Hello everyone. I am Ryan Mohammed with Becker's Hospital Review.
Thank you for tuning in to the Becker's Healthcare podcast series.
Today I am pleased to be joined by today's speaker, Robert Jamon,
vice President and Chief Digital Officer at Heartland Dental. Robert,
thank you so much for talking with us today. How are you?
I'm great, having a great day.
Perfect. Well,
could you take a moment to please tell us about yourself and your role at
Heartland Dental?
I can. So the role of, uh,
chief Digital Officer has various definitions depending on who you ask.
So what's interesting is my, my background, um, really is in healthcare.
Prior joining Heartland, uh, in June of 2021,
I spent about 20 years in the software, uh,
consulting industry supporting client clients,
primarily in like the manufacturing and distribution spaces. And, um,
my area of specialization was what was historically called, you know,
quote unquote big data and analytics,
which is almost a comical term today as all data is big.
It's kind of a topic of our discussion today,
but what I really specialize in and what I learned was that, um,
in my consulting experiences, that 80 to 85% of,
of company challenges can typically be solved through something that you can buy
commercially available software. And it's that 15 to 20%, um,
that usually is very data centric, um, that makes a company special.
So I met Heartland while I was in the consulting
business. Heartland was actually my customer. So in 2018,
while serving as an executive at a mid-market consulting firm,
I was introduced to Heartland, and it's kind of a funny story.
It's by a large software partner. And, um, they said to me, well,
this dental, this dental practice needs some analytics software. And, um,
I said, okay, what's the name of the dental practice?
And you could kind of see that where this is going. I looked up the quote,
dental practice and it was the largest D s o, uh, in the United States. And,
um, I started researching the company and met the organization,
um, at that time the finance leadership. And I thought, holy cow,
what a special place and what a unique opportunity.
So if I fast forward a little bit to 2021, I had left,
uh, the, the, the,
the firm that I had worked for and written letters to my customers, uh,
about what's next in my journey. And one of those customers,
Heartland and Heartland called me and said, Hey, would,
would you think about joining us? And I said, gosh, okay, what would I do? And,
um, there was this new role. So I helped design the chief digital officer role.
And the way that I'll describe it is very simple.
There is two types of technology when you think of it, uh, through the,
through the job. There's mode one, mode two,
mode one is what you think about when you think about traditional it, uh,
laptops, fixing computers, infrastructure, uh,
those types of traditional IT type technologies in MO two is really what we call
transformation technology. And that's really the application of software,
the application of technology to solve business problems.
So I came on as chief digital officer to help transform the organization,
which means how we do work, but also how we solve problems through technology.
And that's what I focus on.
Wow. Thank you so much for sharing all that information. Um,
and with that background in mind,
we could jump right into our conversation today. Um, so RJ,
to get the ball rolling,
can you tell us what are some ways Dennis can use data to personalize
and improve patient care?
I can, I think before I answer this, we should talk a little bit about,
about the Heartland philosophy. So Heartland Dental is, is doctor led.
So the doctor is the leader, um, uh, hard stop.
So we see the world through the lens of how we can support our doctors and their
teams to best provide care to their patients. So when we talk about data, um,
and harnessing the power of data, and we do it through that lens,
and I would use the analogy of a co-pilot. So the doctor is the pilot,
our use of data compliments complement their clinical skill sets to help them
provide the highest level care to their patients,
kind of like a co-pilot and airplane. So that's how we see the world.
So setting that foundation, we then have to talk about, well, what's data?
So data comes in many forms. When people usually think about data, they,
they limit their thinking to like a transaction that answers the question of
like, what happened? I'll give you an example.
So if I go to the dentist and I get diagnosed with a cavity and that cavity gets
filled, that that's a transaction that happened.
And that's data and recording of that type of data is important cuz it allows
for things like operational reporting, trend analysis in some cases,
predictions, those types of things. But that said, it, it really, it,
what's most important is the, the broad ecosystem of data.
So when you combine different types of data, I'll give an example in a moment,
um, into a single ecosystem that, that,
that results in better decisions. Uh,
now you're really doing something special example is images.
So a transaction is data, images are data. You can do things with both.
And it's the combination of those data types that truly lead to,
to leveraging data as an asset. Um,
to answer your question, uh, I'll give two examples, uh,
as to ways that dentists can use data to improve patient care.
I'll give you a direct example and an indirect example.
The direct example is very straightforward. Clinical ai,
clinical AI technologies that apply AI engines to support diagnosis and
predictive outcomes. They,
they clearly can support doctors in preventing misdiagnosis and helping,
helping the patient themselves actually understand the importance of a given
procedure, how it can affect their future, how it can affect their oral health.
And in some cases we'll get to this later, I think, um,
how it can affect their overall healthcare. So that has that,
that that's like a game changer. It's a very direct example. Indirect example,
and, and stick with me for a minute.
