Doubtfully, but the Dentist Entrepreneur Organization led by Dr. Marc Cooper and CEO Jacob Puhl recently created a similar experience – and let me assure you, it was an EXPERIENCE – for four of their lucky members.

Are DSOs really going to take over the practice of dentistry? 

No, but there are a number of legitimate reasons why they've become so incredibly popular over the last several years.  We've been asked to speak to numerous groups of people over the last year and all of them - regardless of whether they were dentists, industry consultants, sales professionals or clinical professionals - have had the same questions:

• How did all of this start?
• What are the reasons behind it?
• Why is everyone so interested in forming a group or DSO?
• And, most importantly, do I want to get involved in it? 

Wisdom & Wandering from the Herd

Last fall, my partners and I all attended the McGuireWoods Healthcare Private Equity Conference here in Charlotte.  While most of the southeast was still battling the remnants of what was Hurricane Irma, we had an opportunity to listen to sector experts as they tried to navigate the swirling winds of the healthcare industry.  Make no mistake – healthcare is hot.  There is a lot of opportunity, but it doesn’t come without an equal amount of risk.

Here’s what we learned…

“The day before something is a breakthrough, it's a crazy idea.” ~Peter Diamandis 

Today we're excited to announce the official launch of the TUSK Partners website.  

TUSK Partners provides Buy-Side and Sell-Side Advisory Services, Strategic Consulting and Capital Raising Alternatives to Middle Market Dental Groups and DSOs.  We are passionate about working with transformative businesses and the management teams who drive their growth.  We build long-term relationships focused on maximizing shareholder value.   

You can download more details about our service offering here.

“Leaders of companies that go from good to great start not with “where” but with “who.” They start by getting the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats.” ~Jim Collins, Good to Great

We’re going to take a slight break from our normal discussions of ROI, growth rates, scale and finances to delve deeper into the most important capital in your business – human capital.  All of your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) don’t add up to much if your team can’t execute the plan, so we’re going to talk about five critical roles in the typical DSO and how the responsibilities of each need to scale right along with the person who is accountable for it. 

A сrеdіt ѕсоrе іѕ a statistical аnаlуѕіѕ in thе shape of numerical expression that gives аn іdеа оf a реrѕоn'ѕ сrеdіt so that a реrѕоn'ѕ credit wоrthіnеѕѕ can bе knоwn. It іѕ рrіmаrіlу bаѕеd on thе credit rероrt information thаt саn bе ѕоurсеd from credit burеаuѕ. Mоnеу lеndеrѕ (e.g. bаnkѕ аnd credit саrd соmраnіеѕ) gеnеrаllу uѕе a реrѕоn'ѕ сrеdіt ѕсоrеѕ tо еvаluаtе thе default risk іf they lеnd money tо thаt person. To mitigate their losses duе tо a bаd dеbt, thеу may rеfuѕе tо lеnd money tо that individual.

“I have a memory like an elephant.  In fact, elephants consult me.” ~Noel Coward

We have had the honor of speaking at many conferences this year and have fielded too many questions to count.  Having said that, one particular question seems to come up with great frequency among those who own one to three or four offices: “What’s the real difference in a group practice versus a DSO, and when does it make sense to form an actual DSO?”

“I have a memory like an elephant.  In fact, elephants consult me.” ~Noel Coward

I recently wrote a blog post about creating time in your schedule to work ON your business instead of always working IN your business.  Let’s face it: we’re all time-broke – and nobody sees that changing any time soon.  Strategic planning is critically important for any business, but there’s one aspect of working on your business that often goes neglected: working on YOU.

From Fraud and Failure to Double-Digit Exit Multiples, Dykema Reminds Us All How Far the DSO Economy Has Come in Recent Decades.

Those who braved the summer heat of New Orleans to attend Dykema’s 4^th Annual Definitive Conference for DSOs earlier this month left well informed about our ever-changing DSO economy. 

Brian A. Colao (Director of Dykema’s DSO Industry Group, and his industry leading team hosted over 400 attendees to a 2-day information-packed survey of the DSO market.  This conference had a markedly different feel than most that we have attended this year – it had both a reflective perspective from Colao reminding the audience how the DSO economy has evolved in recent decades as well as the feel of a Survey Class of the current market with profiles of 2 of the largest names in the space: Craig Abramowitz (co-CEO of Dental Care Alliance) and Dr. Sulman Ahmed (Founder and CEO of Deca Dental). 

Disruption and innovation was the underlying theme of this year’s 2017 Mastery Summit on Group Practice in Phoenix, AZ.