The pressures of the external environment continue to challenge organizations, regardless of industry. From inflation to the competitive labor marketing, rising supply costs, and more – managing a business is more challenging than ever.
Factor in the evolving culture of dentistry, and you have yourself an interesting dynamic of challenges and, with the right mindset, opportunities.
At Heartland Dental, our support office team members work tirelessly every day to innovate ways we can best support doctors and their teams. There are many advantages to being the nation’s largest Dental Support Organization (DSO) with three decades of experience, and we are working hard, smart, and together to achieve success for our supported doctors in the face of the current external challenges. Here are a few ways we are doing that.
1) Navigating rising supply and lab costs with our supported network’s size and scale
We know supplies and labs are one of the biggest cost drivers in a dental practice, and our dedicated strategic sourcing team works tirelessly every day to ensure Heartland Dental supported doctors have access to market-leading prices on a variety of supplies and labs across the nation. Further, we know that when our supported doctors work together, their combined purchasing power provides a better opportunity to obtain competitive pricing.
As the largest buyer of dental supplies, equipment, and lab services in the nation, Heartland supported practices get what you might expect – access to the best products at the best pricing. Our supported doctors have complete autonomy and have access to a catalogue of more than 3,000 branded, leading dental supplies at market leading pricing. These supplies are clinically vetted and fully supported by Heartland clinical directors who use these products daily in their own practices. Heartland supported doctors also have access to secure, high quality lab networks with industry leading pricing. Heartland supported doctors know they can select their labs and supplies with confidence, knowing the trusted supplies with negotiated pricing are identified by a dedicated team and vetted by peers.
2) Opening the door to a peer network and true community of clinicians
Mentorship is one of the many ways Heartland Dental supported doctors and hygienists continue to grow their skills – from clinical to leadership and business. Heartland Dental offers supported doctors and hygienists a tailored mentorship program where, no matter where one is in their career, they can learn and grow with the support of a colleague.
Beyond mentorship, Heartland Dental supported doctors become part of a trusted community of practitioners who want to see one another succeed. Our network of supported doctors is consistently sharing best practices, celebrating one another’s successes, and seeking insights from one another.
3) Driving strong reimbursement rates for supported offices
Payors value Heartland Dental’s quality dental network, and we recognize the importance of strong payor relationships for the success of supported practices, so much so that Heartland established a dedicated Payor Relations team that works on behalf of supported doctors to navigate the ever-changing payor landscape. The Heartland Dental Payor Relations team works continuously on behalf of Heartland supported doctors, going to market to secure competitive reimbursement rates. With the Payor Relations team, our supported doctors are able to spend more time on the quality of care while maximizing their earnings potential.
4) Offering world-class education opportunities to enable doctors’ continued success
Typically, tough economic times result in a decrease in case acceptance and patients skipping appointments as they wait for the economy to improve. There are many factors that influence case acceptance, such as emotional and/or financial uncertainty from a patient, or verbal/non-verbal cues from the dentist when delivering the treatment plan. Team members may also be challenged with delivering successful communications that instill trust with patients. If a dental team is not able to communicate the benefits of the treatment, it’s unlikely the patient will accept the opportunity.
Heartland Dental offers hundreds of thousands of CE hours annually across a broad array of clinical, operational, and leadership topics. Our CE courses to help our supported doctors and team members develop themselves from a clinical and leadership perspective. One course offered to Heartland supported doctors and their teams is Communications, which is focused on delivering transparent communications with patients and ensuring there are no surprises when it comes to treatment, experiences, and payment for care. Heartland specific courses such as Communications have been proven to help improve case acceptance
When you think about how rapidly our external environment is changing, and the continued challenges of the external environment, it is no surprise the advantages in having the support from Heartland Dental to help combat inflation while also having access to world-class administrative support, continuing education, leadership training, best-in-class operations systems, and comradery.
For us, it all starts and ends with our mission of supporting doctors and their teams as they deliver the highest quality dental care and experiences to the communities they serve while providing exceptional careers and creating value for our stakeholders. Heartland Dental is a doctor-led organization, and every decision we make is grounded in our mission. As the dental industry continues to evolve and the broader healthcare industry deals with a complex external environment, our footprint and vast network of supported doctors benefit from the combined strength of being a Heartland supported doctor.
For more information on the advantages of affiliating with Heartland Dental's, visit heartland.com/the-doctor-difference/.