Lois Banta, Speaking Consulting Network

Intro: [00:00:03] Live from the Business RadioX Studio in Atlanta, it’s time for Dental Business Radio. Brought to you by Practice Quotient. Practice Quotient bridges the gap between the provider and payer communities. Now, here’s your host, Patrick O’Rourke.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:00:18] Hi there, fiends of the dental business community. This is your host, Patrick O’Rourke, on today’s edition of Dental Business Radio. First of all, I’d like to give a shoutout to our sponsor, Practice Quotient, PPO analysis and negotiation. If you’re a top tier provider – that means dentists, oral surgeon, periodontist, endodontist, et cetera – and you don’t feel that you are being paid or compensated adequately or fairly per your top tier status by your contractual labels on your fee schedules – i.e. insurance companies that are your business partners – then you should call the fine folks at Practice Quotient. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, national clients from Anchorage, to L.A., to Miami, to New York.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:01:04] Also, they have an article right now. If you contact them and ask for it and mention Dental Business Radio, they will give you top ten things to think about or top ten tips to know prior to negotiating your PPOs. Just mention Dental Business Radio Top Ten Tips. All right. So, with that, thank you to our sponsor. I’d also like to give a big thanks to our guest who came in all the way from Kansas City, Lois Banta. How are you, Lois?

Lois Banta: [00:01:36] I’m great. I couldn’t be happier to be here.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:01:39] All right. Well, we’re thrilled to have you here. And, really, just kind of a continuation of our conversation that we were doing before. Also, with us as always, is the monsignor, John Ray, ESQ., first of his name, last of his kind. So, he’ll be here as well, although he doesn’t say much. He’s over there chewing some tobacco right now. So, we’ll let him be as long as the soundboard is working. So, welcome to Atlanta. I know that you were here recently.

Lois Banta: [00:02:10] I was. I was here recently to have our 25th Anniversary for our Speaking Consulting Network Conference at Chateau Elan. It was great.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:02:18] Chateau Elan is a very fine property. So, fun fact on a personal level, that is where I proposed to my wife.

Lois Banta: [00:02:25] Nice. Yeah. We love that property. It’s my third visit to Chateau Elan.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:02:30] Really? Yeah. So, shoutout to Chateau Elan and Braselton. Braselton? Braselton?

Lois Banta: [00:02:34] I called it Braselton.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:02:38] All right. Neither one of us were actually born Georgia.

Lois Banta: [00:02:40] Tomato. Tomato.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:02:40] Yeah. Well, we got the Chateau part down, so that’s what’s important. So, you were over there, 25th Anniversary of The Speaking Consulting Network. So, tell me, I’m very interested in The Speaking Consulting Network. So, describe the genesis or the origin of the organization and how it’s evolved.

Lois Banta: [00:03:03] So, The Speaking Consulting Network was founded by an international consultant speaker, Linda Miles, back in 1996. And she was being approached by several people in the industry to teach them what she knows about the profession of speaking, consulting, and writing. And she thought, “Hey, I think that might be a company.” So, the first meeting she had, I believe, was in Florida, she had 11 people. And I joined that organization one year later after its inception, and there were 14 of us. And, now, we have members upwards of 500, which we’ve grown organically and very slowly.

Lois Banta: [00:03:46] So, the essence of The Speaking Consulting Network is, it’s an organization, a network of entrepreneurs that are either beginning, fine tuning, or changing their ownership of their business. They’re an entrepreneur in the speaking, consulting, and/or writing world. So, The Speaking Consulting Network, when I joined, I was still working fulltime in a dental practice. But I had the thought that I wanted to teach people what I know. And my boss’s dental buddies were having me in their offices to teach their teams how to get the results I was getting, so that, “I think that’s a company.” So, I joined the organization. Two years later, I quit my job and jumped fulltime into speaking, consulting, and writing.

Lois Banta: [00:04:31] In 2010, Linda Miles was slowing down and she decided she wanted to semi- retire. So, I bought the Speaking Consulting Network in 2010. And so, now, we’ve grown the organization to be more about keeping that network of colleagues and entrepreneurs checked in for the entire year. So, we organized a New Member Day where you can come in and learn the trade secrets that I have established over my career. And then, we have two additional days of general session. We have guest speakers outside the dental industry.

Lois Banta: [00:05:07] Speaking Consulting Network was formed in dental, but it doesn’t limit itself to the dental industry. It’s entrepreneurs who are growing a successful business. It started in dentistry because that’s where Linda Miles was. And that’s where most of us land, is in the world of dentistry. From there, we grew it to a monthly live mastermind type session where we have a think tank for an hour, and it’s our members sharing information about how to grow their successful business every single month.

Lois Banta: [00:05:35] And then, three – four years ago now, we started SCN Unplugged at the request of our members, some place midyear that we could get together and really share ideas of how we could grow or maintain our successful businesses. So, we call it SCN Unplugged, and that’s in Napa Valley.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:05:54] Really? Is there acoustic guitars?

Lois Banta: [00:05:57] No, but that’s a great idea. We did have a great band at our 25th Anniversary. It was rocking.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:06:02] Yeah. And did you do any singing there?

Lois Banta: [00:06:06] I did do a little singing. I just knew you were going to ask me that. Yes, two of my consulting colleagues and I rewrote the lyrics to Mamma Mia! and we performed a little ditty on surviving COVID in the consulting, speaking, and writing profession.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:06:23] Is that right?

Lois Banta: [00:06:25] Yeah.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:06:25] So, John Ray has never heard of Mamma Mia! Except for the pizza joint that’s outside Lithonia. Could you give him a little sample?

Lois Banta: [00:06:34] Oh, you’re terrible. You’re just rotten, rotten to the core. Let’s see.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:06:38] You can do it. You’re a superstar.

Lois Banta: [00:06:40] I have to remember it because, you know, the lyrics were on a little TV. So, let’s see. SCN, here we go again. My, my, oh, how much we’ve missed you. SCN here we go again. My, my, how can we resist you? Back when the COVID started, we were all broken hearted. SCN, here we go again.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:07:07] I love it.

Lois Banta: [00:07:08] There you go.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:07:09] Nice job.

Lois Banta: [00:07:11] Now, everybody knows I’m a singer. Thanks a lot.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:07:12] All right. Well, now, you have a new career niche. It’s all about options. Look at John Ray, he has a little tear in his eye.

