JARVIS

ANALYTICS

OPERATIONAL
EFFICIENCIES
PLAYBOOK
2021
Insights From Top DSO Leaders
 JARVIS
ANALYTICS

We sat down with some of the brightest minds in

the Dental Service Organizations (DSO) to talk about
operational efficiencies and how they use data to
manage and grow their dental businesses.

The first section includes interviews with three

leaders from some of the biggest and fastest-
growing DSOs. Then we talk about the goals,
workflows, and KPI models of successful DSOs and
how to glean insights from data to drive revenue.

Read this eBook to learn how to create operational

efficiencies in your organization aligned with your
revenue goals!

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 JARVIS
ANALYTICS

About this eBook

This eBook is split into two parts. In the first section, three DSO
leaders share their best practices and challenges and discuss their
approaches to managing operations and tracking KPIs. They also
answer some of our questions like, “What is the first metric you
check each morning?” and “What is the most important KPI for
measuring success in your organization?”

The second section is written by Melissa Marquez, COO of Jarvis. In

this section, Melissa shares how dental dashboards and KPI models
can be leveraged to achieve operational efficiencies throughout an
organization. She also shows how dashboards provide insights that
enable dental businesses to drive revenue and improve operational
and clinical excellence. In addition, Melissa talks about how to
implement and run Morning Huddles effectively. Morning Huddles
are regularly scheduled meetings at a practice level to contribute to
the revenue growth goals of the organization.

How to reach us
We hope you and your team see value from this
eBook. Please get in touch with any questions or
comments at: info@jarvisanalytics.com.

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DSO Leaders
Keith Miller
President, and CEO of Partnerships for
Dentists
Keith Miller leads Partnerships for Dentists’ growth
and all DSO operations. He has more than 28 years
of experience and has successfully led high-growth
platforms in both the retail and retail healthcare
sectors. Prior to P4D, Keith was president of
Legacy ER and Urgent Care, tripling the size of the
organization in his first year, and spent 13 years
as a principal leader in the growth of Dental One
Partners (a top 10 national DSO).
Rich Gillespie
Vice President of Operations at Dentive
Rich Gillespie is Vice President of Operations at
Dentive, a Dallas-based DSO. He is a sales and
marketing professional with more than 15 years
of experience building relationships, building sales
teams, managing accounts, and maximizing sales in
the healthcare and software industries.
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JARVIS
ANALYTICS
Dr. Nathan Kupperman
Owner, and CFO of NAK Dental Group
Dr. Kupperman is a practicing dentist and owner
and CFO of NAK Dental Group. NAK Dental
Group currently supports five dental locations
across northwest Florida and offers a variety of
management services from its administrative
headquarters in Tallahassee. NAK also offers
affiliation and partner ownership opportunities for
dentists across the United States.
Melissa Marquez
Chief Operating Officer at Jarvis
Melissa has spent more than 20 years in the dental
industry, in roles ranging from a clinical assistant
at a dental practice to VP of Operations and COO
of a large DSO. Through industry knowledge and
expertise in operational efficiencies, Melissa brings
invaluable contributions to Jarvis and its partners.
4
Keith Miller JARVIS
ANALYTICS
President, and CEO of Partnerships for Dentists

Keith Miller leads Partnerships for Dentists’ growth and all DSO operations. He has more
than 28 years of experience and has successfully led high-growth platforms in both the
retail and retail healthcare sectors. Prior to P4D, Keith was president of Legacy ER and
Urgent Care, tripling the size of the organization in his first year, and spent 13 years as a
principal leader in the growth of Dental One Partners (a top 10 national DSO).

What is the most important metric or KPI for measuring success

in your organization?
I look at hygiene visits.

Hygiene visits are what drive every practice. We see what’s trending month-to-month and year-over-
year to ensure practices are retaining and growing their hygiene department. It’s about how many
patients come in the door.

What’s the first metric you look at each morning? Weekly?

Monthly?
Every morning I look at current production and collections versus budget and versus last year. How
are we performing versus what we expected to do and versus the previous year?

On a weekly basis, I do the same thing as I do each morning. You want to see how the practices are
doing from a revenue basis. If they aren’t doing what you expect them to do, you use tools to find out
why.

