Dentist2Dentist
Join Dr. Mike Miyasaki as he talks dentist to dentist about the trends, products, and clinical applications in dentistry today.
Dentist2Dentist
Breaking Free: The Path to Insurance Independence in Modern Dentistry
What if your dental practice could support the lifestyle you've always dreamed of? That's the compelling question at the heart of our conversation with Dr. Bill Blatchford, founder of Blatchford Solutions and a pioneering voice for insurance-independent dentistry for over four decades.
Against the backdrop of corporate dentistry's rapid expansion and crushing student debt, Dr. Blatchford offers a refreshingly optimistic perspective that the dream of a thriving private practice remains absolutely attainable. The key lies in what he calls "life-work balance" rather than work-life balance – putting your personal life first and designing your practice to support it.
Drawing from his extensive consulting experience, Blatchford shares practical wisdom on how dentists can break free from insurance dependency while building more profitable practices. He outlines the three critical elements: developing the right mindset that success is possible, acquiring advanced clinical skills beyond dental school, and mastering the communication abilities that turn treatment plans into accepted care.
"Dentistry is a luxury item," Blatchford explains, challenging listeners to recognize that beyond relieving acute pain and infection, dental services are discretionary purchases. The most successful dentists discover what patients truly value – whether it's health, aesthetics, or confidence – and connect their services to those deeper desires.
The financial mathematics are compelling. While many DSO-employed dentists barely manage their debt, associates in well-run private practices can earn $250,000-$350,000 annually within just a few years. Through practical systems like block booking procedures and keeping staff costs to 20% rather than the industry standard 30-35%, practices can dramatically increase profitability without working longer hours.
Ready to transform your practice from insurance-dependent to truly independent? Take the first step toward creating the practice – and the life – you've always wanted by embracing the principles that have guided thousands of successful dentists.
Hi everybody, it's Dr Michael Miyazaki again, and we're very excited about today's program, especially with today's program. So I'm here, We've got Garrett Caldwell, CEO of the PAC, the Pacific Aesthetic Continuum and Core Dental Lab, and today our guest that we're very excited to have is Dr Bill Blatchford. And Dr Blatchford has Blatchford Solutions and they've been consulting for 40 plus years and so really I think it's a testament to the success of the philosophy. I know Dr Blatchford was one of the first that I had met almost 40 years ago saying try to go insurance free, when we all thought that was a really crazy idea. And now we all try to strive to get there. And I think one of the things that we've talked to strive to get there and I think you know, one of the things that we've talked about is, Garrett, you and I talking about how the dental practice day is a dental business and you have to run it like a business, and we've talked during a lot of these episodes about being insurance independent. So welcome guys, Garrett, Dr Blatchford.
Speaker 2:Welcome.
Speaker 1:Bill, thank you thank you, honored to be here so, um, yeah, let's just jump right in um dr blatchford, since we we appreciate. So if you're watching this and you don't see a dr blatchford, it's because dr blatchford's on a, on a big boat somewhere and, uh, the bandwidth on the video is not working really well, so we're just going to do the audio. On his part, we'll put a picture of Brad Pitt or George Clooney, almost the same, to be the placeholder. What's going on with you and what's going on with the Blatchford Solutions?
Speaker 3:Well, first off, I'm really pleased to be here and actually I'm on the boat Garrett's actually, garrett and his wife have been on this boat. They met us one time, actually. I flew them up from, I think, seattle to a little place called Sullivan Bay and they spent almost a week with us one time. We've done this for a long time. We've had this boat for 31 years and we've always spent three months on it every summer and when I was working actively I was able to do most of it from the boat for two months and then a full month of vacation. But I'm real pleased now.
Speaker 3:My daughter, christina, who went to dental school and practiced dentistry in Portland, took over the business eight years ago and has done a great job with it, and she calls me her special advisor, I think is what my title is. I'm not as active as I was at one time. I do a few of these and a few other things, but for the most part Christina has taken it and run with it, and I think it is, mike, what you said. The fact that she has taken it and run with it is a testament to the philosophy that we put together years ago, and I give a lot of people credit for developing that with me. Omar Reed, of course, was one of my early mentors and continued to be a mentor until he passed away a couple of years ago. What's happening, I think, right now is something that a man named Abram King some of your listeners may know that name, abram King was an early dental philosopher. I will call him. He was not a dentist. He lectured a little bit. I don't think he was ever a consultant. He may have consulted a few individuals, but he was. Bob Barkley was part of his group of people, but he predicted this was probably 50 years ago that dentistry would boil down to two tiers. There would be a tier, the lower tier, which we're seeing now in these DSOs, and the upper tier was going to be the dentist that you train. That set themselves aside to do something special.
Speaker 3:And I think this, the DSO thing I'm not here to criticize it's a business for them. That's all it is and that's what the part that bothers me is. It's not about patient care. It's more about patient care. It's more about the metrics. And can we flip this chain of DSOs into a bigger chain of DSOs? And you'll have to. I think that's a boat going by you might hear it. And so we're here. I mean, we're here and so, mike, when you mentioned that, I started talking freedom from the dental insurance companies years ago. We're still teaching that and we're having a lot of success getting doctors who want to deliver excellent care. It's available. It's available to them if they want it, if they want to be.
