Focus on Putting Our Practices First

Dale Hockel

As we take time with our loved ones across the country, let us also take time to show our gratitude and to Never Forget the service and sacrifi ce of our military service men and women, both here at home and abroad. We recently celebrated Veterans Day and are fortunate to have many veterans in our family at Dental Care Alliance. Personally, and as the son and grandson of men who served our country, I want to express my respect and sincere appreciation to all of our Veterans.

In the last edition of the DCA Insider, I shared being new to DCA, my experiences in getting to know the teams in both the Support Center and many of the dental offi ces that we support across the country. Clearly, we have world-class doctors, hygienists, offi ce staff and Support Center team members. The passion that you have for providing quality care to our patients is undeniable. Certainly, there is room for improvement in how we communicate and support each other, to ensure that we are collectively providing exceptional experiences and quality care to each and every one of our patients.

The leadership team is working hard to ensure we have the right platform in place to accomplish this. One of the areas I would like to highlight is the current eff ort to better understand and identify ways we can enable the dental offi ce staff to focus their eff orts on the patient experience. Every practice wants and needs to grow, through both new and repeat patient visits; and, we recognize that ineffi ciencies such as unnecessary tasks or incomplete requests can take away from this critical focus. We will target and remove as many of these ineffi ciencies as possible, as we strive to put the practice fi rst. Recently, we asked several of our Regional Managers to take on a new leadership role to drive and focus our eff orts to identify, eliminate and/or reduce work that isn’t increasing the value of dentistry to our patients or team members. Having these new Directors in place and on the front lines will ensure that we are able to create value and synergies with our new, prospective and existing affi liations. Sue Lortie, Nicole Lipp, Shawna Eury, and Eduardo Laventman have stepped up to lead this work. Additionally, in this new role, this focused group is on point to help bring on new affi liations. Please reach out to them with any suggestion on reducing work in the offi ce that isn’t adding value to our doctors’ or patients’ experience.

Chief Operating Offi cer

I want to wish you and your loved ones all the best this holiday season. As we wind down and 2018 comes to a close, I can truly say I am encouraged by all we have accomplished over the last several months. I am encouraged and excited for all that 2019 has in store for us!

FAVORITE HOLIDAY TRADITION

When I think of the holiday season, I always go back to family dinners at my Grandma’s home. Her love of Christmas and joy in bringing us all together are some of my fondest memories. This very special time of year and occasion to come together with family and friends, while giving thanks for all that we have, is very special to me.