Irving, Texas-based U.S. Oral Surgery Management recently made its second partnership with Denver-based Colorado Oral Surgery. This is the specialty management services provider's second partnership in Colorado.
Practice management companies and dental service organizations are beginning to sweep over the nation. Here, USOSM President and CEO Richard Hall discusses DSOs progression and how oral surgeons are getting involved.
Question: Looking five years ahead, what does the future of practice management services look like?
Richard Hall: There's a lot of growth opportunity, particularly in this sector. In the next few years, oral and maxillofacial surgeons may face more competition and increasing regulatory complexities. As surgeons consider these things, as well as patient care, their workload and the legacy they want to leave behind, many will seek out innovative solutions to enable their continued success. Currently, we're the only company that does what we do. There are companies that provide similar services to other oral health professionals, but not exclusively to oral and maxillofacial surgeons. We will continue to develop a strong portfolio of services to support our partner practices.
Q: Are more oral surgeons turning to practice management providers?
RH: Oral surgeons have options today that weren't available before unless a surgeon went to a DSO for the same kind of service. We are the first company of our kind in the oral surgery space, and we have developed a very surgeon-centric partnership model that meets surgeons' needs for support and maintains their clinical autonomy. Surgeons are facing ever-increasing regulatory complexities and additional, stronger competition from general dentists and other specialists who are supported by shared-services organizations. This means surgeons are having to spend more time on business management issues — like revenue cycle management, reimbursement, staffing, etc. — when they'd rather spend that time on patient care. A practice management provider can remove the business burden, providing expertise in practice management to complement the clinical expertise of the surgeon and surgical staff. This is ultimately better for patient outcomes and patient experience.
Q: What is the biggest challenge practice management companies face today? How is USOSM working to overcome this challenge?
RH: Most oral surgery practices are successful, so they may not see the advantages to partnering with a management services company. We must earn their trust and confidence that we will be a good business partner and that they will maintain control of their clinical decisions. One of the biggest benefits in our favor is our surgeon partner network. They are our biggest advocates, and we value our relationship with each surgeon partner very seriously. We keep clinical decisions in the hands of our surgeon partners. We are extremely transparent and believe in open communication. We bring efficiencies to make business more scalable, and we look for surgeon partners who will be a good fit with us culturally.
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Practice management companies and dental service organizations are beginning to sweep over the nation. Here, USOSM President and CEO Richard Hall discusses DSOs progression and how oral surgeons are getting involved.
Question: Looking five years ahead, what does the future of practice management services look like?
Richard Hall: There's a lot of growth opportunity, particularly in this sector. In the next few years, oral and maxillofacial surgeons may face more competition and increasing regulatory complexities. As surgeons consider these things, as well as patient care, their workload and the legacy they want to leave behind, many will seek out innovative solutions to enable their continued success. Currently, we're the only company that does what we do. There are companies that provide similar services to other oral health professionals, but not exclusively to oral and maxillofacial surgeons. We will continue to develop a strong portfolio of services to support our partner practices.
Q: Are more oral surgeons turning to practice management providers?
RH: Oral surgeons have options today that weren't available before unless a surgeon went to a DSO for the same kind of service. We are the first company of our kind in the oral surgery space, and we have developed a very surgeon-centric partnership model that meets surgeons' needs for support and maintains their clinical autonomy. Surgeons are facing ever-increasing regulatory complexities and additional, stronger competition from general dentists and other specialists who are supported by shared-services organizations. This means surgeons are having to spend more time on business management issues — like revenue cycle management, reimbursement, staffing, etc. — when they'd rather spend that time on patient care. A practice management provider can remove the business burden, providing expertise in practice management to complement the clinical expertise of the surgeon and surgical staff. This is ultimately better for patient outcomes and patient experience.
Q: What is the biggest challenge practice management companies face today? How is USOSM working to overcome this challenge?
RH: Most oral surgery practices are successful, so they may not see the advantages to partnering with a management services company. We must earn their trust and confidence that we will be a good business partner and that they will maintain control of their clinical decisions. One of the biggest benefits in our favor is our surgeon partner network. They are our biggest advocates, and we value our relationship with each surgeon partner very seriously. We keep clinical decisions in the hands of our surgeon partners. We are extremely transparent and believe in open communication. We bring efficiencies to make business more scalable, and we look for surgeon partners who will be a good fit with us culturally.
More articles on DSO + DPMs:
Private equity firm sells 20-office Philadelphia DSO: 3 things to know
3 latest Aspen Dental openings
313-office Calif. DSO relocates affiliated practice: 3 insights