1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:02,340 Hi everyone. I'm Brian Zimerman with Becker's, 2 00:00:02,340 --> 00:00:04,860 and thank you for tuning into the Becker's Healthcare podcast series. 3 00:00:05,550 --> 00:00:09,660 Today I'm pleased to be joined by Jay Lewa, VP of Dental with Sun Bit, 4 00:00:09,840 --> 00:00:13,860 and Kristen Libe, vice President of Field Operations with LightWave Dental. 5 00:00:14,480 --> 00:00:16,180 Jay and Kristen, thanks so much for being here. 6 00:00:16,930 --> 00:00:17,763 Thank you for having us. 7 00:00:18,470 --> 00:00:21,980 Great. So, so let's begin with some, some introductions here just so our, 8 00:00:21,980 --> 00:00:25,020 our listeners can get to know each of you, um, first before we, 9 00:00:25,160 --> 00:00:26,260 we dive into earnest. 10 00:00:26,480 --> 00:00:29,420 So can each of you share a bit about your current roles and organizations? 11 00:00:29,420 --> 00:00:30,660 Kristen, let's begin with you. 12 00:00:31,560 --> 00:00:31,930 Yes. 13 00:00:31,930 --> 00:00:36,140 I've got 22 years in the dental field starting as a dental assistant going on to 14 00:00:36,140 --> 00:00:39,700 hygiene in Alabama for about seven years. Treatment coordinator, 15 00:00:40,460 --> 00:00:44,300 building practices all the way up to president and c o o of the company I was 16 00:00:44,300 --> 00:00:47,220 with before. I recently joined LightWave, uh, 17 00:00:47,220 --> 00:00:52,220 within the last year to help them focus on the field operations for our growing 18 00:00:52,220 --> 00:00:54,500 company of 84 dental practices. 19 00:00:55,320 --> 00:00:58,660 I'm currently overseeing about 46 of those practices, 20 00:00:58,840 --> 00:01:03,020 and it's going really well. Um, I love, love the focus on, 21 00:01:03,880 --> 00:01:08,620 uh, leadership in our organization at LightWave and how we are helping providers 22 00:01:08,940 --> 00:01:10,460 continue to reach their goals and grow. 23 00:01:11,740 --> 00:01:13,380 Excellent. Well, thank you for, for sharing that, Kristin, 24 00:01:13,570 --> 00:01:16,940 it's great to have you on the podcast. Jay, go ahead and, uh, 25 00:01:16,940 --> 00:01:18,260 introduce yourself to our listeners. 26 00:01:18,880 --> 00:01:23,490 Sure. My name is Jay Leba. I've got about 20 plus years of experience, 27 00:01:24,230 --> 00:01:27,970 um, in the business world, mainly in finance and consulting. 28 00:01:28,650 --> 00:01:33,490 I really have spent most of my career in opportunities that call for, uh, 29 00:01:33,490 --> 00:01:34,410 disruptive innovation. 30 00:01:34,790 --> 00:01:38,850 So typically industries that have stagnated over 31 00:01:38,950 --> 00:01:42,610 10, 20, 30 year period, um, coming up with new products, 32 00:01:42,710 --> 00:01:47,210 new services in order to become a market leader. Um, I've been at Sunbelt, 33 00:01:47,550 --> 00:01:52,050 uh, since the very early days going on about, uh, six years now, uh, 34 00:01:52,050 --> 00:01:56,250 focused initially on, uh, strategic partnerships. And in the last, uh, 35 00:01:56,250 --> 00:01:59,010 three and a half, four years, I was, uh, 36 00:01:59,120 --> 00:02:02,850 responsible and I currently am responsible for building, uh, 37 00:02:02,850 --> 00:02:06,730 the dental practice, uh, from scratch in which we now have, uh, 38 00:02:06,800 --> 00:02:10,450 roughly 9,000 dental practices, uh, nationwide, 39 00:02:10,450 --> 00:02:15,130 including single point multi-unit, as well as, uh, ds o partners. 