On a monthly basis, we look at overall visits, and new patient visits… different revenue lines.

How do you measure what is working at the practice level?

It’s really looking at the different lines of business. What is the doctor doing, and what is the
hygienist doing each day? If they lack in any areas, we look at KPIs to see what is falling off. Is it case
acceptance? Treatment plan? What is broken? If you don’t know what is broken, you won’t be able to
fix it.

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 JARVIS
Keith Miller ANALYTICS

President, and CEO of Partnerships for Dentists

Historically, what has been the most significant pain point you’ve
had with how KPIs are measured and data presented?
Historically, access to data was our most significant pain point. Data was very limited on our former
platform versus how robust Jarvis is.

By using Jarvis and its data analytics capabilities, we can make informed decisions about where we
want our business to go in the future and what strategic moves will garner the best results. As W.
Edwards Deming put it, “Without data, you’re just another person with an opinion.”

In your opinion, what component of reporting is most important?

The trends are the most important component of our reporting.

I do trending on a lot of things: production, collection, doctor production, and doctor collections. The
trends tab has a plethora of information on how things are trending month over month and year
over year.

In your experience, what is the most common disconnect

between DSO Leadership and a practice?
The most significant disconnect is that from a top-down look, we can see pretty clearly where there
are problems within a practice, but they’re so busy each day that they don’t necessarily see these as
clearly. There is so much activity at the practice level—they’re doing a million things at once.

What trap do you think DSO leaders fall into when it comes to
operational efficiencies?
I think, in general, all DSOs look at things differently. I’ve been in meetings with different leaders,
and each DSO has hot buttons on what they think is important—average production per day, or per
patient, or per hour. The limitation is probably that you only know what you know. Unless you have
an influx of new people in your organization with new perspectives, you may be in a box because that
is how you’ve always done it.

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 JARVIS
Keith Miller ANALYTICS

President, and CEO of Partnerships for Dentists

How has Jarvis helped you on an operational level? Do you have a

specific example?
Overall, Jarvis is helped because of the way the platform is set up. I actually use Jarvis for practices
I am buying. I set up Jarvis before I buy a practice. I compare the practice to others based on the
metrics we use. I don’t have to do conversions, which are awful. The daily ability to dig into anything
you want to dig into is the benefit of Jarvis.

I was on a call this morning, and we were talking about a group of practices that were struggling. On
Zoom, I pulled up data on Jarvis. All the information is there for you, everything you need. You just
have to be knowledgeable about how to use Jarvis.

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Dr. Nathan Kupperman JARVIS
ANALYTICS
Owner, and CFO of NAK Dental Group

Dr. Kupperman is a practicing dentist and owner and CFO of NAK Dental Group. NAK Dental
Group currently supports five dental locations across northwest Florida and offers a variety
of management services from its administrative headquarters in Tallahassee. NAK also
offers affiliation and partner ownership opportunities for dentists across the United States.

What is the most important metric or KPI for measuring success

in your organization?
I like constantly comparing a practice’s performance to the previous year. I like to compare
production and collection per month to that month of the previous year

What’s the first metric you look at each morning? Weekly?

Monthly?
Each morning, I look at the appointment section so I can see daily schedules. I can break down
appointments for each of our five offices. Previously, I had to log into each office’s individual account,
which was a total time sink.

I also like to look at what is pre-booked for the month. I know what numbers should look like a
month to month. I can see if a month is underbooked and if I need to focus on that office, or if an
office has a healthy schedule for the month.

How do you measure what is working at the practice level?

I need to see that the numbers are registering accurately. The End of Day (EOD) reports are
very important. I want to make sure the office managers are inputting the right production and
collections.

Historically, what has been the most significant pain point you’ve
had with how KPIs are measured and data presented?
The pain point was that I had to log into a different account for each office. For five different offices,
there were individual sign-ins and passwords. It was cumbersome to do this each day. I did this for
a year and switched over to Jarvis and...BOOM! Everything was at my fingertips. Jarvis saves so much
time. It feels effortless. I have a pulse on everything.

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 JARVIS
Dr. Nathan Kupperman ANALYTICS

Owner, and CFO of NAK Dental Group

In your opinion, what component of reporting is most important?

