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More DSOs are turning to strategic outsourcing to reduce costs, streamline operations, and support overburdened in-practice teams. This case study explores how one multi-location DSO restructured its clinical and business operations by outsourcing key non-clinical roles — from insurance verification to treatment coordination — without compromising patient experience or quality of care. 

  • Which functions are best suited for outsourcing vs. in-house retention 

  • How to identify high-cost, low-impact roles that can be virtualized 

  • How to integrate remote team members into clinic workflows and culture 

Workforce

Author:

J.W. Oliver

Managing Partner
ZimWorX

J.W. is a global leader transforming the way the world views and sees work. As the visionary of SupportDDS and Zimworx—an Inc. 5000 company—he oversees five operational centers with over 1,800 team members across four continents.

J.W. blends high-performance business instincts with faith-driven philanthropy, donating 51% of all profits to ministries and charities around the globe.

Beyond the boardroom, JW is an adventurer and endurance enthusiast who has trekked to Everest Base Camp and Machu Picchu. He is a pilot, a podcast host, and a serial entrepreneur. An ordained minister and devoted husband of 30+ years, JW is laser-focused on a massive mission: empowering 20,000 team members by 2032.

 

J.W. Oliver

Managing Partner
ZimWorX

J.W. is a global leader transforming the way the world views and sees work. As the visionary of SupportDDS and Zimworx—an Inc. 5000 company—he oversees five operational centers with over 1,800 team members across four continents.

J.W. blends high-performance business instincts with faith-driven philanthropy, donating 51% of all profits to ministries and charities around the globe.

Beyond the boardroom, JW is an adventurer and endurance enthusiast who has trekked to Everest Base Camp and Machu Picchu. He is a pilot, a podcast host, and a serial entrepreneur. An ordained minister and devoted husband of 30+ years, JW is laser-focused on a massive mission: empowering 20,000 team members by 2032.

 

High-performing teams don’t just happen — they’re built on systems. In today’s DSO landscape, inconsistent workflows, communication breakdowns can drag down even your best teams. This session explores how to create a strategic digital stack that empowers your workforce at every level — from front desk to regional ops — while improving engagement, execution, and retention. 

  • What a modern digital workforce stack looks like for DSOs today 

  • How to connect scheduling, task management, and communication tools 

  • How digital systems prevent burnout, and boost accountability and increase efficiency 

Workforce

Author:

Mariz Tanious

Chief Dental Officer
Affinity Dental Management

Mariz Tanious

Chief Dental Officer
Affinity Dental Management

Author:

Dr. Alan J. Acierno

Chief Dental Officer
Smile Brands

Dr. Alan J. Acierno

Chief Dental Officer
Smile Brands
 

Katie Roberts, PhD

Data Science Solution Architect
Neo4j

Katie Roberts, PhD

Data Science Solution Architect
Neo4j

Katie Roberts, PhD

Data Science Solution Architect
Neo4j

You can’t scale what you can’t manage — and most DSOs are growing faster than their leaders. s DSOs expand across regions, many find themselves stuck between two extremes: overburdened executives managing too many clinics, and newly promoted managers who lack training or support. The result? Operational inconsistency, weak culture, and stalled performance. In this session, learn how leading DSOs are building leadership pipelines that work — turning hygienists into team leads, office managers into regional directors, and providers into clinical mentors. 

 

  • How to identify high-potential team members before they burn out 

  • What a structured leadership development program looks like at a DSO 

  • How to track leadership readiness, performance, and impact with the right KPIs 

Workforce

Author:

Dr. Aman Kaur

Founder & President
Women in DSO

Dr. Aman Kaur

Founder & President
Women in DSO

Author:

Pat Bauer

President & Chief Executive Officer
Heartland Dental Foundation

Pat Bauer

President & Chief Executive Officer
Heartland Dental Foundation

As the lines between oral and systemic health continue to blur, DSOs are uniquely positioned to bring whole-patient preventive care into everyday dentistry. From screening for diabetes and cardiovascular risks to integrating dental and medical records, forward-looking DSOs are transforming routine checkups into critical health touchpoints. This panel brings together leaders who are embedding holistic screenings and medical-dental integration into their operating models, building the foundation for a more preventive, patient-centered future. 

  • Leveraging integrated EHRs and AI-driven diagnostics to connect dental and medical records 

  • Training hygienists and care teams as frontline preventive health screeners 

  • Creating referral pathways and partnerships with physicians and payers 

Service Innovation
Preventative Health

Author:

Joe Feldsien

President
PDS Health

Joe Feldsien

President
PDS Health

Author:

Nabil Fehmi

Founder & Chief Clinical Officer
Westwind Integrated Health

Nabil Fehmi

Founder & Chief Clinical Officer
Westwind Integrated Health

It’s not just about growth — it’s about what kind of growth. Whether you're a single-location practice considering your first exit, or a 30-location DSO aiming to attract private equity interest, preparing for acquisition requires more than profitability and a clean P&L. In today’s deal environment, buyers are scrutinizing scalability, infrastructure, technology adoption, and operational sophistication more than ever. 