40 00:02:16,010 --> 00:02:18,000 Great. Jay, thank you for being here. Uh, 41 00:02:18,230 --> 00:02:20,440 it's great to have both of your perspectives, uh, to, 42 00:02:20,460 --> 00:02:23,840 to really dive in here and learn more what's happening about what's happening in 43 00:02:23,840 --> 00:02:27,640 the dental industry. So the, the, the first question I wanna pose, um, to you, 44 00:02:27,640 --> 00:02:30,280 Kristen, maybe you can take it first and then Jay, we will check in with you, 45 00:02:30,300 --> 00:02:31,133 but, uh, 46 00:02:31,320 --> 00:02:35,680 there was a recent survey that found 67% of Americans can't afford a surprise 47 00:02:35,950 --> 00:02:39,600 $400 expense. So, uh, with that context, can, 48 00:02:39,600 --> 00:02:42,880 can you talk a little bit about Kristin, how the economic climate, um, 49 00:02:42,900 --> 00:02:46,960 is sort of affecting dental practices today and how it's also influencing 50 00:02:46,960 --> 00:02:50,520 patient behaviors when it comes to, you know, treatment acceptance and, 51 00:02:50,520 --> 00:02:53,600 and cancellations, no-show things, things of that nature. Kristen, can you, 52 00:02:53,600 --> 00:02:54,720 can you talk a little bit about that? 53 00:02:55,400 --> 00:02:55,940 Sure. 54 00:02:55,940 --> 00:02:59,680 We're already starting to see some of the same patterns that I remember from oh 55 00:02:59,680 --> 00:03:03,890 eight, which was a hesitancy to accept the treatment that would involve any 56 00:03:03,890 --> 00:03:05,850 out-of-pocket expenses, um, 57 00:03:05,850 --> 00:03:10,370 which also led to a decrease in comprehensive treatment and more of a focus on 58 00:03:10,370 --> 00:03:11,810 emergency care for our patients. 59 00:03:12,960 --> 00:03:16,540 And financial constraints can really result in delaying or avoiding dental 60 00:03:16,540 --> 00:03:19,980 appointments altogether. And that's what we're challenged with, 61 00:03:19,980 --> 00:03:21,700 is trying to figure that out for our patients, 62 00:03:21,890 --> 00:03:23,660 similar to what we were doing in oh eight, 63 00:03:23,660 --> 00:03:27,940 continuing to figure out new ways to be embedded for our patients to be able to 64 00:03:27,940 --> 00:03:28,780 get access to care. 65 00:03:30,220 --> 00:03:31,880 Can you talk a little bit more, Kristen, about that, 66 00:03:31,880 --> 00:03:34,960 that inventiveness and we'll, we'll dive in further here too, but just to, 67 00:03:34,980 --> 00:03:37,640 to lay, lay some more groundwork for the conversation to come. 68 00:03:38,160 --> 00:03:41,650 Focusing on retention of patients, you know, 69 00:03:41,710 --> 00:03:44,850 trying to be open later, more convenient hours, 70 00:03:45,790 --> 00:03:49,250 trying to find ways for patients to be able to f afford the, you know, 71 00:03:49,250 --> 00:03:52,450 the higher dollar treatment that they need in a monthly payment plan. 72 00:03:52,860 --> 00:03:56,610 Those are some of the ways that we've been able to help our patients say yes to 73 00:03:56,610 --> 00:04:00,050 dentistry, even when it's, you know, an economic, uh, 74 00:04:00,050 --> 00:04:02,890 situation that we're faced with as we are again today. 75 00:04:03,790 --> 00:04:07,540 Thank you, Kristen. Um, Jay, uh, does what Kristen share, um, 76 00:04:07,600 --> 00:04:10,540 shared sort of resonate with what you're seeing in the industry as well? 77 00:04:11,010 --> 00:04:13,460 Yeah, it definitely does. I mean, I work with, and, 78 00:04:13,480 --> 00:04:18,020 and my team works with literally hundreds of groups, uh, 79 00:04:18,340 --> 00:04:21,380 practices throughout the country. And what Kristen is seeing is, 80 00:04:21,480 --> 00:04:26,420 is very similar to what they're seeing, which is higher cost for patients, less, 81 00:04:26,680 --> 00:04:30,060 uh, discretionary, uh, funds to be used for dentistry. 