Lois Banta: [00:07:19] Yeah. If this is a consulting thing doesn’t work out, yeah.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:07:22] Well, the thing about consultants is that, you know, some people think that they want help, but then they really don’t. And then, they don’t do it, they blame you. Singing or performing, like, if I had my druthers, if I had any talent at all, that’s probably the direction I’d go. The only thing I’m good at is what I do, that’s what I tell people all the time. But I thought I was going to play the guitar as well and I was going to be a rock star. But I don’t have any talent like you. Not like that.

Lois Banta: [00:07:53] There’s that.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:07:54] Yeah. It turns out you need that.

Lois Banta: [00:07:55] You kind of do. Yeah.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:07:56] Yeah. Or you need to be, like, really well-connected or super attractive, neither of which I don’t check those boxes.

Lois Banta: [00:08:02] Well, that singing thing has really worked out for me as a speaker because I’ve never lost my voice. I’m a trained singer. So, you use those techniques to be able to keep your energy up and not lose your voice.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:08:14] That’s interesting. And especially, like, flying around because you’re going all over the place.

Lois Banta: [00:08:19] All over. And as far away as Indonesia and Australia.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:08:22] Wow. God bless you. I’ve never been over there. One of the things that’s kind of perked my interest is, I talk about my stuff, which I can talk about at any point in time and it still puzzles my wife. She’s like, “People pay you thousands of dollars to get up and talk about that insurance stuff?” And I’m like, “Yeah.” And she’s like, “Here’s ten bucks, would you shut up, please?” But I don’t know how it started. I just like to educate and help people.

Lois Banta: [00:08:53] And there’s not too many folks out there who know what they’re talking about in this particular topic. And I found other thought leaders, not named Lois, but other ones that claim to be very knowledgeable about my subject. And I’m like, “Nah. That’s not exactly -” what’s a polite word? Shenanigans? Let’s just say that’s not 100 percent accurate. And so, I like to help educate my topic of insurance, especially to the people that are comp docs and practice managers. Let’s just say that their attention span is limited. I’m always impressed that, you know, a hundred people show up to listen.

Lois Banta: [00:09:36] Now, I try to make it as entertaining and I use as many analogies as possible. But explaining PPOs, EPOs, and the credentialing process to folks, sometimes I feel like I’m up there and, “Did I slip into Portuguese in midsentence? Why are your eyes all glazed over?” And so, how the folks find me though for it, I have no idea. I’ve never promoted it. It’s not really a profit vehicle. I just do it. I guess, call it, education is part of the mission of Practice Quotient. And so, I feel like we’re in the good guy business if we just go help people understand the environment. You don’t have to hire us, but understand –

Lois Banta: [00:10:19] Knowledge is a powerful tool.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:10:20] Right. And so, that’s what we do. So, I was fascinated with the idea that there’s actually some speakers that get together and then they know a lot more than I do. And so, I was like, “That sounds good.” And I told John Ray to get us over there to Chateau Elan, and he’s sleeping as usual. I don’t know what he was doing that day. He’s probably at the dog track or something, but we could have play golf, got a massage, or Chateau Elan. John Ray, monsignor, I love him. I do sometimes.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:10:51] So, at any rate, that’s what really kind of piqued my interest. And then, we have a mutual friend in common, Teresa Duncan. Shoutout to Teresa Duncan, you know, we got love for you.

Lois Banta: [00:11:00] Tons of love for Teresa Duncan. I love her.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:11:02] And she’s like, “You got to talk to Lois.” And I said, “Okay. Well, we’ll bring her on the show.” Lois probably doesn’t know much about me and I don’t know much about her, and that’s okay. We have Speaking Consulting Network, when you think about it and it makes you smile – I’ll appropriate something you told me earlier – what are the three things that make you happiest about Speaking Consulting Network?

Lois Banta: [00:11:30] Oh, only three. Okay.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:11:32] You can name more if you want.

Lois Banta: [00:11:33] Speaking Consulting Network, it’s the organization that prevented my profession from being a lonely profession. So, you make a lot of friends that are out there doing the same thing that you’re doing. We share a lot of ideas. I refer business to my SCN colleagues because I don’t want to be the expert in all areas. And so, Speaking Consulting Network is where I learned that it doesn’t have to be a lonely business and you can be around really smart people that know the things that you know and that know things that you don’t know that I can then refer to. So, I love the organization. We check the ego at the door.

Lois Banta: [00:12:12] So, there’s not another organization like it in the industry that I’m aware of, where, you can go, you can share ideas with each other, and nobody’s going to take your idea and say it was their own idea. We always give credit to everyone else. We’ve launched so many careers at the Speaking Consulting Network. We have meeting planners that come looking to hire speakers.

Lois Banta: [00:12:36] Consulting organizations, if you don’t want to be the lonely single entrepreneur out there, we have consulting organizations looking to hire consultants for their companies. We have dental journals from all across the United States, and Canada, and Australia looking to hire authors for the articles. We have podcasters looking to interview or be interviewed. So, it’s become an organization of like-minded professionals that want to grow or start their own speaking consulting business.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:13:08] So, I love it.

Lois Banta: [00:13:12] We’re not for everybody, by the way.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:13:14] Oh, nothing is, right?

Lois Banta: [00:13:15] Some people come once and don’t come back because they want to make it all about them, and SCN isn’t that. SCN is truly a networking organization where it’s all about each other.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:13:27] Right. So, that sounds very awesome and welcoming for me, personally, because it is lonely when you’re an entrepreneur and you’re the one who’s making all the decisions. Everything run to you. You’re the butcher. You’re the baker. You’re the candlestick maker. You’re the H.R. person. You’re the website guy. Everything has to be decided. And all of that gets tiring after a while. And so, it’s nice to go into a situation where there’s no pressure on you and you’re actually able to learn from other folks. And it sounds like these consultants are all experts in their own realm, so an image expert or –

Lois Banta: [00:14:07] Janice Hurley, image expert. Judy Kay Mausolf, expert on culture and helping teams and dental practices get along so that they can get out of their own way and grow a successful business. Dr. Roy Shelburne, who is a colleague of both mine and Teresa, who talks about how to not make the mistakes in documentation and narratives that send you to jail.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:14:29] I’ve heard you say that before.

