Latest / Becker’s Healthcare - Clinical Leadership Podcast / Dr. Kyle Hollis, Chief Clinical Officer at SGA Dental Partners

Transcript

Dr. Kyle Hollis, Chief Clinical Officer at SGA Dental Partners · Becker’s Healthcare - Clinical Leadership Podcast

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  - This is Riz Hat with the Becker's Dental Podcast.
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  I'm thrilled to be joined today by Dr.
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  Kyle Hollis, chief Clinical Officer of SGA Dental Partners.
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  Dr. Hollis, thank you so much for being here today.
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  - Uh, thank you for inviting me. Really excited to be here.
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  - Great. Just to start us off, could you introduce yourself
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  and tell us a bit about your background?
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  - Absolutely. Yeah. So I'm Dr. Kyle Hollis.
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  I, I, like you said, I'm the Chief Clinical Officer
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  for SGA Dental Partners.
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  Um, I'm a practicing dentist in, uh, uh, Savannah, Georgia.
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  I actually, uh, was a, I practiced for about six years
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  before I got into the, um, more of the management, uh, role
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  and became the Chief Clinical Officer, um, for SGA back in,
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  uh, March of 2022.
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  I, uh, I went to the Dental College of Georgia for my, uh,
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  my dental education.
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  Um, and, uh, yeah, I really enjoyed, um, being a part
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  of the, of SGA and, um, of the group and,
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  and seeing where we've, we've grown.
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  Um, and, uh, you know, I look forward to, to
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  speaking, uh, on the podcast
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  and continue to talk through, uh, some of the issues and,
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  and great things that are going on in the industry.
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  - Great. Thanks so much for that introduction.
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  I'm curious what led you to switch from, um,
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  the more clinical side of the dentistry to management?
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  - Well, I, I enjoyed, uh, clinical dentistry,
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  uh, and I still do.
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  Uh, and it was, um, just one of those things
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  that happened organically.
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  Um, we began growing as a group.
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  Uh, we started out, um, with a, with an
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  as Southwestern Zone Management, um, with a group
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  outside of Savannah, Georgia.
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  Um, we had two locations at Reedsville and Coxton.
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  Um, and, uh, as the group continued to grow,
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  there became more
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  and more of a need, um, to, uh, uh,
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  to expand our, um, clinical strategy
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  and clinical management.
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  Um, and, uh, just kind of, uh, like I said,
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  just kind of happened organically.
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  I fell into the role, um, as I became more
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  and more involved with, uh,
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  just the growth of the, the group.
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  Um, and with our, uh,
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  private equity partners, the Durston group.
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  - Great. Thanks for sharing.
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  What are the biggest issues you're
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  following in dental today?
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  - One of the biggest issues that I'm following in our,
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  our group is, is kind of, uh, keeping, keeping track of
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  and is really important to us is, um, access to care.
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  Uh, we are a regional,
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  regional DSO primarily in the southeast United States.
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  Um, and, uh, one of the things that we see in a lot
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  of the states that we're in, um, are just numerous markets
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  with unmet demand.
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  So, um, we, uh, we have offices in, in tertiary
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  and secondary markets, um, more rural areas where, um,
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  we may be the only, um, dental office and the only provider,
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  and there are also several counties still in, in many
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  of the states that we're in, uh,
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  that don't, don't have dentists.
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  Um, so access to care is, is a, is a big issue
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  that we are actively, uh, trying to solve.
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  And one of our, our big, um, goals is to
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  bring high quality providers, um, into those, uh,
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  more rural markets, um, so that we can better provide access
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  to care for any of those that, that don't have it.
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  Um, and then also with that, you know, I'm, uh,
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  we're looking at the what's licensing, uh,
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  what's the licensing, um, issues with different states
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  and the licensing compacts that are, uh, out there.
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  You know, there's, there's two big
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  ones that are floating around.
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  Um, and so we're just, uh, you know,
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  keep staying aware of that.
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  And then just seeing how to did the licensing compacts, um,
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  you know, the ability for Dennis to have reciprocity
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  of licensing across, uh, state borders.
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  How does that affect access of care, um, uh, for patients?
