October 10, 2024 • 18 mins
Dr. Michael Skolnick, Founder & CEO of Abra Health | CEOs You Should Know
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi everyone, I'm Steve DALs On and welcome to this
week's editions of CEOs.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
You should know.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
I am joined by doctor Michael Skolnik, the CEO and
founder of Abra Health.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Michael, thanks for being here today.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
Thanks for having me. Nice to meet you.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
You too excited to dive in a little bit about
yourself and more about the company. So why don't we
kick it back to the first moment you decided you
wanted to become an orthodontist.
Speaker 4 (00:21):
Oh man, all right, So I was twelve years old,
and like most twelve year olds, I was getting braces
and yeah, and I just remember really liking my orthodontist.
He had a great little bubble he had built for himself.
He had I remember, used to wear these like real
snappy suspenders and nice ties, and he drove nice cars,
(00:43):
and I was like, that guy is happy, got life
figured out, and you know, the team that he built
around him was really positive, and that just always stuck
with me. At that point, I didn't think I wanted
to become an orthodonist, but you know, it just left
the big impression on me.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
And how did that the journey from that moment on, So.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
You know, I have.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
I have a little bit of add maybe more than
a little bit, and so deciding what to really focus
on in my life was a major challenge. And I
was actually started college and I had no idea what
I wanted to study. And it was my second year
and I'd come home and it was time to pick
a major, and I was.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Really just struggling.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
And I was talking to my friends, talking to my
parents about it, and you know, my both my parents
were in medical field, so I knew, you know, that
always attracted me. And a lot of the conversations at
home were about science and health care. So I liked
that field. But I had no idea what I wanted
to do. And I was home from break and all
I really wanted was a car, because there.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Was a couple of places around college that needed a car.
Speaker 4 (01:51):
And it was before uber, and you know, I'm driving
with my mom and we're talking about, you know, different
things and majors, and I said, listen, mom, I just
want a car. And we happen to be driving past
my old guitar teacher's place and he has a yellow
fifty seven Chevy parked out front, and I said, if
you get me that car, I'll go to dental school.
(02:11):
And I was completely joking with her, and she pulls
over and we start talking. She's like, are you serious
and I was like yeah, but I was not serious.
And we actually walk into this guy's place and she
asked me, you know, how much is the car? And
the car was shockingly inexpensive. It must not have been
in the best shape.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
And she looks at me. She goes, so, you'll go
to Danel school if I get you this car.
Speaker 4 (02:36):
And I said at that point, I'm like, really committed
to this ridiculous thing, I said, And I was like, yeah.
So she buys the car. I have no idea how
to drive stick shift, oh my gosh, or how to
take care of a car like that. But I had
made this commitment and it was very helpful because I
had no idea what I wanted to do it. At
least now I had like a commitment I had made.
(02:57):
So I went back to school, signed up for pre med,
which was like the science courses to go to dental school,
and started doing it. And you know, so we started
with that orthodonic experience. But then you know, that's how
I ended up in dental school.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
To help you, guide you in and paid off. So
starting Abra Health Group is a major endeavor. What motivated
you and your wife, doctor Brook to establish this multi
specific practice?
Speaker 4 (03:26):
So, you know, I met my wife in dental school,
and you know that was also a very pivotal moment,
obviously because you know my wife and we have now
three kids together, but she gravitated towards pediatric dentistry. So
it was natural evolution that we were going to open
up something that was multi specialty because at least pediatric
dentistry and orthodonics live really well together. And you know,
(03:49):
at that point we hadn't been married, but we were
on that path and living together, so you know that
that that kind of opened my eyes to doing something
multi specialty. But then at the same time, after I graduated,
I had a bunch of different jobs, some of them great,
some of them terrible, And eventually I kind of narrowed
(04:09):
down to two places. One of them was in Manhattan
and the other one was in New Jersey where we
were living, and they both taught me so much and
really different things. And from one of them in Manhattan,
I learned a lot about scale. This was a massive office.