Lois Banta: [00:14:29] So, we have a wide array of so many experts in the industry. Inspired hygiene, Rachel Wall. She built a successful hygiene consulting business. Hygiene is not in my wheelhouse. So, when I know someone who needs coaching in that arena, I call Rachel.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:14:47] So, I think that’s a genius because that’s where I also struggle. And one of the reasons with this show, when I have these conversations, I was explaining to you earlier, like, I have these conversations with folks all the time because people ask me how. Like, “Listen. I’ve never ran a dental practice.” “Like, this needs to happen.” I’m like, “Listen, you just made $100,000, don’t go buy a boat. Invest the money back into your practice.” And they’re like, “How do I do that?” I’m like, “I have no idea.” I’ve never ran a dental practice.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:15:14] But, usually, I would send them back to the person that referred them to me, but I would get questions. Like, “I don’t know anything about hygiene.” And like, “Well, what’s a good hygiene consultant.” I have no idea. And so, to have a place that are professionals, that are all in the good guy business – that’s kind of a thing of mine. I know it sounds a little corny, but it’s what I believe – that are trying to help people and also help each other. And I don’t have to be an expert in hygiene, I just need to know who the expert is.

Lois Banta: [00:15:49] Right. Exactly. And I think that what SCN has done for the consulting profession is, we haven’t made it all about being a “consultant”. We’ve made it about really helping the dental profession improve their bottom line, improve their wellbeing. And we know people who can help them with that in addition to who they’ve hired.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:16:09] I love it. I do. And then, Janice, is she an expert on cone beams and panoramic X-rays?

Lois Banta: [00:16:21] No. Janice is an image expert on how you present yourself – whether it’s your professional appearance, whether it’s your Zoom broadcast – to make sure that you can impact in the most professional way. She’ll go into offices. I’ve had her go into offices and completely make over, so to speak, a whole entire team. And their productivity went up and tripled because of the perception. Image is all about perception, how someone perceives you to be an expert. If you’re going to show up in torn up jeans and a ponytail, you’re probably not going to be taken very seriously if you’re in the profession of building a business. So, she teaches people how to get out of their own way in that respect.

Lois Banta: [00:16:59] I’ve worked with her myself. Now, I love that professional appearance. But there were things, I’m four-foot-nine-and-a-quarter on a good day with high hair and shoes, so I have to choose my wardrobe a little more carefully than someone who’s tall because it can make me look shorter, or smaller, or bigger, or wider, or whatever. She teaches how to appreciate your own persona and make the best out of that. She doesn’t change you. She just teaches you how to be a better you, basically.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:17:29] I love it. And so, if we brought her on the show, do you think that she could help John Ray or see a total lost cause?

Lois Banta: [00:17:37] I think John’s a total package.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:17:39] I think that she’s going to have to. That’s very kind of you to say. I think that she is going to have to bring a whole lot of miracles with her.

Lois Banta: [00:17:48] I think she’d really like your jacket and your shirt with the cufflinks and the initials. She’d be very impressed with that.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:17:55] Oh, well, thank you. Thank you, Janice. And it’s Janice that’s not here. We’ll just pretend that you’re here. But we said your name enough that I bet you’re going to listen to the show. So, I’m sure I’ll meet one day soon.

Lois Banta: [00:18:07] I’m going to have her listen to that show. And most importantly, I respect her. She’s a good person. She’s got great ethics and great integrity.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:18:17] I like that. And so, not panoramic X-rays, but definitely image. And that’s interesting. I actually would like to speak with her. So, listeners, stay tuned. Maybe she will grace us with her presence, perhaps with a kind introduction if we don’t make Lois too mad today, which I don’t think we’ve done yet.

Lois Banta: [00:18:36] Not yet.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:18:36] No. Well, it’s not really our goal.

Lois Banta: [00:18:38] Well, you did make me sing.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:18:40] Yeah. You enjoyed it. I saw it. Your eyes were dancing. You loved it. So, those are the things that make you happy. What do you see as challenges with speaking, consulting? In fact, I’m going to share with you something that I have heard that troubles me a little bit. I mean, again, speaking is not my main thing, but it makes me a little sad is, you know, folks are saying conferences are just going away. And I’m like, “Really?”

Lois Banta: [00:19:15] No, they’re not.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:19:16] I’m not sure I buy that. Like, what’s the deal? Why do people say that?

Lois Banta: [00:19:19] People say that because it’s the popular thing to say right now, that’s my opinion. They also said, you know, the private practice is going away. No, it’s not. It’s never going to go away because there’s the human element. So, speaking live, in-person speaking events are not going to go away because the humans want to see humans speaking.

Lois Banta: [00:19:39] Now, is video conferencing going to increase? Of course, because it’s the nature of the beast. But live presentations, that’s where people get their learning on, in my opinion. I’ve had my second one since COVID, live conference, sold out, completely packed, so happy to be there hearing live humans.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:19:59] It was nice. I went to the Georgia Dental Association a couple of weeks ago, and just to get out and see people again and see some folks I haven’t seen in over a year or longer, it was really, really nice the human contact. Zoom and go to meeting is better than a phone call, because you can sort of read body language.

Lois Banta: [00:20:24] That’s why I flew here. You know, I want a live interaction. I don’t want to –

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:20:28] It’s much better, isn’t it?

Lois Banta: [00:20:29] It’s so much better and so much more impactful.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:20:33] And so, also, all potential guests that come in, Lois has set the standard of no more are we doing Zoom. Do you want to talk on Dental Business Radio, you’ve got to go through John Ray, number one, and Mildred. But you’ve got to fly in because I also enjoy this. I get more out of it, I think the guests get more out of it. And I think the show –

Lois Banta: [00:20:53] Absolutely. And it’s a great studio.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:20:55] It is. It’s a very nice studio. Thank you very much Renasant Bank for letting us in here, and John Ray, even though they have not given me any money even if I walk through the hall several times. And they’re like, “You got to sign this.” I don’t want to sign anything.

Lois Banta: [00:21:07] You got a good smile, so there you go.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:21:09] Oh, thank you for saying that. Sometimes I feel like I need more work because my clients are all dentists, they’re always looking at my teeth. And I’m like, “Eyes up, buddy. Eyes up.”

Lois Banta: [00:21:18] My eyes are up here.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:21:19] Yeah. “I’m not a piece of meat. Come on, man.” So, you don’t see that as a challenge. I think that I tend to agree with you. Also, the other boogeyman that’s been around for a while, “All is good. Corporate dentistry, blah, blah, blah.” I’m like, “Listen, all right, is it there? Has it been there?” “Yeah. It has been.” “Is it going to take over the world?” “Probably not.” So, it doesn’t really matter because you can’t do anything about it anyway business owner to business owner. Just do you. Be the best you that you can be. Surround yourself with the best people.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:21:58] So, like, I’m really good at what I do, but I’m not an attorney, so I have to have the best attorney. I have to have the best I.T. people. That’s who I hire. I don’t have to be the smartest person at everything. I just need to go find the smart people and put them all on my team.

