Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / The Leadership Strategies Driving Dentistry Forward with Anna Singh

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The Leadership Strategies Driving Dentistry Forward with Anna Singh · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:02
  - Every dental leader is facing the same question
• 0:04
  - right now, whether to grow, partner, sell, or
• 0:07
  - hold the line. There's no neutral move anymore.
• 0:10
  - DSOs are consolidating,
• 0:12
  - valuations are climbing,
• 0:13
  - AI and digital tools are raising the bar
• 0:15
  - on what a modern practice even looks like.
• 0:18
  - And the calls you make this year will
• 0:20
  - shape the next decade. Becker's fifth annual future
• 0:23
  - of dentistry roundtable is where you make those
• 0:25
  - calls with better information.
• 0:27
  - You'll be in the company of 250
• 0:29
  - plus executives, 90 plus speakers, and two days
• 0:32
  - of intimate discussion driven sessions with DSO and
• 0:35
  - independent practice leaders laying out what's working on
• 0:38
  - growth,
• 0:40
  - talent, and tech,
• 0:42
  - and what they do differently. So join us
• 0:43
  - September fourteenth and fifteenth at the Hilton Chicago
• 0:46
  - and come ready to decide what's next. Register
• 0:48
  - on our events page at beckersdental.com
• 0:51
  - by clicking in the events tab in the
• 0:53
  - upper right.
• 0:54
  - Hi, everyone. This is Arianna Portallatin with the
• 0:57
  - Becker's Dental and DSO review podcast.
• 0:59
  - I'm thrilled to be joined today by doctor
• 1:01
  - Anna Singh, the senior vice president of clinical
• 1:03
  - operations at Heartland Dental. Doctor Singh, thank you
• 1:06
  - so much for being here today. It's a
• 1:07
  - pleasure to have you.
• 1:09
  - Thanks, Arianna. I appreciate the opportunity.
• 1:11
  - Yes.
• 1:12
  - To start us off, can you introduce yourself
• 1:14
  - for our listeners and tell us a little
• 1:16
  - bit about your background?
• 1:17
  - Sure. I'd love to. So I'm Anna Singh.
• 1:20
  - I'm with I'm a senior vice president of
• 1:22
  - clinical operations at Heartland Dental.
• 1:24
  - And, truly, I have the privilege of working
• 1:26
  - alongside the clinical and the operational leaders to
• 1:29
  - support our doctors
• 1:31
  - and teams in delivering exceptional patient care.
• 1:34
  - So my career has taken
• 1:37
  - a a much different path. I started in
• 1:39
  - the chair
• 1:40
  - and,
• 1:41
  - currently
• 1:42
  - focused on patient care. Right? As I moved
• 1:45
  - into a leadership role, I've become I became
• 1:47
  - increasingly interested in a broader question of saying,
• 1:50
  - how do we create system that allows thousands
• 1:52
  - of clinicians and team members to consistently deliver
• 1:56
  - excellent care while preserving their autonomy and clinical
• 1:59
  - judgment and personal relationship that make dentistry so
• 2:03
  - special? So I think it the clinical autonomy
• 2:05
  - piece was big for me and being having
• 2:07
  - the clinical judgment and,
• 2:09
  - I think the way it's worked out for
• 2:11
  - me truly
• 2:13
  - is the three areas that have shaped up
• 2:15
  - the my career trajectory is
• 2:18
  - the desire for clinical excellence, leadership development, and
• 2:21
  - organizational
• 2:22
  - transformation.
• 2:24
  - And so this this sort of thought process
• 2:26
  - has, you know, guided me to say how
• 2:28
  - we can scale these kind of things when
• 2:29
  - we think about broadly,
• 2:31
  - when you have a mixed group of clinicians,
• 2:34
  - as supported dentist for Heartland Dental.
• 2:36
  - But then also, how do we continue to
• 2:38
  - develop their capabilities,
• 2:40
  - building future leaders, and creating systems and processes
• 2:43
  - that help us get the sustainable growth that
• 2:46
  - we're looking for?
