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Hi everyone, this is Erica Spicer
Mason with Becker's Healthcare.

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Thanks so much for tuning into the
Becker's Dental and d s o podcast.

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Today we're really happy to
be joined by Steve Wright,

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who is the director of Enterprise
Sales at Solution Reach.

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Steve's going to talk to us today about
how to leverage technology to scale

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patient marketing and
communication. Steve,

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thank you so much for being
here today. And welcome.

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Thanks, Erica. Good to be here.

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Great. Well, I'm excited to get into
this topic today, but before we do,

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I thought it might be helpful
for our listeners, um,

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if they could hear a little bit
more about you and your background,

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if you'd like to share a bit
about yourself and your role.

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Yeah, absolutely. Um, I, I've
been with Solution Reach for,

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uh, the last six, uh, almost
seven years, and I've always,

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you know, targeted, kind of working in
this D S O space, um, strategic markets,

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and, you know,

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any of our larger healthcare
groups and organizations around the

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country. Uh, we work in the US and
Canada, uh, currently. And, um,

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our, my strategic focus is, is
typically around the, uh, D S O and,

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and large group markets.

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Great. Thank you so much for sharing,

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and I'm excited to have you on with us
because I know there's a lot going on in

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the dental service
organization or D s O space,

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a lot of consolidation
and growth here, um,

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which is exciting and it
also comes with challenges.

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So I'm curious if you can share with
us a little bit about how this trend

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of growth and consolidation is really
impacting patient communication

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and also how patients
are engaging in our care.

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Are there particular challenges that
you're seeing DSOs looking at in this

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regard?

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Yeah, no, great question and,

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and really we're definitely
listening closely to the market.

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We are seeing a large shift
in the last, you know, five,

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six years in particular for, uh,
these support organizations. And, um,

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the numbers are, are increasing
every day, and it just makes sense.

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You know, we, these, uh,

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support organizations have
a great model for, uh,

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providing everyday support and alleviating
that day-to-day task on some of

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these, uh, certain, uh,
requirements for these, uh,

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practices and, and making
their lives easier. And,

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and really just tying themselves to a
group that has a great vision and a great

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partnership opportunities.
And, um, so we we're, yeah,

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we're absolutely seeing the, uh, the
shift in the, in the market and we're,

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we're innovating personally, you know,

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with our product and
trying to keep up with the,

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the demand of these large DSOs and what
features and functionality and what

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industry market trends we're seeing.
Um, we're, we're seeing a lot of,

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of really exciting stuff
with, uh, consolidation and,

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and centralizing control and, you know,

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how could they support
each location, you know,

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as if it's the location sending
messages out themselves and, um,

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making it very personal
looking, you know, how do we,

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how do we automate that
process and, uh, from a,

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from a corporate team perspective and,

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and give them the tools that they can
without having to hire a hundred new staff

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members to, you know, for these
day-to-day opportunities. So, yeah, that,

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that's definitely what we're, what
we're seeing today. I'd say the, the,

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the biggest market trend right
now is, is centralization,

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is how do we bring everything
in one, minimize training, uh,

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make it easier to onboard
these new locations, newly,
newly acquired locations,

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and, uh, get them as successful
as possible, uh, quickly.

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Yeah, I really appreciate you
laying it all out like that.

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I think that's a helpful,
um, helpful perspective.

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And I wanna go back to something
that you said about how these really

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big organizations are kind of
striving to have a message or

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communication that goes out to a patient,

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feel personable or personalized
despite it coming out from, you know,

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a larger entity. So how does
technology fit in there?

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How does it help improve communications
and engagement with patients?

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Yeah, yeah. It's, it's, it's interesting
because, you know, years ago, even,

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even as, as short as, you
know, five to 10 years ago,

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we had a hard time trying to convince
doctors and, and owners that, hey,

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texting, simply texting with
patients is a great way to, uh,

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get them the information
they need quickly. And you,

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you'll be shocked how much pushback
we had from those providers. And,

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and the biggest thing we heard is, well,
this takes away the personal touch,

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right? So kind of going like, the theme
of this conversation, right, Erica, is,

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you know, leveraging technology. And
I think for years that's been scary.