82 00:04:30,560 --> 00:04:34,580 And the bottom line is the, the stat that you quoted before, 83 00:04:34,580 --> 00:04:38,100 67% of Americans can't afford a $400 emergency expense. 84 00:04:38,720 --> 00:04:42,420 The average dental treatment is roughly about $1,200. 85 00:04:42,560 --> 00:04:44,860 So if 67% can't afford 400, 86 00:04:45,530 --> 00:04:48,980 imagine what the percentage is that can't afford 1200. 87 00:04:49,600 --> 00:04:54,540 So the assumption that has to be made is that a huge percentage of the 88 00:04:54,540 --> 00:04:59,180 patients that are walking in that office door, of course, need access to care, 89 00:04:59,210 --> 00:05:02,740 need that treatment, but they can't afford it. And it's up to us, 90 00:05:02,740 --> 00:05:05,180 it's up to the dental practices, the DSOs, 91 00:05:05,180 --> 00:05:08,940 the single unit practices independence in order to give them options, 92 00:05:09,210 --> 00:05:13,540 give the patients great options in order to get the dental care that they need. 93 00:05:14,370 --> 00:05:15,950 And really sort of side stepped, 94 00:05:16,310 --> 00:05:18,750 overcome some of those economic barriers right there. There's, 95 00:05:18,750 --> 00:05:22,150 there's a lot of work dental organizations can do, um, to, to, 96 00:05:22,150 --> 00:05:24,550 to mitigate these challenges. You can't go out and fix, uh, 97 00:05:24,770 --> 00:05:26,430 fix the broader economic trends, right? 98 00:05:26,430 --> 00:05:28,950 But you can do some work within your own organization to, 99 00:05:28,950 --> 00:05:31,430 to take care of your patients and expand access. Right, Jay? 100 00:05:31,720 --> 00:05:35,830 Absolutely. I mean, it's not just, it's not just keeping costs down, right? 101 00:05:35,830 --> 00:05:38,190 Because everyone is trying to do that and, and rightfully, 102 00:05:38,530 --> 00:05:42,350 but you also as an organization have to go on offense a bit, 103 00:05:42,350 --> 00:05:47,230 meaning you have to try to drive more production via providing 104 00:05:47,230 --> 00:05:49,630 more, uh, patients access to care. 105 00:05:50,940 --> 00:05:53,730 Thank you, Jay. And Kristen, turning back to you now, you know, you, 106 00:05:53,730 --> 00:05:57,840 you talked a little bit about, about the work, um, you, you're, you're doing to, 107 00:05:57,860 --> 00:06:01,400 to to sort of navigate some of some of the economic challenges and, and, and, 108 00:06:01,420 --> 00:06:04,320 and work with patients. But can you talk more about the, the, 109 00:06:04,420 --> 00:06:06,520 the steps light wave dental is, 110 00:06:06,520 --> 00:06:09,280 is doing to really mitigate the impact of inflation and, 111 00:06:09,280 --> 00:06:10,760 and sort of grow top line revenue there? 112 00:06:11,420 --> 00:06:16,290 Absolutely. We are focused on clinical hiring and retention. We've got, um, 113 00:06:16,730 --> 00:06:21,650 I believe 90%, uh, clinical hiring retention right now currently in our company. 114 00:06:22,110 --> 00:06:26,730 And that comes through a lot of leading and mentoring and 115 00:06:27,150 --> 00:06:29,930 growth pathways for our providers. 116 00:06:30,470 --> 00:06:32,370 One of the things that I am really impressed with, 117 00:06:32,370 --> 00:06:35,570 with our company is strategic partner program that we have, 118 00:06:35,850 --> 00:06:38,290 I believe launched it last year, if I'm not mistaken. 119 00:06:38,910 --> 00:06:43,690 It was designed to have orthodontists doing the clin checks for GP 120 00:06:43,690 --> 00:06:48,330 doctors so that the patients never have to leave their home dental 121 00:06:48,330 --> 00:06:51,850 office, but they are able to get the ortho care that they would like. 122 00:06:52,550 --> 00:06:56,370 And we have the support of orthodontists within our company helping to make sure 123 00:06:56,390 --> 00:07:00,430 the patient gets the best quality of care. That has been one of, I believe, 124 00:07:00,490 --> 00:07:04,110 one of the main things that I've seen to really help us drive top line growth. 