Lois Banta: [00:22:15] That’s right. That’s exactly how I do business. I’m not a corporate consultant. I am a private dentist consultant. But I know a lot of smart people who consult in the corporate industry. “Great. Awesome. I’m going to send you there. I’m not going to go.”

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:22:30] All right. It’s interesting because a lot of DSOs they call, and – I don’t know – I think they’re not used to me. So, I’m not going to kiss your ass, number one. And, also, I explained, I said, “Listen. This isn’t cotton balls, so in bulk is not good actually for this. This is very difficult more projects. And we do have some corporate clients, but we have to have very, very long conversations because, you know, we’re going to be friends for a while. Hopefully, we’re friends forever.” But what we need to do is, we need to understand what are your objectives. Do you even know where you’re at right now?

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:23:08] By the way, some of this is in the Top Ten Tips, listeners, if you want to get it in writing and you’re driving right now. So, I share the knowledge with everybody. But if you don’t know where you’re at right now, then how do you know where you want to go? “I just want to make more money.” So, the larger you are, the more money that’s on the table. The stakes are higher. It’s not just short term money. We’re talking about long term money. And we’re going up against some folks that are very, very good at this game.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:23:37] And they are ready. They have their own competitive intelligence units. They have, you know, their own training. They’re very focused on this. They have their own consultants, lawyers, and guys like me. Right? Guys like me. And they’re sitting over there. And what do they do all day long? They come up with ways to keep their cost of care down. What’s the cost of care? That’s the providers. This doesn’t make them bad people, by the way. So, I don’t bash the insurance companies like somebody, Jordan.

Lois Banta: [00:24:07] I know who Jordan is.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:24:10] Yeah. I like Jordan. I got a huge kick out of him personally and he makes me laugh. And I met him at Christine Taxin’s event, so I digress. Where am I going with this? Insurance companies have folks like me that are dedicated to bringing their cost of care down because that’s their number one expense. When I’m looking at a room full of docs, I go, “Hey, guys. How focused are you on whatever you’re paying to your dental supplies?” Henry Schein and Patterson, whatever, doesn’t matter to me, those are the big names. And they’re like, “Oh, we’re focused. We’ve gone from eight percent to seven percent.” I’m like, “Oh, is that good?” Seven percent sounds good. I don’t know. John Ray, does that sound good? John Ray is like, I can’t count that high. Don’t take off your shoes, man. Come on.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:25:05] Anyway, so I’m like, “Seven percent. All right. Seven percent, that sounds good, I guess.” Is that good? I don’t know. “Now, everybody close your eyes for a second,” is what I tell them. And I go, “Now, imagine that instead of seven percent of your business, it was 75 percent. Seventy five percent of every dollar you ever took in was paid out to your dental supply company. How focused would you be now?” And then, there’s a little grrr in there, laser focused, laser focused. I’m like, “That’s you to the insurance industry.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:25:41] And, now, imagine your Fortune 100 company or Fortune 500 company and you have an army of folks like me in resources to throw at this. That’s what you’re up against. So, the bigger you are and then the faster you’re growing, also, people don’t understand is that credentialing is a huge mess, right?

Lois Banta: [00:26:00] It is a big mess. And so, it’s misguided, misunderstood, misinformation, which is putting them in legal concerns, in my opinion.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:26:12] I could not agree with you more. We could do a whole show on credentialling, but then I would want to jump off a bridge. Credentialling is awful. We don’t do credentialling, like, just so you know. We manage it. We try to help. But these are legal documents. These are contracts. You guys need to be aware of what’s in them.

Lois Banta: [00:26:28] And there really isn’t any legal way to skirt around it.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:26:31] No. No.

Lois Banta: [00:26:32] There’s not.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:26:34] There’s not. I get the questions all the time. And that’s a whole another show.

Lois Banta: [00:26:37] I just did an interview last week. And it’s like, you know, you can ask me that question 1,200 different ways, I’m going to give you the same exact answer.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:26:45] Which question was it?

Lois Banta: [00:26:46] Can I just say that this dentist is working temporarily and then it could be like a locum tenens dentist? It’s like, “No.”

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:26:57] I get that question every day.

Lois Banta: [00:26:59] No. No. The locum tenens dentists, they have to be credentialed. Everybody that is in a network has to be legally credentialed. Please stop asking me that question. So, yeah, it drives me crazy. Credentialling is –

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:27:11] Peas in a pod.

Lois Banta: [00:27:13] Yeah.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:27:15] But what’s never been associated with the word quick is now an absurdly and comical, abysmally, bad issue because it’s COVID. Everybody’s backed up. There’s nothing you can do. Back in the old days, I could walk down the hall and take the file, and take it from one desk and go do that one next. Nowadays, across the halls, across the sea, or across the ocean. And they’re not immune to COVID, by the way. And this has all been backed up and then they have to verify your credentials. So, they’re calling Ohio State or JRU or whoever. And guess what? There’s nobody there. And so, this is all gotten backed up and backed up.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:27:55] And, now, there’s consolidation. And it’s not a good idea, in my professional opinion, you can’t say on one hand, “Hey, buddy. I really need high fees. Like, really, I need the credentialling and fast. Do me a favor, come on, Lois. Lois at the insurance company, get this done real fast. I love you so much. I’ll send you a Christmas card. Come on, please.” And then, right on the other hand, you go, “Hey, buddy. These fees are terrible. We’re not taking this crap.” It doesn’t make sense.

Lois Banta: [00:28:29] No. You know, I want good things for the dental profession. I want people to play nice in the sandbox. But I also am dedicated to making sure they don’t make the mistakes. That they’ve got to do it legally.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:28:43] Right. Compliance.

Lois Banta: [00:28:43] There’s no easy way to do the right thing.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:28:48] Right. And an ounce of legal prevention is worth a pound of legal cure.

Lois Banta: [00:28:53] Absolutely.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:28:54] And so, it’s not worth the risk, in my opinion.

Lois Banta: [00:28:57] It’s not worth the risk. Nope.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:28:58] Because that’s my background is risk management.

Lois Banta: [00:29:02] Is not worth the risk. And no good professional would ever advise a dentist otherwise.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:29:10] Right. There’s some that they’re like, “Well, I’ve heard lots of people say that.” And I’m like, “Who told you that?” And they’re like, “I read it on Facebook.”