• 2:48
  - So if I could summarize, so today, much
• 2:50
  - of my work really centers around how dentistry
• 2:53
  - is sort of evolving. Right? The the next
• 2:55
  - decade is not simply just about growing individual
• 2:59
  - practices, but it's about building an integrated
• 3:02
  - platform. So it's all about platforms. How can
• 3:04
  - platforms deliver
• 3:05
  - a combined clinical support
• 3:07
  - that has technology, that has education?
• 3:10
  - We have the right data that we even
• 3:12
  - make the best decision on. And what is
• 3:14
  - our operational capabilities
• 3:16
  - that we can truly help our doctors be
• 3:18
  - thriving and improve patient experiences? That's what it
• 3:22
  - truly boils down to. So it's it's a
• 3:24
  - big an interesting trajectory of things for sure.
• 3:27
  - Yeah. And it's great to hear about your
• 3:28
  - experience there, so thank you for sharing that.
• 3:31
  - First question for you here. What are some
• 3:33
  - of the biggest issues that you're following in
• 3:35
  - the dental industry this year?
• 3:37
  - Wow. We are all feeling it, I would
• 3:39
  - say, this at this point of time.
• 3:41
  - It's the workforce sustainability
• 3:44
  - and the organic growth of our, supported practices
• 3:48
  - and the
• 3:50
  - intense,
• 3:51
  - information that's coming through through AI transformations and
• 3:54
  - technology
• 3:55
  - and data. I think those are probably, I
• 3:57
  - would say, the key areas that
• 3:59
  - sort of had been on top of mind
• 4:01
  - for me. And the workforce sustainability
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  - is a really important,
• 4:05
  - one for sure.
• 4:07
  - You know, I was at a recently at
• 4:09
  - a event and what was shared was that
• 4:12
  - DSO leaders was suggested is that one in
• 4:15
  - four clinician
• 4:16
  - is considering leaving the organization within the next
• 4:19
  - twelve months.
• 4:20
  - And the cost of attrition and replacing a
• 4:23
  - clinician can exceed
• 4:24
  - millions of dollars because it's loss of productivity,
• 4:27
  - hard time recruiting,
• 4:29
  - onboarding, all the efforts that was, put in
• 4:32
  - kind of getting the clinician up skills up.
• 4:34
  - So
• 4:35
  - retention
• 4:36
  - is just
• 4:38
  - a super important
• 4:39
  - part of it. It's just not about recruiting.
• 4:41
  - Right? We need to make sure that we're
• 4:43
  - retaining these doctors,
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  - when we know the
• 4:47
  - there will be a continued shortage through 2030
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  - with significant percentage of clinician,
• 4:53
  - are only showing a shallow to a low
• 4:56
  - level professional satisfaction. Like, how do we turn
• 4:58
  - their dialer in a different direction that actually
• 5:01
  - makes people satisfied,
• 5:03
  - happy, and successful in the clinical profession that
• 5:05
  - they're choosing? So
• 5:07
  - reinforce really reinforcing the point, it's just not
• 5:09
  - about recruitment. It's about truly developing a workforce
• 5:12
  - strategy that involves the retention of the clinician.
• 5:16
  - Okay. And then similarly, we're seeing it on
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  - the hygiene side. So it's not just the
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  - doctors. Right? We're just seeing on similarly stuff
• 5:22
  - on the hygiene side. So organizations
• 5:24
  - that are gonna be super successful
• 5:26
  - really need to be thinking about how are
• 5:28
  - they gonna support their clinicians, their entire career,
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  - where it starts from onboarding,
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  - how they would provide the mentorship for clinical
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  - development.
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  - How do they continue to keep them engaged
• 5:38
  - through leadership opportunities? Everybody's wanting, like, what's in
• 5:40
  - it you know, we'd say, what's in it
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  - for me? What's in it for them to
• 5:43
  - be at that organization for a longer time?
• 5:45
  - What are the leadership opportunities?
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  - How do we engage with them consistently
• 5:50
  - through surveys, through feedback loop? Those are probably
• 5:52
  - the important things that that a institution would
• 5:56
  - need to consider
• 5:57
  - thinking about the workforce sustainability.
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  - The other things that I really thought about,
• 6:02
  - you know, when you think what are the
• 6:04
  - other pressing things is the organic growth.
