Hello everyone. I'm Marcus Robertson, assistant editor with Becker's Healthcare.
Thank you for tuning in today.
We are joined by Dental Leader Eric Gallegos,
who is the VP of Revenue at Inside Desk. Eric,
thank you so much for joining us today.
Yeah, happy to be here.
Awesome. Well, let's go ahead and dive right in. So first off,
can you tell us a little bit about who Inside Desk is?
Yeah. We're a four year old dental software startup,
really passionate on revenue cycle management,
and today, uh, our big focus is, is payer ar, right?
Payer account receivable.
So we partner with DSOs really to provide unique insights
into workflow and, and potentially areas of opportunity in their,
in the revenue cycle processes.
So we created a platform that really just takes the hassle out of claims
management and really allows our DSOs to focus on, on what matters most to them,
right? Which is, you know, their people, their processes, uh,
and obviously their revenue.
All right. Well, uh, so revenue cycle optimization, that's, you know,
obviously really important right now.
And if you could just go into a little bit about, you know,
why you're in this space beyond, beyond kind of that.
Yeah. You know, um, about six years ago,
our founders got together and they were discussing opportunities,
uh, in, in dental, right in, in the tech stack, if you will.
One of our founders had, had already created a dental software company.
They had done really well,
and they had always kind of dreamt of kind of what the next steps for that was.
And so what they did is they started kind of talking about kind of the front
office tasks, things like, you know, intake and answering phones and scheduling,
and really realizing that that, that obviously has been covered.
There's a ton of of of companies that do that.
And so they started thinking about kind of the, the, the, the back office,
right? And, you know, they came, came through X-rays and production and,
you know, cleanings procedures and realized there were not a lot of tech op,
I mean, there's tech opportunities there, but you know, that's, that's a lot of,
uh, procedures that are being done.
And they kept kind of coming back to the fact that everyone
has this desk inside their office or off to the side or in
a back room.
And that person typically is doing a lot of manually intensive,
um, often underappreciated, although, although we, we, uh,
in our opinion rights very crucial to the business and realize that
that, that they all had kind of an inside desk and that inside desk,
uh, is really, uh, for most of those groups, uh, revenue cycle, right?
People collecting, billing and submitting claims and doing all that work. Uh,
and we realized that there was a, a significant opportunity, uh,
in that business. Um, and so we decided, hey, how can we,
how can we help these people? How can we get, provide them tools, um,
to make their work, uh, uh, easier.
So a bit of, a bit of an inside reference there with the company name.
. That's right. That's right.
Okay. Uh, do you find people kind of know what, uh,
what that's getting at ahead of time? When you, when you tell them.
You know, it's, it's, um, , it's 50 50, right? Sometimes they're like,
they exactly know what that means. Uh,
and sometimes when you start to talk about it, they go, oh,
that is exactly what that is. We have one of those as well. Yeah. Uh,
so it takes a second, but yeah, most people kind of get it.
Okay. That's funny. Um, okay. Yeah. So, uh,
kind of doing some of this stuff that these, uh, inside desk people are doing,
you know, intensive and often underappreciated work.
So that's kind of what Inside Desk does, but what are you solving?
Yeah, so again, the dsso space is, is consolidating, right?
So while the Dsso space is growing,
there are fewer DSOs out there,
and that business is consolidating into one place, right?
The business is, is actually shrinking, but the reality is,
is the work is completely decentralized. Dental,
right? Forever will be done at the local level, right?
One patient at a time, one mouth at a time.
And so as the DSOs are centralizing,
the workforce continues to be decentralized and post covid,
right?
Although the people that used to work in the offices are working in a
decentralized world, and many of these groups, um,
work with third parties that are offshore, um, and they're all trying to work,
um, revenue cycle from all parts of the world.
And revenue cycle is, uh, a flywheel, right?
All of these people need to be able to talk to each other,
to communicate with each other.
And historically that's been done in silos, right?
And fragmented spaces.
And so what we're solving for is we're really trying to centralize for the
DSOs a decentralized world where we can log
into a platform, our,
our users and our leaders can log into a platform and they can
manage claim management claim workflow from one place so
they can communicate so they can be more efficient,
so they can be more effective. But more importantly, some of those DSOs have,
you know,
150 locations over 35 states using five PMSs
and aggregating that data today is very, very difficult. It's all done manually.
It's exported, it's put in tax, Excel sheets, it's downloaded.
A lot of these insights are sometimes weeks if not months behind for the DSOs.
And so what we're really doing for them is putting everything into one place
where we can centralize the information for the DSOs for leadership so they can
make better decisions in terms of resourcing, uh,
in terms of maximizing or realizing the revenue that they believe
they've created from their production. And as of a few years ago,
they really couldn't do that. Everything was after the fact, after what posted,
not what was happening, uh, internally. Um, so from a D S O standpoint, right?
Create,
creating the efficiencies and the transparency so that they can measure and
react, uh, is super crucial. Um, but as we talked about it earlier,
right,
it really started with that inside desk and helping those users
that are in it every day that are pulling AR reports.
If you go into any dental office today, most of them anyway,
there's someone with a sheet of paper that's highlighting claims that have been
paid in claims that have not been paid , and, uh,
they're putting lines through it and then reprinting it every single time they
do that report. Um, that's a, a lot of work.