It's still around it's downtown, and like you know, it
treated a lot of government insurance patients, which became a
(04:32):
big focus for us. And that was the first time
I saw, wow, that could really work, especially when you
do it with a lot of volume, and the patients
were appreciative, and you know, I was in charge of
a pretty big group there and it was the first
time i'd had that experience, and you know, got a
lot of positive feedback from the patients and from the
(04:52):
staff and just felt like we were making a difference.
So that's where I got the idea and the bug
to sort of do things in more underserved areas. And
at the same time, I was working at a practice
that was, you know, kind of the total opposite end
of the spectrum. It was a really high end practice,
didn't take a lot of insurances. It was all focused
on great customer service, and it was all about the culture.
(05:16):
And that's where I saw how important culture was, because
I'd never worked at a place where the staff was
so positive, engaged, believed in the mission and you know,
really they pushed the practice more than the doctor and
it was incredible. And I was working at these two places,
so I thought, if someone put these two things together,
(05:38):
it would just be dynamite. And that's we had already
opened our office and I started just learning and picking
both of these guys' brains at the same time and
just started to incorporate a lot of that, and we
focused a lot on the culture of the place, got
the staff really involved and.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Worked out. That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
I think I completely agree. I think cultures want to
the most important aspects of any organization. What would you say,
building off of that, what's the mission and what's the
culture of ABRA to.
Speaker 4 (06:08):
Be really best in class with an integrated medical dental
model delivering high quality care to underserved communities, you know,
and our core values are really patient first, integrity and
teamwork and having such a well defined mission that everyone
can get behind and our core values just helps us
(06:28):
bake decisions, strategize, you know, just kind of knowing the
things that are really important to us.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
And I know the concept was you and your wife
kind of having these multi specialty dental practices. How has
that really helped you guys foster collaboration with maybe different
dental providers and how does it really benefit the patients?
Speaker 4 (06:48):
So you know, in some of our larger practices, we
might have ten to twelve dentists there at the same
time working and even some physicians, and it allows, you know,
which is naturally fosters collaboration because cases often involve lots
of different specialists, so they're in the same place, they're
working together, and they're able to talk about different cases.
(07:11):
And also, you know, even individual dentists might be struggling
and get second opinions. And you know, the other thing
that also really helps is when you're working in the
kind of environment we're working, which is a higher volume environment,
and even lots of healthcare at this point is high volume.
Having multiple providers takes all away a lot of the
(07:31):
stress because if you get stuck, if you get backed up,
you're able to have support from the rest of the team.
So I think it helps with collaboration. It also helps
with collaboration in terms of just managing you know, the
patient flow.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Yeah, absolutely, having multiple locations, I'm sure you have a
large team, a lot of doctors, a lot of team members,
and then hundreds of patients. How do you continue to
allow Abrahealth to have that patient centric approach.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
So, yeah, we actually have a fantastic stick team.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
Some of them are with me today, but we've got
an unbelievable team. I'd say one of the best in
the country, and you know, I'm very happy with them.
And I guess the whole environment A is very collaborative
in terms of the way we operate, and I think
the way patient centric becomes so critical is we all
(08:24):
just focus on it. So everybody focuses on it, and
that trickles down to kind of the regional managers and
the managers, and they all know that whenever you face
kind of a difficult situation or a difficult decision, that's
the way we're going to answer it. So it kind
of helps people just very quickly get to the answer
(08:45):
because it's like what's best for the patient, and then
the answer is usually pretty obvious.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
I know you guys are currently expanding into multiple states
right now, which is very exciting. What factors drove you
to decide this expansion and during the expansion challenges you
guys facing.
