What should scale actually deliver for a dental clinic?
What should scale actually deliver for a dental clinic?
Growth in group dentistry is often measured in numbers: practices acquired, revenue generated or the size of the network.
But there is another way to measure it.
Are the individual clinics becoming better?
That was one of the key themes discussed by Envisage COO Grant Watson at the HealthInvestor Healthcare Summit, where he joined the Dental Group Operational and Growth Leaders Panel.
For Grant, sustainable scale isn't simply about making the group bigger.
It's about creating an organisation capable of adding meaningful value to the clinics within it.
Making clinics better, not simply making the group bigger
Envisage partners with excellent clinics that are aligned with our values.
The opportunity that comes with scale is to understand where those clinics face challenges and bring expertise, investment and support that can help them become even stronger.
That could mean specialist knowledge across areas such as finance, technology, data or people. It could mean tackling challenges that are difficult for an individual practice to solve alone. Or it could mean using experience from across a wider network to identify approaches that are already working elsewhere.
As Grant puts it:
“Scaling should be about making clinics better, not making the group bigger.”
It reflects one of our core beliefs at Envisage: we are stronger together than alone.
But there is an important caveat.
As groups become larger and their support structures more sophisticated, they cannot lose sight of why the organisation exists in the first place.
The relationship that matters most
Dentistry ultimately happens between a clinician and the patient sitting in front of them.
Systems, infrastructure, investment and scale should support that relationship – not get in its way.
As Grant explained:
“The relationship between the dentist and the patient is the crux of everything we're trying to enhance and improve.”
Exceptional patient care is fundamental to how we think about growth.
The value of a wider group should therefore ultimately be felt within its individual clinics: by the people working there and the patients they care for.
A different measure of growth
For a practice owner considering joining a dental group, perhaps clinic count isn't the most useful measure of scale.
More revealing questions might be:
What has being part of the group enabled its existing clinics to do?
Where has the group demonstrably added value?
Are its practices stronger several years after joining?
And has growth strengthened – rather than diluted – the relationship between clinicians and their patients?
Because sustainable growth shouldn't simply create a bigger dental group.
It should create better dental clinics.