The Group Dentistry Now Show: The Voice of the DSO Industry – Episode 199

Welcome to the #1 DSO Podcast!

In this audio episode of The Group Dentistry Now Show: The Voice of the DSO Industry, we welcome back Andrew Smith, CEO of the Association of Dental Support Organizations (ADSO) to discuss the upcoming 14th Annual ADSO Summit, “Dentistry’s Main Event,” taking place in San Diego from March 16th to 18th.

Join us as we explore:

• Key highlights of the summit, including main stage topics and breakout sessions tailored for DSO leaders and their teams.
• Insights into the evolving dental landscape post-COVID, including market trends and growth strategies.
• Networking opportunities and special events, including a yacht rock pool party.
• The ADSO’s ongoing initiatives in government relations, workforce development, and advocacy for licensure portability.

Whether you’re a DSO member, industry partner, or simply interested in the future of oral healthcare, this episode is packed with valuable information and insights.

Links:

• Register for the ADSO Summit: https://www.theadso.org/
• Contact ADSO for membership inquiries: membership@adso.org

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DSO podcast transcript:

Bill Neumann: Welcome everyone to the Group Dentistry Now Show. I’m Bill Neumann, and thanks everybody for listening in today. We have one of our regular guests back on the show, Andrew Smith, who is the CEO of the ADS. So, Andrew, great to have you back on the show.

Andrew Smith: Yeah, no, thanks, Bill, for having me. Excited to be back on the show.

Bill Neumann: Yeah, and we saw each other not too long ago. Well, actually, we saw each other in Yankee at the end of January. And before that, we had a video podcast on site at your event in December in Austin, Texas, which was focused on emerging and mid-market groups.

Andrew Smith: Yep. Absolutely. Always good to get together with you and talk all things oral healthcare.

Bill Neumann: Yeah, and ADSO has a lot going on. And your big event, which is going to be in San Diego coming up shortly, you call it Dentistry’s Main Event. It’s your 14th annual summit. And why don’t we talk a little bit about that? I know there are a lot of people in the audience that have attended before and probably a lot that haven’t, but probably should have. certainly heard about it, so I think we kind of want to paint the picture of what people should expect that have maybe gone in the past, maybe some new things you’ve added to it, and then for the newbies out there, you know, who attends and, you know, what are some, maybe some speakers that you have that you’re really interested in sharing, you know, what they’re going to talk about. And it looks like you’ve just got a lot going on here. So it’s March 16th through the 18th. However, the 16th is really geared towards student activity. And it looks like the main event starts on the 17th and carries through to the 18th. Well, maybe before we talk about that, just for the couple of people that don’t know you, Andrew, a little bit about your background and then who the ADSO is.

Andrew Smith: Yeah, sure. No, thanks. Thanks, Phil. Looking forward to running through the summit and a few other items as well. So as Bill mentioned, I’m Andrew Smith. I’m the CEO of ADSO, which is the Association of Dental Support Organizations. I’ve been in this role since 2021. It’s been an exciting journey and ride that continues to develop. And ADSO is very focused on a number of issues. Government relations and advocacy related issues is a significant piece of our focus, so it’s how can we continue to drive revenue for our members’ companies, how do we make sure they get the right workforce, and so a lot of our government relations strategies are focused on that. We’re very focused on working with dental students. You mentioned that we have some student programming at the summit. So that’s a very big ongoing topic for us and really showcasing what a DSO is and isn’t and making sure that students and the dental school community are aware of ADSO. And then the other big piece is we put on a lot of membership programming for our DSO members and industry partners to come together and you know, talk about what’s next in oral health, you know, networking, collaboration, how are they looking at issues, how are they growing their businesses, so a very symbiotic type of relationship. We’ve got 80 DSOs representing about 18 billion in revenue, We’ve got probably 9,000 practices represented with about 18,000 dentists represented. It’s always evolving and always growing, and it’s been great. I’m really enjoying it. I think we’ve got quite a bit to do moving forward for our membership and how the board has directed us, but excited for this upcoming summit in March.

Bill Neumann: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I, years, years ago, you actually had the, uh, event, uh, in San Diego as well. So this is your, your returning back to, uh, you know, great location and great time to be in San Diego and early March where it’s still relatively cool, uh, in the Northeast. So a lot of people coming from the Northeast will be happy to be in, in San Diego and actually who wouldn’t be happy to be in San Diego.

Andrew Smith: Sure, as I’m sitting here in New York City and it’s 32 degrees, I would take San Diego any day of the week.

