1 00:00:00,110 --> 00:00:04,150 Hello everyone. I'm Marcus Robertson, assistant editor with Becker's Healthcare. 2 00:00:04,740 --> 00:00:05,930 Thank you for tuning in today. 3 00:00:06,350 --> 00:00:10,090 We are joined by Dental Leader Eric Gallegos, 4 00:00:10,110 --> 00:00:13,250 who is the VP of Revenue at Inside Desk. Eric, 5 00:00:13,250 --> 00:00:14,810 thank you so much for joining us today. 6 00:00:15,510 --> 00:00:16,440 Yeah, happy to be here. 7 00:00:16,830 --> 00:00:20,080 Awesome. Well, let's go ahead and dive right in. So first off, 8 00:00:20,180 --> 00:00:23,840 can you tell us a little bit about who Inside Desk is? 9 00:00:24,630 --> 00:00:28,320 Yeah. We're a four year old dental software startup, 10 00:00:28,980 --> 00:00:32,480 really passionate on revenue cycle management, 11 00:00:33,340 --> 00:00:38,000 and today, uh, our big focus is, is payer ar, right? 12 00:00:38,200 --> 00:00:39,480 Payer account receivable. 13 00:00:39,480 --> 00:00:44,240 So we partner with DSOs really to provide unique insights 14 00:00:44,350 --> 00:00:48,160 into workflow and, and potentially areas of opportunity in their, 15 00:00:48,160 --> 00:00:49,880 in the revenue cycle processes. 16 00:00:49,980 --> 00:00:54,360 So we created a platform that really just takes the hassle out of claims 17 00:00:54,360 --> 00:00:59,240 management and really allows our DSOs to focus on, on what matters most to them, 18 00:00:59,240 --> 00:01:02,600 right? Which is, you know, their people, their processes, uh, 19 00:01:02,600 --> 00:01:03,600 and obviously their revenue. 20 00:01:04,740 --> 00:01:08,840 All right. Well, uh, so revenue cycle optimization, that's, you know, 21 00:01:08,840 --> 00:01:10,440 obviously really important right now. 22 00:01:10,540 --> 00:01:13,520 And if you could just go into a little bit about, you know, 23 00:01:13,700 --> 00:01:16,960 why you're in this space beyond, beyond kind of that. 24 00:01:18,460 --> 00:01:22,030 Yeah. You know, um, about six years ago, 25 00:01:22,410 --> 00:01:27,310 our founders got together and they were discussing opportunities, 26 00:01:28,050 --> 00:01:31,150 uh, in, in dental, right in, in the tech stack, if you will. 27 00:01:31,970 --> 00:01:35,310 One of our founders had, had already created a dental software company. 28 00:01:35,460 --> 00:01:36,550 They had done really well, 29 00:01:37,410 --> 00:01:40,390 and they had always kind of dreamt of kind of what the next steps for that was. 30 00:01:41,410 --> 00:01:44,870 And so what they did is they started kind of talking about kind of the front 31 00:01:44,870 --> 00:01:49,030 office tasks, things like, you know, intake and answering phones and scheduling, 32 00:01:49,030 --> 00:01:51,910 and really realizing that that, that obviously has been covered. 33 00:01:51,910 --> 00:01:54,390 There's a ton of of of companies that do that. 34 00:01:55,010 --> 00:01:58,390 And so they started thinking about kind of the, the, the, the back office, 35 00:01:58,390 --> 00:02:02,590 right? And, you know, they came, came through X-rays and production and, 36 00:02:02,590 --> 00:02:06,650 you know, cleanings procedures and realized there were not a lot of tech op, 37 00:02:06,650 --> 00:02:09,330 I mean, there's tech opportunities there, but you know, that's, that's a lot of, 38 00:02:09,990 --> 00:02:11,890 uh, procedures that are being done. 39 00:02:12,910 --> 00:02:16,650 And they kept kind of coming back to the fact that everyone 40 00:02:17,830 --> 00:02:22,810 has this desk inside their office or off to the side or in 41 00:02:22,850 --> 00:02:23,683 a back room. 42 00:02:24,430 --> 00:02:29,050 And that person typically is doing a lot of manually intensive, 43 00:02:30,150 --> 00:02:34,690 um, often underappreciated, although, although we, we, uh, 44 00:02:34,750 --> 00:02:39,690 in our opinion rights very crucial to the business and realize that 45 00:02:39,720 --> 00:02:44,480 that, that they all had kind of an inside desk and that inside desk, 46 00:02:45,060 --> 00:02:49,800 uh, is really, uh, for most of those groups, uh, revenue cycle, right? 