Lois Banta: [00:29:21] It was on Facebook, it must be true.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:29:23] Well, what other news do you get off of Facebook? Is that the gospel? I don’t understand. And so, I just recently got on Facebook because the marketing people said I needed to. And every now and then I get on and I try to answer some questions for folks. But I feel like I lose three hours of my life every time I do that.

Lois Banta: [00:29:42] And you open up to perception. Perception drives truth until you prove otherwise. And I’ve taught that in my business forever, it’s like, you can’t write your company. You can’t grow your company based on someone’s perception. You just have to do the right thing, do your research, and make it legal.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:30:00] All right. Amen. What other challenges do you see as an industry? So, if we’re looking at the dental industry.

Lois Banta: [00:30:07] Well, if I’m looking at the industry from a speaker’s point of view, speakers are severely undercompensated in dentistry. They bring a lot of knowledge to the table. And COVID has really affected that greatly in the honorariums being lowered and travel costs not being reimbursed. So, for a speaker, I see that in our industry that the profession has been affected financially. As far as in consulting, what I find the biggest challenge in consulting is the dental practices wanting to improve, having no idea how to run a business. Because when they went to dental school, they learned how to be a dentist. They didn’t learn how to run a business.

Lois Banta: [00:30:51] And so, in the consulting profession, simple things that can be identified to help them go in the right direction very quickly versus take 12 courses and learn how to improve your bottom line. If you don’t get to the nitty gritty in the dirt very quickly, you’re going to lose the dentist and their interest. So, that’s my opinion. So, when I speak and how that leads to consulting is, I point out small things that make a huge difference. An open hour on the schedule can translate to thousands of dollars in lost productivity. So, if you have nothing else but less than one opening per day, you’re going to increase your production by about $45,000.

Lois Banta: [00:31:36] Those are the kinds of things that, when you can cut to the chase and make your point known very quickly and you can impact their bottom line, improve it, that’s what’s going to make a good consultant. So, what’s suffering in consulting in our industry is that the knowledge base might not be there to be able to help them improve the bottom line. Just because you’re paying $80,000 for someone to show up on a conference call once a month and visit you twice a year, if you don’t have action and plans behind that expertise, you’re going to lose the client. So, you’ve got to make sure you can back up what you’re teaching.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:32:10] Amen. I like that. So, the insurance companies call us the consultants. And I’m like, “We’re not consultants, guys.” So, the dental practice management consultants, we are not that. Like, we stay in our lane.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:32:24] I see two things happening right now that I’d like to get your thoughts on. Number one, I see organizations and/or consultants or firms where they want to be all things to all people. And so, I’m like, I’m really good at my one thing. I do not know anything about treatment plan. What you just said about the schedule, I would have never had known that, nor am I ever going to point that out to somebody again in the future, because I don’t have any experience. I’d be like, “Well, Lois Banta told me that.” That’s the only backup I’ve got. And that’s good backup, don’t get me wrong. But that’s not my wheelhouse, so I stay in my swim lane.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:33:03] But I see some other businesses and there’s a lot of them, especially kind of more almost fly by night so they just feel like everybody’s jumping out of the bushes and they’re like, “We’re building verification plus PPO negotiation and consultants, practice management, consultant scheduling, hygiene, blah, blah, blah.” And I’m like, “How do you fit that all on a business card? And how do you possibly have all of that knowledge in your head?”

Lois Banta: [00:33:26] So, I’ve never – well. No. Wait. I correct myself. The first couple of years I owned my consulting company, I tried to be all things to all people. And I failed miserably because you can know a little bit about a lot of things and you’re not going to get very far. So, I quickly found my lane. And that’s what we teach at SCN, is, we teach people how to find their lane, stay in that lane, and then surround yourself with really smart people who have areas of expertise in what you are not an expert in. So, you’ll fail if you try to be all things to all people. It’s just never a good idea. It’s not a good business decision.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:34:03] Amen. Amen. So, I’m glad you agree with that.

Lois Banta: [00:34:05] I do agree with it.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:34:06] Because I would like to debate that with some of them. Perhaps we should get them on the show.

Lois Banta: [00:34:10] You know, I love the consulting firms that are formed where they have areas of expertise built within the design of that company. So, if your specialty is on communication, then that’s where we’re going to send you is on communication training. If your specialty is leadership, if your specialty is hygiene, if your specialty is clinical so you’re the dentist or the assistant, we’re going to send someone in that area of expertise to your office who can teach that one thing.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:34:39] So, what’s communication? What does that mean? I mean, I know what communication is. What is a communication consultant?

Lois Banta: [00:34:47] So, for me, define for me – 90 percent of my business is communication. And it’s teaching people how to say things the right way. So, not asking yes/no questions, really diving into what the patient’s true interest in that dentistry, teaching them to want it before you tell them they need it. So, that’s all about communication. It’s about communicating with each other to make sure that the handoff from the clinical team to the administrative team is the right way so that the patient understands and wants that needed dentistry. So, communication, for me, in a nutshell, saying things the right way, how to say what you say. I have been building my brand on that.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:35:31] That’s fascinating.

Lois Banta: [00:35:33] It’s don’t ask a yes or no question. If you ask me, “Do you want a glass of water?” And I might say, “No. I don’t really want to.” “Do you want to pay your bill today?” “No. I really don’t want to.” Do you want to go and make your next appointment?” “No. I really don’t want to.” Or, “Let’s go ahead and make your next appointment. Let me share with you the different financial options you have in our practice for payment. You can pay by this, this, and this.”

Lois Banta: [00:35:56] So, I say don’t ask yes or no questions. Always offer at least two solutions. So, you lead the people down the path to make the decision that’s going to be in their best interest, but they feel in control. The actual in control person is the person who’s offering the options. But the person who’s making the decision is going to feel like they’re in control because they get to choose one of those options. But you’re only going to offer the options that are in the best interest of that patient.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:36:23] So, you’re like a Jedi.

