The Group Dentistry Now Show: The Voice Of The DSO Industry

Dr. Larry Weiss, President of New York Family Dental & a member of the board of directors for the AADGP and Callie Elmore, Executive Director of the AADGP join the podcast. Highlights from the interview include:

What is the AADGP and how did it get started?
What type of dental practice or dental group should become involved?
Find out more about the 50th annual AADGP Meeting & Expo
Discover why this meeting is much different than years past
Much more

To register for the 50th annual AADGP meeting & expo visit – https://www.aadgp.org/expo2024/ and use code GDNOW2024 to save 10% If you have any questions for Callie Elmore about the AADGP meeting & expo or about membership you can reach her and her team at AADGP@aadgp.org If you would like to speak with Dr. Larry Weiss, you can email him at lawrenceweiss@newyorkfamilydentistry.com

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Full Transcript:

I’d like to welcome everyone to the Group Dentistry Now show. I’m Bill Neumann, and as always, thanks for listening in, whether you are listening to us on Spotify, Apple, or Google, and if you are, make sure to give us a five star rating. You might be watching us on YouTube. You can subscribe at groupdentistrynow. We would appreciate it.

So always have great guests on. And we are going to talk about an event coming up in 2024, and we’re also going to talk about the organization that’s behind it. They’ve been helping out dental group practices for longer than any other organization in the industry, and maybe some people in the audience may have heard about, they should know about them, but there’s some new people to the industry. So maybe you haven’t heard of this organization. So without further ado, I would love to introduce Callie Elmore. She is the executive director of the AADGP, and then we also have Dr. Larry Weiss and he is on their board of directors and he also has a group practice in New York, New York Family Dental. So welcome, Callie and Larry.

Dr. Larry Weiss:

Hi.

Callie Elmore:

Thank you. Thanks for having us.

Bill Neumann:

Yeah, this is exciting. I’ve been to several of the AADGP, that’s American Academy of Dental Group Practice for those that don’t know. I’ve been to several of your meetings throughout the years. I’m really going to talk about the upcoming one in early February. But first off, Callie, can you tell people a little bit about your background prior to coming to the AADGP and what your role is there?

Callie Elmore:

Yeah, of course. So my background is primarily in marketing and consulting and different things, and then I got into the association world and ended up with the AADGP. So my role is really to help work directly with the board of directors to shape the vision for the organization and obviously me, along with my team, plan the AADGP event, which happens every year. So we’re really excited to be on the podcast today and talking about our event that’s coming up in the beginning of 2024.

Bill Neumann:

Thanks. Larry, maybe a little bit about, talk about your dental group practice that you have in New York and then talk about, as we start to transition to talk about the AADGP a little bit more, maybe how you got involved with the AADGP. I’d love to find out more about your group.

Dr. Larry Weiss:

Yeah, so hi, I’m Larry Weiss. I have six general practices, an orthodontic practice, and a pediatric practice. Started getting involved with AADGP about 25 years ago. Just wanted to be with like-minded dentists, entrepreneurs who were sharing the journey I was visioning. At the time, I had guess two practices, really tribal, I was leading it, lead dentist, maybe had a few associates and just needed to learn more about business, how to scale up. Although back then we didn’t really have terms like scale up and all these fancy words, but went to AADGP first time, first time and I was like, wow. It was a wow moment for me. That first meeting changed my journey and made it … so it’s smoothing it out a lot.

Bill Neumann:

Thanks, Larry. So 25 years ago, so quite a while ago, you’ve been with the organization and certainly seen … So when you were there, they were already around for close to 25 years and I think a lot of people in the industry don’t realize how long ago the AADGP really started. I don’t think people think about dental group practices or DSOs going back that far in the dental industry. So really like a pioneering organization, almost. Like you said, a lot of DSO didn’t exist, that term didn’t exist, scaling up didn’t exist. There are a lot of these new terms. A lot of them are acronyms in the industry for whatever reason that have kind of grown as I think the industry’s matured and more people have come in. So maybe a little bit about how, Callie or Larry or both of you, how did the organization start? Who saw the need way back when and almost 50 years ago?