Speaker 3:And I think that most dentists go to dental school with a dream, an idea, and sometimes, as Mike, as you know, it takes a little dream to keep you in there in dental school, but most of that dream is an independent practice. I don't think anyone goes to dental school gets up in the morning dreaming about working for some bean counter who's going to tell them what treatment modalities they can do with their patients, how many of those treatments they have to do in a quarter, all that sort of thing, all that sort of thing. Or being controlled by the insurance company clerks telling them what they can do, what they can't do, how much they can charge for it. I don't think anybody's dream is sustained by those thoughts. I think that most people going to dentistry and now, I think a good thing, we have over 50% of people going to dentistry, and now I think a good thing, uh, we have over 50% of the people going to dentistry are women and I think a lot of those are choosing dentistry, uh, for lifestyle. But they're not getting the lifestyle that they dreamed about when they work for a DSO who dictates their hours, their days of the week, and maybe gets two weeks paid vacation a year. Um, hours or days of the week, and maybe gets two weeks paid vacation a year. I think lifestyle is still very much available to dentists. Christina just attended the Coase Symposium. She's a graduate of the Coase Center and there were 600 dentists there I morning in in prep in preparation for this and got some ideas from from her as well but I think lifestyle is still, uh, very much available if the dentist want that. Uh, we changed the old term work-life balance years ago. Uh, we changed that to life-work balance and have made that our mantra, that life is first and dentistry is something we do to support that life, and I think that can still be done very well if the dentist goes after.
Speaker 3:I think you know number one they've got to have the mindset that that's what they want. They've got to have the mindset that it's available. They have to have the mindset and part of that's what we call deserve level. Do they deserve to have a life provided by dentistry that's as good as it can be? And I think number two and this is, I think, where you folks come in is they've got to get the training. They have to get the training to do the dentistry that they don't learn in dental school. Dental school is, as I've told people many times, dental school is. Diploma is like a private pilot's license. It's a license to learn, and in a private pilot's license you better learn real quick or kill yourself. In dentistry, you better learn real quick and continue learning or you're going to end up doing the kind of dentistry that the DSOs want you doing. So I think training is clinical training and they need to start immediately out of dental school to get that. And thirdly, they've got to really work on their communication skills.
Speaker 3:My wife just had a root fracture on upper first molar Talk a little dentalese here for your listeners and she built a 9-millimeter pocket around this palatal root. Well, the dentist that we go to is one of our former clients in Bend and between consultation with myself, my daughter, our dentist, we decided to remove that tooth and so we referred it to a periodontist who had all the clinical skills you could imagine and I laugh about this because I could make up stories about this. He walked into the room the first time we met him. He picks up a perio explorer without even saying a word except open, let's take a look. And I thought you got to be kidding me.
Speaker 3:This guy is going to struggle to get patients and no phone call. I mean, he did a flap procedure. It removed a tooth. We're going to put an implant in in the fall, replace the tooth sometime. A few months later, but without any communication at all, he picks up an aerial probe and wants to take a look at the tooth and I'm thinking, wow, and I'm sitting there watching this thing. But those are the kind of skills that are missing. And it's okay to work in a clinical setting or a large clinic or a DSO or a government clinic without those skills. But if they're going to make it in that top percentage of dentists that are in private practice, of dentists that are in private practice, they're going to have to learn how to communicate with people, with patients as people, not just carriers of teeth. So that's the main thing that I see, is the good news is that it's still available if they want it.
Speaker 1:It's still available if they want it. Yeah, and I think that's a good. It's nice that you stress that, because I think you know some dentists, when they get out they've got all the debt from school. They think, oh, the private practice isn't going to be attainable because that's even more debt. But I think you're absolutely right. You know, one of the things that Garrett and I talk about is, yeah, you have to have the mindset, you have to have the skill set, as you're mentioning, because the skillset you get from dental school just does get you that license. And I've shared stories where I've and I've been lecturing. I was at a ADA conference and been lecturing about, I think, just direct composite restorations, and at the noon hour, during lunch, a dentist came up and she goes we're really mad. And I said what are you mad about? She said because we just spent half a million dollars and we don't know everything.
Speaker 2:And so I, you, know, I just definitely yeah.
Speaker 1:I just said did you, did you get your license? And she said yeah. I said, well, the dental school did what they were supposed to do, but now you've got to go out there and learn, that's right, Go ahead. No, I just wanted to. So you know, with that, for the dentists that are, maybe maybe they've just gotten out, maybe they're headed towards the DSR, maybe they're an associate, but they have the dream of having that private practice that took them to dental school because they did have that. How do they get out of that? How do you help them? Well, the mindset and the confidence.
Speaker 3:Yeah, here's what they have to do. Number one they've got to sit down and do the math. At the salary they're going to make working in a DSO, they're going to be doing well to pay the interest on that loan. They've got to get out and either get the job as an associate in a private practice where they can make a decent income. I mean, I see associates out there now that are making $250, $350 a year after just a couple of years of practice. But these are the people, men and women, who have gone out and developed some skills, some clinical skills, whether it be cosmetics, whether it be implant placement, whether it be just solid restorative skills. They have gone out and I don't want to say take the risk, because there's practically no risk at all. It's not like Garrett does with real estate. There's risk there. This is virtually guaranteed. You've got your license and that's what the school is supposed to do.