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It's like, well, the
more we kind of saw the,

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the word technology lined up
with robots and, you know,

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how are we being less
human as we go? And so I I,

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I love that question
because it's, you know,

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we are seeing that today and the,

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the idea is to build a technology that
is so user-friendly and so easy to use

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that the, uh, these receptionist roles
are front desk, the, the patients.

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So it looks like they're gonna get a
direct text from these, these people,

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and then we have to automate it in
a way where it's, you know, very,

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very simple to control and manage from
the, from the enterprise level, right?

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So yeah, it's, it's definitely,
you know, years ago, but in our,

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in our response to those doctors
that would complain about, you know,

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the personal touch, it's, you know,

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really what's more personal than letting
the patient choose how they wanna be

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contacted, right?

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And we found that most like text and
most like an email response. And, uh,

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that's kind of the simple process of
leveraging technology is is making it

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very personable for that patient
to look like they're engaging with,

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with a human being.

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Absolutely. And it's really a testament
to how quickly things have changed,

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because, I dunno, just to
share a personal anecdote,

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I think I remember the first time I
received a text from my doctor to schedule

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an appointment, and I thought
it was so strange at first,

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but now I would never even think
twice <laugh> about receiving a text

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from, you know, a care provider.
It's just really, it's the norm now.

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It's so true. Yep. Yeah, it's, it's, it's
become the norm. Absolutely. You know,

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everyone prefers text. It's a very simple
way of doing it. And, and, you know,

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not just to limit it to
text, you know, there's,

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there's lots of technologies that
are added today and, um, you know,

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automating processes and, and you know,
from, from the clinical side and, um,

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it's, it's just something new,

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but it's something that people
are adopting better each day.

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Yeah, exactly. And, and so
building on that a little bit more,

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I know you said it, it goes
beyond just texting, um,

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but when communicating with patients
and kind of building a technology-based

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strategy for engaging them, in your view,

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what are those key components or
considerations for an effective strategy

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and how does that ultimately affect DSOs,

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like their operations and measures
related to that and also outcomes?

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Yeah, I mean, for, for a strategic
approach, it's, it's hard because every,

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every group is different. Um,
they're all unique in their own way,

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and we do have to figure out a very
streamlined way for them to, um,

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get this technology out to these
locations and how to provide training

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on those products and what
are the responsibilities
or roles that these people

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need to perform with
the technology, right?

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So we do run into that a lot and it
is, it is very, very unique per D s o.

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So that, that's been kind of a
big question in our heads is like,

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how do we create a customized
plan per, per group, uh,

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to get this technology out
to these locations and, and
how do we make it theirs?

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You know, cuz we can't come in and say,
Hey, here's your training models, right?

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We have to work with these groups
on how to, how to perform and,

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and how to send these out in the
right way. So, um, they're very,

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very customizable. And I,

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I'd say that's kind of the biggest thing
that we do is I think we have a very

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good process where, you know,

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we want to be the tool that we wanna
be the, you know, the prepared,

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you know, the owner of the technology,

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but we want every data point inside
the tool is theirs and it allows them

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to go out and, you know, customize
it according to their needs.

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Absolutely.

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So not just customizing communication
preferences for patients,

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but it also comes down to doing
the same for DSOs as well.

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Yep. Yeah, absolutely.

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Great.

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So with the trends of consolidation
and growth among DSOs,

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you know, they're trying to
reach more and more patients,

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as you mentioned earlier.

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So for the D S O that's looking to scale
their digital communication strategy

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with patients, what's
kind of the go-to tool,

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resource or first step
that you recommend? Um,

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and maybe you could share some examples
of successes that you've seen with your

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partner organizations as well.