One could argue that patient care is indirectly, frankly,
or directly impacted by the staff within a practice. So when you look,
you look at a statistic, something like 66% of dentists sites,
staffing is their biggest challenge. Well, when you dig into that,
there are many reasons for staffing challenges related to the external
environment. That said,
data can be used to provide a better experience for the staff.
So help them make better decisions, focus on the tasks that are most important,
and automate tasks that are just plain tedious.
So this not only has the potential to help reduce turnover,
but also improve culture with directly or indirectly supports patient care.
Wonderful. I love how you said it is doctor led to start off with.
Um,
and that information might come in handy because the next thing that I wanted to
ask you actually is can you touch on why Heartland Dental supported dentist,
uh, have an advantage when it comes to accessing data driven technologies?
Yeah, my, my reactive answer to to the question is, is simple.
It's because we're a data-driven company. Um, I, I'm an analytical guy. Um, I,
I spent a career in the, in the, in the software world, uh,
implementing analytical technologies. But when I came to Harland, I,
I literally was overwhelmed by the level of analysis that goes into supporting
our doctors and their teams. Um,
whether it be emerging clinical AI technologies that we just spoke about, um,
the AI we use in our, in our call centers to, um,
to help score and prioritize calls the deep payer mix optimization
analysis performed by our payer team to help our doctors understand the optimal
mix of, of insurance, um,
our ability to re reduce supply costs or data-driven supply chain platforms.
The, the, that there's many, many ways in which,
in which we heartland, uh, leverage data. I think,
I think the difference,
the primary difference between Heartland and other organizations,
whether it be in healthcare or outside of healthcare, is we don't just,
we don't just present data, we don't build reports,
we don't do all those things for the sake of doing them.
We very specifically align our data strategy to our core
operations systems.
And it's an important concept that when I say operation systems,
I'm not talking about anything related to technology. When I say,
when I say operation systems, I'm talking about the fundamental systems,
the processes that we know support our doctors and their personal mission to de
deliver outstanding patient care. So that's,
that's the processes that they follow. We align,
align our data strategy with those operational systems and that's very,
very important cuz that alignment between the business process and technology is
what makes us successful. And, um, our supported doctors have an advantage,
frankly, because we embed data into our operation systems. It's,
it's the d n A of what we do.
That is great. Thank you so much for that insight.
And since Heartland Dental is a data-driven company, as you said,
how is Heartland Dental helping supportive practices tap into the full
benefits of the data that is being generated?
I I, I love this question and the, the answer really lies in our,
in our long-term strategy. So if you think about Harlan,
we support over 1700 practices across the United States. That is a lot of data.
If we go back to my earlier comment about me going to the dentist and,
and having a, a, a cavity, uh, uh, filled,
that's w think about how many times that happens in a given day across the 1700
practice footprint. We can collect that data all day long,
but none of it really matters unless we turn it into actionable information.
That's the difference. So our initial strategy,
our initial data strategy was just that,
collect the data and form a single trusted version of the truth.
What is trusted version of the truth?
It means that anybody can look at a certain dataset,
a K P I a number if you will, and trust it and say, okay,
if RJ comes to a meeting, he presents data and if, if,
if Nicole comes to a meeting, they present data, it's the same data.
And so our initial strategy was to get to that,
get to that foundation and collect the data,
form the single version of the truth.
And as time goes on and that data grows and grows and grows,
now once you have that data and, and more of it,
you can now report on the business from the most macro level down to the
clinical procedure level, right? So you can say,
I can report at the most executive level and then it can get down to the detail
level, and that's nothing new. Historically,
people would call that data warehousing. Um, but in my view,
that's somewhat a myopic definition or myopic view of the potential use cases
for data.
The broader opportunity and the strategy that we adopted at Heartland is
embarking on taking all that data.
So now we have it years and years of data and transforming it from a system of
record to what we call a system of engagement. So I'll tell you what that means.
The technologies we're deploying now will not simply report the news,
so to speak, of what happened or what isn't happening in the office,
but will what will actually help optimize operations in the office?
You suggested suggested non-clinical action. Well, what does that mean?
I'll be a very simple example. Think of it this way.
Imagine if you came to work every day and you sat down and the
system, the technology system told you, Hey, you do these five things today,
you're gonna have a really good day. So I'm oversimplifying it. But if you,
for example, are a business assistant in a dental practice,
you're tacit many things.
It takes you six months to get ramped up on your job and it's a hard job.
And if I have that business assistant come to work,
sit down and have a system, a technology system again,
that aligns with those operation systems and says, Hey,
focus on these things today, you're probably gonna have a good day.
So we're taking data and we're,
we're using it to suggest action to folks to optimize
their job, make their lives easier, basically. And that's the difference.
Rj I love how you spoke about the future of the company and what
you're doing because if we could expand a little bit more on that, um,
for you,
how do you see data-driven technologies impacting the dental industry in
the next three to five years or so?
Yeah, so what my first reaction is, wow, like three to five years is a,
is a pretty long horizon when,
especially considering the accelerator rate of change in, in technology.