Bill Neumann: Yeah, agreed, agreed. Okay, March 16th through the 18th, and again, we mentioned that the summit starts on the 16th, or a lot of exhibitors will arrive on the 16th, and then the main parts of the event start on the 17th for the students. That actually begins early on the 16th. Beyond that, let’s maybe talk about some things. Maybe we start with March 17th. You said things kick off in the morning, and it looks like you’ve got some things going on on the main stage, and then there are some breakout sessions throughout the next couple of days.

Andrew Smith: Yeah. Just from a holistic point of view, as you mentioned, Bill, this event is curated and put on by our fellow DSO CEO members. We’ve got a curriculum committee that is made up of CEOs that range from the mid-market emerging all the way up to the to the larger folks, so a real good diversification. And the content is really built for CEOs and their executive teams. And so what you’ll see is on day one and day two, we have quite a few main stage topics that are overarching, big theme topics that we think are relevant to the DSO community and as a result to the oral health care community. And we’re going to be talking about those from a global thought leadership point of view. delve into those as you’d like. And then what we will do in addition to that are tactical breakouts that are tied back to each of the main stages that will get very granular in sharing of best practices, do’s and don’ts, and other types of networking opportunities. So the whole goal was to have a theme, if you will, on a whole host of big issues that are driving the day in oral health and then having those breakouts to get even more specific. Because what I see and what we see as a team is that this meets a lot of interests of all of those people that are attending. So not just the CEOs, but their teams, plus also we have a great exhibit hall this year, really, really exciting. And quite a few. What’s great about it is the flow of the event, if you’ve been to the hotel before, is that we’re all kind of in one quick location where you go from the main stage right across pass registration and into the exhibit hall. So there’s a real sense of, you know, kind of action and everybody’s going to be in the same space. You know, previously at some of these larger hotels, if you will, it’s hard to kind of keep that flow going. But I think between the programming and how the hotel is set up and how we’ve set it up, it’ll really be that great hub of activity with great content.

Bill Neumann: Yeah, that’s, that’s a great point that you mentioned. And it, the hotel is the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego. And another great thing about San Diego besides the weather is the airport is super close to downtown San Diego and the Marina, which is where the hotel is. So I think you’re, it’s like three miles away, which is, which is wonderful. You’re not traveling too far once you get off the plane and grab an Uber and head right over.

Andrew Smith: Exactly, exactly. So, you know, we try to make it as convenient as possible.

Bill Neumann: Yeah, yeah. And so you’re right, the flow, as I remember correctly, you’ve, you know, everything’s pretty much in one area. So you’re not moving from floor to floor. And, you know, you’ve got a lot of the exhibitors out in the hallway area right outside of where a lot of the sessions are going on, both on the main stage and the breakout sessions. And yeah, I wanted to just mention a couple of the different sessions that I see here in the agenda. And we’ll drop a link in the show notes to this. I mean, you can always go to the ADSO’s website, which is which I’ll add a link to, and then I can send you a link to the agenda. But real quick, we mentioned in the morning of the 17th, which is actually St. Paddy’s Day, I just realized that. So there should definitely be some people wearing green there. 10 a.m., we’ve got what looks like one of the first sessions. Invite only board there some board meetings going on in the dean’s breakfast but things really start to kick off for the general public at ten am on the seventeenth and there’s a marketplace outlook. Where really guy looks like it’s you’re going over what’s happening with dental landscape is it involves. And then after that, which is really interesting topic to me, is a debate about healthcare growth model and which is the most sustainable long-term. And there’s, looks like there’s going to be some discussion about medical-dental integration, super GPs, specialty care, Medicaid versus no insurance. So it’s, yeah, this looks great. Any comments on those couple of sessions?

Andrew Smith: Yeah, I think what we really wanted to do at the beginning of the conference was kick things off with a bang. So really looking at, OK, we’re now five years past COVID. What’s happening in the marketplace? This is going to be sponsored by Salomon Partners. Karan Garg, who’s their managing director, will be We’re going to have a few investors there. We’re going to have a few DSO CEOs there. It’s really looking at, all right, we’ve seen folks coming out of COVID, big consolidation, lots of M&A. Then we saw the market get a little more flat line. things are starting to move, things are starting to happen, and what are investors looking at, what’s the overall marketplace, and how are DSOs continuing to evolve to grow? I think that’s a really interesting thing, and it’ll be front of mind for our attendees. Then the second panel, like you mentioned, is going to be fascinating because we’re going to have a little bit of a debate on various different types of practice models, you know, right? So you mentioned it, you know, those that are medical dental integrated, those that are more super GP, those that are focused on specialty, those that have Medicaid only, and just discuss, you know, kind of, you know, how are things progressing within those scope of practices? You know, is, you know, one going to be the winner or not, you know, kind of really getting into them. You’ve got some great folks on that panel that are going to be that are leaders and experts in this talking through. So I think it really kind of goes back to, all right, what are these leaders in different scope of practice focusing on to continue organic growth, to continue to kind of meet the needs of the marketplace, meet the needs of patients? So those two, in my mind, are very interwoven or very in a role in kind of kicking the day off of that DSOs are driving the landscape there.

