STARTING A DSO

A “DSO” is a “Dental Services Organization” or a “Dental Support Organization.” The concept of a DSO is that, by dividing the business administration of owning/operating a dental clinic (marketing, equipment, technology, personnel, etc.) from the actual provision of dental services (treatment of oral diseases), the dental practice can run more efficiently allowing the dentist to provide more focused patient care and enhanced treatment. There are many different DSO models, but the most typical model involves a management corporation providing equipment to a dentistry professional corporation along with business and administrative support services, such as leasing space, human resources, marketing, patient scheduling, and financial management. Importantly, the regular corporation does not interfere with the dentist’s clinical judgment.

A properly created DSO allows a dentist to successfully own and operate multiple practices on their own or with non-dentist collaborators. The DSO structure separates the business administration from the practice of dentistry, allowing dentists to focus on the patients. This style of practice ownership can bring innovation, enhanced patient care and profits. Additional advantages can include increased buying power and efficiencies through economies of scale and an easier path to raising private financing to invest in new and increasingly specialized dental services and equipment. DMC has been active in the growing DSO market, and we have seen a wide variety of business structures and arrangements for practice ownership. From this experience, we can assist you in determining whether a DSO is the right model for you and if it will help you achieve your vision of practice ownership and financial success.

Through our dynamic participation in the DSO markets across Canada and the United States, our team at DMC has seen the past mistakes of other DSO start-ups, and we can recognize and avoid those traps. However, operating a DSO is not without risk. Some of the concepts you should be mindful of include:

• avoiding poorly drafted contracts with the participating dentists and non-dentist collaborators
• maintaining a positive relationship with the dentists and team members providing the dental services at your practices
• upholding the proper protections of patient information and patient privacy
• ensuring you have appropriate exit strategies for the DSO stakeholders
• adhering to governing rules, regulations and legislation on fee-splitting within dentistry