Productions and collections, obviously. This has to be accurate. Accounts receivable needs to be at
100 percent. As long as productions and collections match up, it’s easy. If there’s a disparity then it’s
hard to monitor the money coming in. I want to make sure the services are paid for and that money
is collected.

In your experience, what is the most common disconnect

between DSO Leadership and a practice?
The most common disconnect I see involves a lack of delegation. Practice management gets
overwhelmed and spends time doing things they shouldn’t. They should delegate and monitor
numbers more.

On the DSO leadership level, we delegate more.

What trap do you think DSO leaders fall into when it comes to
operational efficiencies?
It comes back to the delegation issue I mentioned. If a DSO leader tries to do things that they can
delegate to someone else, they will get bogged down and miss things. They risk missing more
valuable information that can help them maintain a business.

For example, it is easy to get bogged down with HR. You have to have a chain of command. If I
am going to an important meeting, but I am dealing with HR issues, I will be distracted. Then a
meaningful meeting can go south because I am not paying attention. The chain of command is super
crucial.

How has Jarvis helped you on an operational level? Do you have a

specific example?
It is very time efficient. I can sign into a single dashboard and I have the world at my fingertips. I’m
able to see what offices are doing at all times. I can see how schedules are looking. I am monitoring
providers’ production. When numbers start to dip and you catch it early, you can correct it. Things
can go south really quickly. I have a pulse at all times. It’s easier to put out small fires than a forest
fire.

I am obsessed with Jarvis. I’m using it all the time.

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Rich Gillespie JARVIS
ANALYTICS
Vice President of Operations at Dentive

Rich Gillespie is Vice President of Operations at Dentive, a Dallas-based DSO. He is a sales

and marketing professional with more than 15 years of experience building relationships,
building sales teams, managing accounts, and maximizing sales in the healthcare and
software industries.

What is the most important metric or KPI for measuring success

in your organization?
We use so many KPIs! Net production is huge. We do look at adjustments—not insurance, but other
types after insurance. We also look at new patients, production per patient per provider, and hygiene
production. And we definitely look at collections.

What’s the first metric you look at each morning? Weekly?

Monthly?
This is a tough one. Each morning I go to the dashboard to see net production against goal and
collections against goal.

How do you measure what is working at the practice level?

Hygiene production is an important metric. And also, production per provider is an important metric
to measure.

Historically, what has been the most significant pain point you’ve
had with how KPIs are measured and data presented?
The biggest pain point was how to find all the answers in one place. I had to pull reports from every
practice management system (PMS).

In your opinion, what component of reporting is most important?

Accuracy. Is your data correct, precise, error-free, real-time? Without accuracy, your data and the
report you are generating from your data is misleading and useless.

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 JARVIS
Rich Gillespie ANALYTICS

Vice President of Operations at Dentive

In your experience, what is the most common disconnect

between DSO Leadership and a practice?
I would say expectations between DSO Leadership and a practice underlie most of the remaining
critical issues. In essence, I believe that if DSO Leadership and dental practice would share the same
goals and vision. Shared vision, open dialogue, and cooperative communication on both sides are
important to eliminate expectation gaps.

What trap do you think DSO leaders fall into when it comes to
operational efficiencies?
It is making sure that the data speaks accurately with what happens at the practice. We can have
numbers, but are we aligned with what numbers mean? There are so many variables that can go into
trends and data.

How has Jarvis helped you on an operational level? Do you have a

specific example?
For me personally, it has helped me understand the operations of a dental office so quickly. I can
see trends instantly because I have access to data and dashboards, day to day, month to month, and
year to year. Jarvis allows me to understand the practice and get on the same page. I instantly have
information for the optimization of operations.

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 JARVIS
ANALYTICS

Now that you’ve heard from leaders of some of the fastest-growing DSOs, we’d like to
explore best practices for achieving operational efficiency with Jarvis COO Melissa Marquez.