Speaker 4 (09:03):
So yeah, I mean we've always been, you know, excited
about building new things, you know, and we did a
really great job of expanding and growing in New Jersey
and just from a business perspective, we decided at some
point we'd have to kind of grow out if we
want to continue growing at the pace we were. You know,
New Jersey's only one state, we'd have to sort of
(09:24):
start to grow. So we kind of naturally looked at
the contiguous states just because you know, you could drive
there and it's still easy to go visit frequently. So
you know, we first looked at Pennsylvania and now we're
really looking at Connecticut.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
The challenges are really just different cultures.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
You know, we're very close to New York most of
our practices, so I think we tend to have a
very fast paced, little bit aggressive approach when we are
in meetings and when we're just trying to get things done.
So we've learned sometimes we have to tone that back
a little bit as we get a little more into
say rural Pennsylvania. But you know, those are just sort
(10:05):
of more superficial differences, and I think fundamentally, you know,
the values are the same and the approach to care
is the same, but it's just you know, maybe a
different approach to talking to people and slowing down a
little bit.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Absolutely, congrats on the expansion as a leader in the
dental community. How do you stay up to date on
different industry trends and best practices that are out there?
Speaker 4 (10:29):
So we do, you know, I think that's become easier
and easier with kind of the Internet and just you know,
belonging to different groups and and you know, for long
for a bunch of years, we attended these kind of
group dental conferences and we made close connections with other groups.
So I think collaborating with them and having discussions with
(10:50):
them helped the lot us, you know, in terms of
sounding board. Also, you know, hearing the same struggles, similar solutions,
and I think just you know, reading, also having a
lot of expert people on my team, so you know,
I think once you start to differentiate, you know, you've
(11:10):
got lots of people kind of keeping up with their
own facets of industries.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
I think that helps.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
Yeah, a lot of sharing, a lot of collaboration internally too.
How do you handle any setbacks or failures for the
organization and what strategies have you implemented for yourself and
other leaders at these different practices to be able to
turn those around?
Speaker 4 (11:28):
Yes, So, I mean failures and setbacks are an everyday
you know, fantastic part of business, and I think the
important thing is to learn from them be really transparent
about it, you know. I think even though as we
get to be a bigger and bigger organization, we still
try to work like a smaller one in terms of
kind of maintaining the culture being agile, and that comes
(11:51):
along with a couple of missteps here and there. But
I think if you are honest about it, and you know,
you kind of put your you go aside and you say, hey,
that was a mistake, how do we kind of change course?
And if you're not afraid to do that, I think
other people around you sort of adopt the same approach
(12:12):
they're and also not afraid to say, hey, I messed up.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
And I think that's really important.
Speaker 4 (12:16):
Because people mess up and that's okay, and you learn
from it and you move on. But I think that's
the most important thing is being able to turn it
into a positive and just being able to openly say, yeah,
that one was a bad move.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Speaking of learning right throughout your journey, I'm sure you've
learned a lot. If you were going to give some
advice to someone brand new that wanted to explore the
dental industry, and hopefully eventually be able to open their
own practice.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
What advice would you give?
Speaker 3 (12:43):
Yeah, so, I mean that has happened a lot.
Speaker 4 (12:45):
You know, we employ a lot of dentists and some
of them will talk to me and say, hey, I
want to open my own practice, and I always encourage them,
and I say, do exactly what I did, which is
just work at a bunch of different spots and figure out,
you know, because it's tough to learn those things. In school,
you learn how to be a dentist, you learn how
to take care of people, and hopefully you're you're, you know,
(13:06):
an empathetic provider, but no one ever really teaches you
the business side of things. And I say, work in
places and take the things you like, take the things
you don't like, and do it and don't be afraid
to take some risks, because you'll never do it if
you don't throughout it.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
I'm sure that there's your expansion into different into different
states that you mentioned earlier. Are there any other exciting
projects in the works that you want to share with
the listeners.
Speaker 4 (13:33):
We're very excited about some new technologies that we're implementing.
One we've been working on for over a year, but
it finally feels like it's getting to the point where
we're going.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
To be rolling it out everywhere.