Speaker 3:The fact that they spent $400,000 to $500,000 is a whole other subject that we don't need to go into. First off, I will say this Our daughter went to OHSU in Portland. She was married, her husband was working and she came out of school with less than $200,000 of debt. And that was when kids were coming out with $400,000. So part of that if we could get to these freshman dental students and have them quit living like they're already graduating dental school in luxury apartments and driving nice cars and going to cabo on vacation um, all on borrowed money uh, they don't need to go four hundred thousand dollars in debt. That's what I'm getting at. But since they are four hundred thousand dollars in debt, their only out, their only way out of that is to work for a private practice where they're paid on on their own production. But they've got to learn the clinical skills more than what they learned in dental school and they've got to learn it quickly. Concentrated courses like yours, like others, where they actually get some experience with patients, are wonderful and they can learn quickly. The second thing they've got to do is develop the communication skills so that patients will see the value in the treatment they have available. We can call it sales if we want.
Speaker 3:I do, and I look at dentistry and I've looked at dentistry for years, including when I was practicing. It's a luxury item for people. Now this may offend a few dentists listening. No one needs what we do. I have a friend right now whose wife is going through probably the final stages of cancer treatment Glioblastoma, metastatic melanoma, all in her brain. It's just terrible what's going on. Those treatments are necessary. There's nothing we do in dentistry beyond the relief of acute pain and acute infection. That's necessary.
Speaker 3:I mean, it's something that people can choose to do, choose not to do, and they live long youthful lives, and when I was lecturing, I used to use my grandparents as example. All of them were edentulous early in their life, like we're talking, before they're 20 years old, and they live long youthful lives, outlive their life expectancies, put their kids through college. During the Depression they did all this stuff. Great lives without teeth. How can that be? Well, we have to learn and we can say you know, people can blame it on the ADA or the profession needs to do a better job of promoting what we do, but individual dentists simply need to learn to find out what people want and provide it for them, and if they can do that, the patients will be there and they can make so much more money doing treatment for people that people want, instead of trying to educate people into submission. This was the term that I used for years and these are the skills that I know you guys talk about them. Your different instructors you have at your program talk about these skills. This is what Christina and our consultants teach these doctors and teach the staff. The staff is just the same and because of what I've done for the last 40 years, I laugh sometimes.
Speaker 3:And as I get older, I've been to several medical specialists and I'm very fortunate and I wake up every morning and count my blessings at 82. I'm still able to do pretty much what I have. I have no major issues at all and yet I go to several different physicians because for screening exams et cetera. But I go to these physicians' offices and it's like this periodontist office, same thing. There's team members and I hate to even call them team members. They're truly staff members. They don't have a clue. They don't have a clue how to relate to patients and it's simple stuff. It's standing.
Speaker 3:And we we, callan and I go to a concierge physician because we don't like the, the typical system that we got through your, your medic, our Medicare and insurance coverage. You're going to these offices where you're going, like my dermatology office, because I spend so much time in the sun, I go every three months. I had a wonderful dermatologist. But I'd go in there and every single time the front desk would just, without even looking up, without making eye contact, never taking our eyes off our computer name and birthday, please. Next is your ID and your insurance card. And I finally asked my dermatologist, a young lady who I just loved her, she was really wonderful. I said is part of your training with your new staff members to avoid eye contact at all costs? And she just laughed and said I know Now that dermatology office is owned by a chain out of Texas and we're in Oregon. And she said I really have no control over who I have working out there. It's too bad. But I go to these offices and I go to the concierge's office, who we pay a monthly fee to belong on an annual basis, and they know that we're making a choice. These team members stand up, greet you by name when you walk in. I mean simple stuff, calling patients in the evening, simple stuff. But doctors aren't doing that, their team members aren't doing that and they wonder why the public views dentistry as a commodity, why the public views dentistry as a commodity and therefore, if it's a commodity, I should choose the least expensive one that I can find, and that's too bad. It doesn't have to be that way.
Speaker 3:Just last week I ran into a couple not quite as old as me but getting up there, and the wife had a beautiful smile and I complimented, I took some lines for them as they brought their boat in and they're on a big boat, a 55-foot boat out of Seattle, and I took their lines at the dock and I complimented her and I said you have a beautiful smile. She said, well, I just spent as much as a new Porsche. He said, well, I just spent as much as a new Porsche. And the husband who was sitting there and he says, well, I'm just getting ready to put a Ferrari in my mouth. And I said, well.
Speaker 3:After she told me that, I said well, I'm a retired dentist, I really appreciate that and, yes, you got a great result and it looks good on you. And when he said he was going to put a Ferrari in his mouth, I said well, you might want to try and do it twice, because it'll take 10 years off your face. If you do it twice, it'll be 20 years and you look as nice as your wife. They were teasing me about it. They said well, you're good at what you do. But I said but the truth is, here's the couple. They're spending,60,000, $70,000.
Speaker 3:And his teeth, you know, he's probably I don't know what their ages are, I'll say 70 years old. They've got the money. They're spending the money. They're going to a dentist in Seattle that I know of. He's not a client of ours but he does a lot of high-end cases, high-end dentistry, and he charges legitimate fees. He's not insurance dependent at all and it's out there for people.
Speaker 3:Now, if they choose that end, they can pay off this $400,000 of debt and that $400,000 or $500,000 of debt now they can't amortize it financially over the rest of their career. But if mentally they start thinking okay, I paid $500,000 to get into this profession, I'm going to practice for 40 years gee, that's really not that much. And but they can't do it working in these clinics where the turnover is immense, and they're doing, you know, basic dentistry that insurance companies will pay for and doing it for insurance fees. It's not going to happen. So learn the skills, get out there, you know, take the skills. Get out there, take the courses, go to the clinical courses, hire consultants, learn how to communicate with patients. Teach your staff how to communicate with patients and be that top tier.
