Artificial intelligence has allowed one DSO to enhance the patient experience and increase treatment acceptance.
Riccobene Associates Family Dentistry, a DSO consisting of more than 60 locations, recently began implementing VideaHealth's artificial intelligence technology to its network.
Riccobene Chief Administrative Officer Antoinette Finizio recently spoke with Becker's to discuss how the new technology is strengthening patient care within its network.
Editor's note: These responses were lightly edited for clarity and length.
Question: What inspired Riccobene to add VideaHealth's AI technology?
Antoinette Finizio: So Riccobene has always tried to stay at the forefront of the latest and greatest technology to make sure we can support our providers, who in turn support our patients to have the type of experience they want, need and deserve. For us, when we look at technology, we don't always want to be the first, but we certainly don't want to be the last. So when AI became a hot topic, our team immediately wanted to look and see what was available from different conferences and different places that we've been able to interact with other leaders in the industry. Videa kept coming up over and over again for us.
Q: What was the piloting process like?
AF: In terms of our piloting process, we did select three of our largest offices in each region we serve, and it was really important that we were able to work through the workflow and really know how many people were going to be impacted by the positivity this technology brings … We knew that would give us the best intel and really the best sampling of doctors. If people didn't like it, it was going to be hard for us to roll this out, but it just took off so quickly. There was buy in almost immediately, especially by those champion doctors. They're cautiously optimistic, but as they continued to use it, everybody wanted a piece of it. When people are seeing the benefits, it's easier to change those behaviors.
What we loved about Videa is that they really took incredibly great notes along the way, which helped us to have insight on, not just the generality of how to implement, but really based on the size of the team and how many patients were coming through each office. It was really great to see how they really understood our needs and how they were able to personalize the training based on the needs of those individual providers. That personalized experience, the support, the customer service, those are things we find very valuable, and Videa checked all of those boxes for us as a partner.
Q: What has the implementation process been like?
AF: We love that Videa did a great needs assessment to understand how we should best interact with them and how they could best interact with us so that the process could be seamless. It was probably one of the easiest integrations and implementations we've experienced thus far. We love the fact that Videa's IT people interacted with our IT people behind the scenes, and we never really felt the pain of having to do this on site. The training they offered us was just outstanding and anytime we had questions, we love that they were always still available and accessible, and even now, we have communication with them on a regular basis, so we know we've chosen well, and we're very excited about continuing to roll out the product in all of our Riccobene and commonwealth offices.
Q: Did Riccobene experience any challenges during the implementation process?
AF: The challenge when you're dealing with people is really the acceptance of the clinicians because people are always concerned that this is going to add extra steps, which is going to perhaps deter them from what they really need to do when they're wanting to take care of their patients, but we were happily surprised that, as they saw it in practice, they realized this was really an enhancement to what they were doing. When you talk about that education piece, just to be able to have something else that supports what they're saying and what they're seeing, it's been great. So when you talk about challenges, it's always changing behavior, but that is something that Riccobene is very good at. Just like our partners assess our needs, we assess the needs of our team. We try to make sure that based on how people learn, we're prepared to help support them. So we can call it a challenge, but we've been very surprised at how wonderful it's been for us.
Q: What was your first impression of this technology? How have clinicians responded?
AF: So Videa wasn't the first AI technology we evaluated. We did evaluate a couple of other ones before Videa, and although they offer similar products, there was something very engaging about the Videa team, and what we did find over and over again is that they kept delivering what they promised. We absolutely made the right decision. They did a needs assessment. They understood what we were looking for, what our needs were and how our team functions in order to best integrate a new product or technology. The customer service has been unparalleled to any other partnership we've had in the AI arena up until now.
We are a clinician-led organization, and we always try to include our champions. We have a lot of doctors who love technology ... It's great when we can have the champion doctors try the technology in their offices and win over their teams but also then be able to mentor and support other doctors in other areas to understand the value of the technology. I will tell you that there's been an incredible wow factor from our patients. They love the fact that we have the technology available, and they love how it supports the clinical findings of the doctors to help them accept treatment, so they have not just the esthetics, but the functionality they're looking for. We're seeing a lot of those "aha" moments. Sometimes people aren't experiencing discomfort, so it's hard for them to equate having to have treatment when they're not feeling pain, but when they can see it in black and white, it really helps them to understand the value of the care they're getting and why it's important for them to accept treatment.