Speaker 4 (13:44):
And that's sort of an AI tool that will read
X rays, so basically take the X rays and there's
one version of them that kind of gives a whole
bunch of findings on there, and then the doctor obviously
is going to agree or disagree. But I think, you know,
that's exciting because I want to just you know, it's
a real phenomenal use of AI, I think because it
(14:08):
prevents doctors from missing things very cool. It also level
sets a lot, Especially when you're working with groups of doctors,
you're always end up in situations where there might be
different opinions, so having this subjective sort of version helps
them start conversations and feel a little more comfortable. So
you know, that I think is going to be really
(14:29):
revolutionary for the industry, and I think everyone will adopt
that at some point because it would just be crazy
not to. So I think now we're finally at a
point where we're ready to implement it, and I think
that's going to be a really exciting change. Anything else
we're really excited about. You know, we've integrated the medical
(14:51):
groups inside the dental offices, which that you know, is
pretty novel, and there's I don't know of any other
groups that are doing that. So I think now that
we're cohabitating everything, that's also very exciting.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Looking back at your journey at Aberhealth, are there any
key moments that stand out to you that were valuable
life lessons that you'd want to share.
Speaker 4 (15:10):
Like I said, I think you have to be really
ready to take take risks, take chances. I mean there
was many times where you know, I was ready to
kind of close the office and walk away in the
early days, just because you know, when you were dealing
with government payers, the negotiation and the struggle, it's very
(15:31):
regulated and there's also just you know, very few decision makers.
And you know, when we first opened the offices, we
weren't getting a lot of traction because we were new.
And so I went and met with the two biggest
payers in New Jersey at the time. And I walk
into this first meeting and I said, we had already
opened the office. And I said, hey, we opened up
this office and we could really use a little bit
(15:53):
of help with some of the reenforsement rates. And the
guy looked at me and goes get out of my
office and he threw me out and I leave and
I go, oh my god, I don't I can't believe
what just happened. And I go home and I'm talking
to my wife, and I got maybe we made a mistake,
and you know, she just we just kind of decided
I will just keep chugging along. And I had another
(16:14):
meeting with him, and he I don't even think he
remembered that first meeting because I kind of walked in
there like, hey, how's it going, and he we had
a much more positive result.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
So it was just to stay persistent, and.
Speaker 4 (16:28):
Yeah, I mean there was always a bunch of setbacks,
and I think the message is just stay persistent and.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Perseverance paid off. So that's great to hear. So we
covered a lot.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Is there anything that we did not cover that you love?
The listeners that know about aberhealth.
Speaker 4 (16:43):
You know, I guess I would just go back to
the culture aspect of it.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
I think the real.
Speaker 4 (16:51):
You know, you know, the thing that's people are always
very shocked about with aberhealth is we are a very
large group and we have a very few locations, and
those kinds of numbers and the kinds of growth we
have at the individual occasion is sort of unprecedented, and
people hear those numbers just don't understand how it's possible
(17:12):
to have such kind of large, successful practices. And for me,
it's really been that culture of a staff driven team
where everyone's really engaged, and I think that's kind of
been the secret sauce is just, you know, having a
clear mission and having a really engaged team that believes
(17:33):
in it and it also feels like it's their business.
And we do that through different incentives and just kind
of always repeating that, and that's challenging as you get
bigger and bigger, it's hard to keep that. But I
think that that was really, especially in the beginning, what
made it such a differentiator was a team that treated
(17:54):
it like their business, and it grew really rapidly.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Because of that.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Well, if anyone was tuning in and wants to find
out more information of Aberhealth, what is the first thing
they should do?