Speaker 2:Bill, you know, we just finished up a program a few months back and at the end of the program Mike asked the group. Well, and at the end of the program Mike asked the group, or actually at the beginning of the program, mike asked the group. You know, what are your concerns? What are you doing here? And it's always tough because we talk about communication. One of the reasons Mike asked that question is to be able to get people comfortable talking in a group environment with a group of new doctors. And it was interesting because, you know, 20 years ago or 30 years ago, we all started teaching indirect, all ceramic and dental bonding and veneers and all this.
Speaker 2:The fears in the room were very different. I'm here to learn, I'm here to create new revenue stream. Those doctors were paying $5,000 to $8,000 per program to be at the program. In this case, dr Miyazaki, mike asked everybody give me your name and tell me why you're here and tell me what you want to get out of this program. And universally ironically, universally the majority of the attendees brought up the fear of being able to repay their dental school loan. Yeah, I'm surprised about that because I'm sitting in the back of the room thinking. You know I'm thinking at the end, at the beginning. I'm thinking if we can teach you these skills, you have discretionary opportunities with patients, you can earn more money. All of the above I'm thinking about. All the I'm thinking about I'm going too fast, billy, and I'm thinking about the end. But it was interesting because for the first time I heard completely different fears in the room than we heard in the past, which reflect exactly what we're talking about.
Speaker 2:Likewise, we see a real. We've transitioned from charging $8,000 to $10,000 for a program where we used to ask doctors hey, how would everybody in the room who's teaching for the program like to have all the money back that they spent on education to get here? Everybody raised their hand. I spent $100,000. I spent $150,000. I mean, you had to spend money. 20, 30 years ago. You had to spend a significant amount of money on your postgraduate education to be able to compete. Now we offer a scholarship provided by the laboratory.
Speaker 3:That's been unique.
Speaker 2:Yeah, as a laboratory, we want to help our clients to be able to grow, because if they grow and we provide this quality of education, we know that down the road the laboratory will benefit because they'll be getting more cases from that doctor. So we're happy to invest and I try to teach the doctors about using resource management. If money's tight right now, you need to reach out to the people around you and expect them, expect those vendors around you, to help you. They're always got their hand out, sell you something, but who in your world is helping you? And ironically, their fears are the same that you're talking about how to pay, but they're also want to have their time off to go skiing up in Utah, and they also drive a nice vehicle.
Speaker 2:Well, see.
Speaker 3:That's part of what they have to learn too, and that's where Christina, I think, is doing a great job of helping these doctors. I was on Facebook this morning watching one of her doctors do a testimonial on how she works, how vacations have really helped her balance her life and she does. She works three days a week and she takes nine weeks vacation off at this point. And she does. She works three days a week and she takes nine weeks vacation off at this point. And she does. She has all those debts. She bought a practice, she's got debt from school, debt from her practice, and yet she's able to schedule effectively and get the work done. And you guys have always done a unique thing with your scholarship. I just have admired that for a long time and it can be a short-term gain for the lab, but it's going to be definitely a long-term gain for the lab and you've been doing it for 20, 30 years. So it's obviously working. But they've got to put this in perspective and I think that's a big problem too. My brothers are farmers. Actually, one brother, one of my brothers, died five years ago, but they're farmers and I was up recently on the farm and you know, one tractor's half million dollars today. And he took me out to a field where they were planting potatoes and he said you see that coming across the field there that's a 12 row planter. That's $250,000 being pulled by a half-million-dollar tractor and there are three of them in the field at once and doctors get all upset about so they're $500,000 in debt. They've got to put that in perspective to what their earning capacity is. And it's not a problem, it's really not a problem. We helped a.
Speaker 3:He's kind of a, I guess what would I call him? He'd be like a second nephew of my wife. He was at a Thanksgiving dinner one time and he was going to Oregon State and I asked him what he's going to do with his degree in biology and he really didn't know, maybe I'll teach. And I said why don't you go to dental school? Well, he did, he went to dental school and he put the whole thing through.
Speaker 3:Now, one thing that I did he and his wife moved into a really nice apartment near the dental school and I said now, wait a minute, you're not a dentist yet. You can't live in that luxury apartment. It's a luxury not really luxury, but an expensive high-rise on the river in Portland and I said you can't do that at this point. Well, he moved out, they moved into the basement. This is not ideal way, but they moved into his wife's parents' basement had a separate entrance, like a separate apartment, and they lived there for the next three years. They spent the first year in that nice apartment and he came out with half the debt that most of his classmates came out with.
Speaker 3:We helped him buy a practice just west of Portland and last year he raised the income of that practice from what it had been somewhere around. It had been netting somewhere around $300,000. He raised the net of that practice last year by $300,000. He's up almost $600,000 in net income. And if dentists understood the potential and, by the way, he's done a ton of CE If dentists understood the potential of private practice I mean these young dentists and they went out and did the things we're talking about the clinical skills, the communication skills, the management skills to run that practice they wouldn't panic about their school debt or what they have to spend on CE to get there. It's just part of the investment.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's really relevant and I know that. So Mike and I talk a lot about the business of dentistry, looking at your numbers and understanding your numbers, and Mike talks a lot about productivity and bottom line net income versus being busy.
