P. Shawn Stopperich, DMD, recently affiliated his practice with Irving, Texas-based U.S. Oral Surgery Management, becoming the management services organization's first Pennsylvania practice.
Dr. Stopperich spoke with Becker's about why he decided to join USOSM, how the partnership has benefitted his practice and what advice he would give to other practice owners looking to join an MSO.
Editor's note: Responses were lightly edited for clarity and length.
Question: Why were you looking to affiliate with an MSO?
Dr. P. Shawn Stopperich: I've been in private practice for a little over 20 years by myself and I started my practice from scratch. Over the past 20 years, I've been mainly responsible for a lot of the non-clinical responsibilities as far as HR, IT and things like that. I have some staff that did provide some assistance with these things, but over time I just felt like I needed to look for a partner who could help streamline some of these processes and after doing a fair amount of research on the oral surgery management firms, interviewing with a few of them, I decided to partner with U.S. Oral Surgery Management. It's definitely made things easier for not only myself but my staff as well. So I'm very pleased with how things have gone over the past six months.
Q: What made you choose USOSM over other organizations?
SS: From the first phone call I had with them, they were very professional, upfront and transparent about the process. Knowing they are the first and original oral surgery management firm and they've been very successful made me a lot more comfortable knowing that they've been doing this for a number of years and they do have the support staff available to help assist all of their partner practices. Their long-term successful track record was probably one of the more important factors in my decision.
Q: What are some of the key changes you've seen at your practice since affiliating?
SS: It's definitely streamlined our process as far as scheduling is concerned, being able to dive a little deeper into our scheduling processes to see how we can maybe schedule more efficiently and be more productive. With U.S. Oral Surgery Management having multiple partner practices throughout the country, they've been able to determine from these practices what seems to work best. When you're by yourself, you really don't know much more than what you know in your practice, so being able to receive feedback and recommendations from multiple practices has been very helpful from that scheduling standpoint.
The other thing it's helped us with is reducing some of the HR headaches we've had, whether it comes from benefits for my staff, payroll, all of those things that are now being handled with U.S. Oral Surgery Management. Over the past six months, we've definitely seen an increase in our production. We're not looking necessarily to gain that through volume as much as just being able to handle our schedule more appropriately.
Q: Is there anything else you are looking to gain from your partnership with USOSM?
SS: We signed an associate to start Aug. 1, so having a partnership with U.S. Oral Surgery Management has made the hiring of an associate much easier. They have more reach into residency programs and have the ability to recruit much better than a solo practice oral surgeon.
The one great thing about partnering with them is that nothing has really changed with what I do on a daily basis. I have complete clinical autonomy. There is no restriction on what type of implant system I use or how I'm supposed to do this. Even with the nonclinical aspect of the practice, they've implemented some things to make us more productive and successful, which is obviously what we're looking for, but the main thing is that nothing has changed. With the associate starting in August, that process was great working with U.S. Oral Surgery Management. Their team handled that whole process of hiring and then with the credentialing and things like that. That in itself would be super challenging for a solo practice surgeon.
From day one, multiple people said repeatedly, "We just want you to do what you've been doing for 20 years." They're not coming in and overhauling the practice … that's the difference with U.S. Oral Surgery Management.
Q: What advice do you have for other practice owners who are considering affiliating with an MSO or DSO?
SS: Do your homework, understand your practice [and] try to put a list together of the things you are looking for. List your priorities and then do your homework on the management firms that are out there. Spend time talking with them, asking questions. It took over one year before I decided to make that transition. I don't think it's something that somebody could just jump into without doing their homework.