47 00:02:49,800 --> 00:02:54,680 People collecting, billing and submitting claims and doing all that work. Uh, 48 00:02:54,700 --> 00:02:58,520 and we realized that there was a, a significant opportunity, uh, 49 00:02:58,540 --> 00:03:02,040 in that business. Um, and so we decided, hey, how can we, 50 00:03:02,060 --> 00:03:06,040 how can we help these people? How can we get, provide them tools, um, 51 00:03:06,060 --> 00:03:08,840 to make their work, uh, uh, easier. 52 00:03:10,420 --> 00:03:13,280 So a bit of, a bit of an inside reference there with the company name. 53 00:03:13,960 --> 00:03:15,720 . That's right. That's right. 54 00:03:16,190 --> 00:03:19,160 Okay. Uh, do you find people kind of know what, uh, 55 00:03:19,160 --> 00:03:21,880 what that's getting at ahead of time? When you, when you tell them. 56 00:03:22,580 --> 00:03:27,280 You know, it's, it's, um, , it's 50 50, right? Sometimes they're like, 57 00:03:27,280 --> 00:03:29,440 they exactly know what that means. Uh, 58 00:03:29,500 --> 00:03:32,360 and sometimes when you start to talk about it, they go, oh, 59 00:03:32,470 --> 00:03:36,000 that is exactly what that is. We have one of those as well. Yeah. Uh, 60 00:03:36,020 --> 00:03:38,800 so it takes a second, but yeah, most people kind of get it. 61 00:03:39,310 --> 00:03:42,760 Okay. That's funny. Um, okay. Yeah. So, uh, 62 00:03:43,470 --> 00:03:48,080 kind of doing some of this stuff that these, uh, inside desk people are doing, 63 00:03:48,460 --> 00:03:51,280 you know, intensive and often underappreciated work. 64 00:03:51,980 --> 00:03:55,360 So that's kind of what Inside Desk does, but what are you solving? 65 00:03:56,710 --> 00:04:01,600 Yeah, so again, the dsso space is, is consolidating, right? 66 00:04:01,700 --> 00:04:05,120 So while the Dsso space is growing, 67 00:04:05,970 --> 00:04:07,800 there are fewer DSOs out there, 68 00:04:08,660 --> 00:04:12,960 and that business is consolidating into one place, right? 69 00:04:12,980 --> 00:04:17,920 The business is, is actually shrinking, but the reality is, 70 00:04:17,920 --> 00:04:21,980 is the work is completely decentralized. Dental, 71 00:04:22,670 --> 00:04:26,100 right? Forever will be done at the local level, right? 72 00:04:26,560 --> 00:04:29,100 One patient at a time, one mouth at a time. 73 00:04:29,680 --> 00:04:31,580 And so as the DSOs are centralizing, 74 00:04:31,920 --> 00:04:36,740 the workforce continues to be decentralized and post covid, 75 00:04:36,790 --> 00:04:37,340 right? 76 00:04:37,340 --> 00:04:41,860 Although the people that used to work in the offices are working in a 77 00:04:41,860 --> 00:04:44,660 decentralized world, and many of these groups, um, 78 00:04:44,660 --> 00:04:49,580 work with third parties that are offshore, um, and they're all trying to work, 79 00:04:50,360 --> 00:04:54,300 um, revenue cycle from all parts of the world. 80 00:04:55,200 --> 00:04:58,740 And revenue cycle is, uh, a flywheel, right? 81 00:04:58,960 --> 00:05:01,420 All of these people need to be able to talk to each other, 82 00:05:01,520 --> 00:05:03,140 to communicate with each other. 83 00:05:03,960 --> 00:05:07,620 And historically that's been done in silos, right? 84 00:05:07,960 --> 00:05:09,180 And fragmented spaces. 85 00:05:10,440 --> 00:05:15,260 And so what we're solving for is we're really trying to centralize for the 86 00:05:15,650 --> 00:05:20,460 DSOs a decentralized world where we can log 87 00:05:20,570 --> 00:05:21,980 into a platform, our, 88 00:05:22,040 --> 00:05:26,700 our users and our leaders can log into a platform and they can 89 00:05:26,840 --> 00:05:31,740 manage claim management claim workflow from one place so 90 00:05:31,740 --> 00:05:33,740 they can communicate so they can be more efficient, 91 00:05:33,740 --> 00:05:37,780 so they can be more effective. But more importantly, some of those DSOs have, 92 00:05:37,840 --> 00:05:38,140 you know, 93 00:05:38,140 --> 00:05:42,900 150 locations over 35 states using five PMSs 94 00:05:43,360 --> 00:05:46,900 and aggregating that data today is very, very difficult. It's all done manually. 