Hello. This is Arianna Portelatten with the Becker's
Dental and DSO Review podcast. I'm thrilled to
be joined today by Phil Cassis, the cofounder
and CEO at Providence Dental Partners,
and doctor Jason Mann, the cofounder and chief
dental officer at Providence Dental Partners. Phil and
Doctor Mann, thank you so much for being
here today. It's great to have you both.
Thanks for having us, Ariana.
Thank you. For having us. Yes. Definitely.
To start us off here, I'd love to
have you both introduce yourself and tell us
a little bit about Providence Dental Partners as
well. Phil, do you want to, get started
first? Yeah. I'd be happy to start. Again,
thank you and the Becker's healthcare team for
inviting us on the podcast. We've, enjoyed coming
to your events, over the last few years
and look forward to, being back with you
all in Chicago later this year.
Arianna, I, grew up in the dental industry.
My, dad is a practicing dentist still to
this day and for, going on forty five
years now.
Brothers and then to Donna, sister in law's
of dentists, I got a a bunch of
cousins and families that are all, dentists. And
so,
grown up in the industry and, spent about
twelve years with Henry Schein, and most of
that time was spent,
consulting and, providing guidance to dental practices all
across the country
to help them, run more efficient, more, profitable
dental practices and,
have known doctor Mann now for about eight
years. We we've partnered on things in the
past, and,
you know, I'll let him introduce himself, and
then, we'll talk a little bit more about
how Providence Dental Partners came to be.
Thank you, Phil.
Yeah. And so,
I'm Jason Mann,
a 02/2007
graduate of MCG in Augusta.
After leaving dental school, I was,
went over to Macon for about four years
as an associate and then wanted to build
something a little different. And so I started
at Providence,
Dental Spa back in 2011.
After growing it and got into some lecturing
with BioHorizon
and 02/2016
lecturing in the Southeast or with, full arch
dentistry.
Then really wanted to expand Providence a little
bit more and wanted to gain further access
of,
dentistry and health care. And so,
got into putting dental offices in Walmart supercenters
in 2018,
created the opportunity with Walmart to kick off
Walmart Health
back in 2018,
and actually kinda derived out of my Macon
practice. It was funny enough to see where
it began.
Then from there,
was with Walmart until 2021,
left them in 2021 to join another company
called Avisis under Guardian Insurance as their
chief clinical officer to still hold that role
today, overseeing dental, vision, quality
as well. And so,
as Phil said that, you know, we've known
each other for eight plus years,
and the tail end of 2023, Phil and
I created a
partnership to really take Providence to the next
level. And so under,
Phil's,
opportunity
and
leadership here, we are now at our ninth
location and, you know, want to, give a
big shout out to Phil with his,
partnership and leadership capabilities for Providence.
Great. Thank you both so much for those
introductions. Doctor Mann, great to hear about your
start in the industry, your work with Walmart,
and your extensive background.
Phil, definitely interesting to hear about all your
family members in the dental industry as well.
Super cool to to hear about.
My first question here for you for you
both, what are some of the biggest issues
that you're following in the dental industry this
year? Phil, can you, start off first?
Yeah. So I I think, one that I
know every,
both private practice, group dental, DSOs are all
challenged with are are staffing. Right? Being able
to to go out and recruit and retain,
good team members and practices. That's a challenge
that,
we continue to to see. We we've done
very well with it, I I think,
comparatively, but certainly a challenge to to go
out and find those team members in,
post COVID world to to get them committed
to the,
the practices. Also, there's always, always
challenges around revenue cycle management. Right? It it's
such a complex,
side of the business and,
again, just takes,
an extensive understanding of all the different components
that go into that to really excel at
that.
Outside of that, you know, doctor Mann, I
know you, you see some different challenges being
the the clinical leader of our business, so
I'll I'll let you share kinda what you
see on your side too. Oh, absolutely. No.
Thank you, Phil.
Yeah. Some of the things that I tend
to see, especially with some of the, new
dentists getting out is really around education cost,
and and opportunities or lack thereof mentorship.
And
as we start seeing those individuals get out,
that's usually the first thing that I hear
is that their desire for mentorship and and
maybe getting into opportunities
where they were once promised that and not
delivered there. And and now
engaging with other opportunities to try to grasp
for straws for that mentorship opportunity.
But also,
as they tend to kinda grow in their
educational,
I guess, pathway of career
is really making sure that,
you know, they maintain their foundational knowledge of
where
where they are,
what they have grown within the educational platform,
of dental school. Because I know I hear
a lot of push in the surgical approach
around implants, but, you know, as we start
looking at it, really understanding occlusion and making
sure that that's always reinforced throughout that pathway.
So but that all kinda piggyback into that
mentorship and guidance for a lot of these
new grads.
