Labor costs and low reimbursements have created a difficult operating environment for DSOs in 2024, but forward-thinking leaders are rising to the challenge.
Patrick Perodin, President and COO of Marquee Dental Partners, shared with Becker's Dental + DSO Review how he's navigating headwinds and embracing technology and care model innovation to better support dental practices and patients.
Editor's note: Responses have been edited for length and clarity.
Question: Patrick, you joined Marquee Dental Partners last year, bringing quite a bit of dental industry experience to the role. Can you share a bit about your background and what drew you to Marquee?
Patrick Perodin: I've been in and around the dental industry for 10-plus years. Six years prior to joining Marquee, I served as a regional partner for Pacific Dental Services. I opened the Washington, D.C. market for PDS and took over the Boston market in its early stages. I was fortunate enough to learn dental operations from one of the "big 3" DSOs, which has helped me tremendously in my role here at Marquee. Prior to my PDS experience, I ran two different dental practice management consulting firms. At one point, I was also a small business owner and worked for several years as a hospital administrator.
Over the years I've learned what dentists value and how a well-run, healthy dental practice adapts to the world of DSOs. What drew me here was the opportunity to scale Marquee in a high-performing, stabilized and competitive environment. Marquee is in an exciting growth phase with outstanding clinical leaders and support staff. The hybrid integrated general and specialty dentistry model has multiple, strategic layers. I've never been more excited to partner with an organization and its leadership. Working alongside Fred Ward, our CEO; Chicago Pacific Founders, our sponsor; and the rest of the Marquee team has been a great experience. Recently taking on the position of President and COO has allowed me to interact on a deeper, more meaningful level with our team of over 500 employees and our doctor partners.
Q: This year, DSOs are expected to see continued growth amid a potentially tough economic environment. What challenges are top of mind for you? On the other hand, what opportunities do you see?
PP: The year ahead, much like the last few, presents several challenges — first and foremost, a continued battle for both clinical and non-clinical talent. DSOs' rise in popularity comes with fierce competition for great talent that was already hard to find in the post-COVID era. Marquee continues to stand by its principles and invest in its people. That has proven to serve us well thus far. Additionally, the current economic climate has made it even more important to drive operating performance. The battle against inflation continues, so we must continue to be disciplined in day-to-day operations, including how we manage costs without passing those costs onto our patients. And we must be thoughtful about our growth prospects, how we integrate those new partnerships into the Marquee family and foster an environment of stability and trust for our doctor partners.
The opportunities in dentistry often feel endless: improved technology for clinical and operational processes, digital workflows and expanding opportunities for education (for doctors and teams alike). We remain excited about onboarding new talent and continuing to invest in our people and organization .
Q: What differentiates Marquee?
PP: Marquee has a track record now given its 80-plus offices across the Southeastern U.S. One differentiator is our geographically focused approach. We have positioned ourselves as the partner of choice in the fastest-growing corridor of the country. Our model is unique in that we have built great density in core markets that we love rather than aggregate a scattered, widespread grouping of offices that are difficult to manage well. Secondly, we strive to build upon our hybrid model that combines a general dentistry patient base with specialty offices to vertically integrate the experience for patients and better serve them . We've done this through a combination of joining forces with specialty partners, a holistic service model in our multi-specialty offices and investing behind talented and committed clinical leaders that have advanced their scope of services to better deliver on their patients' needs. Lastly, one area we place an extremely high value on is doctor partnership. When our goals and initiatives are aligned, everyone can succeed. As we add new offices to the Marquee family, one of the first topics of discussion is who will be our partner here that we can advocate with to achieve our common goals. Our team of dentists is exceptional and pushes our organization daily to be great at delivering patient care.
Q: What are Marquee's key strategies/initiatives that are exciting you right now? Where is the company headed in the next 1-2 years?
PP: Marquee will continue to grow and evolve its structure of support that we provide our doctor partners and team. We have built a great foundation that will allow us to accelerate over the next few years and take Marquee to the next level. We have the opportunity to continue to build density with great partners in our existing markets and expand our reach in new markets as well. Additionally, we have made the choice to continue investing in technology both in the clinical and non-clinical areas of dentistry. This has made Marquee more efficient, has enabled more data-driven decisions and has provided our patients with a much better experience from start to finish. Lastly, we recently launched an initiative to better align with our doctors by introducing new partnership opportunities and providing an expanded voice or seat at the table for the dentists that have added so much value to Marquee. This initiative will allow Marquee to lean into questions like, "What are our doctor partners' priorities?" "What are the unique needs of their offices?" Ultimately, this will allow us to respond in a unified, cohesive way to each of those questions. We are committed to enhancing our patient care model while bringing the best and brightest dental practices to our family.