Callie Elmore:

I can give a little bit of a history. It was started in 1974, so we’re coming up on our 50th anniversary, which is super exciting. And it was really started on this philosophy that people in group practices are kind of the innovators in dentistry and are the entrepreneurs. And really just with the idea of let’s get together and provide a space for all of us to exchange ideas. 50 years ago the internet didn’t exist, so really a way for people to collaborate, but I think that that still rings true today of creating that safe space for people to share ideas and learn and create turning points for people like Dr. Weiss was saying.

Bill Neumann:

Dr. Weiss, you got involved in, well 25 years ago, and how did you find out about it?

Dr. Larry Weiss:

That’s a very good question. I must have seen it in one of the dental publications. I was always looking for almost like seminars or courses in the business of dentistry and there really wasn’t much around, and dentists are an interesting group of people. Always wanted to get a whole bunch together and just have round tables of same issues we’re having. And believe it or not, same issues we’re having today, staffing, compliance, not a lot has changed, it’s just got a little bit more specific about each issue. So yeah, went to the first one and I was like, wow. I say it over and over again, I’m like, wow.

Bill Neumann:

And so at the time did you say you had one or two practices?

Dr. Larry Weiss:

At the time I had two practices. I come from a family dentist, I’ll throw this one in. I’m actually third generation. My son Alec is fourth generation, I think I’m number 13, he’s number 14 in the family. We all went to New York University. So yeah, I took over my dad’s practice way back when, went in de novo, although I didn’t know the word de novo back then, in de novo and was having problems of expansion. So must’ve seen it in a dental journal, hopped on a plane, which we didn’t really do much back then and yeah, went to it.

Bill Neumann:

So this really leads to the next question. 25 years ago you had two practices, you had the need. So what’s the profile of a dental group practice or a dentist that typically becomes an AADGP member or goes to the conference? Who would really benefit from this?

Dr. Larry Weiss:

That’s a great question. So it’s that entrepreneur dentist. It’s that dentist who’s chairside. It’s that dentist who might only have one practice but wants that one practice to be the best it could be. So we see single practices of maybe 25, 30 operatories bringing top line numbers pretty high. And then we see other groups, eight to 10 groups who are “trying to scale up.” But remember 25 years ago the word DSO, although they say it was around and it was there, no one really knew what it was. I think a big group was over, maybe over three, four practices 25 years ago, and that’s who was attracted to AADGP and it was a great place to just commiserate on the issues.

Bill Neumann:

Well, let me ask this question. So again, 25 years ago, two practices. Can you tell me some of the things that you learned at AADGP that really helped you get to the point where you said you’re at six locations right now? Is that right?

Dr. Larry Weiss:

Actually, yeah, six locations, some specialty. Wow. My wow moment. I love it. My wow AADGP moment. Something called, none of you listening have ever heard of this. It’s called patient financing. Learned about, how do you get these patients to afford treatment? This is a dentistry, we’re all great dentists, we’re all doing best practice dentistry, but our fees are kind of high. So learned about patient financing that dentistry could be like a monthly expense. So was a car payment, your dentist dental payment. That was my aha moment for my first time being there. And as the years went on, I had some other aha moments and definitely will share with you.

Bill Neumann:

At the time, can you tell me a little bit about how large the organization was? I would like to talk about the evolution of the group and then we can get into really the event, which is what we want to speak about. Because 50 years there must’ve been an evolution as the industry started to change, but Larry or Callie, any input on that? How things have changed throughout the years?

Dr. Larry Weiss:

[inaudible 00:11:17] I guess since I was there I’ll jump in on this. It was a very good attended expo. We had our people lecturing and talking about different topics. Way back when, the highlight, which is simple as it sounds, was we had round tables and every table had a topic and you picked the table and a topic that you wanted to talk to maybe 10, 12 other dentists. And I can’t tell you how valuable it was because, well, we all have the same problems. Callie, want to add to that?