And they're logging into 20, 30, 40 insurance portals every single day typing in
name, date of birth, social security numbers,
just to be able to get back one claim feedback so that they can close it.
And, uh,
so what we do for them is automate that e o b for them and
organize those responses for them and really just simplify the work that they're
doing so they can be more effective and reduce the stress that they're going
through so they can maximize the revenue, um, for their DSOs. So,
uh, it's twofold. You know, the the first part is really just, you know,
creating transparencies at the top level and for our end users really shedding a
light at, at how great a work they're doing and,
and making their work a lot easier for them.
And so you're trying to be that central hub for the, uh, you know,
mostly decentralized revenue cycle or a one stop revenue cycle
info shop, so to speak.
Yeah, we, we would like to get there as to be the one shop stop. Uh,
today we're focused, uh, on payer AR and, uh,
insurance claim follow up. It's, uh, one of the ,
uh, uh, harder things to, to do inside of an office.
And so that's where our focus is today. But yeah,
we're centralizing the work and,
and hoping one day to be a one-stop shop for it. For sure.
I have heard that, uh, insurance is a little bit complicated.
. Yeah. It can be .
Uh, so you, uh, you know, you said you're about a four year old company,
so what has been your biggest opportunity in the last couple of years?
Um, you know, I think,
I think historically dental has been a lifestyle business,
a family run business, a family affair.
And so revenue cycle as a general term in
dental is, is pretty new, right? And medical revenue cycle has,
as a concept has always existed. And obviously Rev new cycle has always existed,
but in dental,
as these DSOs are kind of coming together and centralizing,
I think one of the biggest opportunities that have been out there is really
educating the dental community that R C m, uh, is,
is a flywheel, right? It's not, it's not linear, it's you're,
it's a cycle that goes on teaching them that it's not, you know,
a cost center. I think revenue cycle historically has been a cost center. Um,
but as you're able to understand and get insights to the business,
our DSOs are realizing that they're leaving a lot of dollars in the table
revenue leakage from either claims that weren't being submitted,
or they're expecting a hundred dollars from a, from an insurance claim,
they only get 85. How do I, how do I gain that next gap?
And so the education,
I think in the dental community of the importance of RC m is a singular function
where revenue cycle management,
R C M wasn't even really a term in dental five years ago. So, you know,
getting our name out there, um, as a vendor, uh,
to these large DSOs and really having the conversation about what
revenue cycle means inside their business, um, has been an important one.
There are some DSOs that look at revenue cycle as revenue, right? That, that,
that's how they see it. And not all DSOs look at that,
look at it that way just yet. Um, so it's been slow, uh,
two years ago no one was talking to us, you know,
today DSOs are reaching out to us, insurance payers are, are,
are reaching out to us,
and they all wanna work together to make this this thing easier. So, um,
I think the biggest opportunity is just the education in the market from
becoming these small lifestyle businesses to these GSO and, and understanding,
you know, how much value there is in rcm.
In the last couple of years, you said you've, you've had, uh,
more and more payers, uh, dentists reaching out to you. Well, what,
what about right now, what are some of the, uh,
big wins that you're seeing today?
Yeah, we've, you know, we've been really lucky. The last, you know, one of our,
um, we've had some pretty significant sized DSOs, uh,
reach out to us and start with us in the last year. Uh, and we've had, you know,
eight in 10 location DSOs reach out to us in the last year.
The everything is relative, right? So for,
we have this group that's been with us almost exactly a year. Um,
they have eight, I think eight, nine offices. Um, and they've reduced their,
their open payer ar by by $700,000.
That's a ton of money for, you know, if you will, quote unquote a small group.
And,
and for them to be able to do that with only three people managing nine offices
or eight offices, it's a huge win for them, right?
They're super grateful for a large dso is the transparency that we've been able
to provide from our operation and our finance leaders,
some of them have completely reorganized their RC M teams now that
they have the insights to understand who's actually effective at closing
claims, which groups are less effective, right?
What submission claim submissions aren't that clean.
And so some of our bigger groups have had the opportunity to understand how
to accurately and effectively deploy their resources. And as I mentioned,
in some instances,
they just completely changed the way they do their R C M business. Uh,
and so we're really proud that we're able to be a part of that.
And then ultimately, right?
The thing that we always want to hear is our end users, right? It's,
they don't have a choice of the tools that they have, right? They don't have a,
that's, that's decided by someone else.
But when they're in our platform and their lives are easier,
and then they tell us and joke that , you know, if they lost the product,
they quit. Uh, I know it sounds funny, but it's, it's great.
It tells us that we're creating real value, not just at the top,
but for the people who are, like we said before,
right at that inside desk who are our insiders who are working every single
day in these, uh, insurance portals and calling these payers.
And if we can provide that works that they don't have to do that or that
automation, excuse me. Yeah. It brings us a lot of joy to know that they're, uh,
they're seeing a lot of success.
Well, there you have it. So for our dental audience,
and especially those inside desk RCM people,
it's one to keep your eyes on inside desk, keep on your radar,
potentially take some of that burden off and make insights accurate and
easier to, uh, to find. So I wanna thank you, Eric,
for your time and, uh, great conversation today.
Yeah, Marcus, thank you for having us. We appreciate it.
Absolutely. Also,
wanna thank Inside Desk for sponsoring today's content and you can tune into
more Becker's podcasts on becker's healthcare.com/podcast.
We hope you have a wonderful rest of your day.