125 00:07:05,600 --> 00:07:08,590 Thank you for sharing that, Kristin. And, and I also understand that, you know, 126 00:07:08,930 --> 00:07:09,350 you've, 127 00:07:09,350 --> 00:07:13,630 you've recently had that a really successful implementation of new financing 128 00:07:13,630 --> 00:07:15,870 technology just within the last several months. 129 00:07:16,450 --> 00:07:18,750 Can you just share more about the, the process of, 130 00:07:18,890 --> 00:07:22,510 of implementing integrating this new solution, um, and, 131 00:07:22,510 --> 00:07:26,270 and the impact it's had on on your business, your staff, um, and patients? 132 00:07:26,270 --> 00:07:27,103 Of course. 133 00:07:27,300 --> 00:07:31,000 Our company is unique in that we lead our dental practices into sound business 134 00:07:31,200 --> 00:07:33,000 decisions without forcing that on on them. 135 00:07:33,500 --> 00:07:38,480 So it does require us to slow down and get their buy-in before we're able 136 00:07:38,480 --> 00:07:42,160 to really introduce any new services to their practice. 137 00:07:43,060 --> 00:07:47,590 And the way that I'm able to get the buy-in is from my own experience being, 138 00:07:47,730 --> 00:07:51,590 you know, a clinician myself doing the treatment planning for Ms. Jones, that, 139 00:07:52,410 --> 00:07:56,270 um, ultimately in my experience would get a no to patient financing. 140 00:07:56,370 --> 00:08:01,210 So I noticed that I was more hesitant to offer options for the patient, 141 00:08:01,830 --> 00:08:02,050 uh, 142 00:08:02,050 --> 00:08:05,090 when it came to patient financing because I wasn't well trained on what to say. 143 00:08:05,390 --> 00:08:07,810 And then when I did get the guts to do it, Ms. 144 00:08:08,010 --> 00:08:11,770 Jones got declined and then I had to, you know, deal with that, um, 145 00:08:11,920 --> 00:08:16,890 emotional response of knowing this patient. So being so close to, um, 146 00:08:16,990 --> 00:08:21,730 the fire on this really kind of made it a little more challenging for me as a 147 00:08:21,730 --> 00:08:26,290 clinician to, you know, feel good about how we're going to get Ms. 148 00:08:26,530 --> 00:08:29,770 Jones to the dentistry that she needs and wants. Um, 149 00:08:30,150 --> 00:08:34,730 and so that was my experience with that. And then, um, partnering with Sunbelt, 150 00:08:35,010 --> 00:08:38,210 I was able to see, you know, we're currently a 94% approval rate. 151 00:08:38,350 --> 00:08:43,210 That's almost a guaranteed yes at this point for our patients that are accepting 152 00:08:43,210 --> 00:08:44,170 treatment through Sunbelt. 153 00:08:44,470 --> 00:08:49,010 And that gives our teams the confidence to offer it because they don't have to 154 00:08:49,010 --> 00:08:52,450 worry about having to, you know, pat Ms. Jones on the back and say, I'm sorry, 155 00:08:52,450 --> 00:08:53,283 we can't help you. 156 00:08:54,870 --> 00:08:57,290 I imagine having conversations, I'm sorry, can't help you. 157 00:08:57,750 --> 00:09:01,090 Things like that just take a real emotional toll on staff, right? 