Speaker 4 (18:05):
Well, so if you go to aberhealthgroup dot com, that's
the website that kind of goes through myself and the
different various members of the executive team, and then there's
Abrahealth aberdental dot com and abrahealth dot com, which are
the two sites for our locations and actually patient facing sites.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Awesome. Well, Michael, thank you so much for coming in.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Thanks for telling us about your personal journey as well
as all about Abrahealth. We really appreciate it and they
get everybody for tuning in. Stay tuned next week for
next week's edition of CEOs You Should Know
Hi everyone, I'm Steve DALs On and welcome to this
week's editions of CEOs.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
You should know.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
I am joined by doctor Michael Skolnik, the CEO and
founder of Abra Health.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Michael, thanks for being here today.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
Thanks for having me. Nice to meet you.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
You too excited to dive in a little bit about
yourself and more about the company. So why don't we
kick it back to the first moment you decided you
wanted to become an orthodontist.
Speaker 4 (00:21):
Oh man, all right, So I was twelve years old,
and like most twelve year olds, I was getting braces
and yeah, and I just remember really liking my orthodontist.
He had a great little bubble he had built for himself.
He had I remember, used to wear these like real
snappy suspenders and nice ties, and he drove nice cars,
(00:43):
and I was like, that guy is happy, got life
figured out, and you know, the team that he built
around him was really positive, and that just always stuck
with me. At that point, I didn't think I wanted
to become an orthodonist, but you know, it just left
the big impression on me.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
And how did that the journey from that moment on, So.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
You know, I have.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
I have a little bit of add maybe more than
a little bit, and so deciding what to really focus
on in my life was a major challenge. And I
was actually started college and I had no idea what
I wanted to study. And it was my second year
and I'd come home and it was time to pick
a major, and I was.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Really just struggling.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
And I was talking to my friends, talking to my
parents about it, and you know, my both my parents
were in medical field, so I knew, you know, that
always attracted me. And a lot of the conversations at
home were about science and health care. So I liked
that field. But I had no idea what I wanted
to do. And I was home from break and all
I really wanted was a car, because there.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Was a couple of places around college that needed a car.
Speaker 4 (01:51):
And it was before uber, and you know, I'm driving
with my mom and we're talking about, you know, different
things and majors, and I said, listen, mom, I just
want a car. And we happen to be driving past
my old guitar teacher's place and he has a yellow
fifty seven Chevy parked out front, and I said, if
you get me that car, I'll go to dental school.
(02:11):
And I was completely joking with her, and she pulls
over and we start talking. She's like, are you serious
and I was like yeah, but I was not serious.
And we actually walk into this guy's place and she
asked me, you know, how much is the car? And
the car was shockingly inexpensive. It must not have been
in the best shape.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
And she looks at me. She goes, so, you'll go
to Danel school if I get you this car.
Speaker 4 (02:36):
And I said at that point, I'm like, really committed
to this ridiculous thing, I said, And I was like, yeah.
So she buys the car. I have no idea how
to drive stick shift, oh my gosh, or how to
take care of a car like that. But I had
made this commitment and it was very helpful because I
had no idea what I wanted to do it. At
least now I had like a commitment I had made.
(02:57):
So I went back to school, signed up for pre med,
which was like the science courses to go to dental school,
and started doing it. And you know, so we started
with that orthodonic experience. But then you know, that's how
I ended up in dental school.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
To help you, guide you in and paid off. So
starting Abra Health Group is a major endeavor. What motivated
you and your wife, doctor Brook to establish this multi
specific practice?
Speaker 4 (03:26):
So, you know, I met my wife in dental school,
and you know that was also a very pivotal moment,
obviously because you know my wife and we have now
three kids together, but she gravitated towards pediatric dentistry. So
it was natural evolution that we were going to open
up something that was multi specialty because at least pediatric
dentistry and orthodonics live really well together. And you know,
(03:49):
at that point we hadn't been married, but we were
on that path and living together, so you know that
that that kind of opened my eyes to doing something
multi specialty. But then at the same time, after I graduated,
I had a bunch of different jobs, some of them great,
some of them terrible, And eventually I kind of narrowed
(04:09):
down to two places. One of them was in Manhattan
and the other one was in New Jersey where we
were living, and they both taught me so much and
really different things. And from one of them in Manhattan,
I learned a lot about scale. This was a massive office.