Speaker 3:Exactly when I first started to practice in Corvallis, oregon, there was a man named Charlie Stewart who took me under his wing and he was very smart and he would tell me so we didn't practice together. He let me come into his place. He said well, you can come in. I can't give you any patience, I'm just getting started myself. He had just moved to Corvallis from another practice, another town, but you can practice here on Friday or Saturday if you want. I work four days a week. If you want, I work four days a week and you could use my office because there was a shortage of space and so I did for a few months. But as I got going I'd be busy and he'd say don't tell me how busy I am, tell me what you got done today. And we've talked a lot about profitability and and how to make this work, how to deliver excellent care and make it rewarding for the dentist. And part of it was and this has always been a big part of our consulting business is to have highly trained people. But don't have so many of them, and we've always been able, and we still can, do this. This is what amazes me.
Speaker 3:I kept staff members at 20%. 20% of my growth went to the team for all the benefits I was able to pay people really well, give them all the paid vacation. I remember the first time I did it was a month-long vacation. Carolyn and I and Christina was 18 months old we loaded up my Chevy blazer, got on the ferry and Seattle went to Alaska. We spent five weeks fishing, camping, et cetera. Came back and now the team got paid straight through and people say, how could you do that? I said, well, I figured out how much I was going to pay them for the year and I just divided it by 12, and that's how much I paid him each month. And anyway, it worked out fine and we still teach the same thing.
Speaker 3:But it's based on 20% and even in today's environment we can still operate practices at 20%. Well, the average is over 30. In some states where you are, mike, we're seeing 35% is not unusual. There's 15%. Let's say you're doing a million dollars. That's 150 000 that ought to be in your bank account instead of paying out to extra staff members. And so what we do this is what dentists do, and I may offend some people we hire incompetent people and we hire them a helper. Now we're paying two salaries. We hire incompetent people and we hire them a helper. Now we're paying two salaries and pretty soon it's three, for what a job that one person, well-trained, with good systems, could handle by herself.
Speaker 1:Hey, I hope you're enjoying this interview with Dr Blatchford and if you are, please check out Blatchford Solutions and you know he's talking about the education that the PAC offers. So if you're interested in that education, just go to the T-H-E PAC, p-a-c dot org and check out the website and get some information. All right, let's go join Dr Blatchford once again.
Speaker 3:And the other thing and I've got a client. He's been a client for gosh 20 years and he goes elk hunting with me every year and he's very highly productive. And he says if I can do a $15,000 day, why would I do three fives? And I think that's a question every doctor needs to ask themselves If I can do a $10,000 day or a $15,000 day, why would I do three days to do the same amount of production? That's what you're talking about, mike being productive or being busy. Sure, you can be busy, but how do you put that together and be productive? It's just some simple things.
Speaker 3:We've taught block booking for years and that's something that another consultant and I developed in my office that every day was the same. We did the same procedure at the same time every day, and in my particular office it was four units of crown and bridge for an 8 o'clock appointment. It was four units of crown and bridge for an eight o'clock appointment. Now, that was a long time ago and we were doing things that people don't even do anymore as far as lab work and that sort of thing goes. But if you had four units or more of crown bridge, you could have an eight o'clock appointment. So I didn't need to have four rooms set up for various things. I needed one set up and we knew exactly what it was going to be because we did the same thing at the same time every day.
Speaker 3:And I learned that from an orthopedic surgeon when I was developing the concept, because I got interested in hip implants because my father-in-law had one that failed and I had some ideas to cool hip hip plants with you remember the old hydro hydrocolloid impression material. I said why don't we, why don't we cause they used to do it with orthopedic cement which is called methyl methacrylate to hold the thing in place inside the femur. And I said why don't we cool the implant with water, like we do the pressure material? And so he invited me to come watch a couple of them, and I did. We do them Thursday morning at 7 o'clock and my receptionist at the time said well, what if your patient can't come at 7 o'clock Thursday morning? And his response was we'll do it on somebody else. And the bells were just ringing in my head and I said well, wait a minute. Why can't we do the same thing? Why can't we decide what we do to start each day? And we teach that.
Speaker 3:Christina has done a great job of teaching this and her approach is a little different than mine. But she says how about we just do one day next week, just as planned. One day next week, plan a perfect day, just plan it. And then, once you do one day next week, plan a perfect day, just plan it. And then, once you do one day, well, maybe we make it two days and we eventually get to where we are following block booking.
Speaker 3:But see, some simple things like that can make somebody highly productive and you don't need all these extra people. And if they'll simplify everything they do in the administrative end, um, I I'm on several dental forums and I read these questions that people are asking. I think, gosh, you can solve that form, no problem at all. But I've decided, people on dental forms really don't want a solution. They just want to talk about um problems. Um, for the most part, our clients, we don't send statements. We we quit doing that years and years ago probably 30 years ago, our clients quit sending statements. It's real simple. You're there, the patient's there, everybody knows you owe them, they owe you some money. Why don't you ask for it and collect it today, as opposed to sending them home and then sending statements to them, or sending to an insurance company and see what the insurance will pay and then trying to get the balance out of the patient. We just collect money, and simple things like this can make all the difference for somebody's bottom line, and this is how they pay off that debt.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Can I ask a question? Because everything, I think we are all on the same page and you know, knowing you for so long, you've definitely had a large influence on the way we run our practice too. In today's economy, if you were going to go insurance independent, you know I tell doctors a lot of times the insurance company is their marketing company. You know it's just, it's supplying them with patients. That's right. So, if you know, one of the things I tell the doctors that are thinking about separating from insurance is, well, before you separate from insurance, do everything that you just mentioned and make sure you have the skills, make sure you have the organization and everything behind you. But you have to figure out how to get butts in your chairs too. So, from a marketing perspective, how how to get butts in your chairs too. So, from a marketing perspective, how have you adapted, or how's Blatchford solutions adapted to that? Because I think that's one of the biggest changes, especially in the last 10 years with social media and everything like that. Do you have any thoughts on that?