95 00:05:47,180 --> 00:05:50,620 It's exported, it's put in tax, Excel sheets, it's downloaded. 96 00:05:51,380 --> 00:05:55,740 A lot of these insights are sometimes weeks if not months behind for the DSOs. 97 00:05:56,640 --> 00:05:59,920 And so what we're really doing for them is putting everything into one place 98 00:06:00,410 --> 00:06:05,240 where we can centralize the information for the DSOs for leadership so they can 99 00:06:05,240 --> 00:06:09,040 make better decisions in terms of resourcing, uh, 100 00:06:09,180 --> 00:06:13,880 in terms of maximizing or realizing the revenue that they believe 101 00:06:13,880 --> 00:06:17,800 they've created from their production. And as of a few years ago, 102 00:06:17,800 --> 00:06:21,760 they really couldn't do that. Everything was after the fact, after what posted, 103 00:06:21,900 --> 00:06:26,720 not what was happening, uh, internally. Um, so from a D S O standpoint, right? 104 00:06:26,720 --> 00:06:27,240 Create, 105 00:06:27,240 --> 00:06:30,560 creating the efficiencies and the transparency so that they can measure and 106 00:06:30,570 --> 00:06:35,440 react, uh, is super crucial. Um, but as we talked about it earlier, 107 00:06:35,490 --> 00:06:36,020 right, 108 00:06:36,020 --> 00:06:40,990 it really started with that inside desk and helping those users 109 00:06:41,140 --> 00:06:44,270 that are in it every day that are pulling AR reports. 110 00:06:44,450 --> 00:06:47,950 If you go into any dental office today, most of them anyway, 111 00:06:48,540 --> 00:06:52,070 there's someone with a sheet of paper that's highlighting claims that have been 112 00:06:52,070 --> 00:06:55,310 paid in claims that have not been paid , and, uh, 113 00:06:55,310 --> 00:06:58,390 they're putting lines through it and then reprinting it every single time they 114 00:06:58,390 --> 00:07:01,430 do that report. Um, that's a, a lot of work. 115 00:07:01,690 --> 00:07:06,550 And they're logging into 20, 30, 40 insurance portals every single day typing in 116 00:07:06,550 --> 00:07:08,710 name, date of birth, social security numbers, 117 00:07:09,420 --> 00:07:13,950 just to be able to get back one claim feedback so that they can close it. 118 00:07:14,690 --> 00:07:15,230 And, uh, 119 00:07:15,230 --> 00:07:19,710 so what we do for them is automate that e o b for them and 120 00:07:20,670 --> 00:07:24,310 organize those responses for them and really just simplify the work that they're 121 00:07:24,310 --> 00:07:27,550 doing so they can be more effective and reduce the stress that they're going 122 00:07:27,550 --> 00:07:32,270 through so they can maximize the revenue, um, for their DSOs. So, 123 00:07:32,930 --> 00:07:36,510 uh, it's twofold. You know, the the first part is really just, you know, 124 00:07:37,030 --> 00:07:40,990 creating transparencies at the top level and for our end users really shedding a 125 00:07:40,990 --> 00:07:42,910 light at, at how great a work they're doing and, 126 00:07:42,910 --> 00:07:44,550 and making their work a lot easier for them. 127 00:07:46,110 --> 00:07:50,930 And so you're trying to be that central hub for the, uh, you know, 128 00:07:50,990 --> 00:07:55,570 mostly decentralized revenue cycle or a one stop revenue cycle 129 00:07:55,720 --> 00:07:57,010 info shop, so to speak. 130 00:07:57,760 --> 00:08:01,770 Yeah, we, we would like to get there as to be the one shop stop. Uh, 131 00:08:01,770 --> 00:08:05,450 today we're focused, uh, on payer AR and, uh, 132 00:08:05,450 --> 00:08:09,210 insurance claim follow up. It's, uh, one of the , 133 00:08:10,310 --> 00:08:13,770 uh, uh, harder things to, to do inside of an office. 134 00:08:13,790 --> 00:08:16,410 And so that's where our focus is today. But yeah, 135 00:08:16,410 --> 00:08:17,810 we're centralizing the work and, 136 00:08:17,810 --> 00:08:20,130 and hoping one day to be a one-stop shop for it. For sure. 137 00:08:20,810 --> 00:08:23,690 I have heard that, uh, insurance is a little bit complicated. 138 00:08:24,330 --> 00:08:26,010 . Yeah. It can be . 