It's still around it's downtown, and like you know, it
treated a lot of government insurance patients, which became a
(04:32):
big focus for us. And that was the first time
I saw, wow, that could really work, especially when you
do it with a lot of volume, and the patients
were appreciative, and you know, I was in charge of
a pretty big group there and it was the first
time i'd had that experience, and you know, got a
lot of positive feedback from the patients and from the
(04:52):
staff and just felt like we were making a difference.
So that's where I got the idea and the bug
to sort of do things in more underserved areas. And
at the same time, I was working at a practice
that was, you know, kind of the total opposite end
of the spectrum. It was a really high end practice,
didn't take a lot of insurances. It was all focused
on great customer service, and it was all about the culture.
(05:16):
And that's where I saw how important culture was, because
I'd never worked at a place where the staff was
so positive, engaged, believed in the mission and you know,
really they pushed the practice more than the doctor and
it was incredible. And I was working at these two places,
so I thought, if someone put these two things together,
(05:38):
it would just be dynamite. And that's we had already
opened our office and I started just learning and picking
both of these guys' brains at the same time and
just started to incorporate a lot of that, and we
focused a lot on the culture of the place, got
the staff really involved and.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Worked out. That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
I think I completely agree. I think cultures want to
the most important aspects of any organization. What would you say,
building off of that, what's the mission and what's the
culture of ABRA to.
Speaker 4 (06:08):
Be really best in class with an integrated medical dental
model delivering high quality care to underserved communities, you know,
and our core values are really patient first, integrity and
teamwork and having such a well defined mission that everyone
can get behind and our core values just helps us
(06:28):
bake decisions, strategize, you know, just kind of knowing the
things that are really important to us.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
And I know the concept was you and your wife
kind of having these multi specialty dental practices. How has
that really helped you guys foster collaboration with maybe different
dental providers and how does it really benefit the patients?
Speaker 4 (06:48):
So you know, in some of our larger practices, we
might have ten to twelve dentists there at the same
time working and even some physicians, and it allows, you know,
which is naturally fosters collaboration because cases often involve lots
of different specialists, so they're in the same place, they're
working together, and they're able to talk about different cases.
(07:11):
And also, you know, even individual dentists might be struggling
and get second opinions. And you know, the other thing
that also really helps is when you're working in the
kind of environment we're working, which is a higher volume environment,
and even lots of healthcare at this point is high volume.
Having multiple providers takes all away a lot of the
(07:31):
stress because if you get stuck, if you get backed up,
you're able to have support from the rest of the team.
So I think it helps with collaboration. It also helps
with collaboration in terms of just managing you know, the
patient flow.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Yeah, absolutely, having multiple locations, I'm sure you have a
large team, a lot of doctors, a lot of team members,
and then hundreds of patients. How do you continue to
allow Abrahealth to have that patient centric approach.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
So, yeah, we actually have a fantastic stick team.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
Some of them are with me today, but we've got
an unbelievable team. I'd say one of the best in
the country, and you know, I'm very happy with them.
And I guess the whole environment A is very collaborative
in terms of the way we operate, and I think
the way patient centric becomes so critical is we all
(08:24):
just focus on it. So everybody focuses on it, and
that trickles down to kind of the regional managers and
the managers, and they all know that whenever you face
kind of a difficult situation or a difficult decision, that's
the way we're going to answer it. So it kind
of helps people just very quickly get to the answer
(08:45):
because it's like what's best for the patient, and then
the answer is usually pretty obvious.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
I know you guys are currently expanding into multiple states
right now, which is very exciting. What factors drove you
to decide this expansion and during the expansion challenges you
guys facing.