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Yeah, so, and, and
maybe I need to go back,

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maybe I need to take a step back
too. I, I, I don't know if, um,

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some of the listeners
have any idea of kind of,

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I think most people have heard of us,

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but just to make sure that we have the
groundwork here. So solution reach,

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it's a web-based application.

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It's a product that focuses
on patient communication.

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So we specialize in automating certain

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processes like the reminder
process or recalling patients or

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getting patients registration information
or managing online reputation. And,

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you know, the kind of, the theme of
today's topic is marketing, right?

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So we have a lot of marketing tools to,
uh, reach patients at the right time.

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Um, the big theme of our
system is text. You know,

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we do believe that text is the best
way to reach patients nowadays.

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So that's kind of the underlying,
you know, that's the goal is,

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is how do we automate
through text, you know,

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to reach patients at very strategic
times during their journey with these

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practices. So yeah, I just wanna
make sure kinda listeners, you know,

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saw exactly kind of how we function,
um, to answer that question.

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But yeah, I think what's really, really
popular right now is we, we had to, uh,

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release a product, um,
over the last, you know,

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several years called Location Hub. And,

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and it's the ability for these groups.

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Cuz what we're finding in very
specific situations is they have a,

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an in-house, you know, marketing team
at the corporate side, um, and the, the,

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the roles of these
marketing teams are to, uh,

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send out automated
newsletters campaigns, um,

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manage the reputation online for these,
for these locations, right? So there's,

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there's a lot. So pretty
much any marketing that they
could offer, maybe it's,

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you know,

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managing their social media or responding
to reviews or sending out review

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invitations for patients to, you know,
help boost their online presence.

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That's our, that's what we're
hearing a lot right now is, you know,

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with consolidation is how do we
get the best of both worlds, right?

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So we have a patient communication system
that that offers reminders and two-way

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text and recall and, you know, all this
functionality that we're all used to,

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you know, in, in, in the kind of a
dental atmosphere. But on top of that,

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how do we bring another product in the
mix for marketing tools like reviewing to

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re you know, responding to reviews and,

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and surveys and post
appointment review invites and,

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and mesh them together in a bundle that,

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that is cheaper cost and easier
to train, uh, moving forward.

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So that's the biggest, uh, thing
that we're hearing today. Um,

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and, and you know, in particular the
online reputation tool that we offer,

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it allows these, uh,

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centralized marketing
teams to control all of the

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reviews we have, you know,
we work with several,

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several of the largest DSOs
in the country today and, um,

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you know,

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really large groups only have one person
responding to the reviews because it

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makes it so automated and so simple. So
we, we are hearing that a lot. We're,

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we're talking to a lot of groups every
day who are saying they love the idea

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of, of combining these tools together.

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Cuz typically they're paying you 6, 7,
8, 9 different vendors for nine different

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things. And the big question right now is,

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can we have one all-in-one platform
that does everything without sacrificing

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functionality? So that's kind of the
biggest thing I'm hearing today. Eric,

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I hope that answers your
question. Okay. But.

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Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it's
helpful to hear how, you know,

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you mentioned there is a way to
kind of simplify this strategy,

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um, through something like what
Solution Reach is offering.

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And then you mentioned how even
some of these really big DSOs might

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only have one person on their
marketing team kind of on the back end.

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And that's huge.

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That seems huge because we know staffing
shortages are one of the biggest

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concerns of all healthcare
organizations right now. So yeah.

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Staffing shortages, but you know,
on top of that it's, it, you know,

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it's the goal for these DSOs
are consolidation, right?

