Roger Levin, DDS, is founder and CEO of Levin Group and a longtime authority on dental practice management and the business of dentistry. Drawing on decades of experience advising dentists and dental organizations, Levin identifies consolidation, reimbursement pressures, and workforce shortages as major forces affecting practices. He also examines the growing importance of leadership and professional management and explains how technology could help practices achieve greater efficiency, productivity, and growth in the years ahead.
Inside Dentistry (ID): From your perspective, what are the most significant trends shaping dentistry today, and how are they affecting dental practices?
Roger Levin, DDS: There are three trends shaping dentistry today, and each will have a significant impact on our future.
First is the emergence of DSOs and other corporate entities owning dental practices. Most dentists don’t realize that no two DSOs are the same. Each is very different from the others. Over time, a very significant percentage of dentists will work for a DSO. They currently compete effectively with private practices and are shifting the landscape.
Another trend is flat or declining insurance reimbursements to dental practices. Insurance companies are businesses that must meet specific profit targets. Increasing reimbursement rates to help dental practices keep up with higher costs and overhead is not their highest priority. Therefore, the impact on dental practice profitability for those practices that participate in dental insurance plans will be significant.
A third trend is the shortage of dental staff. It is actually more a crisis than a trend. Many practices are struggling to find and compensate the employees that they engage. There is no end in sight for the staff shortage, and I predict that this will take at least 10 years for any type of turnaround.
ID: What economic and operational pressures are having the greatest impact on dental practices today, and how are successful practices adapting to them?
Levin: The answer to this question is actually simple. The number one operational pressure and source of stress and inefficiency in dental practices is the above-mentioned staffing crisis. Many practices are currently seeking one or more team members. Many of these new team members have less experience and require more training.
The solution is for practices to build an extremely positive and supportive culture so that the team will want to remain in the practice and be motivated to perform at their highest level. Leadership skills have never been more important in a dental practice than today, and leadership is a skill that is not taught in dental school. Most dentists have little knowledge of how to be excellent leaders. The practices that acquire and retain excellent staff are those where the team members feel fulfilled and satisfied and enjoy their days in the practice. As an example, Levin Group teaches a concept called “the culture of positivity,” where team members are recognized for excellent performance, feel appreciated, and are highly satisfied and motivated within the practice.
ID: How are changes in the dental workforce and advances in technology affecting the way practices are staffed, managed, and operated?
Levin: Although the staffing crisis is real, there are steps that can be taken with regard to technology to improve performance. For example, there are options to improve front desk efficiency, ranging from automated texting, which every practice should have to remind patients about their appointments, to online scheduling for practices that are willing to put that in place. There are other technologies that can assist staff and create more consistent performance, such as electronic insurance claim filing, AI-based phone systems, preapproval for patient financing, and many others.
Ultimately, all of these technologies will work together and integrate easily, but that is not necessarily the case today. At this stage of adoption, the technology companies are doing a great job of demonstrating the potential of something new, but they do not spend sufficient time explaining to dentists and teams how to integrate the technology into the full practice workflow to create higher levels of efficiency. I am optimistic that we are moving in that direction. Technology and AI will play a major role in dental practices.
ID: Looking ahead over the next several years, what changes do you believe will have the greatest impact on dentists and the way they practice?
Levin: Looking forward, I think some of the greatest impacts will come from radically higher levels of efficiency in dental practices due to new technology, on both the clinical and administrative sides. We are reaching an inflection point for many dental practices where they will not be able to increase revenue without adopting technology-driven practice operational systems. Too many dentists simply try to shove more patients into the old funnel in order to increase revenue, but there is a point where there is a physical limit.
Most practices have the ability to increase revenue by up to 50% by changing the day-to-day systems and operations of the practice. As practices begin to “max out” using the systems they have today, a combination of excellent management systems and new technologies will be the key to practice growth in the future.
The other major trend that I believe we’re going to see is more professional management in dental practices. Unfortunately, according to Levin Group data, 96% of dental office managers have no management education, leadership background, or direct experience. Many office managers today simply lock into the way they do things today, which will keep the practice from growing tomorrow. We believe this is going to change as more focus on office manager training is emerging.
