Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Kenneth Nusbacher, DMD, MHA, Associate Dean of Clinical Affairs at the University of Kentucky College of Dentistry and Assistant Chief Medical Officer for Ambulatory Dentistry at UK HealthCare

Transcript

Kenneth Nusbacher, DMD, MHA, Associate Dean of Clinical Affairs at the University of Kentucky College of Dentistry and Assistant Chief Medical Officer for Ambulatory Dentistry at UK HealthCare · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:02
  - Oral health is finally being recognized as part
• 0:04
  - of whole person care. And at the same
• 0:06
  - time, digital tools and AI are reshaping how
• 0:09
  - practices prevent disease, engage patients, and grow.
• 0:13
  - DSOs are expanding. Independent
• 0:15
  - practices are proving their staying power, and investment
• 0:18
  - is accelerating across the sector.
• 0:20
  - Dental leadership has never been more complicated
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  - or more consequential.
• 0:25
  - Ecker's fifth annual future of dentistry roundtable brings
• 0:28
  - together more than 250
• 0:29
  - executive level attendees
• 0:31
  - and 90 plus speakers for two days of
• 0:34
  - sessions in Chicago, all built to help leaders
• 0:36
  - benchmark their priorities,
• 0:38
  - stress test their strategies, and walk away with
• 0:41
  - a clearer picture of where this industry is
• 0:43
  - heading and how to position for it. Join
• 0:45
  - us September fourteenth and fifteenth in Chicago.
• 0:49
  - Register on our events page at wwwbeckersdental.com
• 0:53
  - by clicking on the events tab in the
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  - upper right.
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  - Hello. This is Ariana Portolatin with the Becker's
• 1:01
  - Dental and DS Overview podcast.
• 1:03
  - I'm thrilled to be joined today by Doctor.
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  - Kenneth Nesbacher, the associate dean of clinical affairs
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  - at the University of Kentucky College of Dentistry,
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  - as well as the assistant chief medical officer
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  - for ambulatory dentistry at UK HealthCare.
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  - Doctor Nussbacher, thank you so much for being
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  - here today. It's a pleasure to have you
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  - on our podcast.
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  - Thank you. I appreciate the opportunity.
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  - Yes. Of course. To start us off, can
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  - you introduce yourself for our listeners and just
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  - tell us a little bit about your background
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  - as well? Yeah. So, like you said, I'm
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  - Kenneth Nussbacher. I am a dentist.
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  - I
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  - originally was in private practice for several years
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  - and then,
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  - slowly shifted into
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  - the educational realm.
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  - I'm currently here at the, University of Kentucky
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  - College of Dentistry,
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  - and I've had multiple roles in my sixteen
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  - years here.
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  - But currently, I serve as the associate dean
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  - of clinical affairs and the assistant chief medical
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  - officer for dentistry,
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  - at University of Kentucky Health Care, which is
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  - a new newer endeavor for us, as we've
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  - integrated our dental clinics with the broader,
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  - UK health care system.
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  - Great. Thank you so much for sharing that.
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  - First question for you here. What are some
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  - of the biggest issues that you're following in
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  - the dental industry this year?
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  - Yeah. So, again, everything,
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  - that I'm sharing is coming from the lens
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  - of the of a college of dentistry.
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  - However,
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  - a lot of the, issues,
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  - positive or negative, are probably similar to what
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  - people are facing in, in in,
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  - various areas.
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  - The biggest issue really is a workforce shortage,
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  - I think. You know? This is something that
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  - is obviously, it's not new. It's pretty common,
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  - particularly when we talk about dental assistants and
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  - dental hygienists.
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  - This is an issue that we actually,
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  - see here at the college, not to an
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  - extent that maybe some of the larger organizations
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  - are are having, but, is certainly something that's
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  - not unique to us in Kentucky,
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  - nor,
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  - you know, specific to to any one entity.
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  - So that's one of the biggest issues that
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  - we're seeing, across the board. And, again, not
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  - there there are lots of people trying different
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  - things to
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  - remedy this, and I think we're we're waiting
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  - to kinda see what what is effective.
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  - There are a lot of reasons for that,
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  - shortage.
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  - Couple other things that we see, that I'm
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  - seeing as some of the biggest issues,
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  - is either a stagnant or even a decreasing,
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  - level of insurance reimbursement.
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  - Right? As everything,
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  - else goes up in cost,
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  - the insurance reimbursement rates being flat
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  - is really
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  - made things quite difficult, from a financial standpoint
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  - for a lot of entities.