Um, that said, I,
I think there's a few trends that that will impact our industry and it'll be
really fascinating to watch. So, uh, clinical AI OG will,
will continue to evolve augmented by operational ai and I'll explain what I mean
by that. So I,
I personally still believe we're in the early stages of clinical AI technology.
Um, we've piloted various solutions and we're seeing promising results.
But as it advances, i I, I believe there'll,
there'll be some sort of natural consolidation of technologies among AI
companies in the industry. So we should keep watching for, for ai.
I also think, and this goes back to the comment about all the data that we have,
that there'll be new AI technologies,
new AI technologies that will impact operational efficiencies.
So not just from the clinical side, but from the operational side. Um,
and a few things come to mind.
Revenue cycle management for automated payment processing, uh,
the use of artificial intelligence to predict claims adjudication,
all of those things are possible with the technology that we have today.
So I would say watch ai. Uh,
the second would be cloud-based practice management software, um,
at the enterprise D S O level. What do I mean by that?
So the shift to the cloud is really a question of when, uh,
not if for every company, um, for for certain aspects of their business,
it's dental is no different. Um,
I think there's somewhat of a historical aversion to cloud based on perception,
uh, of security risks and the challenges of perhaps migrating from traditional
solutions into the cloud. And those are all things that have to be studied and,
and figured out. But cloud adoption will continue, um,
as it's key to data interoperability and the bigger picture,
which is gonna be my my third point, and this is a really big one,
but three to five years is a long time. I,
I would say closer alignment on medical and dental.
And from a technology perspective,
technology will serve as an enabler here. And we'll continue,
continue to see advanced advancement in solving for a single integrated patient
record across healthcare data management technologies offered through the
hyperscalers. Wanna talk about hyperscaler,
I mean like the Googles of the world, the Amazons of the world, the, the, uh,
the Microsofts of the world that they'll enable this through their partnerships
with dental practice management software providers.
And that goes back to this enormous amount of data in what you can do with it.
And at the end of the day, advance advancements in data technology,
it's just gonna allow for closer correlations between oral health and overall
health. So I think that the, the, it's not just a,
an an evolution of technology in dentistry.
I think it's an evolution of technology in healthcare.
That is great. Rj,
you've given some great information on what Harland Dental is currently doing
and what you're going to do. Um, but before I let you go,
I was wondering if you can give a few tips for dental professionals out there to
get ahead of the curve with technology changes?
Yeah, and um, , I'm not sure I'm a hundred percent qualified for this,
but I I have a few thoughts. I'll share a few thoughts. So first I would say,
um, keep an open mind and be men mentally flexible. Um,
technology can be, can be hard, it can change quickly. Um,
in some cases it can be intimidating though that's not the intent. Um,
study the external environment and be aware of what's coming. There's a, there,
there's, there's, it is very easy to,
to look up trends in technology and dentistry.
Just be aware of that external environment and study it. Um,
the second I would say is practice discernment.
And coming from a technology leader, this may seem a little a little off,
but technology for the sake of technology rarely works out well, .
So don't be afraid to ask questions. Point out new opportunities and challenge.
One of the things that we're very big on at Heartland is feedback. And often,
often, uh,
pe we deploy technologies and the only way we're truly successful with it is if
we get that feedback from the people that are using it.
So practice the sermon and give feedback. And the third,
um, I'll call it dare to dream. And,
and this is a healthy exercise for anybody.
Take a blank piece of paper and write down,
imagine if with the ellipse at the end. So imagine if,
and then periodically come back to that piece of paper and finish the sentence
to the lens of technology. Imagine if I could do this in my daily job.
Write it down and talk your technology teams and your and your partners about
it. Cuz you never know.
And I'll give a specific example of this came up in my job last week.
I was speaking to our operational leadership and they were talking about way
back to the beginning of our discussion about when I was working as a consulting
partner to Heartland.
And we were talking about this data strategy and I was listening and,
and one of the operations leaders commented on, um,
what she thought this system would do. And I said, whoa, wait, wait, hold on,
tell me that again. What did you think back in 2018 that this system,
this data system would do? She said, well,
I thought I could just ask it a question, it would gimme an answer.
And she laughed and I thought about it all weekend.
And the reason I thought about it all weekend is that is what her concept was
back in 2018. And if you now look at emerging technologies,
we all probably hear about in the news chat,
G P T and all these advanced AI technologies. What she wants,
what she thought the system would do is what systems will do, uh,
now and in the future. So when I say dare to dream, ask the question,
finish the sentence.
Imagine if you never know what data-driven technology is going to be able to
enable.
Those were amazing tips. Um,
and that is all the questions that I have for you today.
So I wanna thank you RJ for your time and thought provoking responses. Um,
we also wanna thank our podcast sponsor Heartland Dental and you can tune into
more podcasts from Becker's Healthcare by visiting our podcast page at becker's
hospital review.com. Thank you again, rj. You're welcome.