Great. Thank you so much for sharing that
insight, doctor Mann. And, definitely, you know, what
you mentioned about
the
need for mentorship and the educational cost, that's
something that I hear from a lot of
DSO executives knowing that that's a a big
thing in the industry right now with new
grads.
Do you see that affecting recruitment
for DSOs? Is that pushing more dentists toward
DSOs right now?
Well, I can tell you it's it's
definitely,
definitely an area that attracts a lot of
new grads,
just because of different things that, larger organizations
can do to try to offset some of
that cost.
But as this cost, you know, increases,
over the years, there's only so much that,
you know, some of these DSO organizations can
do or effectively can't do. So,
can't say it doesn't play a role,
but I definitely think there's, opportunities to be
had,
just to make sure that we deliver on
that expectation of, you know, offsetting that cost,
but also providing that mentorship throughout that process.
Okay. Thank you for sharing those additional thoughts
there.
Phil, I'm gonna field this next question to
you first. What are you most excited about
when it comes to dentistry
dental industry as well?
So I'll I'll tackle the first one first.
And doctor Mann can maybe attest to this.
Not a whole lot makes me unnervous. We
we have a,
running joke internally in our company. At first,
we panic and and then we figure out
what to do. And so,
there there's always gonna be things that come
up,
you know, issues to to solve, problems to
solve, and and that's what we do. We,
you know, we we,
we find solutions to help us
operate more efficiently and more effectively,
as leaders. And so
I I think that's also the exciting part
of what's going on in the, in in
dentistry. Dentistry has always been changing ever since
I've been in it. And right now, there's
so many advancements,
both from a clinical and a business, standpoint.
I'll speak more to the the business side
just around some of the AI that's coming
up, you know, that ties into the clinical,
right, with with, different
clinical diagnosis technologies out there helping us, provide,
our our dentists and our providers second opinions.
But, also, AI when it comes to marketing,
when it comes to revenue cycle management, it's
helping us, operate more effectively and efficiently.
And I think it's important for us to
always be looking, to to inside the industry,
but outside the industry as to,
what others might be doing to operate,
at a better level. And so
AI is,
very progressive
right now. I'm excited to see what happens
with it here in the next, next two
to three years. It's come a long way
just in the last two or three years.
I think we're gonna see it accelerate,
even more so here over the next twelve
months. And so really excited to see, what
what would they do there. And then there's
always clinical
advancements to, know. Recently, I had the opportunity
to share with, Becker's Healthcare some of the
advancements that we're starting to implement at, Providence
Dental Partners around CureDont and guided biofilm
therapy. So
Great.
Yeah. I know, artificial intelligence has really accelerated,
as you mentioned, in the dental industry within
these last few years.
Phil, how long has Providence Dental Partners been
using artificial intelligence so far?
So we use it in different components.
I I would say Providence Dental Partners has
been using it since its inception, since we,
started back in 2013. I know, doctor Mann,
you know, in his private practice, I was
using it before then. So,
as it continues to advance, we continue to
apply it in different parts of our business.
And, you know, we we've seen drastic improvements,
just in the last twelve months with it,
and we're we're looking forward to staying close
to the companies who are
working on those advancements. We we we know
that there's another,
evolution of it coming, and so we look
forward to continuing to implement it. We've always
been at the forefront of investing in technology
in our practice
practices when it makes sense. And so, between
doctor Mann and I, we stay pretty up
to date on all the different technologies in
the industry and continue to implement those when
and where it makes sense.
Okay. Yeah. Definitely.
And are there any areas
I I know that AI has advanced in
so many ways and quite rapidly as well.
Are there any areas currently where you would
like to see it evolve even more, and
see further advancement?
Yeah. Revenue cycle management for me. And, part
of my background,
was working on the revenue cycle side of
it, and it's so complex. It's challenging. It's
challenging for private practices,
and it's challenging for groups and DSOs to
solve all the different parts of revenue cycle
that come into it.
There are some companies out there that have
made great advancements in the last two to
three years with it,
but but it's a very complex and comprehensive,
we'll say, will of parts that go into
revenue cycle for doctors to actually collect the
money that they are owed.
And so looking forward to seeing kind of
that next evolution to where, some of these
AIs can maybe help them collect a lot
more than what they currently are at the
click of a button,
versus a lot of the manual processes that
we see today.
Alright. Thank you so much for sharing those
thoughts. Doctor Mann, let's hear from you next.
What makes you excited about dentistry right now,
and, also, what makes you nervous?
No. Absolutely.
The the most exciting part for me is
really, you know, our our growth, our partnership,
and other opportunities, other practices.