Speaker 4 (09:03):
So yeah, I mean we've always been, you know, excited
about building new things, you know, and we did a
really great job of expanding and growing in New Jersey
and just from a business perspective, we decided at some
point we'd have to kind of grow out if we
want to continue growing at the pace we were. You know,
New Jersey's only one state, we'd have to sort of
(09:24):
start to grow. So we kind of naturally looked at
the contiguous states just because you know, you could drive
there and it's still easy to go visit frequently. So
you know, we first looked at Pennsylvania and now we're
really looking at Connecticut.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
The challenges are really just different cultures.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
You know, we're very close to New York most of
our practices, so I think we tend to have a
very fast paced, little bit aggressive approach when we are
in meetings and when we're just trying to get things done.
So we've learned sometimes we have to tone that back
a little bit as we get a little more into
say rural Pennsylvania. But you know, those are just sort
(10:05):
of more superficial differences, and I think fundamentally, you know,
the values are the same and the approach to care
is the same, but it's just you know, maybe a
different approach to talking to people and slowing down a
little bit.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Absolutely, congrats on the expansion as a leader in the
dental community. How do you stay up to date on
different industry trends and best practices that are out there?
Speaker 4 (10:29):
So we do, you know, I think that's become easier
and easier with kind of the Internet and just you know,
belonging to different groups and and you know, for long
for a bunch of years, we attended these kind of
group dental conferences and we made close connections with other groups.
So I think collaborating with them and having discussions with
(10:50):
them helped the lot us, you know, in terms of
sounding board. Also, you know, hearing the same struggles, similar solutions,
and I think just you know, reading, also having a
lot of expert people on my team, so you know,
I think once you start to differentiate, you know, you've
(11:10):
got lots of people kind of keeping up with their
own facets of industries.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
I think that helps.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
Yeah, a lot of sharing, a lot of collaboration internally too.
How do you handle any setbacks or failures for the
organization and what strategies have you implemented for yourself and
other leaders at these different practices to be able to
turn those around?
Speaker 4 (11:28):
Yes, So, I mean failures and setbacks are an everyday
you know, fantastic part of business, and I think the
important thing is to learn from them be really transparent
about it, you know. I think even though as we
get to be a bigger and bigger organization, we still
try to work like a smaller one in terms of
kind of maintaining the culture being agile, and that comes
(11:51):
along with a couple of missteps here and there. But
I think if you are honest about it, and you know,
you kind of put your you go aside and you say, hey,
that was a mistake, how do we kind of change course?
And if you're not afraid to do that, I think
other people around you sort of adopt the same approach
(12:12):
they're and also not afraid to say, hey, I messed up.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
And I think that's really important.
Speaker 4 (12:16):
Because people mess up and that's okay, and you learn
from it and you move on. But I think that's
the most important thing is being able to turn it
into a positive and just being able to openly say, yeah,
that one was a bad move.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Speaking of learning right throughout your journey, I'm sure you've
learned a lot. If you were going to give some
advice to someone brand new that wanted to explore the
dental industry, and hopefully eventually be able to open their
own practice.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
What advice would you give?
Speaker 3 (12:43):
Yeah, so, I mean that has happened a lot.
Speaker 4 (12:45):
You know, we employ a lot of dentists and some
of them will talk to me and say, hey, I
want to open my own practice, and I always encourage them,
and I say, do exactly what I did, which is
just work at a bunch of different spots and figure out,
you know, because it's tough to learn those things. In school,
you learn how to be a dentist, you learn how
to take care of people, and hopefully you're you're, you know,
(13:06):
an empathetic provider, but no one ever really teaches you
the business side of things. And I say, work in
places and take the things you like, take the things
you don't like, and do it and don't be afraid
to take some risks, because you'll never do it if
you don't throughout it.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
I'm sure that there's your expansion into different into different
states that you mentioned earlier. Are there any other exciting
projects in the works that you want to share with
the listeners.
Speaker 4 (13:33):
We're very excited about some new technologies that we're implementing.
One we've been working on for over a year, but
it finally feels like it's getting to the point where
we're going.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
To be rolling it out everywhere.