Lois Banta: [00:36:24] I like to think I’m a Jedi. That’ll be great. Although, I’ve never seen Star Wars. But I could be a Jedi.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:36:31] I like it. I do. I like to be a Jedi too. But I think you need a scholarship or something. I don’t know. So, the other thing that I’ve talked with Teresa Duncan, and with Hootan Shahidi, and with several other people I respect nationally, you know, just like credentialling has always been a problem, this has always been kind of an issue, but it’s gotten worse, and that is, the lack of training, I guess, in really technical expertise when it comes to insurance and/or billing.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:37:19] So, if I had a dollar for every time somebody is like, “Well, I’ve been doing insurance for 20 years.” And I’m like, “Yeah? I’m driving a car for 20 years, too. It doesn’t mean I can pull the transmission out and put it back in. So, I have an insurance license. Do you? No. I’m certified in Dental Benefits Administration and I can design plans. Can you? Nope.” And it’s not about me, but it’s because the docs and the owners of the business aren’t knowledgeable enough.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:37:53] If somebody came in and said, “Hey, I’m an I.T. expert,” it’s not my wheelhouse, right? You know, I have to go find the smartest guy, (Minacozzi) and then I find somebody that I trust. But I know you have to vet that out. Now, don’t get me wrong, there’s some really, really, really good practice managers out there and there’s some really good insurance coordinators out there. But I think that, certainly, the clients sometimes they’re like, “Oh, this person knows what they’re doing.” So, that’s always been kind of an issue. And God bless all the all-star practice managers and I know everybody’s trying their best, so I’m not knocking you. There seems to be a turnover problem and an overall lack of ability. There’s just not enough people to work. Turnovers created this huge issue and it’s making my hair gray.

Lois Banta: [00:38:48] And COVID didn’t help and the stimulus money did not help. They made more money staying home than working in a dental office. And so, dentistry, especially for the administrative and hygiene department, is a very hard to find good teams right now, especially knowledgeable teams. You’re a dentist and you’re going to take the path of least resistance. You’re going to hire the warm body. And you need to have a little bit more in your tank than just being the face that someone sees when they walk through the door. So, there’s a serious shortage of knowledge and a shortage of training how to do it right.

Lois Banta: [00:39:29] And as a consultant, I see that every single time I go into a dental practice, is, “So, what is your role in this dental office? Front desk?” I’m sorry. Front desk is a thing. That’s not a person. “I’m a front desk.” “No, you’re not. You’re a person.” So, it starts with having respect for the job that you’ve been hired to do and then having the wherewithal and the desire to get training on how to do that job right.

Lois Banta: [00:39:58] So, on the insurance side, I teach people how to write a great narrative, how to use evidence based documentation methods to send the right documentation and images in order to get that claim processed the first time rather than 12 times later. So, that’s where I am on the insurance side in my profession, is, I teach people, dental professionals, how to send a clean claim first so that you don’t make all those mistakes and it costs a ton of money to have to research and redo a claim.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:40:30] And it’s not any fun.

Lois Banta: [00:40:33] It’s no fun. And you have to know what are the rules about a buildup, what are the rules about a crown, why do some crowns get covered and some not. Well, if you’re not good at supplying evidence-based reasons why it was done, then your claims are going to get denied. To me, that’s logic.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:40:51] All right. And, you know, to be fair to the insurance companies because a lot of times when I’m speaking, everybody gets all torch and pitchfork on me. I’m like, “Listen, they’re not bad people. They give you all the resources that are in the manual. Did you ever read the manual?”

Lois Banta: [00:41:04] They don’t wake up in the morning and say, “I think I’m not going to pay a dental claim today.” They wake up in the morning and they’re looking, they’re seeking. I’ve had two clients who have been consultant reviewers at an insurance company, and they say the number one reason a claim doesn’t get paid is because the dental professional didn’t supply detailed enough information why the dentistry was done. Dentists are great at documenting what. They’re not really good at documenting why. And that, to me, I’m on a mission to make sure that they code the claim correctly, document the claim correctly, write the right narrative, send the right documentation evidence, like an internal photo, and then you’re going to get the claim processed accurately.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:41:46] All right. So, I like this gospel a lot. Documenting the what but not the why.

Lois Banta: [00:41:53] You got a document why. And the legal law supports that. I mean, you’re going to go to jail if you didn’t do the thing that you documented that you said you did or that you left something off the documentation. Like, we saw a patient on emergency, you got to document that you performed a problem focused exam in order to send a claim, in order to say it was a legal document. You’re required by law to document that you showed evidence that an exam took place before you rendered dentistry.

Lois Banta: [00:42:23] Don’t even get me started. I get my big legal soapbox about that.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:42:29] Yeah. Let’s go.

Lois Banta: [00:42:29] Because the thing that ticks me off the most is thinking that it doesn’t matter. That makes me the most mad is thinking it doesn’t matter because it really does matter.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:42:38] I’m with you. Right. So, in jail didn’t –

Lois Banta: [00:42:41] Nobody looks good in stripes and orange in jail.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:42:44] I mean, listen, it doesn’t sound fun to me. John has been to jail a few times – John Ray. He seems to like it. He’s probably made some friends over there. He’s like, “They give me a ham sandwich or something.” They feed you three squares a meal or two squares a day? [Inaudible]. You all right? Two squares? Do you sell the other one for smokes or something? So, jail, that sounds bad.

Lois Banta: [00:43:10] It’s very bad.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:43:11] If you go to jail, then you don’t have a license, right?

Lois Banta: [00:43:14] Yeah.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:43:14] And so then, you don’t have a license, you can’t practice the profession. Now, you have all that –

Lois Banta: [00:43:18] Or both ever again. And make a difference there.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:43:20] Right. And so then, you are a pariah and you have no ability to support yourself or your family. That not sound like a path. Is that worth taking a shortcut?

Lois Banta: [00:43:30] And that’s why I was talking about the misinformation that’s out there. Like, it doesn’t matter, you know, getting to write anything we want to on the claim. “It doesn’t really matter. We’re just going to write what we think will get claim paid.” No. You need to write what you actually did. That’s what’s going to get the claim paid.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:43:42] Right. And speaking to somebody from the insurance industry like, “Uh huh,” right?

Lois Banta: [00:43:47] Yeah. It is the number one reason, in my opinion. And I’ve never worked at an insurance company that claims don’t get paid, that don’t get approved, or because it’s not enough supporting information in the why department.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:43:59] It’s not because they’re trying to rip off everybody?

Lois Banta: [00:44:02] No.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:44:02] No. Okay. Well, thanks. All of my insurance company colleagues that are listening to this show, hi. See, I’m neutral.

Lois Banta: [00:44:10] I’m not going to lie, the insurance industry has frustrated me for years, but not because the insurance companies are crooked. It’s usually because –

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:44:19] It’s usually because it’s a large bureaucracy.

Lois Banta: [00:44:21] It is. Corporation.