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  Are they gonna, you know, increase that?
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  Are we gonna be able to, to further provide more care in
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  these rural areas, um, bring providers to those areas.
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  Um, and then I think probably also just, uh,
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  the insurance medical loss ratios that the dental,
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  dental insurance companies, um, legislation for that in,
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  in many states that's happening right now.
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  Keeping, keeping track of that.
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  Um, you know, what's this gonna look like, uh, for coverage
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  for our patients, um,
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  reimbursements tracking, you know, tracking that.
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  How's the, how reimbursements gonna track, you know, you
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  with the increased supply costs,
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  staffing costs and everything like that.
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  Um, you know, is this something that's going to be great
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  for patients and, uh, you know, good
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  for good for the industry?
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  Uh, or is it, is it one of those things where, um, you know,
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  we're not gonna see a whole lot
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  of reflection in the actual coverage for patients.
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  - Interesting. Thank you. I'm curious, um, does
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  SGA dental partners have, um, a specific strategy
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  or any initiatives that they're working on
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  regarding access to care?
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  - Yes. One of our, uh, the key components of the group is,
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  is to provide, uh, that high quality care in those, uh,
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  you know, I, I don't wanna say, uh, forgotten markets,
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  but, uh, maybe a lot of those areas where like, there is
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  that unmet demand, um, where there, there's, you know,
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  patients that are driving an hour
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  or more to, to see providers, you know, we have the ability
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  to, to be able to go in, uh, set up practices, uh,
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  create succession plans for, uh, older, you know,
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  existing doctors in, in locations where, um, you know,
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  they may be retiring and there's not an immediate, uh,
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  solution for replacement.
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  Um, we've, uh, been very successful in,
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  in going into those areas, um,
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  and bringing, uh, providers that maybe initially
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  wouldn't have considered that, um,
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  as a potential opportunity.
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  And then, uh, making that a good opportunity for them and
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  therefore, you know, bringing that, uh, that quality
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  of care, uh, to these patients.
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  Um, and so, uh, that's, that's something we continue
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  to, to invest in.
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  Um, and, uh, we're gonna continue to grow
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  and build density in, in more of these tertiary markets
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  and, uh, and secondary markets
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  as we grow in southeast United States.
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  - Awesome. Thank you.
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  So, whatcha most excited about
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  and what makes you nervous when it comes to dentistry?
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  - A good question. Uh, I think I'm probably, I,
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  I get really excited
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  and passionate, um, about, um, just the tech, you know,
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  the technological advances we're seeing
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  in dentistry right now.
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  I mean, 3D printing, um, AI integration, uh,
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  you know, I think, uh, 3D printing is, is is changing, uh,
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  the way that, um, we do dentistry
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  and it's gonna continue to develop.
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  I mean, I think, you know, just here recently Align came out
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  with, uh, 3D printed powder expanders for kids.
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  Um, it, it's less invasive, less painful, um, uh, a way
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  of doing expansion.
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  And then, you know, just the, the ability to, uh, you know,
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  as we have more and more materials that, materials
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  that come out that we can 3D print, um, you know, uh,
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  long-term fixed, uh, you know, solutions for patients
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  and implant solutions, um, things, things of that nature,
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  I think it's gonna continue to, to shorten appointments
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  for patients and to lessen the number of appointments, um,
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  the patient's gonna, uh, be in the chair.
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  So, really excited about that.
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  And then, you know, AI integration into the office,
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  both on the, the clinical side and the vision side.
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  I mean, uh, we're seeing, you know, we're able
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  to be more precise with our, with our decision making
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  and, um, you know, be able to, to more confidently diagnose
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  for patients, and then also gives the patients the ability
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  to seek care that it's, um, you know, that is better,
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  better data-driven, um,
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  and so they can, they can physically see, hey, this is
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  what the AI's picking up.
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  And then that, along with the diagnosis from the doctor, um,
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  it's gonna continue to build patient
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  confidence and what we're doing.
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  So, uh, that's, that's really exciting.
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  You know, genetic testing, you know, saliva testing,
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  being able to be more precise and,
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  and just create personalized care for patients.