Speaker 4 (13:44):
And that's sort of an AI tool that will read
X rays, so basically take the X rays and there's
one version of them that kind of gives a whole
bunch of findings on there, and then the doctor obviously
is going to agree or disagree. But I think, you know,
that's exciting because I want to just you know, it's
a real phenomenal use of AI, I think because it
(14:08):
prevents doctors from missing things very cool. It also level
sets a lot, Especially when you're working with groups of doctors,
you're always end up in situations where there might be
different opinions, so having this subjective sort of version helps
them start conversations and feel a little more comfortable. So
you know, that I think is going to be really
(14:29):
revolutionary for the industry, and I think everyone will adopt
that at some point because it would just be crazy
not to. So I think now we're finally at a
point where we're ready to implement it, and I think
that's going to be a really exciting change. Anything else
we're really excited about. You know, we've integrated the medical
(14:51):
groups inside the dental offices, which that you know, is
pretty novel, and there's I don't know of any other
groups that are doing that. So I think now that
we're cohabitating everything, that's also very exciting.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Looking back at your journey at Aberhealth, are there any
key moments that stand out to you that were valuable
life lessons that you'd want to share.
Speaker 4 (15:10):
Like I said, I think you have to be really
ready to take take risks, take chances. I mean there
was many times where you know, I was ready to
kind of close the office and walk away in the
early days, just because you know, when you were dealing
with government payers, the negotiation and the struggle, it's very
(15:31):
regulated and there's also just you know, very few decision makers.
And you know, when we first opened the offices, we
weren't getting a lot of traction because we were new.
And so I went and met with the two biggest
payers in New Jersey at the time. And I walk
into this first meeting and I said, we had already
opened the office. And I said, hey, we opened up
this office and we could really use a little bit
(15:53):
of help with some of the reenforsement rates. And the
guy looked at me and goes get out of my
office and he threw me out and I leave and
I go, oh my god, I don't I can't believe
what just happened. And I go home and I'm talking
to my wife, and I got maybe we made a mistake,
and you know, she just we just kind of decided
I will just keep chugging along. And I had another
(16:14):
meeting with him, and he I don't even think he
remembered that first meeting because I kind of walked in
there like, hey, how's it going, and he we had
a much more positive result.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
So it was just to stay persistent, and.
Speaker 4 (16:28):
Yeah, I mean there was always a bunch of setbacks,
and I think the message is just stay persistent and.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Perseverance paid off. So that's great to hear. So we
covered a lot.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Is there anything that we did not cover that you love?
The listeners that know about aberhealth.
Speaker 4 (16:43):
You know, I guess I would just go back to
the culture aspect of it.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
I think the real.
Speaker 4 (16:51):
You know, you know, the thing that's people are always
very shocked about with aberhealth is we are a very
large group and we have a very few locations, and
those kinds of numbers and the kinds of growth we
have at the individual occasion is sort of unprecedented, and
people hear those numbers just don't understand how it's possible
(17:12):
to have such kind of large, successful practices. And for me,
it's really been that culture of a staff driven team
where everyone's really engaged, and I think that's kind of
been the secret sauce is just, you know, having a
clear mission and having a really engaged team that believes
(17:33):
in it and it also feels like it's their business.
And we do that through different incentives and just kind
of always repeating that, and that's challenging as you get
bigger and bigger, it's hard to keep that. But I
think that that was really, especially in the beginning, what
made it such a differentiator was a team that treated
(17:54):
it like their business, and it grew really rapidly.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Because of that.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Well, if anyone was tuning in and wants to find
out more information of Aberhealth, what is the first thing
they should do?
Speaker 4 (18:05):
Well, so if you go to aberhealthgroup dot com, that's
the website that kind of goes through myself and the
different various members of the executive team, and then there's
Abrahealth aberdental dot com and abrahealth dot com, which are
the two sites for our locations and actually patient facing sites.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Awesome. Well, Michael, thank you so much for coming in.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Thanks for telling us about your personal journey as well
as all about Abrahealth. We really appreciate it and they
get everybody for tuning in. Stay tuned next week for
next week's edition of CEOs You Should Know
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!