When our company was founded in 2003, the dental industry was vastly different. For starters, a majority of practices were private, and the data security landscape wasn’t as volatile as we see today. These and other vulnerabilities opened the market to big-box providers, who swiftly arrived and began changing the industry. At best, it seems corporate providers offer dental graduates with immediate employment options, easy mobility, and provide patients with more options. At worst, they remove the human component; focusing only on profits and upselling. They’ve become notorious for emphasizing production over patient care, exploiting patient insurance to maximize collections, and pushing treatment plans that range from questionable to downright unethical. As we see the scales tipping in the industry, we’re fighting back in favor of private practices.
Threat: IT Security Risks
Breaches and penalties are arguably the largest threats to private practices. Dental corporations generally have a safety net within their vast resources and funds to bounce back from IT security concerns and breaches. Unfortunately, private practices almost never have the same safeguards, and seldom implement iron-clad security practices in place to protect them from devastating breaches and penalties. Typically private practices fail to prioritize security, leaving huge inadequacies within IT security infrastructure, policies, procedures, and a basic understanding of why risk-minimizing protections are important. When private practices find themselves dealing with a breach or penalty, the integrity of their finances, reputation, and business operations are quickly jeopardized.
How We Help
We believe a trusted IT partner is absolutely key for practices in our current landscape. IT security and compliance can be overwhelming, and it’s not what you were trained to handle. Our partnership provides a multitude of proactive security tools to ensure a high standard of security and compliance for practices. While this is important for many reasons, having these protections in place ensures the future and integrity of your practice won’t be compromised by breaches and penalties.
Threat: Poor Investments
Corporate dental practices typically have lots of red tapes when it comes to new purchases and investments. This ensures plenty of time to properly and fully evaluate system compatibility for prospective tools/software/etc. In the private dental world, purchases are often impulsive; creating a situation where proper vetting is skipped.
Consider a scenario in which a dental professional takes advantage of a great intraoral camera deal offered at a dental conference. The cameras are top-notch with rave reviews. After purchasing and attempting to install, it turns out the state-of-the-art cameras are not compatible with the practice’s computers and software. The dental professional must now decide between upgrading ALL computers at once to utilize their new cameras, or choose to store (and age) the cameras until a mass system upgrade becomes financially feasible. Sadly, these scenarios create enormous money pits for practices and happen all the time.
How We Help
Our partners are encouraged to notify us of future purchase intentions so that we may check compatibly and reviews in advance. As a non-biased company (we don’t care which brand you buy!), we adhere strictly to the facts, and honest reviews we’ve heard from partners like you. Additionally, we help clients evaluate ROI on potential investments, and ensure purchases made through our company are compatible before you buy. Our loyalty truly lies with our partners’ longevity, production, and success.
Threat: Efficiency and Patient Experience
The infrastructure of your practice greatly affects both production and patient experience. Many private practices make equipment decisions purely based on cost, without considering how the investments will function 2-5 years down the road. This causes many private practices to suffer from failing workstations/servers/other systems regularly. When inadequate hardware inevitably fails, staff are unable to complete their work or cater to patients to the best of their ability. This quickly causes morale, patient experience, wait times, and production to suffer. The bottom line: you might be excellent at your craft, but patients tend to look elsewhere when the functionality and efficiency of your practice are clearly lacking.
How We Help
Our top priority is to keep your practice operating at optimal efficiency, maximizing production and helping you achieve your practice goals. We understand adequate technology solutions seem expensive, especially when the benefits of costlier options are unclear. Generally, machine costs correspond to the level of memory, speed, and processor. We know those Black Friday computers will function well now, but how about in the years to come? Our team is constantly reviewing available options on the market to ensure we offer the best technology solutions (at the best price point) to maximize production for private practices. Our partners even enjoy loyalty discounts to help with their bottom line.
We believe private practices truly flourish with adequate tools, systems, and trusted partners supporting them. Wondering if we might be right for your practice? We are happy to advise you about your options without obligation. As a partner of over 300 dental professionals all over the country, we are truly passionate about encouraging the growth and stability of private practices. Contact us today to see if we make sense for your practice!
Posted in Tech News
