Latest / Becker’s Healthcare - Clinical Leadership Podcast / Dr. Jason Auerbach, Founder of Riverside Oral Surgery

Transcript

Dr. Jason Auerbach, Founder of Riverside Oral Surgery · Becker’s Healthcare - Clinical Leadership Podcast

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  This is S hat with the Becker's Dentalia. So podcast,
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  I'm thrilled today to be joined by Dr. Jason Aach,
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  founder of Riverside Oral Surgery. Dr. Aach,
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  thank you so much for being here today.
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  Thank you so much for having me.
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  Could you start off by telling us a bit about your background?
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  Sure. So just to kind of reiterate, my name is Jason Auerback.
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  I started Riverside Oral Surgery after finishing a
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  full scope oral maxillofacial surgery residency program at SUNY Downstate
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  Medical Center, uh, Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn.
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  In 2007, Riverside Oral Surgery came to be,
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  and we grew from one location and four
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  team members to currently 10 locations and well over
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  100 team members. Uh, in the last year or so,
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  we brought on outside investment and founded an oral surgery
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  only, um,
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  management organization called Max Surgical Specialty Management,
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  of which I am founder, president and chief clinical officer.
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  Our goal is to build the preeminent oral maxillofacial surgery
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  surgeon led platform in the country.
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  We partnered in January with a wonderful practice in central
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  New Jersey called Oral Surgery Group, and uh,
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  we now have 13 locations and are growing, uh, really, really quickly,
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  but looking really only to grow with the best and the most
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  accomplished surgeons in the country starting in the Northeast.
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  I also have a, uh, Instagram presence, uh,
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  social media presence. I'm known, uh, far and wide as bloody tooth guy.
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  It's basically a continuing education platform online through social media,
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  uh, and, uh, it's a, it's a really great creative outlet for me as well.
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  Fantastic, thank you. My first question for you is,
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  what are the biggest issues you're following in dental today?
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  I think the biggest issues that I'm looking at in dental today have a lot to do
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  with, uh, scaling the patient experience. For me. As I said,
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  I'm very involved in growing my practice footprint and the platform
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  footprint. In the last few years,
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  there's been a ton of consolidation and interest from outside investors
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  in oral surgery. Obviously, oral max facial surgery is my focus,
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  and after being approached by so many different potential opportunities,
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  it became apparent to me that the one thing that was missing was the
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  patient experience focused surgeon led
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  platform. And that's what I'm trying to form right now. So that's,
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  that's basically where my focus is.
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  Thank you. So when you think about the future of dentistry,
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  what are you most excited about and what makes you nervous?
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  I think what makes me nervous is, um, you know,
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  the shifting demographics, uh, in, in certain locations.
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  I practice in the northeast,
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  I practice in northern New Jersey with offices throughout New Jersey,
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  and there's been a significant shift in demographics, um,
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  in our area with a lot of people moving out of the state and a lot of
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  surgeons kind of aging out. So it's,
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  it's a changing environment. There's also,
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  I think kind of specific to dentistry, maybe not specific to dentistry,
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  but certainly apparent to dentistry,
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  this negative association with, uh, corporate dentistry, which is growing.
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  And I think by and large,
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  a lot of the negative association with corporate dentistry is justified as
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  outside investors don't truly understand the,
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  the inner workings of the dental practices, the way that, uh,
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  surgeon or dental owned practices, uh,
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  have currently or have been for a long time.
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  And so there has to be really kind of a taking back of,
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  of, uh, of the way that the care is delivered. And so for me,
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  a a major concern and a major focus is trying to build something
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  that is scalable,
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  but that doesn't diminish the patient experience and doesn't change the, the,
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  the ability to, to deliver care, uh,
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  from in the doctor's hands to in the investor's hands. That,
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  that for me is a major, major thought process.
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  Interesting. And sort of, you talked about, you know,
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  this sort of negative attitude towards corporate dentistry at the moment.
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  Do you see that attitude shifting in the next two to three years?
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  I think so long as the people that are,
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  that are building the platforms are focused on the right things,
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  which like I said, is delivery of great patient care,
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  a wonderful patient experience autonomy for surgeons or, or dentists,
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  um, I think that that can change. I do think that when I came out,
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  I finished training in 2003, I finished dental school in 1999. Uh,
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  there was very little in the way of corporate dentistry. Uh, and now it's,
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  it's dominant in, in many places in the country,
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  certainly less so in the Northeast, um, as, uh,
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  there are certain protections for, for the state boards,
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  the dentistry in these states up here, which is good by and large.
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  But I think that it's important for younger dentists and,
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  and really dentists considering partnering with platforms and,
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  and existing platforms to understand that just like anything in this world,
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  there are, there are good players and there are bad players. And you know,
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  a lot of people look at the word or the acronym d s o as being a negative thing.
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  And in some cases it is when you're joining a DSO that's focused only on,
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  uh, controlling and, and,
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  and bringing EBITDA together so that they can sell at a later time,
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  you have a very,
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  very different mindset than finding the proper financial partners that
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  understand that, you know,
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  surgeons and dentists have something more to bring rather than just producing
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  dentistry. And so, you know, I I,
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  I hope and I believe, uh,
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  optimistically that if the right people get into the game
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  and join the right organizations and those organizations flourish,
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  that we can change the paradigm of, of,
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  of the corporate dental world, and we can really bring, uh,
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  a different mindset to, to what that offers for,
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  for older surgeons and younger surgeons alike.
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  Thank you.
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  So what will the most effective healthcare leaders need to be successful in the
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  next two to three years?
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  They don't, they're gonna need to be the most suc,
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  the most effective healthcare leaders need in any, in any, uh, business.
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  I think just need to be excellent communicators,
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  be able to have a vision that differentiates them to be able to
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  articulate that vision within the organization that they're building,
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  and to be able to promote that vision to those who they're looking to either
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  bring into the organization or who they're looking to serve. Uh,
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  referring doctors, patients, the communities at large, and of course,
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  the practices that are considering, uh, partnering with them. So I think,
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  I think like anything, being honest and being open, being transparent,
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  being authentic in the communication is, is everything.
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  And then of course, being able to provide, uh,
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  differentiated and superior patient experience. Um, you know,
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  when I started my practice back in 2007, healthcare was, was,
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  uh, delivered in a very specific, traditional way. So much has changed.
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  Patients are, are much more educated, they're much more sophisticated, uh,
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  they're much more knowledgeable,
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  they're much more in control of their own health, health-based decisions and,
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  and respecting and understanding that and,
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  and giving the patients what they want, uh,
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  using your expertise is, is paramount to, I think,
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  success going forward in the healthcare business.
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  Well, Dr. Aach,
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  thank you so much for connecting with me today and for your fascinating
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  insights. I look forward to speaking with you again in the future.
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  It's, it's my pleasure, really. Thank you so much for the opportunity.
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  I really enjoyed it. I hope it's helpful for the listeners and, uh,
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  look forward to speaking to you again soon.