William Barrett, partner and CEO at Mandelbaum Barrett PC, spoke with "Becker's Dental + DSO Review Podcast" to discuss what works and doesn't work in DSO transactions.
Note: This is an edited excerpt. Listen to the full podcast episode here.
Question: What works in DSO transactions? What's generally going right or wrong?
William Barrett: One of the things that doctors have to really look at and kind of do some soul-searching on when it comes to these deals is understanding these organizations all have different cultures like any other business organization. Some that I've come across I feel like are just hardcore business. The people driving and running everything are really business and finance folks, and they're not necessarily what I would personally refer to as kind of like a doctor-centric type of organization. There's other organizations, even some large ones, that are driven by a doctor founder who had a vision for whatever it was in terms of how they view a practice should continue. There's a lot of different approaches to what DSOs look like. For the doctors, being part of a large organization is something that not everybody's equipped for. Remember, in most of these deals, especially now, what I see consistent on every letter of intent that hits my desk is a requirement of at least five years, full-time employment working for the DSO post-closing. So you're making a long-term commitment to be part of this business, part of this culture. For some doctors, it's not the easiest transition.