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  - The last thing, and this is more specific
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  - to
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  - us in the educational world, however, it has
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  - major implications for,
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  - basically anybody in a private practice setting, in
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  - DSO setting, or so forth is the student
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  - loan situation. So the
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  - rapidly increase increasing,
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  - cost of the student loans,
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  - that people are taking out now and the
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  - ability to manage those, once they do get
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  - into a practice setting is becoming exceedingly difficult
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  - for our graduates.
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  - So those are those are the big issues
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  - that I'm seeing at the moment.
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  - Yeah. Yeah. Very interesting. I know there's so
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  - much more that we could go into with
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  - those things that you mentioned.
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  - Are there any
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  - solutions that you've been following closely that you
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  - have found,
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  - to
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  - most like or, I guess, have the most
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  - impact on the dental workforce shortages as far
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  - as just solutions?
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  - Yeah. So,
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  - you know, what we found to be the
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  - most successful, at least in our world,
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  - is, you know, I think it it always
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  - comes back for a lot of people who
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  - are who are thinking about salary, and there's
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  - no question that compensation is important.
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  - So I think, to be honest with you,
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  - there's not really one
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  - direct answer to this. I think it's a
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  - multi pronged approach.
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  - Salary is important. We've tried to become a
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  - little more flexible in what we offer.
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  - So rather than a traditional,
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  - you know,
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  - eight to five clinical settings even for assistants
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  - or hygienists, we look at being flexible with
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  - some part time, some PRN situations,
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  - and so forth. That's been a little bit
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  - of,
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  - something that's helped us a bit,
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  - in recruitment and retention, frankly.
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  - The other thing is really, again and it's
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  - it sound very cliche, but we really need
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  - to make sure that we're taking care of
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  - our people. Right? So anyone that's working with
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  - us, we really need to make sure that
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  - the environment, the physical environment, the,
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  - the workplace environment in general is,
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  - appropriate. People are comfortable,
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  - and feel really part of what we're trying
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  - to do. So I think looking at it
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  - from a multi pronged approach is probably the
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  - best thing.
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  - Yeah. Yeah. And I'm sure that there's a
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  - lot of other executives, practice owners, people in
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  - the field who would agree with you as
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  - well.
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  - Next question for you here. I'm curious to
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  - know what are you most excited about when
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  - it comes to dentistry right now, and what
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  - makes you nervous?
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  - Yeah. So excited is,
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  - there there are two big areas. One is,
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  - technology.
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  - The fact that,
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  - we actually have now usable,
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  - technology,
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  - both clinically and in in back end support
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  - system and so forth that are really revolutionizing
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  - not,
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  - what we do, but rather how we do
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  - it. Right? So, I mean, from a clinical
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  - standpoint, digital technology in the clinical setting,
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  - it improves patient experience. It improves our efficiency.
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  - It improves accuracy,
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  - as well as,
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  - I think,
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  - doctor and staff,
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  - satisfaction improves. So it's a really, really cool
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  - thing there.
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  - I always say this. I think people get
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  - a little nervous sometimes. Some of us that
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  - have done this for a long time, in
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  - a as clinicians,
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  - about these changes, but it really doesn't change
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  - our,
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  - it doesn't change the the principle of what
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  - we do in dentistry, but it does change
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  - the workflows in in a positive way. And
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  - so I've even seen some, we'll say, more
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  - seasoned,
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  - providers
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  - start to be willing to try to uptake
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  - this and really enjoyed,
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  - utilizing that. So I think technology is the
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  - big, big one.
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  - The other thing and this is, something in
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  - dentistry we've talked about for a long time,
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  - but now there is some real movement in
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  - this direction,
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  - and that is the, oral health and systemic
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  - health integration.
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  - So here at the University of Kentucky,
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  - we are literally in the midst of this
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  - as we fully integrate a college of dentistry
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  - with a large medical,
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  - entity,
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  - and, and really trying to tie those things
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  - together. But I think this is a movement
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  - that we're seeing across the industry now.
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  - It's also being supported or soon to be
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  - supported by, a lot of the payers as
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  - well. So there are lots of factors that
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  - are pushing that. I think when we combine
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  - oral health and systemic health
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  - and look at it as overall health, I
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  - think we're going to be able to treat
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  - patients quite a bit better. So I think
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  - outcomes are gonna improve. So those are kind
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  - of the two the two big,
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  - I think, areas of of kind of excitement
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  - that we see.
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  - Okay. Was there anything, that makes you nervous
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  - about the industry as well?
