we're excited about creating, you know, an innovative,
solution
here that, others maybe wouldn't do. But as
the leader in the space, it's something
that leaders do as they they they they
do new things and they try new things.
And for me, it's the excitement comes as
and some of the nervousness is this is
something new. This is something that hasn't necessarily
been done.
And if you know Heartland or you know,
the management team, we wanna do it the
right way,
and we want, to continue to to grow
and do more of these.
So we we want this one to be
the first one to be very successful,
because we think we're meeting, a need that
that that's really going, unmet.
So,
yeah, it's it's innovation, which is exciting. It's
growth, which is exciting. And then it's just
And then we give them a a potential
great place to to to come work in
a in a Heartland,
Heartland,
facility,
and along the way of giving them really
the education, the tools,
that will give them a
very rewarding career,
in the dental industry,
which we think can
really add a substantial value, not only to
the individual, but to the communities they're serving.
Those are the things, I think, that
really the reason why we do these do
these type of things.
Absolutely.
That that's really cool to hear. And definitely,
it seems it like, that would be,
the goal of most, you know, people going
into dentistry or wanting to be a dental
hygienist and work at that level is just
to have, the opportunity to go through, you
know, get the training you need, and become
good at what you do and then have
a a great role waiting for you, at
a practice of serving a great community. So,
that's really cool to hear. Thank you both
so much. Before we wrap up here, I
was wondering, you know, what are the most
effective health care leaders? What will they need
to be successful over the next 2 to
3 years, especially as the landscape continues to
change? And I know, you know, the workforce
challenges won't let up necessarily, but,
you know, we'll continue to grow and evolve
in the health care and dental space. Travis,
what are your thoughts? Where do you see
it being necessary for health care leaders to
focus their efforts,
in time to be most successful?
Yeah. I I think there's a couple of
things that come to mind whenever you ask
that question. Probably to be you know, some
of the most effective things I think health
care leaders will need will be you know,
I think they have to stay hyper focused
on creating
a high value
employment proposition,
for health care workers.
I think
I think you have to remain
leading edge as it relates
to being able to not only,
attract new talent,
to,
to your health care offering, but also to
be able to retain kind of the current
providers as well as the teams,
in those,
in those facilities.
I know broadly,
in broader health care
and in dental, to the extent you can't
retain your current staffing, it really creates a
significant headwind to be able to provide the
services you need to the to the communities
they're trying to serve.
Also, I think, you know, you're hearing a
theme of innovation,
as it relates to,
the supply of total overall providers. But
I think
I think health care leaders are going to
have to be innovative in how they think
about
what I'd call different back office functionality,
and how do you create better,
better systems and processes for the patients and
the offices.
And then I'll say that the the final
one is is just a hyperfocus
on customer experience.
I think in order to continue to attract
and retain,
patients that are visiting your health care offering,
I think you have to really be thoughtful,
from the time they walk in the front
door to the time that they they they
leave that door,
that you're providing them with a with a
really wow experience, almost a 5 star type
experience.
And, I think it's all those pieces that,
if you're any health care leader, you've gotta
be thinking about in,
in a lot of,
in a lot of what you're doing, whether
you're in a practice or whether you're you're
you're in a,
in a company that's serving, the health care
space. I think those are those are key
things you gotta be thinking about.
That's really cool to hear, and I think
you're spot on, just in terms of what
it takes to recruit great talent and then,
keep them looking at, you know, what the
experience is and and optimizing functionality and all
of those kinds of things. So that makes
a lot of sense. Kevin, is there anything
you would add?
Well, couldn't agree more with everything Travis just
said. I think, you know, being being innovative
requires
a a willingness to do it, right, to
get past the old models of education or
of
practice.
And, you know, clearly, Harland and and Concord
are are willing to do that, and I
think that's that's really important. And I, you
know, like Travis's comments about,
creating an exceptional place to work,
for their hygienists and all of their staff.
And, you know, Concord's
job then is to
train high qualified
graduates that are able to to meet the
needs of the employers. And so that's what
our that's what our focus is. And not
just on the the technical skills, but, you
know, just just
the technical skills, but, you know, just just
as importantly, you know, Travis talked about customer
experience. You need the right people for that.
And so, you know, instilling in our students
those those soft skills, necessary to be successful
dental professionals,
like,
patient communication, you know,
successful dental professionals,
like patient communication, you know, critical thinking,
teamwork,
you know, being able to manage a a
demanding
work environment, which which it is.
So we build these types of things into
our our curriculum, you know, as well as
the the technical
components.
And then I guess, let the last thing
I would add, and we've already kind of
hit on it, is just the technological
proficiency is just becoming more and more important.
So,
staying up to date on things like digital
dentistry, AI, you know, telehealth, those kind of
things are at the forefront now.
That's really great to hear. Kevin, Travis, thank
you so much for joining us on the
podcast today. This has been a fantastic discussion,
really informative, and neat to hear about what
you both are doing. I look forward to
connecting with you again soon.
Thank you for having us, Laura.