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  - I I you know, when DSO started or
• 6:09
  - other organizations, we just started thinking about just
• 6:12
  - growing by acquisition.
• 6:13
  - Growing by acquisition does not is not a
• 6:16
  - sustainable,
• 6:17
  - part of it. So we really have to
• 6:18
  - think about
• 6:19
  - how do we
• 6:21
  - sustain the growth of a DSO or
• 6:24
  - to
• 6:25
  - growing our current practices.
• 6:27
  - So the question
• 6:28
  - no longer is simply how many practices an
• 6:31
  - organization can add, but is also, like, how
• 6:33
  - much value we create within each supported practice.
• 6:36
  - How are we creating that value?
• 6:38
  - That includes helping our practices expand the services
• 6:42
  - that they can provide. Right?
• 6:44
  - Improving patient flow. How's the patient flowing through
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  - the practicing scheduling?
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  - What's the clinical capacity of these? Are the
• 6:52
  - supported doctors getting all the knowledge and skills
• 6:55
  - they need in order to grow their competencies?
• 6:57
  - And the data that's coming through are is
• 7:00
  - it effectively being utilized to close-up the gaps
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  - that we have,
• 7:04
  - really found those?
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  - And then bottom line, you know, it comes
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  - down to areas like the the fact
• 7:10
  - of case acceptance and patient education. How good
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  - are we utilizing technology and all the resources
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  - that we have in order to close that
• 7:16
  - gap to get additional case acceptance?
• 7:19
  - And the lastly is access to care. Is
• 7:21
  - are we really important thing is is access
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  - to care available for all our practices?
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  - Then that is through,
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  - really understanding how our front office team is
• 7:31
  - answering those phone calls, but also what's also
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  - happening on
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  - the accessibility of a patient on our platform.
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  - So how easily can they schedule?
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  - The lastly, I would say is the technology,
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  - AI, and data integration.
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  - We all are so much hearing this word
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  - again and again, AI. Right? Probably in every
• 7:51
  - probably every single podcast that you probably have
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  - heard, AI is being talked about.
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  - But technology is becoming, I would say, a
• 7:58
  - multiplier
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  - for both clinical areas
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  - and operational performances.
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  - But we we're seeing great stuff happening with
• 8:07
  - AI assisted imaging,
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  - diagnostic support, treatment planning,
• 8:12
  - documentation,
• 8:13
  - the notes that we're kinda started hearing a
• 8:15
  - lot about voice notes, scheduling, looking at analytics.
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  - But all of this is like it's great
• 8:21
  - data to have, but I think the the
• 8:23
  - challenge comes is how are you converting all
• 8:26
  - that data to actually actionable things
• 8:29
  - so that it doesn't seem fragmented.
• 8:31
  - It is kind of connected, and it makes
• 8:33
  - sense for at a practice level. So those
• 8:36
  - are probably the things I would say
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  - are the ones that we really need to
• 8:40
  - be, thinking about.
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  - Yeah. And it's great to hear your your
• 8:45
  - thoughts and your insight on the on some
• 8:46
  - of those trending issues. So thank you for
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  - sharing.
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  - I'm also curious to know, what are you
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  - most excited about when it comes to dentistry
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  - right now, and what makes you nervous?
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  - I think what makes me excited is dentistry
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  - has changed so much in the last ten
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  - years.
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  - Being a clinician that started over twenty years
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  - ago, I can see the pace of what
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  - things are, how we're gonna create clinical efficiency,
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  - how we're going to be able to help
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  - not only the clinician, but also the front
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  - office team
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  - to handle,
• 9:17
  - patient care, the ease ability of the patients
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  - to connect,
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  - and the
• 9:22
  - resources
• 9:23
  - information
• 9:25
  - that is at the fingertips. So that that's
• 9:27
  - the exciting part about
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  - how and how organizations are also recognizing
• 9:33
  - that the development of the clinician is super
• 9:36
  - important. So those the strengths are sort of
• 9:38
  - changing and truly looking at how do we
• 9:41
  - utilize
• 9:42
  - AI data and imaging that all the access
• 9:45
  - that we have to stay more consistent. I
• 9:47
  - don't know if you this is long time
• 9:48
  - back. A reader digest article was published and
• 9:51
  - the patient went to different
• 9:53
  - clinics and they got different treatment plans. I
• 9:55
  - feel that AI generated
• 9:57
  - the lean in for helping the doctors with
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  - the diagnostic. We will start seeing more leveling
• 10:02
  - off. So there is not just a variation
• 10:03
  - of how people are diagnosing for the care.
