Dentaltown December 2024 - 28

OFFICE VISIT
How did you get your start in
dentistry?
From an early age, my parents instilled
in me a deep appreciation for the
health care field. My mom is a fitness
aficionado while my dad is a physician,
so maintaining an active lifestyle
was a way of life growing up. I always
envisioned a career that complemented
this upbringing, and it came
to fruition during adolescence when I
had my teeth repositioned. This really
sparked my interest in dental school.
During my two years of AEGD
residency, I was fortunate to have great
mentors like Drs. Gamble, Garcia and
McIntosh at Howard University and
Drs. Koday, Yurth and Eljack at the
Northwest Dental Residency program.
They helped shape and mold me into a
general practitioner. Thanks to them,
I can do routine work proficiently but
also be comfortable enough to challenge
myself in select cases. This has
kept dentistry exciting and fresh for me.
You took over the practice in
February 2023 from a retiring
dentist who focused primarily on
Medicaid and molar endo. What
made this acquisition appealing
to you?
After looking at a lot of practices in
Chicago and the surrounding area,
this practice was the one I could see
myself working in each day. The location
was in a professional building at
an intersection of the main thoroughfare
in Northwest Indiana. There are
approximately 45,000 vehicles per day
that pass my building on that main
road. I may not have the best signage
(something I will be working on), but
you must like where you work. Out
of all the practices I saw, this was the
one that appealed to me. The existing
buildout and equipment appeared
to be in better shape than a lot of
the other practices I came across.
Additionally, the price of this project
(including purchase price and working
capital) made me very comfortable
with the risk level. A comparatively
sized startup would have cost three
times more. It didn't have the type of
patients I wanted (PPO and FFS), but
it checked off all the other boxes to
warrant the purchase.
There are real-world
consequences to
dental insurance
companies acting as
coupon companies
and setting maximums
to the level of care.
It often falls on the
shoulders of the dental
office to communicate
what the dental
insurance companies
won't do for their own
subscribers.
Tell us about your insurance and
credentialing nightmare-and how
other dentists might avoid a
similar fiasco.
When I finally got the keys to the
practice, the first thing I did was
contact both the state insurance
DECEMBER 2024 | 28 | DENTALTOWN.COM
and private insurance credentialing.
Private insurance was going to take
some time negotiating fees, so in the
meantime, I was essentially going
to be out of network or continue
seeing state insurance patients. The
previous doctor said I could use his
credentials to bill for treatments-
but after reaching out to a state
insurance liaison, she informed me
that it was insurance fraud and that
I needed to get credentialed. While
that was going on, I could still see
those patients and I would get paid
retroactively. So, I ended up providing
around $100,000 worth of treatment
over the next few months.
When I finally got credentialed, I
was informed that the major state
insurance company is a closed-loop
company where they don't retro pay.
They wanted me to write off all that
treatment I did as a charity. I was not
pleased. I ended up reaching out to
another state organization that lobbied
on my behalf to where I was able
to get paid on most of those claims,
but it left a really bad taste in my
mouth. Thankfully I budgeted accordingly
and was able to make it work,
but that took almost six months to
resolve. What a mess.
What specific changes would you
have made sooner?
People have this tendency to not want
to rock the boat too much. You want
to continue what the previous owner
did and maintain at minimum a level
of practice that they did-aka the
goodwill-that was purchased. But
if something wasn't working before,
don't be afraid to change it up radically.
Looking back, it wouldn't have
been a bad idea to close the office for
http://www.DENTALTOWN.COM

Dentaltown December 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Dentaltown December 2024

Dentaltown December 2024 - Intro
Dentaltown December 2024 - Cover1
Dentaltown December 2024 - Cover2
Dentaltown December 2024 - 1
Dentaltown December 2024 - 2
Dentaltown December 2024 - 3
Dentaltown December 2024 - 4
Dentaltown December 2024 - 5
Dentaltown December 2024 - 6
Dentaltown December 2024 - 7
Dentaltown December 2024 - 8
Dentaltown December 2024 - 9
Dentaltown December 2024 - 10
Dentaltown December 2024 - 11
Dentaltown December 2024 - 12
Dentaltown December 2024 - 13
Dentaltown December 2024 - 14
Dentaltown December 2024 - 15
Dentaltown December 2024 - 16
Dentaltown December 2024 - 17
Dentaltown December 2024 - 18
Dentaltown December 2024 - 19
Dentaltown December 2024 - 20
Dentaltown December 2024 - 21
Dentaltown December 2024 - 22
Dentaltown December 2024 - 23
Dentaltown December 2024 - 24
Dentaltown December 2024 - 25
Dentaltown December 2024 - 26
Dentaltown December 2024 - 27
Dentaltown December 2024 - 28
Dentaltown December 2024 - 29
Dentaltown December 2024 - 30
Dentaltown December 2024 - 31
Dentaltown December 2024 - 32
Dentaltown December 2024 - 33
Dentaltown December 2024 - 34
Dentaltown December 2024 - 35
Dentaltown December 2024 - 36
Dentaltown December 2024 - 37
Dentaltown December 2024 - 38
Dentaltown December 2024 - 39
Dentaltown December 2024 - 40
Dentaltown December 2024 - 41
Dentaltown December 2024 - 42
Dentaltown December 2024 - 43
Dentaltown December 2024 - 44
Dentaltown December 2024 - 45
Dentaltown December 2024 - 46
Dentaltown December 2024 - 47
Dentaltown December 2024 - 48
Dentaltown December 2024 - 49
Dentaltown December 2024 - 50
Dentaltown December 2024 - 51
Dentaltown December 2024 - 52
Dentaltown December 2024 - 53
Dentaltown December 2024 - 54
Dentaltown December 2024 - 55
Dentaltown December 2024 - 56
Dentaltown December 2024 - Cover3
Dentaltown December 2024 - Cover4
Dentaltown December 2024 - ElitePractice1
Dentaltown December 2024 - ElitePractice2
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