Bill Neumann: And then you have a couple other things. We obviously have a ton of networking opportunities, which is one of the things that I love the most about the ADSO Summit is just the opportunity to talk with DSO leaders. You know, sometimes, like you mentioned, it could be the the CEOs, but it’s, this means certainly not just limited to CEOs. You know, I’ve run into a lot of procurement directors, regional managers, HR direct, you know, you name it, and you have a lot of clinical directors. There’s a lot of different people from different parts of the DSO. And also, you mentioned you have 80 DSOs. These aren’t just U.S.-based DSOs. You have international folks coming in as well. So this is not just U.S. or Canadian. People from all over the globe really come to the ADSO Summit.

Andrew Smith: Yeah, no, absolutely. I think it’s a really good cross-section of oral health care today, and kind of the role that dental support organizations are playing. And it’s a very holistic approach we take, and the attendees reflect that.

Bill Neumann: Just a couple other of other, well, so it’s on the main stage. So this is one is one of my favorite speakers here, Sam Zarabi from Rodeo Dental. He’s going to talk about the intersection of clinical and financial success in DSOs. It’s going to be a panel discussion, or it looks like he might be the moderator on this one. And then you’ve got a DSO town hall next, and that’s gonna be the CEO of Smile Docs is gonna be talking there, growth strategies and market pivoting. And then we get into the networking towards the end of the night where it looks like there is a yacht rock pool party, which sounds like fun, with a band and that’s sponsored by Sunbit.

Andrew Smith: Yes. So, yeah, in the rest of the afternoon, again, we want to kind of delve into some, you know, key aspects of, you know, I’m excited about the DSO Town Hall, particularly, you know, Jay Hedrip of Smile Docs, you know, kind of showcasing, you know, how Smile Docs has continued to expand, how they continue to pivot. We’ve not heard, you know, a lot on kind of orthodontic recently, at least at the summit and stuff. So I think that’ll be really exciting. you know, the panel beforehand will be many of the clinician-founded DSOs talking about how you kind of are aligning, you know, kind of the clinical side with, you know, the business side. Of course, there’s that separation, but you know, how are you Uh, you know, making sure that there’s, there’s alignment and, and, and growth there. And yes, we always like to have a little fun at these events. And so we will be having a band, uh, with some cocktails and light fair up at the pool area. I’ve been there. It looks great. It overlooks, um, the water. And so it’ll be a, you know, hopefully we’ll have some nice spring weather, early spring weather, but it’ll be a good way to kick things off and get everybody acclimated to the, to the event.

Bill Neumann: And then on the 18th, looks like he kicked things off after breakfast with Kentucky Morrow from Dental Innovation Alliance. And looks like he’s going to cover a lot of different things, including revenue cycle management, artificial intelligence, practice management, software. So Kentucky and the team at Dental Innovation Alliance are involved in a lot of the you know, the technology companies in the industry. So that should be a really interesting discussion as well from Kentucky. Get into regulatory and public policy insights, which is what the ADSO does well. And really, you’re one of the few that do that for the DSO industry, advocating on a daily basis at the state level, really have brought the industry to where it is today. As an industry, we do owe a lot to the ADSO, I know. People kind of forget the way it used to be, but things have come a long way for the acceptance of the model.

Andrew Smith: Yeah, no, 100%. And I think that the AI panel on the morning, the way that the day on Tuesday is structured is we want to kind of have the morning be main stage with relevant content that the members are eager to hear. And then we move in to those tactical breakout sessions. And kind of really wanted to make sure that the tactical breakouts followed all the main stages so people could take the broad bot leadership discussions of main stage and apply them to breakouts. But what will be exciting on those main stages in the morning, the artificial intelligence conversation, we’re going to have two AI companies that are focused on different work streams within AI. And they’re going to be talking about, you know, how does it deliver efficiency? How does it, you know, drive long-term growth and improve patient care? And it’s from two different vantage points, you know, not two competing, but different vantage points. And I think that will be a fascinating piece because obviously artificial intelligence is a major topic in all aspects of the economy today and in healthcare as well. And then, yes, the regulatory stuff, we’re going to be putting together some kind of broad insights on to what is the industry facing from a positive regulatory environment and opportunities to what is potentially out there that might be concerning, and how do we look at that. So I think it’s always, I’m a big believer in looking at where is the industry going from all of these relevant topics, including the regulatory and legislative side. So it’ll be a well-rounded morning.