139 00:08:26,430 --> 00:08:30,730 Uh, so you, uh, you know, you said you're about a four year old company, 140 00:08:31,510 --> 00:08:36,450 so what has been your biggest opportunity in the last couple of years? 141 00:08:38,020 --> 00:08:40,170 Um, you know, I think, 142 00:08:40,410 --> 00:08:42,930 I think historically dental has been a lifestyle business, 143 00:08:43,050 --> 00:08:44,810 a family run business, a family affair. 144 00:08:45,510 --> 00:08:50,250 And so revenue cycle as a general term in 145 00:08:50,250 --> 00:08:54,650 dental is, is pretty new, right? And medical revenue cycle has, 146 00:08:54,790 --> 00:08:58,480 as a concept has always existed. And obviously Rev new cycle has always existed, 147 00:08:58,540 --> 00:08:59,880 but in dental, 148 00:08:59,940 --> 00:09:04,040 as these DSOs are kind of coming together and centralizing, 149 00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:08,820 I think one of the biggest opportunities that have been out there is really 150 00:09:08,930 --> 00:09:13,580 educating the dental community that R C m, uh, is, 151 00:09:14,200 --> 00:09:17,780 is a flywheel, right? It's not, it's not linear, it's you're, 152 00:09:17,780 --> 00:09:22,470 it's a cycle that goes on teaching them that it's not, you know, 153 00:09:22,510 --> 00:09:26,310 a cost center. I think revenue cycle historically has been a cost center. Um, 154 00:09:26,310 --> 00:09:29,390 but as you're able to understand and get insights to the business, 155 00:09:29,890 --> 00:09:33,790 our DSOs are realizing that they're leaving a lot of dollars in the table 156 00:09:33,790 --> 00:09:37,630 revenue leakage from either claims that weren't being submitted, 157 00:09:37,730 --> 00:09:41,230 or they're expecting a hundred dollars from a, from an insurance claim, 158 00:09:41,230 --> 00:09:44,270 they only get 85. How do I, how do I gain that next gap? 159 00:09:45,050 --> 00:09:46,310 And so the education, 160 00:09:46,390 --> 00:09:50,950 I think in the dental community of the importance of RC m is a singular function 161 00:09:51,560 --> 00:09:53,870 where revenue cycle management, 162 00:09:54,070 --> 00:09:58,830 R C M wasn't even really a term in dental five years ago. So, you know, 163 00:09:58,830 --> 00:10:02,550 getting our name out there, um, as a vendor, uh, 164 00:10:02,550 --> 00:10:07,400 to these large DSOs and really having the conversation about what 165 00:10:07,400 --> 00:10:11,960 revenue cycle means inside their business, um, has been an important one. 166 00:10:12,570 --> 00:10:17,520 There are some DSOs that look at revenue cycle as revenue, right? That, that, 167 00:10:17,520 --> 00:10:21,320 that's how they see it. And not all DSOs look at that, 168 00:10:21,510 --> 00:10:25,680 look at it that way just yet. Um, so it's been slow, uh, 169 00:10:25,680 --> 00:10:28,360 two years ago no one was talking to us, you know, 170 00:10:28,410 --> 00:10:32,720 today DSOs are reaching out to us, insurance payers are, are, 171 00:10:32,860 --> 00:10:33,840 are reaching out to us, 172 00:10:34,500 --> 00:10:39,000 and they all wanna work together to make this this thing easier. So, um, 173 00:10:39,240 --> 00:10:42,320 I think the biggest opportunity is just the education in the market from 174 00:10:43,040 --> 00:10:47,320 becoming these small lifestyle businesses to these GSO and, and understanding, 175 00:10:47,860 --> 00:10:49,800 you know, how much value there is in rcm. 176 00:10:50,920 --> 00:10:53,540 In the last couple of years, you said you've, you've had, uh, 177 00:10:53,930 --> 00:10:57,500 more and more payers, uh, dentists reaching out to you. Well, what, 178 00:10:57,500 --> 00:11:00,180 what about right now, what are some of the, uh, 179 00:11:00,280 --> 00:11:02,180 big wins that you're seeing today? 