Two dental leaders learned to pivot their operations to adapt to the challenging economic environment from the last couple of years.
Dental Care Team Group President Ibrahim Jarjoura, DDS, and Catrise Austin, DDS, owner of VIP Smiles Cosmetic Dentistry, recently joined the Becker's Dental + DSO Virtual Event to discuss the best strategies for DSOs to persevere during tough economic times.
Editor's note: Responses were lightly edited for length and clarity.
Question: What actions did your companies take to adapt to the fluctuating economy during these last few years?
Dr. Ibrahim Jarjoura: The plan at the end of 2023 and beginning of 2024 is we have to work on the bottom line. The top line is very important, but the bottom line became extremely important due to what was going on, so we had to find ways to cut costs. Specifically, we changed our computer program to something a lot less expensive but very efficient and effective. We used to use paychecks for our payroll processing. We changed to ADP, which gives us a fantastic service for a much reduced cost of what we used to do. Another thing is payroll. We don't have as many layers of employees and management and so on compared to a year or two years prior. So we found ways to be a lot more efficient in terms of payroll [and] our expenditures for specific procedures. I just met with my CPA, and high five, kudos, the bottom line is where it needs to be and looking fantastic. So those are the things that we decided to work on at the end of last year, beginning of this year, to meet the challenges that this economic time brings.
Dr. Catrise Austin: It's really coming down to, how can you save on money, and how can you automate some of the processes, especially if you're struggling with staff members. There are things you can do to automate your appointment scheduling. You can add that to your website, that you can book appointments online. ZocDoc is a service you can use where you can put your available appointments online, and [patients] can book on the spot.
I started to look at other ways I could save on supplies. Sometimes I go to Amazon.com, sometimes it's a little bit cheaper than the dental supply companies. Sometimes I order off of eBay. So sometimes you have to look outside the traditional ways that you source out your supplies and get your supplies because the dental companies, I hate to say it, [but] it's not always the cheapest way that you could get your supplies. I [also] hired a consultant, and he was able to come in and help me look at my performance and my tracking and automate it and put it into one big dashboard so I can see all of my numbers on one platform. That was really helpful. Looking at that bottom line is really key to this question.