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  - Yeah. Well, again, the so the the,
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  - I kinda mentioned it. We have a challenge,
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  - and it varies depending on where you are
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  - and what your patient base is. But,
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  - we have huge swaths of populations with minimal
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  - or no dental benefits coverage.
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  - That's that's a big challenge for us,
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  - particularly in not all all states are a
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  - little bit different. But,
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  - here in Kentucky, we do have Medicaid dental
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  - benefits. And here at the college, specifically, we
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  - see a great number of those patients. We
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  - have a lot of rural areas in the
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  - state, and we have high populations in that
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  - in that group.
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  - And it's it's become very difficult,
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  - for, patients to find care and then for,
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  - providers to be compensated in an appropriate fashion.
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  - The other thing is the,
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  - again, I talked about student loans previously. I'm
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  - gonna come back to that. It still makes
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  - me a little worried, although it doesn't affect
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  - me directly.
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  - But our students are are affected by remarkably
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  - high student loans,
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  - rates that are increasing, and just the reconciliation
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  - of how do they manage that when they're
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  - entering their practice lives. And that's become a
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  - real challenge. And I think at some point,
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  - we're gonna have to look at, some some
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  - other avenues to help support the students that
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  - are coming out with these very, very large
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  - loans.
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  - Yeah. Yeah. And working at the University of
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  - Kentucky College of Dentistry, are you
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  - hearing from a lot of students? Are you
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  - having those conversations as far as what they
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  - plan to do
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  - after they graduate?
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  - As far as I mean, I know a
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  - lot of graduates are moving toward DSOs just
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  - because it helps out a little bit more
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  - with their their loans. Are you seeing those
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  - conversations happening among your students? Yeah. There's no
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  - question. This is something that we talk about
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  - on a regular basis.
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  - And,
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  - so we have a a few different directions
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  - that our students go.
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  - There are, of course, some,
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  - loan repayment type programs.
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  - Those can be through public health entities. They
• 9:55
  - can be through military service.
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  - And some of the DSOs are have, have
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  - obviously recognized this. They know this is a
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  - real issue with new graduates
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  - and have,
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  - either begun or or continue to to run
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  - some programs to help support,
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  - you know, some loan repayment type type arrangements.
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  - And I think that's really the ultimate answer
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  - to this is that it's an adjunct to,
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  - you know, to their compensation, their their base
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  - compensation.
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  - But I think that,
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  - for example, any organization, whether it be a
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  - private practice or a DSO, is gonna want
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  - to,
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  - consider that as part of their plan in
• 10:28
  - recruitment for new graduates. Because this is I
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  - think if you pull the audience of new
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  - grads, this is generally their biggest concern is,
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  - is loan repayment.
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  - Yeah. Yeah.
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  - What will the most effective health care leaders
• 10:41
  - need to be successful in the next two
• 10:43
  - to three years? Yeah. That's that's a great
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  - question.
• 10:47
  - You know, to me, I think, we talked
• 10:49
  - a little bit about technology. AI has
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  - become a buzz,
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  - word in almost every aspect of life right
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  - now. Yeah. I think the idea,
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  - to me, the most effective health care leaders
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  - are gonna understand how to leverage that technology.
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  - You don't have to be the earliest adopters.
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  - In fact, a lot of that's already happened.
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  - However,
• 11:11
  - leveraging the technology
• 11:12
  - while also understanding what its limitations are,
• 11:16
  - and,
• 11:17
  - not just limitations, but understanding for example, AI
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  - has a multitude of applications.
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  - But how does that synthesize how do you
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  - synthesize that with the human elements that we
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  - need to still
• 11:28
  - have to take care of patients? Right? And
• 11:30
  - I think learning how those two things fit
• 11:32
  - best together is is really gonna be,
• 11:35
  - in in all of patient care, but certainly
• 11:37
  - in dentistry is gonna be the the key
• 11:39
  - for the most effective leaders, understanding those things
• 11:42
  - and implementing them.
• 11:44
  - Great. Well, that is all I have for
• 11:46
  - you today, doctor Nussbacher. Thank you so much
• 11:48
  - for joining us. It's been a pleasure having
• 11:49
  - you on our podcast today,
• 11:51
  - and I'm looking forward to connecting with you
• 11:52
  - again in the future.
• 11:53
  - Absolutely. I appreciate it, and I appreciate what,
• 11:55
  - what Becker's is doing with dentistry. So thank
• 11:57
  - you. Thank you so much. Enjoy the rest
• 11:59
  - of your day. Bye bye. Thank you. Bye.