Practices implementing new technologies allows providers to put patients' needs first.
Ro Parikh, DDS, founder of DSO Strategy and former head of dentistry for Walmart Health, spoke with "Becker's Dental + DSO Review Podcast" to discuss how walking a mile in patients' shoes can go a long way.
Editor's note: This is an edited excerpt. Listen to the full podcast episode here.
Question: When you think about some of the aspects around credit card processing, clear aligners and those kinds of things, how do you see that really expanding? I know some of the DSOs have invested in that in particular, but for all of the dental offices that aren't currently consolidated, are those things still possible for them, as well?
Dr. Ro Parikh: I think [for] a more traditional private practice, there are a lot of these technologies that are possible to implement in your office. Credit card processing, for example ... in the next 12 to 18 months, I don't think that there will be a credit card terminal or, like, a proverbial Suzy at the front desk that you go see Suzy to check out for the crown. Your iPhone or your Android is going to be your credit card terminal, and that level of convenience already exists. So I think that for a private practice, you can implement these technologies inside your office, and it's just more for a private practice.
I encourage a lot of the private practices or practitioners I know to flip the value proposition to the patient. Think about if I got a tooth pulled and had a bone graft done; do you really want to stop at the front desk and see Suzy and make a thousand-dollar payment after you have gauze in your mouth and you're drooling or something? I mean, you want to go home. Thinking about it from the patient standpoint, versus just turning more of a blind eye, I think that's something that when you look at DSOs and institutionally backed groups, they look at dentistry as they've looked at it for the last 20 years. It's such a cottage industry that they can invest some small amount of capital or professionalize it, or make [the experience] a little bit better. There's a lot of financial arbitrage that's there for them. So I would encourage private practitioners to kind of flip that value proposition to the patient side and see what it means from their lens versus just your own.