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  Um, that's another thing that we're, we're looking at, uh,
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  with SGA and so excited about that.
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  Uh, minimally invasive dentistry.
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  I mean, the, the integration of lasers with and,
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  and periodontal treatment
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  and also just, uh, there's,
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  there's products on the market right now where we're, uh,
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  treating, uh, incipient caries, uh, without drilling.
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  Um, and IV we remineralize
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  and with biomimetic, uh, ways.
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  And, and so that's pretty exciting.
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  Um, as far as, uh,
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  and I think the rest of your question is
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  what potentially makes me nervous?
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  I don't know if there's anything that, that
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  necessarily makes me nervous.
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  Uh, you know, maybe one of the things that, that we're,
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  I'm cautious with, um, is, uh,
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  teledentistry, right?
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  So I think that tele dentistry definitely fits into the
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  continuum of care
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  and, uh, is is potentially another way that we're going to,
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  you know, better that access to care,
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  but just wanted to make, you know, we wanna make sure
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  that hey, it's implemented appropriately, we're providing it
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  where it's necessary, you know, that, you know, just kind
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  of watching what, you know, how is it gonna be regulated,
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  uh, you continue to be regulated.
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  Um, everything along those lines.
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  So cautiously optimistic, but, um, cautious for sure.
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  - Interesting. Thank you. What will the most effective
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  healthcare leaders need
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  to be successful in the next two to three years?
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  - Great question. Uh, is this a changing, uh,
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  interesting changing time that we're in?
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  Um, I think it just, the ability to adapt, right?
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  So healthcare's changing rapidly
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  with AI integration and into everything.
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  We're seeing processes and, uh, change.
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  Um, we're seeing new technology come out
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  in the market every day.
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  Um, and I, and a lot of it is, uh, does make, uh,
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  things more efficient and more effective.
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  Um, so I think being able to adapt not being, uh, resistant
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  to change is, uh, is one way to, to continue
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  to be effective over the next couple years.
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  You know, the ability to make data-driven decisions, um,
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  stay away from, from just emotional decisions, you know,
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  take, uh, the anecdotal information
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  that you give from your providers, uh,
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  and you, you know, your constituents listen
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  to all your constituents, um, at the ground level,
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  and then take that and combine it with the data
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  that we're able to, you know, um, we're able to build, uh,
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  more on the, the company side, um,
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  and use that to make your decisions.
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  And, and I think that that's, um,
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  how you stay effective and, and you grow.
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  Biggest thing really is,
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  is focusing on your providers and patients, right?
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  So providing patient-centered care, focusing on, on outcomes
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  of those patients, making sure that all the decisions
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  that you're making are, are leading to better outcomes
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  for your patient, and, uh, let that drive your business.
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  Uh, and in order to do that, uh, you really have
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  to also focus on the wellbeing
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  and just the mental health of your, of your clinicians
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  and, and your staff.
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  So I think, uh, you know, making sure, especially right now,
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  you, you know, and I know healthcare, you know,
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  the hos hospitals on the medical side are seeing it worse
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  than, than we are on the dentistry side with the
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  nor nurse shortage.
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  But, you know, with, with, uh, availability for a lot
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  of offices to, to, uh, to staff, uh, you know, in,
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  in places, I think it, that can add added stressors.
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  Uh, so we've been really fortunate.
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  Our retention rate, uh, of staff has really high.
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  But, you know, it's just one of those things that you have
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  to see, like, hey, if staffing, you know,
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  across the industry becomes more difficult, like how do we,
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  how do we re remove some of that strain
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  and stressors off of our providers, um,
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  and just keep 'em, uh, keep 'em happy.
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  So being there and making sure that we're, you know,
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  you're supporting your clinicians, your providers,
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  and the rest of your staff, um,
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  and, uh, you know, being able
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  to continuously provide the high quality, a high level
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  of patient care, um, I think
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  that's how you remain effective.
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  - That's great. Yeah, it sounds like that that support piece
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  as well as that flexibility,
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  that adaptability sounds really important.
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  Thank you so much, Dr.
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  Hollis, for your fascinating insights and your time today.
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  I look forward to connecting with you again in the future.
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  - Sounds great. Thank you so.