158 00:09:02,190 --> 00:09:07,010 Yes. For the practice level, that is really what it's all about for us, 159 00:09:07,150 --> 00:09:10,290 is providing care. That's why we go into dentistry, you know, we, 160 00:09:10,430 --> 00:09:15,170 we build relationships with these patients and when we have to turn patients 161 00:09:15,200 --> 00:09:17,130 away, that is really, really hard. 162 00:09:17,190 --> 00:09:21,850 So the emotional response at the practice level is probably the number one thing 163 00:09:21,920 --> 00:09:26,610 that I've seen the change in tone for our teams to be able to feel confident and 164 00:09:26,680 --> 00:09:28,010 that they are able to help Ms. 165 00:09:28,010 --> 00:09:32,850 Jones is really making the difference in us being able to provide more 166 00:09:32,850 --> 00:09:33,683 care. 167 00:09:35,170 --> 00:09:37,450 Excellent. Preston, thank you for sharing that. And then I, you know, 168 00:09:37,670 --> 00:09:39,890 you mentioned sort of buy-in here, um, 169 00:09:39,890 --> 00:09:42,650 which makes me wanna dive a little bit deeper and ask a, 170 00:09:42,690 --> 00:09:45,610 a question about change management. So, uh, you know, 171 00:09:45,610 --> 00:09:48,170 anytime you integrate new solutions, new technology, there's, 172 00:09:48,170 --> 00:09:50,050 there's a period of, uh, of change management. 173 00:09:50,050 --> 00:09:51,530 Can you talk a little bit about Kristen, 174 00:09:52,320 --> 00:09:56,290 what operational or or change management adjustments you made and, 175 00:09:56,470 --> 00:09:59,370 and just share a little bit more about how your team's adapted through that 176 00:09:59,370 --> 00:10:00,203 process? 177 00:10:00,670 --> 00:10:02,970 It started with awareness. You know, our, 178 00:10:03,070 --> 00:10:06,130 our teams don't really know the stats that we're sharing right now. They, 179 00:10:06,280 --> 00:10:07,570 they just assume, you know, 180 00:10:07,570 --> 00:10:10,130 that people walk out the door and say no to treatment because they failed or 181 00:10:10,130 --> 00:10:11,290 they didn't do something right. 182 00:10:11,710 --> 00:10:15,010 And it is a little bit more challenging for us to determine why case acceptance 183 00:10:15,020 --> 00:10:16,410 isn't greater in dentistry. 184 00:10:16,790 --> 00:10:19,850 But when we remove this financial barrier and we start to see that case 185 00:10:19,850 --> 00:10:22,970 acceptance goes up when we remove that, you know, financial barrier, 186 00:10:23,730 --> 00:10:28,170 I think the awareness of the need for our patients drives 187 00:10:28,430 --> 00:10:31,210 buy-in of the team, but it doesn't stop there. 188 00:10:32,070 --> 00:10:36,730 The training of the team is another key aspect to really making this 189 00:10:36,960 --> 00:10:37,793 work. Um, 190 00:10:37,840 --> 00:10:41,770 without proper training and communication from the team member to the patient, 191 00:10:42,430 --> 00:10:44,730 it can be a really challenging conversation, 192 00:10:44,730 --> 00:10:46,570 but it doesn't have to be with a little bit of training. 193 00:10:47,030 --> 00:10:50,450 And so we focused on that, the desire to wanna help people, 194 00:10:50,630 --> 00:10:54,570 but also the ease of use of being able to, you know, 195 00:10:54,670 --> 00:10:59,650 get the financial arrangements made without taking a lot of chair time, 196 00:10:59,650 --> 00:11:04,650 patient or practice time has also been another way that it's just really 197 00:11:04,840 --> 00:11:09,450 been an easy transition for our teams because, uh, 198 00:11:09,450 --> 00:11:12,170 those few things that we've done in the change management process have really 199 00:11:12,170 --> 00:11:13,410 worked and gone so smoothly. 