Melissa Marquez
Chief Operating Officer of Jarvis Analytics

Melissa has spent more than 20 years in

the dental industry, in roles ranging from
a clinical assistant at a dental practice to
VP of Operations and COO of a large DSO.
Through industry knowledge and expertise in
operational efficiencies, Melissa brings invaluable
contributions to Jarvis and its partners. Below
Melissa shares her thoughts on KPI models for
high-growth DSOs, and provides tips for achieving
operational efficiency on the practice level,
particularly with her tried and true method: the
Morning Huddle.

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 JARVIS
Melissa Marquez ANALYTICS

Chief Operating Officer of Jarvis Analytics

A KPI model for high-growth DSOs

The best model for a high growth DSO is one that:

Can be matched back to specific initiatives (what we want to accomplish)

Holds people accountable (who is responsible for execution)

Includes a visual scoreboard that everyone can monitor (results that keep us driven toward goals)

Segmenting KPIs between General Doctor, Hygiene, Office, and Specialty ensures clear accountability
while enabling you to keep a team approach.

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 JARVIS
Melissa Marquez ANALYTICS

Chief Operating Officer of Jarvis Analytics

Reporting
Most people do not enjoy doing work that they feel is unnecessary. Spending time filling out reports
manually or logging into multiple systems is a drag when it comes to reporting.

If you know that you need strong daily, weekly, and monthly reporting, consider automating this
as much as possible so that you can spend time reviewing it and discussing it with your team. Most
people have a natural desire to rank at the top of a list, so I highly recommend reporting that allows
you to rank the performance of your providers and practices. Used properly, performance ranking
can be a motivating tool for your teams, and they’ll appreciate being able to view reports in a new
way.

Aligning teams
Diversity in the team is a great thing. If your work team were a basketball team you would not want
a team full of great offensive shooters; you would need some great defenders to help you win.
Differing opinions also help challenge us and you want that behavior to push the team forward. That
said, you may not all agree on principle, but you should agree on the process.

Documenting your standard operating procedures and investing in really great training is a great
recipe for success. You may think you are in the dental business, but the reality is you are in the
feelings business. Patients show up because they feel pain. Team members stick with you because
they feel loyalty and feel invested in the mission of your organization.

Tap into the feelings of your team to best align around the “why” behind your processes and goals.
You can’t do this unless you understand how your team members think and what they need to feel
engaged and appreciated. There are some fabulous assessments available like the DiSC assessment
or the StandOut Assessment by Marcus Buckingham.

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 JARVIS
Melissa Marquez ANALYTICS

Chief Operating Officer of Jarvis Analytics

How to set targets and goals and keep people accountable

Collaboration is key in a DSO environment. Involving practice-level leadership in the creation of
targets and goals allows buy-in at an early stage and creates a culture of inclusion. When we create
goals together, we achieve more.

One way I accomplished this as the COO of a large DSO was to openly discuss the hard stuff. If the
organization has a commitment to improving revenue or EBITDA by a certain percentage YOY, that
goal can be taken to the Operational and Clinical teams to dive into the opportunities in each location
and the nitty-gritty on how to accomplish the growth target as a team.

Identifying your most important goals and initiatives for your regions, practices, and providers will
keep everyone rowing in the same direction. For accountability to take a front seat, agree on how to
measure progress, and meet regularly on progress.

Don’t shy away from the tough conversations about how to do better and what is getting in the way.
These conversations help your team know you have their back even in really tough situations and
exemplify servant leadership.

What to consider before adopting Jarvis’s KPI model

It is important to meet the people in your organization where they are. If measuring dental KPIs is
a brand new concept, consider starting off with the basics and keeping it simple before you add on
new clinical KPIs or advanced metrics.

Also, consider who on your team would make a great champion of an analytics platform.
Organizations that identify early adopters of your initiatives can influence the entire organization far
beyond your reach. There is a great TED Talk by Derek Sivers on how to start a movement. I love to
reflect on that when I am thinking about who I can identify to help me launch a new tool. Think of
those high potential team members that are admired and are the “go-to” people in your organization.

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ANALYTICS

Morning Huddle

Why is having a Morning Huddle valuable?

One of my favorite things to do as a DSO operator is to change the Morning Huddle
behavior to make this a valuable use of time for my practices.

