Meet the Former DSO Executive Who will Lead Walmart Health

In September 2019, Group Dentistry Now published, “Walmart Introduces First-Ever Health Center, Which Includes a Comprehensive Dental Clinic.” Now, we are thrilled to announce their first-ever Head of Dentistry, Dr. Roshan Parikh.

Dr. Parikh (or “Dr. Ro” as he is known in the industry) will lead this new, revolutionary model which will be focused on dental medical integration and increasing access to care, offering customers new ways to save money, while living better –and healthier– lives.

Dental is part of Walmart Health’s overall investment in health and wellness, and Dr. Ro will refine the long-term strategy to grow their focus in dentistry, working closely with Merchandising and Operations to map their current presence in dental and help build the right organization and approach to best serve their customers. Founded in 1962 by Sam Walton in Rogers, Arkansas, Walmart’s fiscal year ended January 31, 2019, with a total revenue of $514.4 billion

Dr. Ro is a proud graduate from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) – College of Dentistry. In addition to his DDS degree, he also obtained a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from Loyola University with dual emphases in finance and marketing. He later capitalized on the opportunity to utilize all three when he purchased his first practice in the south suburbs of Chicago in 2008, where, despite a historically difficult period in the country’s economy, he led the practice on an exponential growth path.

His first practice, with three employees operating in 650 square feet of space, eventually became Chicagoland Smile Group. Dr. Ro grew it into a 20+ network of multi-specialty dental group practices with north of 75 dentists and dental specialists. Chicagoland Smile Group made the Group Dentistry Now list of Emerging Dental Groups to Watch in 2018.

In 2019, Dr. Ro founded the dental consulting firm DSO Strategy, LLC, which was created to help entrepreneurial dentists strategize a growth plan for their dental group practices that would transform each not only into a thriving DSO, but also an investable platform for institutional capital. He is also a contributing writer for Group Dentistry Now and sits on Group Dentistry Now’s Editorial Board.

Dr. Ro’s passion lies in building functional and strategically patient-centric business models that help providers to be both first-rate caregivers as well as successful businesses, and he is thrilled at the opportunity to help that philosophy come to light in a nationwide operation as he joins the team at Walmart Health as their Head of Dentistry.

“Good medicine is good business and by doing things the right way (by always putting the patient first), success will follow. In my dental practices, I work to maintain relationships as a reputable clinician and do right by the patients and people I work with each day. My passion for dentistry runs deep, which is why mediocrity is never an option.” – Dr. Ro

Walmart Health’s goal is to give Americans at every economic level better access to basic healthcare. This concept will revolutionize healthcare and access to care and is particularly exciting for the dental industry which traditionally has been relatively isolated from the rest of the medical community. The patient will reaps all the benefits from having the full spectrum of their basic healthcare needs under one roof. If someone is at risk for diabetes, for example, it’s going to affect their body in multiple ways– eyes, teeth, cardiovascular health, etc., and by not having to go through the red tape and waiting periods of traditional referral patterns, the team at Walmart Health will be able to provide care more efficiently and effectively. As the systems develop, Walmart Health’s aim is to make them not only functional, but scalable, and they plan to build approximately a dozen additional facilities in the next six to twelve months.

Already averaging over 100 visits per day, tripling the initial expectations, Walmart Health is attracting both patients and providers alike. The collaborative aspect with other modalities of healthcare is a magnet for dentists, many of whom have a strong desire to provide a better and healthier life for patients holistically. The practice of dental medical integration helps them to finally realize their goals to serve the entire patient.

Click here to read Dr. Ro’s article, Leverage Clinical Management with Metrics and Qualitative Data.
Click here to read more about Walmart Health and their new dental clinic.

Read other Walmart Health articles here:

Sources: Walmart, Forbes, MedCity News

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