200 00:11:14,650 --> 00:11:16,470 Jay, turning to you now and staying on the, 201 00:11:16,470 --> 00:11:18,830 this change management component for, for a little bit. 202 00:11:19,130 --> 00:11:22,430 Can you talk a little bit about, you know, expand upon what, what Kristen said. 203 00:11:22,430 --> 00:11:26,870 Does that, does that experience sort of track across other partners you have? 204 00:11:27,210 --> 00:11:28,590 Um, can you just talk about what, 205 00:11:28,700 --> 00:11:31,270 what challenges do you see here in terms of change management among, 206 00:11:31,270 --> 00:11:32,103 among your partners? 207 00:11:32,720 --> 00:11:36,410 Sure. I think the biggest thing, and I think Kristen touched on it quite well, 208 00:11:36,670 --> 00:11:40,090 is really changing of behaviors. Cuz really what, 209 00:11:40,240 --> 00:11:45,090 what the front office team has done the past 25 years is they've tried to roll 210 00:11:45,170 --> 00:11:48,690 a 200 pound boulder up a hill, and we all know that's kind of impossible. 211 00:11:48,710 --> 00:11:52,290 You try it once, it doesn't work, so you stop doing that. 212 00:11:52,290 --> 00:11:54,210 And the same thing thing with patient financing. 213 00:11:54,600 --> 00:11:59,560 Historically there's been anywhere from 25 to 35, if you're lucky, 214 00:11:59,570 --> 00:12:04,040 maybe 40%, um, approval with, with some of the historical, uh, 215 00:12:04,320 --> 00:12:08,640 providers. So what happens is if three out of 10 or four out of 10 get approved, 216 00:12:08,660 --> 00:12:12,840 and obviously most get declined as a front office team member, 217 00:12:12,940 --> 00:12:15,480 you're just going to stop offering it. It's human nature, right? 218 00:12:15,480 --> 00:12:19,880 Because it's embarrassing for you to offer a solution to someone 219 00:12:20,340 --> 00:12:24,120 for which they get declined and it's even more embarrassing for the person 220 00:12:24,140 --> 00:12:25,920 across the counter, right? 221 00:12:26,020 --> 00:12:28,760 The patient who needs that care to get declined as well. 222 00:12:28,780 --> 00:12:33,670 So you just stop offering it. So here we come and we are saying, 223 00:12:33,670 --> 00:12:37,150 and you, you, you heard, you know, Kristen's results today, 94%, 224 00:12:37,690 --> 00:12:41,350 nearly everyone that walks in the door can get the care they need, 225 00:12:41,890 --> 00:12:46,670 but there is a changing of behaviors that's needed by the front office 226 00:12:46,670 --> 00:12:50,390 staff. And I think the way Kristen does it, which is amazing, 227 00:12:50,480 --> 00:12:52,270 which is it's kind of like, you know, 228 00:12:52,380 --> 00:12:55,310 show me like it works like we're approving people, 229 00:12:55,310 --> 00:12:58,630 people are getting the care they need, case acceptance is going up, so I'm, 230 00:12:58,630 --> 00:13:00,190 you know what, I'm gonna offer it to the next patient, 231 00:13:00,290 --> 00:13:03,270 I'm gonna offer it to the next patient. Um, and that's kind of, 232 00:13:03,270 --> 00:13:08,030 that muscle memory gets built and that's how wrist and 233 00:13:08,030 --> 00:13:11,990 lightweight have been so successful, uh, so far with Sunbelt. 234 00:13:12,210 --> 00:13:15,870 So changing of behaviors is, is I think the first one. The, the other one, 235 00:13:15,970 --> 00:13:19,030 the other key point I think is the tone at the top. 236 00:13:19,890 --> 00:13:24,710 So does executive management kind of tie in access to care 237 00:13:25,220 --> 00:13:29,070 with patient financing? Cuz it's very, very tightly integrated, right? 