I like to compare not having a morning huddle in a dental office to driving down the highway
blindfolded. When a morning huddle is properly executed, you can avoid the collisions
that can occur in your schedule or with patients and you can consistently achieve high
productivity. Not to mention they are great team builders and provide an opportunity for
each individual on the team to shine as a leader.

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 Morning Huddle JARVIS
ANALYTICS

What is the purpose of a Morning Huddle?

Your huddle brings the most value when it:

1. Recaps the prior day’s performance (What can we learn from?)

2. Focuses on our opportunities for today (How can we make this day even better?)

3. Creates urgency to build tomorrow (How can we stay future-focused?)

Who should be responsible for running these meetings?

I can’t stress this enough: You need one accountable leader for each huddle to make sure
everyone shows up and participates, but EVERYONE should play a role in the meeting.
I have found this works best when you assign a part of your huddle agenda to each team
member.

Some examples of how you may approach this are:

Front Office or Office Manager: Review actual and scheduled production for
the office and individual providers. Update on who new patients are today so
that you can plan to “wow” them. Ensure you are prepared to collect any aging
balances from patients as they check out.

Assistant: Ensure all lab cases are accounted for. Review unscheduled
treatment for patients coming in today and discuss how you can move this to
completed or scheduled status.

Hygienist: Focus on who needs a hygiene visit so that you can work in same-
day additions in case of no-shows. Be sure to know which patients need x-rays,
fluoride, or possible referrals to specialty.

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 Morning Huddle JARVIS
ANALYTICS

How far out and back should the Morning Huddle be

looking?
I like to focus on yesterday, today, and tomorrow, and also check in with how the office
is doing on a month-to-date basis for our goals. Looking too far back or forward can feel
overwhelming to the team.

What are some of the challenges around implementing

a Morning Huddle?
The biggest challenge I have found that teams face for implementing the huddle all center
around preparedness. Dental practices are busy, and there is always something to do or
focus on. Automating the legwork of pulling the data and patient information together
can really help with this barrier. My mantra has always been that if I want my team to do
something daily, make it high value and low effort.

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ANALYTICS

Conclusion
In this eBook, we’ve covered a few ways that DSOs stay on top
of the overall growth goals of their organization. An overarching
theme that all three of the DSO leaders touched upon was the
importance and value of having all of their data in one place.

Understanding the reporting infrastructure, process, and data

quality at your DSO can often be a challenge. Being smart, capable,
and experienced won’t be enough to move the needle if you
cannot trust the data you’re working with or you don’t have access
to the BIG picture.

Operational Efficiencies and Insight

to Drive Revenue and Growth

One way you can learn exactly what’s happening in your organization is
to implement a smart, all-in-one data analytics platform. The platform
should work with both the teams and technology you have in place,
making it easy for all your team members to reach their goals for the
short-, mid- and long-term.

A data analytics platform, like Jarvis, can help uncover your DSO’s true
potential and unlock sustainable growth. Jarvis enables you to view all
of the data from your providers in one place—no matter what practice
management system they use. This way, you can make fast and informed
decisions to improve operations and fuel growth.

We are here to show you with your own data what’s working, what’s not
and identify the delta between perception and reality.

Are you interested in learning more about us? Talk to one of our DSO
Data Specialists today!
www.jarvisanalytics.com

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An all-in-one dental KPI dashboard JARVIS
ANALYTICS

for DSOs, group practices, and solo

private practice success
Managing your metrics, data, and essential KPIs requires an amount of time and energy.
Streamline the process with an all-in-one solution that includes the essential capabilities
expected from a dental dashboard.

The Jarvis Analytics platform helps assure that you’re tracking the important metrics and
staying on-track with your goals as your dental practice and/or DSO grows and expands.

JARVIS

Integrates seamlessly with your chosen practice management

software/platform

Turn your practice management system data into actionable

insights so that you can focus on what you do best...growing your
dental business

Experience Jarvis in action.

JARVIS Request a demo today at jarvisanalytics.com

Or...
ANALYTICS
Contact us for more information about data
tracking that leads to profitability.

info@jarvisanalytics.com jarvisanalytics.com

866-9-JARVIS (527-847) 12377 Merit Dr., Suite 225, Dallas, TX 75251 USA

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