.svg)
Share.svg)
Tweet.svg)
Post.svg)
MailMay 2022
Supply Clinic Offers DSOs a Comprehensive Procurement Platform
At the inaugural meeting of Women in DSO (WinDSO), Patient Prism’s CEO, Amol Nirgudkar, interviewed Scott Drucker, DMD, Co-Founder and President of Supply Clinic. Supply Clinic is a leading online marketplace for dental supplies. With over 100 authorized dealers selling through the site, Supply Clinic offers dentists the convenience of one-stop shopping with industry-leading cost savings.
The company’s new procurement platform for multi-location dental groups, ProSuite, streamlines ordering across locations for all vendors.
Nirgudkar asks Drucker to tell our audience about the problem he and his brother, Jacob Drucker, endeavored to solve when they developed Supply Clinic.
“When I transitioned from dental school to residency, I had to buy some supplies on my own and stumbled upon a very opaque, very inefficient ecosystem, where to find good pricing, I had to shop around a lot. There wasn't a good platform solution for purchasing. And so, Supply Clinic was started out of that need, out of that frustration,” says Drucker.
Supply Clinic started as a pure-play eCommerce platform, making sales via an online storefront.
Drucker says, “As time passed, we realized that solution is great for a single practitioner or a single office or maybe two offices, but it doesn't quite scale to a DSO. Some of the tools and functionality that a larger organization needs were missing. So, we built software we called Procurement Suite in which we organize and streamline the procurement process for a DSO, for all their locations, for all their sellers.”
In one motion, DSOs can do centralized ordering for multiple locations.
“We have all sorts of budgeting tools, and there are approvals processes. We'll load any formulary for any seller for a DSO. And we also have the option for DSOs that are interested in having the full marketplace available. They can flip that switch on, so they have all their uniquely negotiated pricing, as well as access to the rest of the marketplace,” says Drucker.
A Prime Example of Technology Enabling Quality Care at Lower Cost
Nirgudkar comments, “Clinic researchers at Harvard came up with the idea that value gets created when players can come into an industry and provide better or higher quality of care at a lower cost. And technology is the enabler of that. I think Supply Clinic is the prime example of how technology has driven the entire industry to better meet the needs of practitioners while bringing down the cost of care.”
Drucker says, “My philosophy is that practitioners are extremely good at the patient care they were trained to do and are passionate about doing it. They do not necessarily have a background in operational efficiencies and running a business, and so now there's a whole support system growing up around that. I see my goal is to build a set of tools and technology that best enables clinical teams to deliver the amazing treatment that they do.”
Supply Clinic does more than ensure the best prices. It also saves time. Supply Clinic streamlines the process of ordering supplies, organizing purchasing data, and paying vendors.
“When you think that a typical DSO is purchasing from close to two dozen different companies. With our procurement suite, they are saving time for lead dental assistants who are tracking location supplies and for the accounting and finance team,” says Drucker.
“I’ve done a lot of interviews over the last year with leaders in the DSO industry,” says Nirgudkar, “and in these interviews, we’ve been talking about how to create time for dental offices and team members to spend with their patients and not with the paperwork. One problem is the need to save costs. Another problem is the need to create time for your team members to manage your entire procurement process. Scott, you have thought through the problems in a very intentional way.”
Supply Clinic Walks Dental Groups Through Their Process
Supply Clinic works with all sizes of group practices and DSOs. There is a step-by-step process they walk groups through, especially emerging groups.
“Maybe they've never done an RFP before and put their book of business out to bid,” says Drucker. “We'll walk them through. We'll provide the templating so that they can get that bid out. Maybe, the seller that they are currently with is the best option but going through those steps will create a more competitive formulary. There are many recommendations and guidance we give around change management. The services provided by DSOs are wonderful, but they need to be delivered in a digestible way.”
Nirgudkar recommends multi-location groups and DSOs look to Supply Clinic to provide the foundation of how to build their centralized infrastructure for procurement. How to build the RFP playbook is foundational to growing an organization from 5 to 10 to 50 offices.
“Eventually when you go to market and you want 12 times earnings, people will look at this,” says Nirgudkar. “It’s not just about finding the best deal but also understanding the entire procurement process, because that is how very large organizations are winning today. They have a deeper understanding and metrics on every aspect of their procurement process. Supply Clinic has made it possible for all sizes of groups to have this same advantage.”
About Supply Clinic
Supply Clinic was founded by Dr. Scott Drucker and his brother Jacob, a statistician. As a Periodontal resident, Dr. Drucker could not find any trusted source to price-compare and buy supplies from different sellers. The brothers assembled a talented team and built Supply Clinic to fill the void. With over 100 trusted sellers and over 70,000 products, Supply Clinic lets customers compare products and pricing, and buy from multiple sellers with a single checkout. For more information, visit www.supplyclinic.com.
Patient Prism Delivers Actionable Intelligence
Patient Prism’s artificial intelligence (A.I.) incorporates machine learning to provide deep insights into dental patient phone calls and conversion analytics.
Managers can easily see how many people asked about implants, the percentage booked, and the revenue opportunity won or lost.- They can see how many people said they had Delta Dental PPO or spoke Spanish.
- They can see how many called in pain with emergency needs.
- They can see how many prospective patients did not book due to the unavailability of near appointments.
- They can determine if team members are uninformed about advertised promotions, don’t know how to respond well to financial questions, or are so pressed for time they fail to demonstrate empathy for callers’ concerns.
It's really quite simple. Patient Prism's dashboards provide unique insight as to what exactly is happening on the phones in any dental practice, including DSO or enterprise dashboards that include all practices' strengths and opportunities in one view.
These insights help managers identify where to expand services, better coach team members, increase staffing during peak hours, consider participation with an insurance provider, and adjust marketing.
Free Checklist to schedule more patients!