180 00:11:02,890 --> 00:11:06,100 Yeah, we've, you know, we've been really lucky. The last, you know, one of our, 181 00:11:06,680 --> 00:11:10,620 um, we've had some pretty significant sized DSOs, uh, 182 00:11:10,620 --> 00:11:14,580 reach out to us and start with us in the last year. Uh, and we've had, you know, 183 00:11:14,750 --> 00:11:17,860 eight in 10 location DSOs reach out to us in the last year. 184 00:11:18,960 --> 00:11:21,540 The everything is relative, right? So for, 185 00:11:21,680 --> 00:11:25,660 we have this group that's been with us almost exactly a year. Um, 186 00:11:25,660 --> 00:11:30,180 they have eight, I think eight, nine offices. Um, and they've reduced their, 187 00:11:30,180 --> 00:11:33,620 their open payer ar by by $700,000. 188 00:11:34,310 --> 00:11:38,490 That's a ton of money for, you know, if you will, quote unquote a small group. 189 00:11:39,030 --> 00:11:39,550 And, 190 00:11:39,550 --> 00:11:42,730 and for them to be able to do that with only three people managing nine offices 191 00:11:42,990 --> 00:11:45,530 or eight offices, it's a huge win for them, right? 192 00:11:45,530 --> 00:11:50,450 They're super grateful for a large dso is the transparency that we've been able 193 00:11:50,450 --> 00:11:54,200 to provide from our operation and our finance leaders, 194 00:11:54,790 --> 00:11:59,720 some of them have completely reorganized their RC M teams now that 195 00:11:59,720 --> 00:12:04,320 they have the insights to understand who's actually effective at closing 196 00:12:04,340 --> 00:12:07,120 claims, which groups are less effective, right? 197 00:12:07,750 --> 00:12:10,640 What submission claim submissions aren't that clean. 198 00:12:11,420 --> 00:12:16,280 And so some of our bigger groups have had the opportunity to understand how 199 00:12:16,280 --> 00:12:19,640 to accurately and effectively deploy their resources. And as I mentioned, 200 00:12:19,640 --> 00:12:20,310 in some instances, 201 00:12:20,310 --> 00:12:24,280 they just completely changed the way they do their R C M business. Uh, 202 00:12:24,280 --> 00:12:27,040 and so we're really proud that we're able to be a part of that. 203 00:12:27,420 --> 00:12:28,360 And then ultimately, right? 204 00:12:28,360 --> 00:12:33,160 The thing that we always want to hear is our end users, right? It's, 205 00:12:33,550 --> 00:12:36,800 they don't have a choice of the tools that they have, right? They don't have a, 206 00:12:36,800 --> 00:12:38,960 that's, that's decided by someone else. 207 00:12:39,180 --> 00:12:43,240 But when they're in our platform and their lives are easier, 208 00:12:43,380 --> 00:12:46,680 and then they tell us and joke that , you know, if they lost the product, 209 00:12:46,790 --> 00:12:50,240 they quit. Uh, I know it sounds funny, but it's, it's great. 210 00:12:50,240 --> 00:12:53,880 It tells us that we're creating real value, not just at the top, 211 00:12:53,980 --> 00:12:56,720 but for the people who are, like we said before, 212 00:12:56,720 --> 00:13:01,400 right at that inside desk who are our insiders who are working every single 213 00:13:01,580 --> 00:13:05,440 day in these, uh, insurance portals and calling these payers. 214 00:13:05,440 --> 00:13:08,720 And if we can provide that works that they don't have to do that or that 215 00:13:08,720 --> 00:13:12,760 automation, excuse me. Yeah. It brings us a lot of joy to know that they're, uh, 216 00:13:12,760 --> 00:13:14,040 they're seeing a lot of success. 217 00:13:15,290 --> 00:13:17,860 Well, there you have it. So for our dental audience, 218 00:13:18,120 --> 00:13:20,820 and especially those inside desk RCM people, 219 00:13:21,690 --> 00:13:25,300 it's one to keep your eyes on inside desk, keep on your radar, 220 00:13:25,300 --> 00:13:30,260 potentially take some of that burden off and make insights accurate and 221 00:13:30,320 --> 00:13:33,820 easier to, uh, to find. So I wanna thank you, Eric, 222 00:13:33,880 --> 00:13:36,900 for your time and, uh, great conversation today. 223 00:13:38,020 --> 00:13:39,870 Yeah, Marcus, thank you for having us. We appreciate it. 224 00:13:40,040 --> 00:13:41,150 Absolutely. Also, 225 00:13:41,150 --> 00:13:46,150 wanna thank Inside Desk for sponsoring today's content and you can tune into 226 00:13:46,220 --> 00:13:51,150 more Becker's podcasts on becker's healthcare.com/podcast. 227 00:13:51,610 --> 00:13:54,190 We hope you have a wonderful rest of your day.