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And so they, but lots of them didn't
quite consolidate until it's, you know,

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it's never too late, but it's kind
of too late when you have, you know,

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you have a hundreds of locations
and you're not centralized. It's,

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it's a really hard feat
to change every single

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vendor to a standard system, right?
Right. So on top of training,

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it's like these,

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these people that we're talking to are
stressed outta their minds trying to

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figure out how,

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how am I going to switch over all 400
locations to a standard system? And,

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and not, not just what
we do. You know, there's,

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there's a lot of other vendors
out there that they need,

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they want to standardize
as well. So what a,

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this is an awesome first step for them,
right? It's like we could come in,

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we could work with pretty much any
of the vendors you're using today,

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and we could plug right in and this is
gonna be your first step for centralizing

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is through your patient communication.
So it really is a stress reliever for,

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for these teams, um, to, to hear like,
cuz they're getting pressure, you know,

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they, they, it's, it's part of it.
They're saying, Hey, you know, from,

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from a little higher up, they're
getting some stress on, on them saying,

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let's consolidate and let, let's
simplify processes and standardize.

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And we could offer them kind a an awesome
first step to do that and identify

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areas and gaps from it,

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which helps them to kinda strategically
focus on where to go next when they're

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standardizing. Hope that makes sense. But.

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Yeah, it makes a lot of
sense and thanks for,

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for elaborating on that a bit more.
So considering all of that, you know,

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this trend of consolidation
organizations really, um,

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feeling that relief from having some
support in patient communications and

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engagement, um, when
you look to the future,

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maybe the next five to 10 years out,

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how do you see the role of
technology evolving in this area,

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especially for DSOs? Is there
anything that excites you or anything,

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um, you know, any exciting developments
that you'd like to share in that realm?

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Yeah.

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Yeah, for sure. I, I think, I think,
you know, good things to come are,

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you know, really the, we,

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we sit down and the way we kind of
innovate and look towards the future for,

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for example,

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the next five years is what
tools are we gonna have in the

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future that are going to simplify
the messaging process, right?

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Or how are we gonna reduce staff time?

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Like how are we gonna alleviate some of
those day-to-day tasks that take them

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time? So for example, one right now is

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insurance verification, right?
So we, we we're going out,

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we're building a product and
um, we have, you know, a,

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a really great idea for verifying
insurance and eligibility and,

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um, that tool should save practices
roughly five, four to five hours per week,

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um, just in, in verifying
insurances. And so that's,

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that's one example of any of that.
You know, we're, we are, you know,

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again, we're, we're,

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we're listening and we're identifying
that over the next five years, it's,

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you know, what could we do to reduce staff
time, improve the patient experience?

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Um, and, and that's one of them. The
other thing that comes to mind is,

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you know, everyone's
buzzing about AI obviously.

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And so how do we take AI and how
do we, uh, incorporate it into our,

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our messaging, um,

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to provide responses to
patients with questions?

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How do we automate a response based
on what their texts say? You know,

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how do we, you know, how do we
align with a lot of the new, uh,

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and I'm sure you guys are, Eric, I know,

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I know you guys said you've had other
podcasts I've listened to about, you know,

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ai, uh, reading and, and
diagnosing treatment, right?

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So that's big right now. Lots of lots
of groups are investigating that. And,

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and it, it also was kind of
scary, you know, like a year ago.

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It's like some of the, I I talked to
a lot of different doctors who they,

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they read, they had, you know, some
red, red flags up and, and saying, Hey,

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this is kind of discrediting
our, our, you know, our,

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our schooling and our
ability and to, uh, you know,

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read an X-ray and diagnose treatment, um,

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cuz these AI systems are doing it
so accurately and so fast and, um,

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it's hard to, hard to beat. So
that's another area where we're,

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we're hoping to innovate more
through is, is, is AI and you know,

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what can we do to help deliver
the messaging from this, uh,

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this this treatment and unscheduled
treatment? And how do we,

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how do we deliver a very seamless, you
know, secured message to these patients,

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uh, with results. So.

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Absolutely. You know,

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it's really interesting what you were
saying about insurance verification and

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the possibilities there
of saving, you know,

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hours a week for staff time and we know
that trickles down to patient experience

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and other efficiencies
too. So, um, right. Yeah,

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thanks so much for sharing
a little insight on that.
And then of course, ai, um,

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the ubiquitous <laugh> topic
of the day. So, uh, yeah, it's,

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there's lot to consider there and, um,

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not surprised to hear that solution reach
is also thinking about that. So, uh,

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thanks so much again for
sharing and yeah, Steve, I,

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you've shared so many great thoughts with
us today on patient communication and

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engagement and what's possible
with the digital strategy.