  • What buyers are prioritizing right now (and what’s a red flag) 

  • The difference between a “practice” and a “platform” in the eyes of PE 

  • How to build acquirer-ready infrastructure: finance, compliance, tech, reporting 

  • How digital maturity, clinical consistency, and patient retention drive valuation 

Scaling
Investment

Author:

Shalin Tejani

Chief Executive Officer
Legacy Dental Group

Shalin Tejani

Chief Executive Officer
Legacy Dental Group

Author:

Miguel Mireles

Director - Investment Banking
Skytale

Miguel Mireles

Director - Investment Banking
Skytale

As DSOs scale across clinics, cities, and states, their regulatory exposure grows exponentially, and with it, the cost of non-compliance. From HIPAA violations to inconsistent documentation and expired licenses, the risk isn’t just financial; it’s operational, reputational, and legal. This panel brings together DSO leaders who’ve moved beyond reactive, decentralized compliance management to build centralized command centers, where policy, accountability, and technology come together under one strategic roof.  

  • Standardizing protocols across documentation, coding, training, and audits  

  • Tracking regulatory obligations across states using central dashboards  

  • Auditing proactively (not reactively), preparing confidently for payer and regulator scrutiny 

Financial Management
Revenue Cycle Management

Author:

Crispin Vary

Chief Executive Officer
Compliancy Group

Crispin Vary

Chief Executive Officer
Compliancy Group

From denied claims to aged A/R and inconsistent collections, the revenue cycle remains one of the most leak-prone and under-optimized systems inside many DSOs, especially as they scale. In this focused executive panel, DSO finance and operations leaders share how they uncovered millions in missed collections and reclaimed revenue by overhauling their RCM workflows, centralizing billing operations, and layering in automation, AI tools, and smarter vendor oversight. 

  • How leading DSOs structure their internal vs. outsourced RCM teams 

  • Which KPIs should be reviewed daily vs. monthlyand which are most often ignored 

  • How AI and automation can reduce denials, speed up collections, and improve cash flow 

Financial Management

Author:

Brian Doyle

Executive Vice President of Growth
Rectangle Health

Brian Doyle

Executive Vice President of Growth
Rectangle Health

Author:

Jeff Cole

Founder & CEO
Pearly

Jeff Cole is the Founder & CEO of Pearly (www.pearly.co), a revenue cycle management platform that helps DSOs and private dental practices streamline billing processes and improve collection rates.  Pearly powers patient billing for over 3,000 dental offices in the United States, including dozens of large DSOs.

Prior to founding Pearly, Mr. Cole was the CEO of Path, a patient communication solution for senior care operators, that was acquired in 2018. He began his professional career as an Alternative Investment Analyst at Credit Suisse in New York and graduated cum laude from Princeton University.  

Mr. Cole currently serves on the Board of the Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital Foundation and lives with his wife and son in Santa Barbara, California.

 

Jeff Cole

Founder & CEO
Pearly

Jeff Cole is the Founder & CEO of Pearly (www.pearly.co), a revenue cycle management platform that helps DSOs and private dental practices streamline billing processes and improve collection rates.  Pearly powers patient billing for over 3,000 dental offices in the United States, including dozens of large DSOs.

Prior to founding Pearly, Mr. Cole was the CEO of Path, a patient communication solution for senior care operators, that was acquired in 2018. He began his professional career as an Alternative Investment Analyst at Credit Suisse in New York and graduated cum laude from Princeton University.  

Mr. Cole currently serves on the Board of the Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital Foundation and lives with his wife and son in Santa Barbara, California.

 

 

Tim Harris

Partner
Osborne Clark

Tim Harris

Partner
Osborne Clark

Tim Harris

Partner
Osborne Clark

M&A is the engine of growth for many DSOsbut integration is the bottleneck. Too often, post-acquisition operations are slowed by disconnected practice management systems, siloed EHRs, and inconsistent data sources. The result? Poor visibility, inefficiencies, and missed synergies. This session explores how medium-to-large DSOs are using data lake platforms and API-first architectures to unify their tech ecosystems, enable clean data consolidation, and create a scalable foundation for long-term growth. 

Data Interoperability

Author:

Jeff Cellucci

Chief Strategy Officer
MB2 Dental

Jeff Cellucci

Chief Strategy Officer
MB2 Dental