Speaker 3:First off, you've got to get the other things in line first. You've got to have, you have to have the skills, you have to have, you have to well, I'm going to go through those three steps.
Speaker 3:You need the mindset first. You need the mindset. You've got to change your way of thinking. You've got to change how you think about this. A couple years ago, john Coyce invited me to speak at his symposium and I did a presentation that I learned from a fellow named Dan Sullivan, a strategic coach. The subject is thinking about your thinking. Sounds redundant, but actually it's a very important step. You've got to think positively. You've got to think that and I used to tell doctors all the time.
Speaker 3:I said you know, people come to any business. They want a service that your business offers, or they wouldn't be there. They know that you're going to charge them a fee for that service and they expect to pay you. That's number one. I mean they expect to pay you. I'm always a little dumbfounded when I go to a medical office and I offered my wife and I travel a lot and we're only home and been four months a year, and I said look, I travel all the time. I want to make sure you get paid and there's a good chance. By the time you get a statement to me, I will be out of town. It won't get paid for three months and I just want to pay you. Oh no, we can't do that. I for three months and I just want to pay you? Oh no, we can't do that. I just laugh. I mean you can't take my money. And yet you see, that's mindset. People don't want to pay. So number one is the mindset Two.
Speaker 3:Again I'm going to say they have to get the training and the clinical skills to offer a service, offer a treatment that's not being offered by the insurance companies. For what you teach cosmetically, that's strictly out of insurance. I don't think there's an insurance company yet that will pay for 10 anterior veneers done for aesthetic reasons. So that's all non-insurance. And if they develop those skills and then they learn how to communicate, this again I'm going to say at the sales of those 10 veneers or whatever it is, whatever the insurance companies won't pay. They've got to learn how to present the value of that. And you do that by finding out what the patient wants. It was just like the other day on that couple on the boat what the husband wants he wants to look as good as his wife. She looks a good 10 years younger than he does, and we were laughing about that. And that's what he wants. He doesn't want the veneers, he doesn't want his mouth redone, he wants to look as young as his wife. And if they could learn how and this is what we teach is how to get that from the patient how to get the patient talking about what they really want. I've said for years no one wants an easy one, no one wants a root canal, no one wants an implant. What they want is they want health, they want beauty. Those are the things that they want. And you've got to get the patient to verbalize that by asking the right questions and they've got to develop those skills really well before they change that relationship with the insurance company. They also need to have their team learn how to communicate with patients.
Speaker 3:We call out-of-network, we call us unlimited, unrestricted providers. Right, an unrestricted provider is a nice way to refer to an insurance out-of-network dentist, as opposed to oh, we don't take your insurance. Oh, yeah, we'll take your insurance. However, we are an unrestricted provider, which means that we're not bound by the insurance company's restrictions of what treatment we can offer you. Oh, why is that? Well, our doctor has taken so much CE. They know that he does excellent treatment and we just don't have any restrictions on us. Oh see, just how you say, it makes a huge difference and they've got to learn to do that first before they change that relationship. But once they change that relationship, I'll tell you we've never had anybody go back. We've never had a client go back to accepting insurance. I take that back.
Speaker 3:I did have a client go back. He had a practice out in I'm trying to think of the place, it was out in the desert in California, out there someplace, and he developed a really, really good out-of-network practice and he ended up moving to Park City, utah. Before he sold the practice out in the desert out there, the broker said you've got to go back on insurance. I can't sell an out-of-network practice. So he did and he said I couldn't believe it.
Speaker 3:And he went to Park City, utah, and practiced there until he retired. And he said I couldn't believe it. And he went to Park City, utah, and practiced there until he retired and he never even started with insurance in Park City. But he had the skills. He had the skills, he had the communication skills, he had a small team, they were well-trained and that was in place first. Then he went out-of-network and then he did go back into network because the broker said I can't sell it out of network practice, which I thought I should find a new broker but that didn't work, so he did go back. So the bottom line, other than that I can't think of a single client that ever gone back to being in network and having the insurance company dictate the treatment to the patient.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, once he moved back to park city he had a great view and he had a great life. So, yeah, no, he did really well. You know, what I'm talking about. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:He'd see patients in the morning and go skiing in the afternoon.
Speaker 1:So yeah, he did well.
Speaker 3:That's right. Yeah, actually, actually he didn't. He actually went skiing in the morning and skied into the dentistry in the afternoon. He would have a powder day and he would call the patient the night before and say you know, you've got a dental appointment tomorrow morning, but you've got a problem. We've got a fresh dump of powder and your dentist is going to be skiing. Now you can either see me on the chairlift at eight o'clock or you can see me another day.
Speaker 2:I never met a doctor in any of the programs that we did over the last 30 years. That didn't comprehend everything you're saying. However, for some reason, they had the fear of taking that leap, and I'll never forget what Bill Blashford would say. He'd say I'll make it easy for you. Let's look at your last 12 months. I'll give you this $55,000 consulting for the next 18 months, but I get 50% of the extra revenue, so you have no risk, you know.