Lois Banta: [00:44:22] It’s more accidental ineptness than it is intentional.

Lois Banta: [00:44:27] Right. It’s doing the wrong thing, documenting the wrong thing, leaving important information off. I counsel a ton of dentists on, “Why don’t my buildups get covered?” “Well, if you do a buildup every single crown, you’re going to get red flagged.” But if you document that you showed evidence that more than 50 percent of the tooth structure was involved and you took photographic evidence, there’s your proof. Now, you’re not going to get a denial, most likely, because you’re documenting and showing evidence. That’s the secret, listeners, show evidence.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:45:00] And they can pull your claims history, by the way. And so, if you put a crown buildup every single time –

Lois Banta: [00:45:07] That’s a red flag.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:45:08] I still say we sometimes, you have to forgive me. We, the insurance companies, can pull that data just like that. And we can also tell what’s the ratio of simple to surgical extractions. And we can also tell all of the stuff and then we can compare it to empirical data and determine whether it’s outside the statistical norm or what the standard deviation is because that’s what we do.

Lois Banta: [00:45:28] Holy cow, you little statistic maniac.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:45:30] Yeah. I’m a total dork.

Lois Banta: [00:45:33] You know, I’m a dork in that way as well because, you know, I’m a snoop when I go into a dental office. Just like Teresa Duncan probably does the same thing. We go into the chart records and we take a look at –

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:45:43] Are you telling me I need to be careful that I didn’t lock my phone with Teresa around? I got my eyeball on you, girl.

Lois Banta: [00:45:48] No. She’s very trustworthy. But we look at what you’re documenting. We actually care enough to look at what you’re documenting. And when we don’t see it – I mean, one of the last slides of my seminars is how to stay out of jail, how to get out of legal malpractice. And I quote the American Dental Association’s Code of Ethics Report Section 5.B.5, that lists all the things that will send your behind to jail.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:46:16] We should link to that on the page. I like that.

Lois Banta: [00:46:18] For sure. And I talk about it in every single seminar I give that has anything to do with the financial end of running a business. Section 5.B.5 of the ADA’s Code of Ethics will scare you straight. It basically says what constitutes insurance fraud. The minute that claim gets sent, that’s not the FBI that’s going to come look. That’s the United States Postal Service’s Investigative Unit that’s going to come looking and knocking on your door.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:46:48] I have to be honest, that sounds pretty scary to me.

Lois Banta: [00:46:52] It’s pretty scary.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:46:53] The postal service SWAT team is going to come get me?

Lois Banta: [00:46:55] Pretty bad.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:46:57] All due respect to you, guys. I’m sure you carry guns and stuff.

Lois Banta: [00:47:03] Yeah. You know, one of the best tips that I can ever give for documenting evidence of the why isn’t the written word. It’s a take a pre-prep and a post-prep photo, internal image. You take a pre-prep and a post-prep, photo, you’re showing evidence. And then, you take the little periodontal probe that has millimeters written right on the probe, and you measure that against the tooth, there’s your proof, there’s your why. Photographic evidence proves the why.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:47:31] In perio, by the way, the most abused code from a fraud perspective.

Lois Banta: [00:47:36] For sure.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:47:36] I explain this to clients all the time. So, you really need as much as you can do – and, again, they can pull up history. So, if everybody walks in your practice, everybody needs periodontal scaling and root planing. “Every single person, really?’

Lois Banta: [00:47:54] Yeah. You know, and the best defense there is to have a really good written periodontal protocol in your office. And that means that you’re classifying conditions in a periodontal way. So, you know, type one, they’re not going to need scaling and root planing. They might have a bunch of calculus and ANUG which is, like, code for really messy gums.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:48:17] Yuck mouth? That’s what we call it.

Lois Banta: [00:48:17] Yeah. Yuck mouth. Pregnancy gingivitis, also an important thing to document.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:48:23] We’ve never had that.

Lois Banta: [00:48:23] Thank goodness for that. Otherwise you’d be he/she. So, photographic evidence or measuring the gums. You can even do a proper comprehensive oral exam if somebody’s got a lot of calculus in the way because you’re not going to get good pocket measurements. So, it’s just that knowledge.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:48:44] So, in case somebody hasn’t seen the dentist since, like, the Reagan administration. Somebody like John Ray over here.

Lois Banta: [00:48:48] And if you documented exactly the circumstances that caused you to code it as a gross debridement and you show evidence of that, that’s going to get that claim processed. But if you say, “Four quadrants of scaling and root planing,” and you haven’t done periodontal pocket measurements yet, well, then you’re not forming a legal claim yet.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:49:09] Right. I’m not clinical, but I was on the grievance committee. And I can tell you, I’ve seen this come in more times than I could count.

Lois Banta: [00:49:18] So, that’s what we teach.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:49:21] God bless you. That’s awesome.

Lois Banta: [00:49:21] Good consultants are going to teach them to recognize when it’s true periodontal condition. And there are perio codes that aren’t perio scaling and root planing codes. I don’t know why the Council on Dental Benefits coded them as a perio code. It’s not scaling and root planing. Maybe it’s gingival inflammation. So, I think it’s worthy of a really good written detailed narrative when you’re coding something that might get kicked out, make sure you know the why you did it. Make sure you’ve documented and shown all the evidence of why before you code that claim.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:49:57] Is there any resources that you would like to share with the listeners here that are practice owners, docs, practice managers, et cetera? Go ahead.

Lois Banta: [00:50:08] Dr. Roy Shelburne, he’s my go-to resource. He and Teresa Duncan are my go-to resources for documenting and coding things correctly. Dr. Roy Shelburne, by his own admission, you can go to his website and look at his story. He went to prison for two years.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:50:25] Do you know him, John Ray?

Lois Banta: [00:50:27] Yeah. And he turned that lemon and made lemonade. And he now lectures on the topic all over the country. Dr. Charles Blair wrote Coding with Confidence. I helped him write that very first one because I know a lot about codes, but I am not a dentist.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:50:43] Right. And I’m not a clinician.

Lois Banta: [00:50:45] I’m not a clinician. But I know enough about coding and documenting, et cetera. Well, Dr. Roy Shelburne has written a lot of articles and helped Dr. Charles Blair many times with those coding and coding things legally the correct way. He’s my go-to resource when I have a question about, “Hey, is this the right code for this?” I mean, 500 different implant codes and there’s so many different ways to code that.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:51:11] That’s where I point people to. So, shoutout to Charles Blair in North Carolina.