Bill Neumann: And then you mentioned after the morning, as you get a little bit later into the morning and then in the afternoon, that’s where you have the different breakout sessions. Can you tell us a little bit about some of those breakout opportunities?

Andrew Smith: Yeah, so what we’ve tried to do is we tried to break it down almost by department lead, if you will. So we’ve got human resources, marketing, finance, clinical leadership, operations and IT, insurance complexities, and RCM, which is a new session this year, which a lot of our members have been really focused on is RCM. As you can imagine, everyone is very focused on same-store growth, and so RCM is a key driver of that. And then also cost containment and tech implementation. I think a lot of people love hearing about these tech options, but how do you really implement it? How do you commercialize it? How do you scale? How do you grow? So all of these are really where the rubber hits the road, and we get great participation among our DSO CEOs, their executive teams and others leading a great insights, great feedback. And these breakouts have been put together by our curriculum committee and have been, you know, are going to be led by many of them. So it is, again, content for DSO leaders created by DSO leaders, which is great to see. And it’ll be a really good afternoon session for these folks to bop in and out of all these various sessions.

Bill Neumann: And then we get to some networking in the evening. It looks like there is a happy hour and followed up by a closing reception sponsored by Align Technology. So go in, start the morning with main stage. We have lunch, then we go into the breakout sessions. And yeah, I really like the way it’s broken out by really that focus of whatever that leader is within the organization. And I think that’s great. I mean, that way, you’ve got people that really aren’t missing anything. That’s the one thing that always is challenging with the breakout sessions. You’re never sure which session to go into. Sometimes there’s three great sessions. You don’t want to miss any of them. really almost focused by, you know, what your role is as an organization. It’s a lot easier to determine which one you’re going to attend.

Andrew Smith: Exactly. And again, I think going back to just the general programming of the two days, we really wanted to make sure that we touched on everything and that it met the needs and focus of all attendees. So I feel very, very good about the programming and content that attendees will get.

Bill Neumann: So I think the one last thing I want to mention, as far as the main event goes, and then I want to make sure you have a final word on that, and then we can get into some other things. I would like to talk about what initiatives the ADSO as an organization has going on now. You mentioned a bunch of things going on that were interesting at the Yankee Multisite Summit that a lot of people unfortunately didn’t get a chance to attend, so I want to make sure you’re able to cover that. As far as that Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel goes, room blocks do close on the 20th of February. So you’re going to want to make sure that you book that because those hotels do fill up. Or if they don’t, a lot of times the rates you have access to are nowhere near as good as the ones that you would be able to get if you booked through the ADSO. So just keep that in mind that you’re going to want to book those hotel arrangements as soon as you can.

Andrew Smith: Yeah, no, thanks, Bill. Yeah, no, it’s coming around the corner. So I would encourage folks to RSVP register as fast as possible and liking those hotel room rates.

Bill Neumann: Yep, yeah, absolutely. Okay, so moving on from Dentistry’s main event, and again, I’m gonna drop in the show notes the Cvent. It’s the cvent.com URL. You can actually go to vadso.org and find it, but I’ll put in a couple of different links. One, how to register for the event itself, how to get your rooms. Also, just to find out more about the event because on the, and maybe Andrew you could contribute to this, so there’s a couple different ways. You have to be an ADSO industry partner in order to attend this, and there is a way to do that through the ADSO.org website, and then also if you’re a DSO, how does that work to register? Maybe go through that.

Andrew Smith: Yeah, so like you mentioned, Bill, if you’re an industry partner, you’re able to sign up. If you’re not, you have to sign up to be an industry partner. For DSOs, there’s a specific, if you’re not an ADSO member, there’s a specific rate for non-ADSO members to register at. And then if you’re an ADSO member, from us, you’ll be if not already, have already likely received your complimentary passes as a member. And we are, you know, running a little bit of a special, if you will, if you’re a non-ADSO member, DSO, and are interested in attending, you know, please reach out to the events team. I believe the contact information is on the CEVENT website. We can look to have you as a, Join us if you’re interested in membership.

Bill Neumann: Okay. Yeah. And we can always drop that email address in the show notes as well. So you can reach out to the team at ADSO if you’re not a DSO member currently, but would still like to attend. They can give you an option to register as well. But yeah, it’s going to be great. So what else is going on at the ADSO? What are you working on as an organization right now?

