While DSO leaders may look for ways to save costs in a tough economy, certain cuts could have a negative impact on their company's growth in the long run.
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: Are there any other mistakes that could hinder DSO growth during times of economic stress?
Dr. Ibrahim Jarjoura: Panicking, cutting marketing [or] cutting staff willy-nilly. Yes, it's a very good idea for you to be efficient when it comes to your payroll, but at the same time, you can't do it to a point where you can't provide the service. Not only that, but patients will see that your service just went down, that you're not providing it in as efficient and friendly and good a way that you did before. If you go and say, "Okay, we work with three assistants. We're just going to work with one and a half, one full time and one part time, and the rest we'll figure out. We'll just call people from the front to help. I'll do things on my own," all of a sudden, the provider is frustrated and the service is not being done, right. Lab cases are not coming back on time because somebody forgot to do it, and so on and so forth. So, just cutting staff and cutting payroll willy-nilly is another mistake that's easy to do. When you first do it in an economic sense, it feels [like,] "Okay, now I don't have to worry about payroll as much as I did before," but in the end, it'll hurt you.
Dr. Catrise Austin: Failing to adopt a new technology tends to be another big mistake we will make to hinder growth because we look at all the thousands of dollars that technology costs, but at the end of the day, it will save us a lot of money when you're doing things efficiently. It's like the practices that are still taking manual X-rays. That's just a huge mistake. There are so many ways you can increase your diagnostics with technology and AI. Being on the forefront and going to the meetings and taking CE courses to learn what's new, what can save you money [and] what seems like an investment ... whatever it is, make sure that you're just moving forward ... the patients are getting smart, and they understand things have changed, and if they walk into your office and it's the same old office practice and strategies from the 80s, then you're going to look like you're behind. Patients aren't going to want to stay there unless they have a real reason to stay. They're looking for advancement as well. They're looking for patient comfort, so the little things you can add --- maybe its virtual reality glasses or maybe you have an anesthesiologist that comes in for the nervous patients. If you don't have those little things that make a big difference, you could be hurting your growth for the future.