• 10:07
  - I think what makes me nervous as much
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  - as I'm excited about all of the things
• 10:11
  - that we're saying is the implementation.
• 10:14
  - Implementation of the technology. Technology adoption is
• 10:18
  - it's not just a technology challenge, honestly. I
• 10:20
  - feel it's a leadership challenge, how leaders truly
• 10:23
  - think about
• 10:24
  - the technology, the governance that we have. Do
• 10:27
  - we have an effective training? Do we have
• 10:29
  - have we really figured out what the workflow
• 10:31
  - is going to look like?
• 10:33
  - Is it meaningful to the clinicians? A lot
• 10:36
  - of the decisions, if they're made in a
• 10:37
  - siloed environment
• 10:39
  - where the clinician is not taken into consideration,
• 10:42
  - the technology
• 10:44
  - is not going to be working in that
• 10:46
  - in that scope of things because it's it's
• 10:48
  - great on in its own.
• 10:50
  - But when it's integrated in a system, if
• 10:53
  - it's not thought through, then we won't be
• 10:55
  - able to see the true value of what
• 10:56
  - the technology can do for our offices.
• 10:59
  - So I think the questions that we should
• 11:00
  - always be asking is,
• 11:02
  - does this truly improve the clinical decision making
• 11:06
  - process?
• 11:07
  - Does it reduce the burden of the provider?
• 11:10
  - Does it improve patient experiences?
• 11:13
  - And, really, how are we gonna measure all
• 11:14
  - of this?
• 11:16
  - So
• 11:17
  - the technology should expand the clinician's capacity, but
• 11:21
  - not
• 11:22
  - diminish the clinician judgment. That's what I would
• 11:24
  - say the big thing about technology that makes
• 11:26
  - me nervous.
• 11:27
  - Okay. Such a good point there. Thank you
• 11:29
  - for sharing. Last question for you here. What
• 11:32
  - will the most effective health care leaders need
• 11:33
  - to be successful in the next two to
• 11:35
  - three years?
• 11:37
  - I I I think couple of things that
• 11:39
  - really come to my mind when you ask
• 11:40
  - this question is talent. We gotta really have
• 11:43
  - the right talent and develop
• 11:45
  - the resources to develop the talent. Because if
• 11:48
  - there is not talent, it's not a sustainable
• 11:50
  - way to, support a business.
• 11:53
  - And
• 11:53
  - and, you know, we always hear this, the
• 11:56
  - culture trumps strategy. A strategy will not work
• 11:59
  - if we don't have the right talent. So
• 12:01
  - making sure you either have the right talent
• 12:03
  - always reminds me of the book, you know,
• 12:06
  - Good to Great, which says getting the right
• 12:07
  - people on the bus at the right seats.
• 12:09
  - It's really important that we have the right
• 12:11
  - folks,
• 12:12
  - supporting the objectives that we are trying to
• 12:14
  - attain. But, primarily, also, are we willing to
• 12:17
  - develop the talent
• 12:19
  - for it to be a sustainable for the
• 12:21
  - organization?
• 12:22
  - And that that to me causes the retention,
• 12:25
  - causes people to feel integrated, causes people to
• 12:28
  - want to do something that's bigger than themselves.
• 12:32
  - Then the other thing I would say is
• 12:34
  - the data and technology we've been talking about,
• 12:36
  - you know, are you fluent with it? Are
• 12:38
  - you truly understanding?
• 12:40
  - Because it's the the flashy part. Right? Are
• 12:42
  - you able to shut down the noise and
• 12:44
  - truly understand
• 12:46
  - while that actually makes sense in our ecosystem?
