As competition continues to ramp up in the DSO industry, it is crucial for companies to have a clear acquisition and growth strategy.
Executives from seven DSOs and dental groups recently connected with Becker's to share their strategies, expectations and goals when it comes to adding practices and dentists to their networks.
From getting in early with dentists and surgeons still in residency programs to not even owning the practices, here are insights into the growth strategies from some of the top DSOs, MSOs and DPOs in the U.S.:
Henry Moomaw. CFO of U.S. Oral Surgery Management (Irving, Texas): We want to be a presence and make sure they [surgeons in dental school] know who we are early on in those programs and throughout the residency to get ahead. They're making decisions up to two years in advance of the completion of their residency program. They're making decisions on who they want to partner with, and they're ready to get to work. So we're always a presence in all of the residency programs and all of the schools. It's important to both backfill your retirements that are scheduled to happen from our existing surgeons and for growth opportunities of existing practices that have the bandwidth and can take on some additional surgeons.
Jim Mizouni. Chief Development Officer of Sage Dental (Boca Raton, Fla.): Sage’s growth plan operates on a 50% acquisition and 50% de novo-based model, placing us in a unique category, especially in relation to other branded DSOs. On the acquisition side, we remain opportunistic, recognizing that it's challenging to forecast where and when acquisition opportunities will arise. We maintain high standards for the quality and size of sites, making us selective in our acquisitions.
Angela Weber. President of Smilebliss Orthodontics (Metairie, La.): Smilebliss's growth has been very measured and thoughtful on our end. A big part of our model is making sure we have the right doctors. Smilebliss is very different from a traditional DSO in that we don't own the practices. It's more like a franchise concept than a DSO, but we're providing similar support services.
Andrew Mintz. CEO of The Smilist (Great Neck, N.Y.): [We have] a very disciplined approach to growth and integration. We are a DSO that fully integrates our practices into our systems, into our processes and our growth plans. So we have a playbook that we use when we bring in a practice that helps maintain a local culture but also brings them into The Smilist family.
Adam Richichi. CEO of Archway Dental Partners (Danbury, Conn.): We have been on a responsible growth pattern over the last seven or eight years since I took the helm as CEO back in 2017 of making sure we're making smart partnerships and smart integrations with the right kind of practices, not just going out to buy and integrate just to buy and integrate. That means we don't grow as fast as some of our peers, but we make smart decisions and we make sure that if we're going to add a practice to our portfolio, that means we are going to add value to them and they're going to add value to us. If we can't do those two things, we don't do it.
Will MacInnis. Co-CEO of Cliff Ridge Specialty Partners (San Francisco): Our goal is to build regional density in a small number of markets for the next six to 18 months. So Seattle will of course be a core market of ours. We'll probably pick one or two more core markets that we'll look to design partnerships in, and I would expect that hopefully by the end of the summer, we should have one or two more additional announcements to be made.
Danielle Ecklund. Director of Specialty Partnerships of PDS Health (Henderson, Nev.): Our approach to expanding this program is highly selective and strategic. We prioritize candidates who are deeply aligned with our organizational values and demonstrate clinical excellence. Our goal is to ensure that each specialty group owner dentist is confident and capable of leading effectively at this level. For the time being, we plan to maintain a compact, high-quality group that can uphold the excellent patient experience that we pride ourselves on as an organization.