Hello. This is Arianna Portelaaten with the Becker's
Dental and DSO review podcast. I'm thrilled to
be joined today by doctor Hilary Abel, a
doctor development advisor at SALT Dental Partners and
president of the District of Columbia Dental Society.
Doctor Abel, thank you so much for being
here today. It is great to have you
on our podcast. To start us off, can
you introduce yourself for our listeners and tell
us a little bit about your background?
Sure. As you said, I am doctor Hilary
Rasa Abel. I graduated from Tufts in 02/2009,
and I've been a private practice general dentist
since then.
Right now, I'm the president of the DC
Dental Society, and I also work with Salt
Dental Partners,
in their doctor development team. So I've been
able to stay connected in clinical dentistry, but
also supporting other doctors and,
helping practices grow, which has been really exciting
for me.
And I've you know, obviously, I've now worn
a a few different hats over the years.
And what really ties it all together for
me is being able to help strengthen the
profession
dental industry this year?
So one of the biggest ones for me
this year has been discussing current and future
Medicaid cuts.
In DC in particular, a really large percentage
of our our population relies on Medicaid,
and our federal match is also very high.
So any cuts have a major impact.
So that really doesn't just affect our patients'
access to care,
but also how hospitals and providers are able
to deliver care,
how our city runs. And
on another hand of that, on another note,
all of us know that dental coverage can
very, very easily go on the chopping block.
So that's been heavy on our on our
minds this year. Also, we had previously gone
for more than fifteen years without a meaningful
fee schedule update, so that obviously created financial
strain for participating doctors.
We're finally able to secure one this year,
so our advocacy in that area has been
incredibly important.
So I think
besides the Medicaid the Medicaid,
issues,
another big challenge that is always on everyone's
mind is obviously workforce turnover.
You know, it's harder to find and keep
great team members,
and that just has an impact on how
well we can serve our patients.
So I believe that really believe that making
sure dental assistants are trained and supported to
the top of their certifications
is a great step.
But there's a little hinge point in this,
and the tricky part is that every state
has
different rules about what they can do, which
makes this, like, really hard to manage. Right?
And this is consistently a problem in DC
where people live in one state and work
in another.
Maryland, Virginia, DC all have different roles. They
have different levels, different certifications,
for dental assistants, and sometimes even hygienists.
So these inconsistencies
make things less efficient and more expensive.
So I really believe that
more alignment
and investing in trainings and certification
through that alignment
would go a long way towards stabilizing those
teams and ultimately improving patient care.
What are you most excited about when it
comes to dentistry right now, and what makes
you nervous about the industry?
So I'm really excited about the technology,
especially
AI.
We've seen radiologists use AI
successfully. And I think in dentistry, it can
just really help with with diagnosis
and treatment planning
and execution of that treatment.
So it's not about replacing the doctor. It's
really just another tool to help give us,
give us and our patients more clarity and
confidence in their care,
and also to just ensure the best outcomes.
I'm also very excited about how DSOs are
evolving. We're moving away from old models of
pure
just cost cutting and rebranding
and moving towards preserving what's special about a
doctor's practice while giving them the the support
that they need.
And so at Salt, for example, we've worked
hard to build a culture that protects
doctors' autonomy,
but just adds efficiency where it's needed. And
to me, that's the future of DSOs. So
not changing a practice's ethos, but just about
strengthening it. So on the flip side, though,
I'm feeling,
nervous, and I do worry about the declining
engagement in dental societies.
These are the groups that are the ones
fighting for our ability to practice the way
that we want and hire who we need
and push forward on the issues that really
matter to us. So
these are the ones people on the ground
that are, reinforcing the legislation that's really important
for how we practice. So if fewer dentists
get involved, the collective voice really gets weaker,
and that has real consequences for the profession.
Okay. And by fewer engagement, do you mean,
like, fewer dentists becoming members?
Exactly.
Oh, okay. Yeah. That's super interesting. Thank you
for sharing that.
And last question for you here. What will
the most effective health care leaders need to
be successful in the next two to three
years?
So I think that the best leaders will
be the ones who embrace the technology, but
don't lose sight of the personal side of
dentistry.
Patients still want really great experiences, and team
members want to feel supported. So
right now, most practices are using seven, eight,
nine, ten different platforms just to manage
communication, scheduling, billing, HR, all of it. So
leaders really need to simplify that without losing
what makes the patient experience and team so
great.
And the other thing that I that I
really passionately care about is I think that
DSOs and organized dentistry really need to evolve
together. I believe it's really shortsighted for a
shortsighted for societies to ignore the role that
DSOs play now,
and it's just as shortsighted for DSOs to
not encourage their doctors to be engaged locally.
So if we get that right, we'll have
the advocacy, the business support, and
the clinical excellence all working in tandem, and
that's what keeps the practices strong.
Great. Well, that is all I have for
you today, doctor Awol. Thank you so much
for joining us. It's been a pleasure speaking
with you. Great discussion today, and I'm looking
forward to connecting with you again hopefully in
the future.
Thank you so much. Thanks for having me.