Callie Elmore:

I think the organization has had to change and evolve as the time has gone on. As Larry was saying earlier, when he started getting involved, most of the group practices that were involved were three to four. That was kind of a big group. As Larry said, he had two when he started. I think as time has gone on, as the dental industry as a whole has changed, I think while we still are very focused on those maybe emerging groups, I would say we’ve broadened what we bring and the people that are involved. So we have everyone from a one location sole practitioner that wants to figure out how to be the best that they can be and might be exploring the option to go to two or three or five locations. But we also have some larger groups involved. And I think that that is true of our board of directors and it’s also true of the content.

So when we get into talking about the meeting, I think you’ll see we have content no matter where you are in your journey. And we talk about working with practices that are doctor owned, doctor driven, but we also talk about meeting you wherever you are in your journey. So if you’re trying to start your practice, grow your practice, or exit, there’s content and there is things that we are there to help you with. And we have a great network, I think, of different size groups that are really willing to help. I think that’s one of the greatest things about AADGP is it’s a lot of great doctors and great business people like Dr. Weiss who are willing to share ideas and help you in your journey wherever you are.

Bill Neumann:

Last question before we get into the meeting itself. Dr. Weiss, when did you decide that you wanted to get on the board of directors? When did that change from being somebody that was attending and learning to saying, hey, I really want to be involved in the association? And then what’s your role really as somebody that’s on the board?

Dr. Larry Weiss:

So yeah, I was at one of the expos about four years ago, ran into our past president, Brent Barta, and just bumped into him and he had recognized me from all the years, I guess we had some small talk and he said, “Hey, Larry, it’s as simple as that. You’ve been around a long time, would you consider being on our board?” And I couldn’t say yes fast enough. The thought of helping other dentists, like-minded dentists like myself, really excited me. And as a member of this board, I think we all stay focused on the basic values of a group practice. We want to keep it simple to the young dentists who wants to be an entrepreneur. I think that’s what we all discuss and our board is filled with just great people, some large groups, and we just all agree that the AADGP is about simple one to five, one to 10 practice.

Bill Neumann:

We’re going to move on to the meeting now. So this is my hard hitting question for you. There are people that may have attended the AADGP meeting in the past and may have been a little disappointed whether they were on the vendor side or perhaps maybe a group for whatever reason. Maybe there weren’t the attendees that they wanted or I know the venue in the past maybe wasn’t to some people’s liking. So the event sometimes gets overlooked. And part of that is because we are in a sea of group practice meetings all of a sudden the past five years, there are a lot of different options. So I think people are a little bit more particular what events they go to. Of course, everything’s more expensive now.

Why should somebody who maybe has gone in the past, hasn’t come back, decide to come to the meeting in February, 50th anniversary meeting? Talk about some, and one of the reasons, Callie, you’re involved now because you weren’t involved in the past. What are some of the changes? I’d love to get to that because it is an important organization. I went to the meeting last year. Dr. Weiss talks a lot about it. You’ve got entrepreneurial docs that are talking, working together, having meaningful conversations. And not to say some of the other meetings don’t have this going on as well, but some of these meetings are huge and others tend to maybe not be focused on those entrepreneurial dentists. I think there’s really a specific niche and an important niche that AADGP really serves. With that, what are you doing differently, Callie, that people are going to go, hey, I’ve got to go to this meeting in February, this sounds great?

Callie Elmore:

Yeah, I think for those that haven’t attended before or have attended before and are saying, why should I come back? I think we are doing a lot to really upgrade the event this year. For one, we’ve changed the venue. We’re going to be at Caesars Palace, which is going to be really great. We have some really exciting, I think, networking and opportunities to just have fun. But we also have really great content. We really are spanning the kind of trajectory, everything from a really great keynote speaker, Whitney Johnson, who is a lecturer at the Harvard Business School. So hitting really that business side of dentistry, which I think is really important in how our organization functions, but then also having really great content from other group practices that are within it. So we have a CFO panel and we’re doing a non-dental industry CEO panel, which should be really fun.

So we just have a lot of great content. And it’s also, for those of you that are looking for continuing education, we’re both AGD PACE approved and ADA CERP approved continuing education provider. So I think really you’re just going to see when you come to AADGP this year that it is a great event. You get that networking that Dr. Weiss has been talking about that’s so valuable and the insights from other group practices and what they’re doing, but then we also just have a really great event that I think people are going to enjoy.