Speaker 3:Garrett, I remember making that offer to many people. Nobody ever took me up on it one of my clients should.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, so many should I do that, they all said. But you know, this is, this is the thing, and I think again, it goes back to the mindset and the deserve level that they have to work on. Do they? The dream, the dream of a private practice is still alive and well today. If the doctor will do the thing, I'm not going to be naive enough and say, oh, it's no different than ever, it is, it's more difficult, it's probably more difficult than it's been, but it's still possible. It's still possible and people are doing it.
Speaker 3:And Omar Reed one of his favorite quotes was if it's been done, it's probably possible. And I'd kind of like to leave you with that thought If it's been done, it's probably possible. If it's been done by someone else, it's possible that I could do it. I was amazed when I got we were just talking about my wife and I were talking about this just the other day my goal to get into dental school and I was amazed when I got there. They're all smart. Everybody there was a very smart, excellent students, and I feel that that's true with all dentists. They're all very smart people and they're real capable people and if one dentist has done it. It's probably possible that others could do it. I'm not going to say everybody could do it, because it's not true. Others can do it but,
Speaker 3:you have to have the desire to do it, and I'm not going to do it and I'm not going to say it's not, it's probably more difficult. I will say it's probably more difficult today. I think it depends where you are, where you practice. I also say that's a choice too, though Don't choose a real competitive area. I picked out certain areas the United States that I wouldn't take a client because I would say, uh no, you, you probably can't do it there. That was probably my fault and probably a downfall that I would do, but it's, it's. There are some areas in the United States that I would not choose to go practice there. Why would I More difficult? So it does depend somewhat where you are, but I'd say most areas gosh, we've got it's not just little country towns, I'll tell you. We've got some really incredible practices and some very sophisticated urban areas doing the same thing out of insurance. I don't think anything that's really worthwhile is easy. It does take some work.
Speaker 2:Bill I was going to say, and what's amazing is that all of the support I mean even for our listeners here on the podcast today. You know there's at least three people here that are always willing to help, that are always willing to return an email, always willing to guide. Bill Blatchett will even do it for free if you give him half the revenue for the next 10 years.
Speaker 3:You know, garrett, I do it for free anyway. I answer emails, I answer phone calls. I'm always available to help people, and so is Christina. Christina does it for money. I'm retired now and I don't do it for money, but even so I will always answer emails. My email answers. I'll prepare you. If you're going to send me an email, it's going to be short. I'll say please give me a call. I'd rather talk to you than send you an email. But I'm happy to do that for anybody, because I think we've got a great profession. It did well for me and I just like giving back. And I'm happy to do that for anybody. And sometimes all it takes is a quick answer.
Speaker 3:But I think that I really think if someone wants to go out of insurance, I would say the first thing I would do is I'd find a consultant like Christina who's helped. So many people do it already. I mean, she knows the pattern, she knows the formula. But you do have to get those three things in place first, and I think it takes. I think dentists are wise to hire a coach that will work with them and hold their hand while they're going through the tough parts of the transition, and there are some really good consultants out there to do that. Some like work with somebody like Christina, and there's some like to work with consultants that actually come into your office on a regular basis, and I think there's room for both and I think there's some really good people out there. But don't do it alone. Don't do it alone.
Speaker 2:No, that's a great message, and our message here has been you know, mike is always available. I think one of the things that Blatchford Solutions has always been known for is a systematic approach to every problem, not just a lot of talk and not like you've always systemized everything. You've always systemized everything. You've always had an answer and a process, and I think that process that we teach Mike teaches on the clinical side, the process that you teach on the business side. It's there, and I think one thing I learned today from listening to you is you have to start. You really have to start with the mindset Like Sammy would always say Garrett, I know Bill's right, I'm a fool. You know, to the day to the day Sam gave the keys to the new buyer, he still knew everything he didn't do that he should have done.
Speaker 2:He'll probably listen to this and say he lectured me on what he should do, but he won't do it, so yeah, Well, I think that's, I think that's in human nature.
Speaker 3:I think we all know, you know, we all know that about exercise. We know that about diet. We know that about our health. We know that about you know, I think every dentist knows how to stay healthy, but we don't. I think we all know. I mean, Warren Buffett has let us know how to become wealthy, but we don't do it.
Speaker 1:You know.
Speaker 3:we knew early on that if we just put a certain percentage of money away, starting early, we'll end up with a pot full of money more than we will spend in our lifetime. We'll learn how to, but most don't do it. We'll learn how to, but most don't do it. I think I'm real pleased when I run into debtors who have done these things. You know, to stay healthy to financially stable, you know all of the things that make life successful. I think, intellectually, knowing how to do something and having the courage and the motivation to do it is the tough part, and I think it's just like athletics. I think coaches are what provide that for athletes and I think that's just like athletics. I think coaches are what provide that for athletes and I think that's what we provide for dentists.
Speaker 2:I think that one of the things that a lot of the associates that I personally see because you know we at the laboratory I'm not in the laboratory as much as I am on the telephone talking with the doctors and listening to what's going on in their lives and just trying to be a social life coach in a lot of situations and one thing I try to think that the young associates can do is.
Speaker 2:You know, one of the things you always talk about is, if you're going to hang out with people, always be the dumbest guy in the room.
Speaker 1:Because then you're not going to run successfully.
