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Dental Clinics Take the High Road

Posted by Tom Lombardo | Mon, Sep 21, 2015 @ 07:00 AM

Dentists may hold the key to a fundamental shift in American's perception of health care, and dental clinics that go out of their way to appeal to this new perspective stand to expand and increase their profitability.

dental-patient.jpgEveryone knows that Americans pay more for healthcare than any other country. But despite this extraordinary expenditure, a recent McKinsey study found that "the health of [America's] population is falling."

As people's health declines, more need medical care, which costs more, which starts a vicious cycle...right?

Well, that's what's happening, but there's a fundamental break in the logic.

Health care is supposed to make people healthy, and it's reasonable to expect that the most expensive health care in the world should make people extraordinarily healthy. At which point their cost to the health care system should drop to nearly nothing.

That's not what happens, and according to McKinsey, the public's frustration with this is growing.

The solution is simple enough: reward results. As it is, procedures and medicines generate profit, and so providing a lot of them makes business sense. But what if profit were tied to your patient's health instead?

Soda, Obesity and Teeth

Sounds great, and perhaps we can see how it will play out by looking at what's happening with soda companies and obesity drug manufacturers.

Much of the public tends to blame the soda industry for making an outsized contribution to the country's obesity epidemic. They're an easy target since they advertise constantly; and since they advertise constantly, they are also extremely aware of the public's perception of them. To try to counter the obesity association, they pour millions into fitness and health programs in towns like San Antonio, Texas. In thanks, its city council refused to support a public-education campaign proposed by the city's health director that seemed to unscientifically single out soda as the cause of obesity. The soda companies breathed a sigh of relief.

Briefly. While they got the city council on their side, they neglected the county government. So Bexar county, which surrounds San Antonio, launched a website, distributed thousands of posters and took over digital billboards, all of it emblazoned with the anti-soda factoid: “You wouldn’t eat 16 teaspoons of sugar. So why drink them?"

Now, obviously, consuming huge amounts of sugar is bad for you; the FDA has proposed including the amount of sugar in a product's nutrition label, and they want to set a daily recommended intake of 200 calories -- less than one bottle of Coke.

But treating obesity can be a lot more complex than giving up soft drinks.

According to the Mayo Clinic, a healthy diet, exercise and "behavior changes" are all needed, and under "certain situations," weight-loss medication can help. You can see where the hospital's profit centers lies in that treatment scenario. The patient will have to come back so his doctor can monitor him, and each visit will generate some revenue. But if his "prescription" is to diet and exercise, there's not much money in it.

On the other hand, if you add a weight-loss drug, the return on that patient goes up.

Many believe that doctors are pressured to increase revenues in exactly that way, and that payment reform can change it. Doctors apparently agree. McKinsey found that 84% of all physicians are willing to change to address these issues. When asked what they needed to make this happen, most wanted information, but a third of them immediately fingered payment reform as a critical component of the solution.

And its already starting to happen at the local level. In the last two years payment-reform initiatives from Arkansas to Ohio -- all of them with bipartisan support -- have been tried and "real momentum is beginning to occur."

Immediate Results that Last a Lifetime

The perfect solution has yet to be devised, but if we can say that "results-oriented" treatment is the wave of the future, then dental clinics may be set up for a bonanza.

And for an idea as to how that may play out, there's the organic food industry, sort of at the opposite end of the health spectrum as soft drinks.

healthy-eating.jpgDemand for organic goods has been growing at a double digit rate for over a decade, and according to the USDA, they now account for 4% of U.S. food sales. They say that organics sell because people care about health, the environment and animal welfare and are happy to pay a premium for food grown that way. The majority of Americans consume them at least occasionally, and whereas in 1971 only 1% of the country identified itself as vegetarian, today 13% do.

Why? Results. The organic food industry is all but immune to Bexar county-like assaults. Everything they do has some proven, biological benefit for the environment or their consumers.

In many ways, dentists are the organic grocers of the medical world. Dental procedures fit this healthcare ideal perfectly: the patient gets the treatment he needs, it heals him, and usually it lasts many years -- often the remainder of the patient's life. Routine check-ups prevent most problems, which is also cost efficient, as are treatments like sealants that prevent multiple cavities for half of what it would cost to fill one.

The health benefits dentists provide can be profound and systemic. Poor dental health increases the risk of diabetes, heart disease, and problems in pregnancy. Proper dental health insures that all the nutrient value in the organic food the patient is buying ends up in his bloodstream. The U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions concluded that "We must do much more to provide education that promotes oral health literacy, including education about good hygiene and oral health practices, for all people."

Creative Outreach

Communication and education may be the best possible business development you can do this year. Your local Chamber, Rotary and Kiwanis groups are always looking for speakers, and explaining Obamacare to them might establish you as a go-to doctor in your community.

The Senate report focused on underserved populations, and one of them was the elderly. You may want to integrate outreach to this population into your charitable giving for next year. Not only do they need you, but their families probably need you as well, and what better way to be introduced?

And since you've probably been telling your patients to lay off soda for decades (if you're in San Antonio, you might even have one of the county posters in your office), it probably wouldn't surprise them to hear you talking about how dental procedures already deliver the results that people clearly want from their healthcare expenditures.

While you're at it, mention payment reform. Many in your audience may conclude it's an important part of the healthcare solution we're striving for. Suggest that your practice is already there, and that since your treatments deliver lasting results that extend far beyond just the teeth involved, your fee is really an investment in life long health. To make sure that all this effort falls to your bottom line, make it easier for your patients to pay while simultaneously guaranteeing a substantial part of your revenue. We've been serving dentists like you for thirty-two years, and have developed a special suite of services just for your practice. Learn more here.

Medical Remote Deposit Capture Insider's Guide

Topics: Dentists

Written by Tom Lombardo