Cumming, Ga.-based OMS360 is setting its sights on future acquisitions after securing new financing.
The DSO obtained a new credit facility from TPG Twin Brook Capital Partners in May. After entering Pennsylvania earlier this year, the company now supports practices in eight states.
Robert Clark, DMD, an oral surgeon based in Kentucky and a member of OMS360’s board of directors, recently spoke with Becker’s to discuss the organization’s growth and goals for this year.
Editor’s note: Responses were lightly edited for length and clarity.
Question: How would you describe OMS360’s growth over the years?
Dr. Robert Clark: We’ve grown as a platform by doctor recruiting. In my practice, we’ve currently recruited five new surgeons since we joined the platform in December of 2021. Three are currently working, and then two of them will join us full time next year. That has been a big lever of growth in my particular practice.
We’ve had the addition of partners, so the [organization] itself has grown in the number of practices and surgeons that are affiliated with it. Each practice individually, utilizing the OMS 360 growth plan, has had growth. It’s basically a customized plan based upon what the needs are of that practice. Do you need processes to run your schedule? Do you need better staffing or a process to allow you to see patients efficiently? Do you need better marketing and referral management to bring people into the practice? Each practice has its own particular growth lever that we’ve been able to pull, depending upon what the needs are of that practice.
Q: What have been some of the biggest lessons learned during the company’s four years of operation?
RC: The most obvious thing is that everybody’s different. Every practice is different. Everybody has a slightly different way in which they run their practice. Some of us are higher volume practices than other practices. The payer mix is different. The procedure mix is different. Trying to take the best of each individual practice and sharing those best practices across the platform has been very important. You practice for years in your own silo and you think, “Well, I got this down. I know what I’m doing.” Well, when you partner with a bunch of other people, you rapidly find out, if your mind is open to it, that some people have figured out a better way than what you’re doing, so you have to be willing to adjust.
One of the biggest things I’ve had to learn is patience … We had some growth early, but then we hit a period where we weren’t growing as far as acquisition of practices. Post-Covid, there were a lot of issues going on with the interest rate environment and inflation, and it wasn’t as favorable an area to grow in. That was when we took the time to develop the operating system and grow our practices organically and get a process that would be useful once we started growing more rapidly. Lately, we’ve had an increase in the number of people that want to partner with us.
Q: How does the organization plan to grow using its new credit facility?
RC: Much of that we want to use for the acquisition of new partner practices, and then further refinement of our systems and our growth levers to allow us to maximize each practice that joins. Certainly, having that credit facility available to allow continued acquisition is the main thrust of that.
Q: What other goals does the organization have for the rest of 2025 in terms of organic and inorganic growth?
RC: Organic growth has been a big driver of our platform. Typically, we’re averaging six to seven times the growth of existing practices when you compare with the oral surgery market in general. We want to continue along those lines. Dental implants are a big area of growth, and that’s something we’ve been maximizing. We also are in talks with people in other states, and we certainly want to spread to those other states. We feel like we have a system that’s been proven to work over the past three and a half years. So, we have a good system in place, and now we’re looking primarily to grow through acquisitions and inorganic growth, and then taking those practices and maximizing them using the OMS360 operating system.
Q: Several oral surgery-focused companies have gained new investments in recent years. What value are investors seeing in the OMS specialty right now?
RC: Oral surgery is a relatively high-reimbursement, high-production [specialty.] It’s something that largely had been ignored when [investors] were going with general dental practices and orthodontic practices. I think they saw the opportunity of a practice modality that was largely untouched by private equity and management companies. It’s a great specialty for people who want to work hard, it allows you to produce and to maintain your lifestyle, have a family life, but also it’s something that is financially lucrative and professionally fulfilling, particularly if you want to do the surgical side.