Speaker 2:So if I'm going to be an associate, I want to be an associate for Dr Miyazaki right, I want to be somewhere where, if I fail dramatically working with him, I'm probably going to be in the top 90% or top 10%, excuse me, of Dennis. So I think that's something that is a simple choice, which is, if you're going to associate, do it in a place that's successful and surround yourself by successful leadership, so that you can at least learn.
Speaker 3:Well, I think you know, I think many, many, many smart people have said that you're the, you are the composite of the five people you spend the most time with, and and I, I, and I think that's true and that's where I look at. I've kind of well, I have quit responding to so many of these dental forums because what they do they seem to love to talk about their problems and they're not really interested in the solution. And I kind of get on these forums and commiserate with their colleagues and I just don't see any value in that at all. It's if you want to be successful, find yourself four or five really successful people and do what they do. And it's real simple. It can be as successful as you're, as you want your marriage to be. Hang out with people who are have successful marriages. If you want to find out how people become successful in health, well, surround yourself. You know you mentioned the health club, Mike. I mean that's a great place to start right there. If you want to hang out with healthy people, go to a gym. I mean that's where we go, that's where we do. And if you want to be successful financially, hang out with people who are successful financially. And that doesn't mean the one with the fanciest car and the biggest house on the block. That means I'm talking real wealth, I'm not just talking flash here. Many of those don't have any money. I've got a kick out of Warren Buffett and his wife still live in the original house they have had for 50 years and that's why he's so wealthy.
Speaker 3:You know and I've had that funny story in dental school I was in school in Chicago and Carolyn was teaching. She had a master's and had a really good job and I had a part-time job at Cook County Hospital. I was making more than she was making teaching and we drove. We had a new well, it was a year-old XKE Jaguar Roadster. In dental school we went to Europe between our third and fourth year of dental school.
Speaker 3:But you know what my reputation among my classmates was? You'll laugh. Bill and Carolyn are frugal and that's why I can drive a new Jaguar which we paid cash for. But I took my own lunch to school every day. I didn't. My friends all went out to restaurants at lunch and I took a sack lunch every day and ate in the laboratory. So my reputation was I'm frugal.
Speaker 3:Well, I kind of like that. You know, I kind of like that. I kind of like you know, gary, you're into boats and Kel and I we've had the same boat for 31 years, so have you and people keep. I talked to a guy he's just called. He's on his fourth boat and they are bigger and bigger and bigger and now, you know, a boat's a hole in the water to pour money into which we have done, but at the same time it's not the biggest flashiest boat. We don't live in the biggest fanciest house We've done. Well, I guess, is how I'll say it, and part of that is being somewhat frugal, and I think that's a message I'd like to get across those young dentists as well is the status symbols don't last long.
Speaker 1:Hey, garrett, I know we're coming up. I don't want to take much for this entire day and want you to enjoy some time out in the boat. But you know I one of the things that I think there was a lot of great advice, especially for the younger docs, and the whole thing about think about what you're thinking. I think that's so true, as Garrett pointed out. You know you've been saying we should become a non-restricted provider kind of insurance independent for decades now, and yet it's one of the hardest things I think our colleagues do. So I think this is these words are words of encouragement and I think at this point in your career too, you know the advice that you give is just sage advice. You know Omar Reed before he passed I went out to go visit him right before before his passing, cause he was a dentist clinician friend that I so respected. I wanted to go out there and just see how he was doing. But you know the words that you shared from Omer. I think they're going to live on forever, but I think that's just great advice.
Speaker 1:Everything that you've done, you've done basically the same way philosophically for the last 40 years, maybe had to adapt with the changing environment of dentistry.
Speaker 1:But you know, I always tell people it's the principles that will survive over time and so a lot of the things that you, you taught you know, it's the communication skills and that's why there's that book. Um, the c students usually do better than the a students because a students are book smart but they're not the communicators like the c students. So once you get out of dental school it's really those communicate the best that I believe do the best. And now I just want to thank you because I think if the doctors go back and they listen to this, not just once, twice and maybe three times Over those three listenings, they will start to pick up the pearls and there's a long string of pearls. I hope so, yeah, and this hour, that they can put together, string together and they're going to have a nice little pearl necklace and I think it has been invaluable. So I just want to say thank you very much for your time and for Thank you, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1:While you're out there enjoying your family. So, garrett, any closing, yeah.
Speaker 2:Bill, you know what I feel like every time we talk. It's you're the same age, you're youthful, you're like your sage advice and you're and you're just a great guy and you've always been a giver and I'm so glad to hear that your daughter's taking it over. And you know Blastford Solutions, you know I think, offers what it's my style, which is a systematic approach, comprehensive and simple to follow format, and I really encourage our listeners to look into that that to Bospor Solutions if they need some help in the future. Bill, so nice to hear from you, man. It's been a long time and I was a great guest I really want to share. You know, what's helped me in my life has been the people I've hung around with, and obviously that that's you. It's been a, you've been a motivator and a real light in my life, so I want to thank you for that too.
Speaker 1:Thank you, thank you. Well, that's a wrap, and thank you, dr Blatchford, and thank you, garrett. I hope you all enjoyed that interview. As I mentioned, Dr Blatchford gave some very sage advice, and it was built on principles that he's applied for over 40 years, and I will tell you a lot of that is what I follow too, and it does work. It may sound scary, but you just got to have the faith. Well, I hope you enjoyed this recording and we'll see you again soon. Thank you very much.
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