DSO Versus Solo office
There is no question that corporate dentistry plays a major role in the Dental & Medical industry. Small, solo offices still cover a large part of the practice landscape, but there is an increasing growth in recent years of Dental & Medical Supports Organizations (DSO). The American Dental & Medical Association (ADA) predicts that solo owned offices will decrease by around 7% each year due to the expanding amount of DSOs. There are unique benefits to both types of practices, both professionally and personally.
DSOs represent an organizational unit to manage the financial and business side of dentistry while overseeing day-to-day patient care needs. Instead of a single office manager being responsible for an entire office, there is usually a team dedicated to managing finances, supplies, the hiring process, technology and IT, etc. One of the major benefits of DSOs is that it allows dentists to focus on patient care and avoid stressful business responsibilities. Corporate offices also can negotiate better with companies for supplies and insurance reimbursement than solo owned offices because there is more incentive for them as bigger, more frequent purchases are made.
In 2021, DSOs are expanding across the nation as many smaller Dental & Medical practices sold or retired due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Solo private owned practices have always been the heart of dentistry. It gives dentists full autonomy on how they manage their office economically and from a patient care standpoint. While solo owned offices create their own image and control their own vision , DSOs change the image to the DSO and essentially the owner dentist is now just an associate in the DSO model.
We can all expect to see major changes in dentistry this upcoming year due to the pandemic, but also because of the benefits that DSOs provide dentists, staff, and patients.