And going back to what we'd said around
some of the biggest issues,
is around developing mentorship programs
where they're in the organization
and also funded like minded dentists that really
want to not only,
have a part of this, but also give
back and,
and be able to be a mentor,
and also around access to care through charitable
organizations,
you know, touching those,
individuals that don't have an opportunity
to, you know, receive dental care. And so,
you know, creating opportunities through these, partnerships
to be able to give back and and
using a platform in order to do that,
but also around,
developing career opportunity pathways for, you know, our
team members. You know? I'll give you one
example around, you know, where a dental assistant
could come in into an organization and then
through through training, education, mentorship programs can develop
into an operational leader.
So that that's just being a part of
that, to be able to help develop that,
it's really super exciting to, you know, to
to see where that may go.
What really, I guess, what really makes me
nervous,
not very much, but the one thing
that I see,
more more along the lines of the personnel
is just making sure that we we believe
in the people enough that they are delegating
certain roles and responsibilities,
because that's the only way that we can
kinda grow as an organization,
but not to a point of where they're
micromanaging
other people, but knowing when to pass off,
how to pass off, so that they are
not a one all catch all type of
thing. So it's we always try to promote
the train the trainer mentality
to say that the only way that you
can grow is to, you know, train your
replacement,
and and know that there's opportunities
beyond where what your role is in the
organization.
Alright.
Well, thank you so much for sharing that.
Last question here for you both. What will
the most effective health care leaders need to
be successful in the next two to three
years? Bill, do you wanna kick us off?
Yeah. So, I I think Ariana
said it earlier. You know, the industry has
been changing, and us as leaders, we have
to be willing to continually
change and evolve and adapt to the market
conditions around us too. And that's,
really at the core of our,
philosophy,
Providence Dental Partners. We're we're always willing to
change and push the envelope forward.
We have to continue to look outside the
industry to see what's working in other industries
that we might be able to adapt to,
the dental industry.
And I think also we have to build
strong cultures within our organization over the last,
five to ten years as,
capital costs were low and, there was a
lot of consolidation
happening. You have a a lot of groups
and DSOs that were
consolidating at a very rapid pace, and a
a lot of them were just aggregating practices
and not really operating. And I I think
over the next few years and, even forward,
you know, you're gonna have to see a
a lot more effort put into the operations
of it. And I think a lot of
that's gonna come down to building a strong
culture, based on mission, vision, and values.
I I think, regardless if you're looking at
the dental industry or organizations outside of it,
those are always the the the roads most
traveled to a, a great business is to
have a a strong mission, vision, and core
values amongst your team. So I think that's,
central to building a strong culture within the
organization.
Yeah. And, definitely, that's very similar to what
I've heard from a lot of DSO executives
over the last few months just about the
way con consolidation has happened over the last
couple of years and, how that has led
to this sort of
push for improved culture,
maybe a little bit of more strategy, some
smarter decisions as far as,
acquiring these practices as well and how you
operate them. So, yeah, definitely,
interesting to hear your thoughts on that. So
thank you for sharing.
Doctor Mann, what about you?
Yeah. Well, you know,
I echo what Phil said, but, you know,
along those same lines, you know, whatever where
I feel, you know, a successful leader would
be is really making sure they possess
the opportunities to be decisive and transparent, you
know, not only internally within the organization, but
also externally within,
outside the organization.
Because things will tend to come up, what
they need to make sure they have in
their inner circle is if they don't have
it or build a support team so that
they can discuss, recommend, and troubleshoot some of
these opportunities to develop clear goals and achievable
timelines. Because, you know,
trying to push timelines out or goals out
that are unattainable
will only create frustration. So it's really, you
know, that collaboration, that transparency,
communication within the group in order to make
sure that we line up. But at the
end of the day,
that successful leader has to be able to
be decisive on the, on what needs to
go next.
And also, you know, as a leader, you
know, being that servant leader and also developing,
the the culture, as Phil said, is
going through and and and giving words of
encouragement, you know, through words of affirmation
within the organization
of, you know, what we're doing great, what,
you know, we could do better. But also,
you know, as the organization grows, we always
hear about, you know, some of these pain
points, but also calling out these individuals that
are really, you know, creating successful opportunities for
the organization to take the next step forward.
So I feel that, you know, that plays
back into the, development of culture that we
we need to continue to promote.
Definitely,
interesting to hear your thoughts on the importance
of culture. So thank you so much for
sharing that, doctor Mann.
That's all I had for you. So thank
you both for joining us today. It's been
a pleasure speaking with you, and learning more
about Providence and what you guys are focused
on in the industry this year. And I
look forward to connecting with you again in
the future. So thank you both so much.
Thanks for having us, Arianna. We look forward
to seeing you all again in Chicago later
this year. Thank you. Thank you.