The Aspen Group is making significant investments to keep up with how patients' needs and expectations are transforming the dental industry.
The Aspen Group is one of the largest DSOs in the U.S., supporting about 1,200 practices between its Aspen Dental and ClearChoice brands. The company has opened several offices so far this year and also recently celebrated the first full year of its clinical education initiative, TAG University.
Ash ElDifrawi, chief commercial and brand officer at The Aspen Group, recently spoke with Becker's to discuss the organization's growth and goals for this year.
Editor's note: Responses were lightly edited for length and clarity.
Question: How would you describe The Aspen Group's growth during the first half of 2024?
Ash ElDifrawi: We have opened a lot of de novos, but the reality is a lot of our growth has come from even our mature offices. So we're just seeing the demand for our services continue to increase. We've also made some investments in broadening some of our service lines. As we get more into implants and aligners and full comprehensive care, we've seen those areas grow significantly for us. Both on the Aspen side and the ClearChoice side, we just continue to see demand for our services grow. More importantly than that, I think we're seeing some of the investments we're making in affordability, in terms of our financing options and our accessibility [and] being there for our patients when they need us most, those things are starting to matter more to consumers as their expectations change.
As we thought about this year and what consumers really wanted, we started a new campaign called the "In your corner" campaign, and it really gets into patient stories in terms of how a lot of things get in the way of [patients] getting the care they need. This campaign really focuses on all the ways we break down those barriers so that in the moment of need and the moment of truth for patients, we're there for them to give them the service they need and make it easy, convenient, affordable and accessible.
Q: What are The Aspen Group's top priorities for the rest of 2024?
AE: One of our priorities is to continue to build on that momentum we've had in the first half because it's been a very strong year. We think it could be a challenging second half for consumers. I know there's a lot of speculation in terms of where things might go, but we are anticipating that maybe, given where the economy is and what's going on out there with some uncertainty in the elections and so on, that could be a bit choppy. So what we're trying to do is really double down on our value proposition and our promise to consumers to make sure we deliver on that. That means continuing to make sure we're highly accessible, highly affordable and that we are there for our consumers for the second half of the year.
We think there's been a significantly big shift in what consumers expect from healthcare and expecting more and more from that. One area where I think we're very unique and different from what you see in other DSOs is that we're a consumer-facing brand. We don't operate like a lot of independent practices. We operate more like a brand. From that perspective, how we consistently deliver on our customer expectations and experience is a large part of what we think about doing, whether that's the convenience of our appointments, the digital experience, the financing availability [or] the overall experience you have with the doctors. Those are all things we continue to invest in and make sure we deliver in the second half of the year.
Q: What can we expect to see from the Aspen Dental and ClearChoice brands?
AE: Well, as usual, we do have a lot of de novos in the strategy, but I think for us, the strategies always start with people. One of the things we are continuing to invest in is training and tools. The Aspen Group University is one of our world-class programs that we have out there, so we're putting more and more people through that program. For example, we've already run 250 training cohorts and over half a million courses and almost 50,000 continuing education credits. It's a huge investment for us because as we grow, the most important thing is that we continue to deliver the care the way people expect. We're a consumer facing brand, so we have to make sure that no matter what Aspen [location] anybody goes to, it's the same experience. Just like if you walk into a Starbucks anywhere in the country, you have a certain level of expectation. So the first thing is always investing in the people.
The second is we have technology, so we continue to invest significantly in AI, digital workflows, a brand new web experience that makes it really easy to get the information you want [and] significant investment in CRM that is very catered to continuing communication for whatever services they get. So there's continuity of care from the time they book all the way to a year or two years after they're there with us. The last one I mentioned to you is really in our brand. We spend hundreds of millions of dollars in marketing and our marketing campaigns. We're launching a brand new campaign this year, both for Aspen and ClearlearChoice, focused on more access [for] people who need us most.
Q: What will DSOs need to be successful during the second half of 2024?
AE: The way they're going to be successful is to try to stay ahead of the curve and be very forward looking ... Part of that is making investments not just for the sake of doing it, but how does that make it better and easier for patients? How does it increase their quality of care for them? How are we actually helping them at every point of their journey, and how are you investing in technology to do that? We've invested a lot in cutting-edge tech tools to streamline our workflows so it makes it easier for providers. Your digital experience has to start getting better and better. Not surprisingly, we're seeing a huge trend in consumers using digital as the front door. To get ahead of things, they'll have to be successful in the digital experiences. I think one of the big challenges is going to be how you scale a great customer experience across the board. You're going to have to be flexible, adaptable and fast, and if you're not those things, you're going to fall behind on what consumers want.