Although artificial intelligence has rapidly evolved into an innovative technology to support the clinical and business sides of dentistry, there is still at least one area where improvement is needed, according to one DSO leader.
Phil Cassis, the co-founder and CEO at Providence Dental Partners, recently joined the Becker's Dental + DSO Review Podcast to discuss the use of AI at his organization and how the technology is growing.
Editor's note: These responses were lightly edited for length and clarity.
Question: What are you most excited about when it comes to dentistry right now, and what makes you nervous?
Phil Cassis: Not a whole lot makes me nervous. We have a running joke internally in our company — First, we panic, and then we figure out what to do. There are always going to be things that come up, issues to solve, and that's what we do. We find solutions to help us operate more efficiently and more effectively as leaders. I think that's also the exciting part of what's going on in dentistry. Dentistry has always been changing, ever since I've been in it. Right now, there are so many advancements, both from a clinical and a business standpoint, around some of the AI that's coming up that ties into clinical with different diagnosis technologies out there, helping us provide our dentists and providers second opinions. Also, when it comes to marketing [and] revenue cycle management, it's helping us operate more effectively and efficiently. It's important for us to always be looking inside the industry, but [also] outside the industry as to what others might be doing to operate at a better level. AI is very progressive right now. It's come a long way just in the last two or three years. I think we're going to see it accelerate even more over the next 12 months, so I'm really excited to see what they do there.
Q: How long has Providence been using artificial intelligence?
PC: We use it in different components. Providence Dental Partners has been using it since we started back in 2013 ... As it continues to advance, we continue to apply it in different parts of our business, and we've seen drastic improvements just in the last 12 months with it ... We know there's another evolution of it coming, and so we look forward to continuing to implement it. We've always been at the forefront of investing in technology in our practices when it makes sense, so between Dr. Mann and I, we stay pretty up to date on all the different technologies in the industry and continue to implement those when and where it makes sense.
Q: Are there any areas where you would like to see AI advance further?
PC: Yeah, revenue cycle management for me. Part of my background was working on the revenue cycle side of it, and it's so complex. It's challenging for private practices and it's challenging for groups and DSOs to solve all the different parts of the revenue cycle that come into it. There are some companies out there that have made great advancements in the last two to three years with it, but [there are] very complex and comprehensive parts that go into the revenue cycle for doctors to actually collect the money they are owed. I'm looking forward to seeing the next evolution to where some of these AIs can maybe help them collect a lot more than what they currently are at the click of a button, versus a lot of the manual processes we see today.