238 00:13:29,070 --> 00:13:30,990 If you want more patients to have access to care, 239 00:13:31,340 --> 00:13:35,510 they need more flexible ways to make payments and patient financing 240 00:13:35,970 --> 00:13:40,390 should be one of the primary ways to do that. So I think if you, if they're, 241 00:13:40,410 --> 00:13:43,270 you focus on those two things, changing of the behaviors and tone at the top, 242 00:13:44,010 --> 00:13:48,070 the partners that we work with that focus on those two things are extremely 243 00:13:48,070 --> 00:13:50,150 successful in implementing Sun. 244 00:13:51,790 --> 00:13:54,770 So some really great advice throughout this portion of the conversation and, 245 00:13:54,770 --> 00:13:57,850 and, and let's keep that the, the, that going for a, 246 00:13:57,850 --> 00:14:01,170 as we call out the conversation here, I wanna really think about advice, tips, 247 00:14:01,590 --> 00:14:04,290 uh, stuff, people listening to this, this, 248 00:14:04,290 --> 00:14:07,370 this podcast can really take away and, and bring through their own practice. 249 00:14:07,430 --> 00:14:11,370 So the question I wanna pose to both of you is for leaders out there who might 250 00:14:11,370 --> 00:14:12,130 be listening to this, 251 00:14:12,130 --> 00:14:15,850 who are really motivated to integrate a new financing solution in their 252 00:14:15,850 --> 00:14:18,170 organizations, what advice would you offer? 253 00:14:18,360 --> 00:14:21,170 What do they really absolutely need to know to be successful? Kristen, 254 00:14:21,270 --> 00:14:22,930 do you wanna start us off here? 255 00:14:23,730 --> 00:14:24,500 Sure. 256 00:14:24,500 --> 00:14:29,020 I would say find a platform that will focus on training the team for you. 257 00:14:29,120 --> 00:14:30,380 So that takes, you know, 258 00:14:30,380 --> 00:14:33,900 that away from you having to be the one to really drive those results and hold 259 00:14:33,900 --> 00:14:34,733 the team accountable. 260 00:14:35,000 --> 00:14:39,880 The training to me is the key to success and finding a partner 261 00:14:39,910 --> 00:14:44,800 that can help you get such approval rates will make all the difference when 262 00:14:44,800 --> 00:14:48,440 it gets to the team's level of wanting to keep this process going. 263 00:14:49,540 --> 00:14:52,680 So, so a lot about training there and really, you know, taking that, 264 00:14:52,780 --> 00:14:55,760 taking that worry, that concern off, off the plate of the practice, right? 265 00:14:56,500 --> 00:14:57,333 Yes. 266 00:14:57,540 --> 00:14:58,440 Jay, what would you say? 267 00:14:59,350 --> 00:15:03,150 I think in a mirroring that a little bit, um, is how, 268 00:15:03,570 --> 00:15:05,030 if you're looking for a solution, 269 00:15:05,640 --> 00:15:08,710 ultimately who's going to be offering that solution? It's the front office team, 270 00:15:08,840 --> 00:15:12,190 right? The, the tcs the office manager, maybe the dental assistant. 271 00:15:12,810 --> 00:15:17,700 How easy is it for them to use this solution if they've got 272 00:15:17,740 --> 00:15:21,020 a flop back and forth between, you know, different, uh, 273 00:15:21,090 --> 00:15:24,340 screens and they have to ask hard questions like, you know, 274 00:15:25,360 --> 00:15:29,060 what's your income? Are you married versus single? What's your social? 275 00:15:29,200 --> 00:15:34,180 If you have to ask like all these private questions and it's difficult for them, 276 00:15:34,650 --> 00:15:37,900 they're not gonna wanna do it because like Kristen said, 277 00:15:37,900 --> 00:15:39,580 you wanna kind of make it easy for them, right? 278 00:15:39,600 --> 00:15:41,580 You want the process to kind of take care of itself. 279 00:15:41,600 --> 00:15:46,380 So I think is how easy is the process for the staff because ultimately they're 280 00:15:46,380 --> 00:15:49,540 going to drive the success or failure for the program. 