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So is there anything else that you'd
like to share today just to kind of close

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us out? Anything else that you
think listeners might like to hear?

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Uh, yeah, no, I, I think, you know,

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as far as really everything comes down
to the patient journey, right? It,

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it's just how do we improve the patient
journey? And, you know, a lot of this,

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and this, this is why I love the idea
of these dsso standardizing their,

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their vendors, um, cuz it creates
kind of a unique message, right?

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It creates kind of a one track
mind, um, that works, right?

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It's, it's customizable enough
where we could have, you know,

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a lot of the different locations and
different demographics setting out

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different messaging, but
at the end of the day,

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it's all about communicating with
patients and they just want that quick

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response and they want that ability
to, to have a channel of communication,

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you know, preferably through
text. And we just are, it,

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it is just amazing how much, you know,
open up where we're like, oh, hey, we,

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that could go through text or hey, we
could automate that through text, right?

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<laugh>, and it's like mm-hmm.
<affirmative>, yeah, text is,

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is by far the most intimate,
you know, form of communication.

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It's you're texting your, your mom, your
dad, your, your siblings, your, your,

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you know, your family. It's a very, very
intimate form of, of communication and,

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and email even is, is kind of, you
know, becoming a little old school and,

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and not as personal and not as, um,

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researched in the sense where
pa patients aren't really,

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they don't see those messages as often,
right? So really we just focus on,

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on text and then how do we improve that
communication ability with the patient

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journey. So yeah, that's kind of the last
things I'd, I'd, I'd love to add and,

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and just make sure is from a, from a
leveraging perspective with technology,

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specifically with marketing, it's,
you know, how do we standardize,

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how do we get data to the right
place at the right time? Um,

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lots of these groups are
really heavily invested in,

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in kind of a BI solution or some type
of data base where they could compile

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certain metrics that are
relevant for them to see. Um,

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just kinda have that dashboard approach
where they could have their entire,

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you know, company's metrics
in, in one area. And, you know,

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we want to help supply all the thi all
of the things that are relevant from

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solution reach and to get into their
system. So that's another really,

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really big topic that is coming up
quite a bit in our conversations is,

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you know, what could we do to help compile
some of these metrics that are key?

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You know, of course we can't give
reports on things we're not connected to,

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but we could give, we could provide
reports on, you know, our, our,

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our specific product and, and the
different features that we're offering.

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And it's very in depth and very
automated and easy. So yeah, that's,

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that's another, you know,
area of, of focus for us is,

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is getting the reports to these DSOs
quickly and effectively and letting

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them have a simple way of,

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of viewing it and putting all
their metrics in one spot. So.

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00:20:56,020 --> 00:20:59,880
Yes, thank you for sharing all of that.
I, it sounds like there's so much,

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there's so much on the
horizon for solution reach.

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There's a lot of exciting
things coming up,

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00:21:04,360 --> 00:21:08,800
but then also in the moment you're
responding to a lot of the key

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00:21:08,920 --> 00:21:13,800
concerns that we're seeing among DSOs
right now, like efficiency, staffing,

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patient engagement. So, um,

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I really appreciate you sharing all this
with our audience and with me today.

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Thank you so much again.

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00:21:21,820 --> 00:21:23,360
Of course. Yeah. Thanks
for having me, Erica.

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Thanks Steve.

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00:21:26,020 --> 00:21:30,320
And I'd also like to thank Solutionreach
today for sponsoring this episode.

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00:21:30,900 --> 00:21:34,400
You can tune into more podcasts from
Becker's Healthcare by visiting our

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00:21:34,400 --> 00:21:37,440
podcastPage@beckerhospitalreview.com.