Dentistry's
Future - What every dentist must know about the secret agenda of the managed
care industry, insurance companies and corporate dental conglomerates!
By Jim & Suzanne Du Molin
Financial & Management Planners For America's
Dentist
Your Next Door Neighbor May Have Already
Sold Out!
In a recent conversation with a nationally known
consultant, I learned that one of the major dental insurance companies had just set up a
one hundred and twenty five million dollar fund to build a nationwide network of dental
practices by secretly buying out existing practices. These doctors agree to stay with
their practices for the next three to five years, while the insurance company funnels them
patients directly as they train their replacement associates.
All this happens on the sly, until one day a new sign appears on your neighbor’s
building carrying the old doctor’s name and the insurance company’s logo.
Reports are coming in now, that it’s already happening in southern California.
Why Do Insurance Companies Want to Get Into
the Dental Business?
I recently reviewed a situation where an
insurance company had moved into a major metropolitan area, purchased eleven existing
practices, consolidated them down to seven dispersed offices and lost over a million
dollars in the first year of operation. I asked how they could afford to lose a
$1,000,000? The answer was simple. They used the dental office network as a loss leader to
earn twenty five million in profits on the medical insurance part of their contracts with
major local employers.
The first insurance company to set up a nationwide network of dental offices will have a
tremendous competitive advantage in bidding for the Fortune 500 medical business.
Don’t kid yourself, this is a multi-billion dollar gambit that’s being played
out in secret as we sit here worrying raising the price of a prophy by three dollars.
The real question is how can you compete on the local level against an industry that can
take a million dollar hit and write it off as a marketing expense? One would think there
should be a law against this type of subsidized, below-cost competition from the insurance
industry.
A "Pay Less Dental Office" Is
Coming Soon To A Strip Mall Near You
And if you think it can’t get any worse,
think again. The venture capital vultures are beginning to circle the dental industry.
Their model is the pharmacy industry.
Remember when you were a kid, you would go down to the local drug store to get a
prescription for your mom and maybe even get a cherry coke at the soda fountain? Remember
when the kindly pharmacist behind the counter actually owned the store and his teenage son
stocked the shelves? He even knew you and all your family members by name. Does any of
this sound familiar?
When was the last time you saw an independent privately-owned pharmacy? When was the last
time you saw a CVC, Osco, Longs, Pay Less, etc. pharmacy?
Venture capital sees a major opportunity in the dental industry. Buy up a string of dental
practices. Set up central computers for billing. Cut supply and equipment cost through
centralized bulk purchasing. Set up regional centers for hiring and training staff. Use
the power of your twenty-plus office group to hire a top marketing company to saturate the
regional market with sophisticated advertising. Is this starting to sound like a powerful
concept?
A Very Seductive Scenario
Venture capital’s pitch gets better. Doctor,
sell out now and we give you stock options, warrants and shares in the company. In a few
years, we will go public and you’ll be rich. You do the dentistry. We manage the
practice and handle all the headaches. Will this happen? Yes, mostly likely, and maybe.
This scenario is being played out now in the northeast. We have clients who have already
been approached. If the pharmacy model holds true, these city wide or regional groups will
be bought out and consolidated by larger groups. Depending on the demographics, the
insurance companies will pick off the players who will fill the gaps in their
medical/dental network.
What’s wrong with this scenario? Well, how do you feel about working for a big
corporation? How do you feel about working nights and weekends? How do you feel about the
company telling you what kinds of treatments are approved or not approved for any given
patient? Want to try a new bonding material? Please submit a purchase order. And has this
material been approved by corporate yet? And, oh! doctor, please wear your happy face
button and remember to tell all patients we’re having a sale on crowns this week in
operatory 5.
The Future…5,000 Dental Practices
A very knowledgeable friend recently said to me
that he sees a future with just 5,000 dental practices. 4,800 of them will be traditional
fee-for-service practices catering to very specific market niches. The remaining 200 will
be owned by insurance companies or big corporations and each will have 500 branch offices.
The real question is where will you be?
Will you be forced into managed care? Will you sell out to a venture capital company? Will
you be one of the 4,800 who maintain their independence and prosper?
What is right for you? Our philosophy at Du Molin & Du Molin is to deal with each of
our doctors as individuals. Our hope is that most of you will choose to work with us to
implement a long term strategy to maintain an independent, prosperous, patient care based
practice.
Remember, our real goal for each of our clients is your personal happiness and long-term
financial security for you and your family. Out of necessity and circumstance, some of you
will choose to join the insurance industry and corporate America. That’s all right
too. Our job is to help you work through this time of change to reach your goals using the
best financial and management tools available.
It’s Important To Keep Us Updated
We want you to keep us updated as you see this
trends developing in your area. We are especially interested in any offers you may receive
from venture capital groups. Please save any materials you receive and forward them to our
office.
Which Strategy Is Right For You?
Our MasterPlan Alliance Program (MAP) is designed
to help our doctors layout a solid map to the future. This program uses a two-phase
approach to help you achieve the personal and practice success you deserve.
The program starts with an exciting and powerful Strategy Retreat. This retreat is a
condensation of many years of field-tested experience documented by hundreds of case
studies of dentists and their spouses from across the nation. Clients leave the Strategy
Retreat with four customized Action Plans designed to lead them through the coming changes
in dentistry.
Your Strategy Retreat is followed up with a comprehensive personalized year-long
implementation program to help you make it happen in your practice - including your own
personalized mentor who will coach you through the implementation of your Practice Action
Plans. You’ll work together to overcome any barriers or problems you face in growing
a successful practice.
The "MasterPlan" concept was originally articulated by Napoleon Hill, author of
one of the most published books in modern time, Think and Grow Rich. It is based on the
concept that many minds working together in harmony, focused on a common goal, will have
better success in achieving that goal than one mind working alone. That goal is your
success. We have adapted this philosophy to dental management and finance as a tool to
help us guide our doctors to a secure and prosperous future.
The Next Step ... Do You Qualify?
The next step is to call the Alliance’s
office to schedule a qualifying interview with an Alliance Team Member.
That’s right, a qualifying interview. The reality is that the Alliance is not right
for everyone. And everyone is not right for the Alliance. The Alliance will only accept
120 new members in 1997. We want to spend about 20 minutes with you on the phone to be
absolutely sure the MasterPlan Alliance Program is right for you.
Our Team Member are available to talk with you until 8:00 p.m. most evenings. There is no
charge for this consultation. And, you’ll have plenty of opportunity to ask questions
about the program without interrupting your production during the day.
Call Toll-Free
1-800-795-2946 Now!
The MasterPlan Alliance
specializes in helping dentists integrate personal financial planning with practice
strategies to achieve financial independence. Jim & Suzanne Du Molin speak nationally on practice economics to professional societies
and study groups. They have helped over 2,800 dental practices across the country to
achieve financial control and motivate staff. For a no-charge consultation to see if they
can meet your needs, call toll-free at (800) 888-754-1380 or request to schedule an interview
electronically.
The Future of Dentistry
- Part
2