Andrew Smith: Yeah, no. So thanks, Bill. This is kind of the go season, if you will, for all legislative activity, particularly in the states where we’re very, very active. And there’s a number of issues we’re focused on. I would say the continued focus on licensure portability is a major focus of ADSO. So there’s a interstate compact that’s been passed by 10 different states that allows for the quicker and cheaper flow of dentists and hygienists between those states. So it’s reciprocity and that’s really important for our DSO teams because they’re always constantly looking at how do we get to the workforce to meet the patient demand. And so, like I said, working with ADA, working with the American Dental Hygiene Association, we were successful with having 10 states have reciprocity. And there are a number of other states that we’re looking at this year. to add to the compact, probably Texas being the biggest one. We’ve seen a huge uptick in population growth in Texas, and there’s certainly not enough dentists or hygienists to service the new population. So we’ve been working with our allies on the ground and looking at that. Texas is an interesting state. The legislature only meets every other year, so we’re very focused on that. And then, of course, there’s always looking at the insurance side of things, on the revenue side, continuing to make sure that patients are utilizing the most benefits that they get from dental insurance, and also that the provider is being compensated appropriately. So that’s a big, big priority. And then we’re always looking at how do you continue to make sure that dentistry, there’s there are no hurdles or barriers to operate. I think when you look at, there’s been a pretty big focus in healthcare, around healthcare transactions, and whether or not they have outside capital in them, and what the rules and regulation should be if that’s the case. I think a lot of it has come from what we’ve seen in some hospital systems that have collapsed in various ways and the concern that rightly so that legislators have about the result of limiting access to care and higher costs. And so part of our job is to kind of remind legislators that dentistry is a fundamentally different delivery model. that when investment comes in, that investment goes to actually increasing access and lowering costs. So the government relations will be a huge piece of what we have going on. And then, as I mentioned earlier in the conversation, is workforce development. We’re very active with the American Student Dental Association. We’re very active in going and visiting dental schools and really being that third party neutral resource and talking about the DSO model. So I’ll go to dental schools and speak to third or fourth year practice management classes and really just kind of give them an overview of here’s what a DSO is and isn’t and the background and really just be kind of that educational piece. A couple of years ago, we launched the DSOdifference.org, which is a website that has a ton of frequently asked questions, a ton of video from DSO-supported clinicians. We will be launching this year more ADSO-specific webinars that are going to be focused on students with ADSO member company clinicians, and on that We’re going to be talking about, you know, how do you ace your interview? You know, what is it? What’s being a dentist like two years after dental school? And kind of real world examples of that connectivity and just making sure that the students kind of have all the information that they have. So that’s a priority. And then I think too, you know, continuing to enhance our membership programming. And what we have and what we’re offering, not just through events or through our study clubs, but those are big, big pieces. And I think that the final piece, and this is a little what I touched on at the Yankee Dental, was looking at ADSO continuing to be a leader and thought leader in you know, data that is out there within the industry. So, you know, whether it be data around access to care and workforce related issues to looking at how DSOs or affiliated practices fair when it comes to insurance claims and how they stack up with unaffiliated and vice versa. But continuing to really utilize data as your driver of showcasing the needs of the oral health care system and where DSOs fit in that, that’s a big, big piece of what we’re focused on.

Bill Neumann: Excellent. Well, thanks, Andrew. Again, great to have you back on. It’s nice to have you come on a couple times a year, really, to just keep us up to date with what ADSO is doing for the industry. And we’re really looking forward to going to San Diego and Just going through again the agendas, it’s going to be a lot of fun. I look forward to not just the networking and the great weather, but really to learn quite a bit from the people that you have on the different panels. And I love the debate format, so I think that’s going to be pretty exciting as well in the breakout sessions. So it’s, the website is the ADSO.org, the ADSO.org. Put that again, we’ll put all the links in the show notes. Um, Andrew, is there a, like a main email address that people want to reach out to somebody at ADSO just for more information?

Andrew Smith: Yeah. So it should be a membership. at theADSO.org. And then as it relates to events, it should be events at theADSO.org.

Bill Neumann: OK. That is great. So we’ll put those in the show notes, and everybody will be able to connect. But appreciate you being on, and we’ll see you and everybody in San Diego. And coming up shortly, remember, get those hotel rooms, because we are February 20th is the cutoff for the ADSO room rate.

Andrew Smith: Absolutely. Well, thank you so much, Bill, for having me. It’s going to be a great event and looking forward to seeing everyone there.

Bill Neumann: That sounds good. And thanks, everybody, for listening. Until next time, this is the Group Dentistry Now Show.

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