Bill Neumann:

So let’s get into some of the details. You said that it’s moved, it was somewhere else, now it’s at Caesars, so that’s where it’s going to be. Can you give us a little bit about the dates when things kick off? And I know there’s some programming, some pre-conference events as well that are pretty unique. So you’re going to want to try and get to the meeting early because if you get there late, then you’re going to miss some really … I saw the schedule and I think the pre-conference looks almost as exciting as the actual conference itself.

Callie Elmore:

Yeah, we are kicking off the meeting on January 31st with two pre-conference workshops in the afternoon. So you have an option of either going to a pre-conference workshop put on by Mortenson Dental Partners, which is all about ESOPs and as you grow, keeping your employees owners in your business. And then we also will have a workshop from Aligned Dental Partners and theirs is really about how you create the infrastructure for your group. And both of these, the content is just going to be amazing and really great, just learnings from them. We got really good feedback on the workshop with Aligned Dental Partners last year, and so we brought that back again and we’re excited to add the other option of the Mortenson Dental Partners workshop. So those are great.

Then Wednesday night we’ll have a networking kickoff, and then we have an exciting opportunity Wednesday night. We’re also, we have bought out the Wayne Newton concert that night, so if you’re familiar with Wayne Newton, he is an absolute Vegas legend. So we have a limited number of tickets, but anyone that registers probably for the next 100 to 150 people will get access to that. And so that’ll be a really fun way to kick off the event. And then it’ll go all day Thursday and all day Friday with great content. And then Friday night we will have a birthday party bash, which will be really fun. So it is our 50th anniversary, so we’re throwing a little 50th birthday party, and that should be a really fun way to end the sessions.

Bill Neumann:

Well, that sounds great. And it’s probably going to be a difficult decision because Aligned Dental Partners and their event is … they’ve been doing that I think for several years, and that’s always really popular. And Mortenson used to have their own meeting called Scaling Up, and that was phenomenal. And the focus on ESOP I think could be really interesting for some groups Larry’s size and somewhere around there where you’re looking for ways to offer opportunities from a retention standpoint.

So I think that’s going to be the toughest decision is you’re going to come in early, but which one do you go to? And maybe bring some staff and some go to one and some go to the other, and that way you’re covered. And then, yeah, Wayne Newton, that would be pretty exciting. I think that’s a great way to kick things off for the 50th. Yeah, he’s a legend in Las Vegas. That’s great. What else can you tell us about the meeting? What else do we need to know? Maybe from a vendor perspective, we really haven’t hit on that. What can the vendors expect? What kind of setup do you have for them?

Callie Elmore:

We have a whole room dedicated to vendors as we have in the past, and we have a variety of networking breaks, lunches, and Thursday night is our networking event that’s taking place in the exhibit hall. So really great chance to just get together and spend time networking. Additionally, we are working on, still figuring out the details, but we’re working on helping people make sure that the vendors get a good experience by matching them with people that might be a good fit and looking for something so that they would provide. So we’ll have more details on that as things get finalized, but we’re excited to help facilitate what a dental practice might want to learn about with a vendor that might provide that.

Bill Neumann:

That’s great. Larry, how about you? What are you looking forward to for this event?

Dr. Larry Weiss:

Well, look, I love the networking AADGP always offers. Our vendor partners are integral to this meeting because they know what the needs of the small group merging practices are. So you talk about what I’ve learned in the past, who I’ve connected with in the past has been great. Whether it would have been our friends at the different talent softwares, our friends at different compliances, it’s been very important, very big asset to go to the meeting. I look forward to having this risk management panel. Right now here I’m in New York. It’s a big topic here. Our state board is a little tougher than others. So I like the idea of risk management compliance on this level of the two to 10 practices. So that’s really exciting me.