281 00:15:50,160 --> 00:15:54,460 And I think that the second thing is the approval rate, right? You know, 282 00:15:54,620 --> 00:15:57,420 a slick technology solution is great, 283 00:15:57,760 --> 00:16:02,460 but if if it approves 30% of the people, it doesn't really help many people. 284 00:16:02,760 --> 00:16:04,380 You need a solution that's quick, 285 00:16:04,960 --> 00:16:09,380 that's easy for the office to use and most importantly has a very, 286 00:16:09,380 --> 00:16:12,900 very high approval rate so that it's inclusive so we can really, 287 00:16:13,080 --> 00:16:16,580 the the promise that we're trying to make to the patients that you have a 288 00:16:16,580 --> 00:16:18,260 problem, we have a solution, 289 00:16:18,560 --> 00:16:21,980 you can actually get the access to dental care that you need. 290 00:16:23,320 --> 00:16:24,153 Great point. 291 00:16:24,900 --> 00:16:28,430 Yeah. I imagine that without that high approval rate, you know, 292 00:16:28,780 --> 00:16:31,750 even with the best of intentions, it's not gonna be as as effective. Right? 293 00:16:32,490 --> 00:16:34,740 Hundred percent correct. A hundred percent correct. 294 00:16:34,880 --> 00:16:38,500 And, and, and, and just to close out here, is there anything we didn't get to, 295 00:16:38,520 --> 00:16:40,860 you want to, you want to, you know, say before we, 296 00:16:41,160 --> 00:16:44,020 we sign off any additional advice you'd like to share? Any, 297 00:16:44,120 --> 00:16:46,420 any closing thoughts at all? Kristen, do you wanna go first. 298 00:16:47,510 --> 00:16:48,130 In dentistry? 299 00:16:48,130 --> 00:16:52,010 We've been resilient through these kind of economic situations in the past, 300 00:16:52,070 --> 00:16:55,570 and I have no doubt we'll come up on the other side of this even better than 301 00:16:55,570 --> 00:16:56,403 where we were before. 302 00:16:57,120 --> 00:17:00,850 Just would say that if you've tried solutions in the past that didn't seem to 303 00:17:00,850 --> 00:17:04,610 work, don't give up. Try again. Try someone different, try, you know, 304 00:17:04,930 --> 00:17:05,763 whatever it takes. 305 00:17:05,930 --> 00:17:09,450 Continue to try to put the patient first and the rest will work out. 306 00:17:10,180 --> 00:17:12,090 Thank you. Question Jay, what would you say? 307 00:17:12,810 --> 00:17:16,090 I would say that, you know, we're, we're in these tough times, but you know, 308 00:17:16,270 --> 00:17:19,490 as people were tough, as you know, practitioners we're tough. 309 00:17:19,990 --> 00:17:24,050 We need to go on offense, we need to really drive access to care. 310 00:17:24,430 --> 00:17:25,370 In order to do that, 311 00:17:25,510 --> 00:17:29,930 one of the best ways to do it is through offering patient financing to all your 312 00:17:29,930 --> 00:17:34,450 patients. Some people may want it, some people may not want it. Similar to, 313 00:17:34,510 --> 00:17:35,970 you know, going through the checkout line, 314 00:17:36,050 --> 00:17:38,210 a target where you get offered the red card every time. 315 00:17:38,640 --> 00:17:43,530 This should be the defacto method or policy for offices 316 00:17:44,310 --> 00:17:47,290 to get more patients the access to, to care that they need. 317 00:17:48,340 --> 00:17:50,920 Excellent. A great place to close. Jay Kristen, it, 318 00:17:50,920 --> 00:17:52,840 it's been a pleasure speaking with you today. Thank you. 319 00:17:52,890 --> 00:17:55,600 Thank you both so much for joining me. Thank you. Thank you Brian. 320 00:17:56,530 --> 00:17:59,510 I'd also like to thank Sun Bitt as well for sponsoring this episode. 321 00:17:59,970 --> 00:18:03,110 You can tune into more podcasts from Becker's Healthcare by visiting our podcast 322 00:18:03,340 --> 00:18:05,230 page. Have a wonderful rest of your day.