• 12:48
  - And the thing is there are so many
• 12:50
  - things out there right now. It's having the
• 12:53
  - I I think it's almost like you gotta
• 12:55
  - slow down a little bit before you can
• 12:57
  - go fast. So
• 12:59
  - use the technology to truly understand if it's
• 13:02
  - the right fit for you, and the leaders
• 13:05
  - need to really spend some time understanding that.
• 13:07
  - Because if you don't, you're making decisions in
• 13:10
  - a rush. The decisions will be not it's
• 13:12
  - not about the flashy things. It's about the
• 13:14
  - finding the right thing for your for your
• 13:15
  - ecosystem.
• 13:17
  - And when technology comes, this comes to my
• 13:20
  - third part where
• 13:21
  - a a health care leader should really be
• 13:23
  - thinking about is, am I a master at
• 13:26
  - change leadership?
• 13:28
  - Because when you're introducing technology at such a
• 13:30
  - fast pace, you have to become very good
• 13:33
  - at change management.
• 13:34
  - And in order to the first step of
• 13:36
  - change management is not just
• 13:38
  - pushing people the benefits of what it can
• 13:40
  - be. It's truly listening. It's, you know, seek
• 13:43
  - to understand before being understood. This is the
• 13:46
  - Stephen Covey quote that I really always kinda
• 13:48
  - keeps swarming back to my mind is when
• 13:50
  - you're instituting change, because change might as simple
• 13:53
  - as it is, it's always 10 times harder
• 13:56
  - for the person who's receiving the change. So
• 13:58
  - how do we pace the change and how
• 14:00
  - do we,
• 14:01
  - institute the change? Are we bringing people others
• 14:04
  - along? Are we bringing people soon enough along?
• 14:06
  - Those are the questions that change leadership mastery
• 14:09
  - of change leadership that becomes very critical for
• 14:12
  - to be successful in the next two to
• 14:13
  - three years because there's so much same coming.
• 14:16
  - And, also, the last one is, for me,
• 14:17
  - is connecting strategy to everyday practice.
• 14:21
  - Do not make decisions in a silo. The
• 14:24
  - leaders must be able to translate
• 14:26
  - enterprise level strategy into what happens into everyday
• 14:30
  - in a dental practice.
• 14:32
  - Digital transformation, where we're talking about organic growth,
• 14:35
  - efficiency,
• 14:36
  - All those things sound great, but if it's
• 14:39
  - not connected to the overall strategy or overall
• 14:42
  - objective of the why and you all all
• 14:45
  - heard about the favorite Simon Sinek book. Right?
• 14:48
  - Start with the why. It's about if people
• 14:50
  - don't understand the why behind all of that,
• 14:53
  - change becomes very hard and the strategy
• 14:55
  - actually fails.
• 14:57
  - So we we also need to make sure
• 14:59
  - that
• 15:00
  - the best leaders will connect the strategy to
• 15:02
  - the practical questions.
• 15:04
  - Can this patient get appointment sooner? Does the
• 15:07
  - doctor have the support they need in order
• 15:09
  - to provide the comprehensive care?
• 15:11
  - Is the technology
• 15:13
  - reducing or increasing the administrative burden?
• 15:16
  - Are the teams getting more engaged? Are we
• 15:18
  - improving the quality of outcomes? And I think
• 15:20
  - those are the questions that people should be
• 15:22
  - asking when they're thinking of strategically
• 15:24
  - on the next
• 15:26
  - two, three, five years what on the horizon
• 15:28
  - what it's gonna look like. And always strategy
• 15:30
  - always also works when it's connected to your
• 15:33
  - company's mission and vision. In case you go
• 15:35
  - outside, it's hard to bring people along to
• 15:37
  - build a strategy, and, you know, culture always
• 15:39
  - trumps strategy.
• 15:41
  - Okay. Well, such a great conversation today. Thank
• 15:44
  - you so much for your time. That's all
• 15:45
  - I have for you today, doctor Singh. Again,
• 15:47
  - thank you so much for joining us. It's
• 15:48
  - been a pleasure speaking with you and I'm
• 15:50
  - looking forward to connecting with you again in
• 15:51
  - the future. Thanks, Arianna. It was my pleasure.
• 15:54
  - I appreciate the opportunity.