Bill Neumann:

Well, as we start to wind down the podcast, Callie, I wonder if you had any final words. Again, we’ve talked about the vendors. We’re recording this in early November, so there really isn’t a lot of time. By the time we publish this, we will be getting close to the Thanksgiving holiday. So people need to really take a look at their schedules and get things booked for the event. So it’s going to be at Caesars. If you want to get in for the pre-conference, this is January 31st. It runs until February 2nd. People should start making their decisions now. We actually have a discount code that you can use to save 10%, and that is GDNOW. So group dentistry now. So GDNOW2024, and if you plug that in, you’ll save 10% off. What else do they need to know?

Callie Elmore:

Yeah, I think that they should just know that we have a great program lined up. It is an awesome opportunity to network, make sure that you get your hotel rooms booked. For vendors, we’re actually doing this really cool thing where we’re making some dinner reservations for you. So if you’re a vendor and you say, hey, I didn’t get to make my dinner reservations to take my clients out to eat. We have a bunch of those on reserve, which we’re really excited about too. So we’ve worked with the hotel specifically to get those reserved for people. Or if you’re a group and you’re looking for that as well, we have that. And we’re just really excited about the content. We’re really excited about who is going to be there and the networking opportunities and just the opportunity to come and learn and get a new perspective on how AADGP might be able to help you and your business.

Bill Neumann:

Larry, do you have any final thoughts?

Dr. Larry Weiss:

Yeah, sure. I don’t want to let this podcast go without mentioning we’re not-for-profit, we don’t have an agenda at AADGP. We are here to serve our members and to give them the best information, best learnings possible. So I love that part. I’m not worried that there’s an underlying, oh, you want us to use your service. No, we’re not-for-profit. To me that’s very, very important.

Bill Neumann:

Yeah, that is a great point. Nonprofit, the organization is coming up on its 50th year. I think you’ve made some great changes. It sounds like you’re going to have a jam-packed lineup. So I would encourage people to make sure you get that extra night reservation on the front end and go to one or both. If you can somehow make it to both of the pre-conference events with Mortenson and the team over at Aligned Dental Partners, that’s great. And then you’ve got the conference lined up and Wayne Newton and a lot going on. So yeah, it’s super exciting. Larry, if people want to reach out to you and maybe they’ve got some questions, how would they be able to get in touch with you to find out more about the AADGP?

Dr. Larry Weiss:

You can always email me at Lawrenceweisdds@newyorkfamilydentistry.com, or we go with the old-fashioned way. You could hop on the cell phone at (516) 849-3062. Be more than happy to speak to anyone who reaches out.

Bill Neumann:

That’s great. And we’ll put that email address in the show notes so people can reach out to Dr. Weiss. Callie, what happens if they want you to make their dinner reservations for them, or they actually just want to ask you a little bit more about the event?

Callie Elmore:

They can email us at AADGP@AADGP.org or if you go on AADGP.org, our phone number is there too. Either myself or a member of our team is always happy to discuss that. So please don’t hesitate to reach out. We’re here, we’re ready to answer your questions. We will even do your registration over the phone if that’s what you prefer. So don’t hesitate to reach out.

Bill Neumann:

That’s great. We’re excited. The team at Group Dentistry Now is going to be in Las Vegas for the 50th anniversary, so we’re certainly excited to join in the celebration and we always learn quite a bit when we go. So again, if you are interested in finding out more about the AADGP event … Oh, you know what? Shout out, Callie. Would you mind shouting out the website so people can register? We probably need to do that.

Callie Elmore:

It’s super easy. AADGP.org. So you just go straight to AADGP.org and the first thing you’re going to see is the pop-up for the meeting and just click on that and you can easily register.

Bill Neumann:

AADGP.org. And then if you want to save 10%, you can use discount code GD, for group dentistry, NOW2024 and save 10%. So thank you, Dr. Weiss, and thank you, Callie, for joining the Group Dentistry Now show. We’re excited about the event. We’ll see everybody in Las Vegas in not too long. Couple of months, right? We’re looking at right now, well, by the time this airs, probably be around two months. So everybody get the reservations, especially if you want to see Wayne Newton because it is a limited amount of tickets, so you have to get on that pretty quickly. Thanks everybody for listening or watching today. I’m Bill Neumann, and until next time, this is the Group Dentistry Now show.