Lois Banta: [00:51:15] Yeah. Shoutout to Charles Blair.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:51:16] I’ve told him, I’m like, “You probably have no idea, but I tell everybody -” because we’re not clinical. Nobody on my team. We’re all insurance, finance, scanning, we’re numbers geeks. That’s what we do. And they’re like, “Well, which code?” I’m like, “You’re the clinician, bud. Not me. If you don’t know, you should just go to Practice Booster.”

Lois Banta: [00:51:39] And it should never be the insurance company’s position to tell you what code to use. You have to look into your own chart record and your own patient’s diagnosis and treatment plan and code the right thing for the right procedure. There’s no trick. There’s no, “If you code this, if you code that.” And I hear that a lot with insurance companies. “Well, the insurance company changed the code.” “No. They gave you an alternate benefit based on the design of the plan that the employer wrote – oh, by the way – and paid money for that premium.”

Lois Banta: [00:52:08] The insurance company is doing what the employer instructed them to do in the design of the benefit. And then, they are required to follow legal guidelines in how to process a correct claim. So, they’re not the bad guys. Are they frustrating? Absolutely. Absolutely. But if you do the right thing, and you document it the right way, and you write the right narrative, and you use the right code, you’re not going to be as frustrated.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:52:29] This is the one thing I explain probably every day, too, I go, “Look. Plan design is not like Baskin Robbins with 32 flavors.” That would be really easy. There is quite literally tens of thousands of plan designs within the same company, within the same company. Because when you’re selling larger benefits – which I’ve done. I’ve personally done this – and you go in there and you go, “What do you want?” So, I can design anything, any which way you want.

Lois Banta: [00:52:57] You can have a $10,000 maximum with no deductible. But your premium is going to be this. So, employers make business decisions just like insurance companies make business decisions. If the patient is going to be mad at the design of their plan, don’t be mad at the insurance company. Be mad at the employer who wrote the plan.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:53:13] Right. Or their benefits consultant or the benefits broker. And so, that’s in the insurance companies, so that’s how things get designed. Actually, I used to love doing it, and I still dork out on it quite a bit with some of my old colleagues.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:53:28] In fact, a quick plug selfishly, the Georgia Association of Health Underwriters is going to be in Gwinnett County at the Marriott. Go check out gahu.org. But I will be moderating a panel of experts from the payer world on what’s new and exciting in the world of dental insurance. If you’re a broker, don’t get B-O-R’ed over the dental buddy. Come to the session and check it out.

Lois Banta: [00:53:52] Oh, that’s cool.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:53:53] Yeah. It’s fun. So, I walk in both worlds. And so, it’s an interesting dynamic for me because it’s like speaking two different languages.

Lois Banta: [00:54:03] Sure. But it really keeps you informed, for sure.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:54:05] The way I see it, is that, you know, we’re purveyors of intellectual capital.

Lois Banta: [00:54:13] Yes. That’s really good. I might write that one down.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:54:17] You can appropriate it if you want.

Lois Banta: [00:54:18] Purveyors of intellectual capital.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:54:21] Right. And we’re just trying to spread the gospel and knowledge. And if we know the right way to do things, we need to do that. And then, we need to bring other smart people, like you, Lois, to help us understand. I’ve learned so much already today.

Lois Banta: [00:54:34] Fantastic.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:54:34] This has been great. And so, Lois, is there anything else that you would like to share with our listeners who are quite varied all over the country? Thank you all for listening. If you like the show, please hit the like button and send me a note and tell me how much you like it. You can find me at porourke@practicequotient.com. If you want to be on the show, don’t call me, call John Ray at jray@businessradiox.com. Folks do call me, they’re public relations people calling me, I’m like, “You got to talk to John.” All right. John’s actually not a rube like I make him sound out to be. He’s an awesome dude. And he’s the unofficial mayor of North Fulton, so shoutout to John Ray. I love you, man. Ten feet tall and bulletproof, I like that about Lois Banta.

Lois Banta: [00:55:23] That’s true.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:55:24] Yes. So, Lois, give us out with what you’ve learned lately, any shoutout, thoughts, anything you want to share with all the fine folks out there that are listening right now?

Lois Banta: [00:55:35] Well, just to have an awareness that if you’re thinking of getting into the profession of consulting, speaking, writing in your industry, know that there’s a village out there ready to support you, and that’s SCN.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:55:49] When is the next meeting?

Lois Banta: [00:55:50] Our next meeting is June 11th through the 13th, 2022 in Tigard, Oregon, at an Embassy Suites out there. And then, you know, joining SCN gets you one-on-one access to me personally right up until the conference. So, I do one-on-one coaching. It’s included in our registration fee. We also have our midyear meeting coming up in Napa Valley at January 15th, if you want information about that, just email me at info@speakingconsultingnetwork.com.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:56:28] Gotcha. So, that’s info@speakingconsultingnetwork.com. I would like to give a special thank you to all of the Speaking Consulting Network members and for allowing Lois to come on here and creating such a great organization that I think that I may make an appearance, time and God willing. Although, I would prefer the East Coast or Midwest.

Lois Banta: [00:56:48] You know, we’d love to see you there. Come on out and do a radio show at our conference. We’d love that.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:56:53] John Ray? John Ray, it’s his game.

Lois Banta: [00:56:55] John, you’re in? Good.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:56:57] He just wants to go because there’s wine out there.

Lois Banta: [00:56:58] We would love that. You’ll meet a lot of smart people.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:57:01] I like smart people. That’s my deal. And I like people that are not necessarily in my space. I’ve learned a lot today. So, this has been really wonderful. This has been a great show to me.

Lois Banta: [00:57:14] Fantastic.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:57:14] I would like to thank our sponsor, Practice Quotient, PPO analysis and negotiation. If you are a top tier provider and you are not getting top tier compensation from your business partners, i.e. insurance companies – yes, they are your business partners. And yes, you should be evaluating it on both sides. Insurance folks, you, too – and you need a go-between somebody to stand up for you and to translate, that’s what we do at Practice Quotient.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:57:40] If you would like our CEO – who, occasionally, has something smart to say – who wrote Top Ten Tips to Know before you go and attempt negotiation whether you use Practice Quotient or you don’t, you can email info@practicequotient.com or you can go to the website at www.practicequotient.com, mention Dental Business Radio Top Ten Tips, and we will send that to you. Not if you’re an insurance company, though. Only if you’re from the provider community. I’m just kidding. I don’t care. Carriers, if you want something. But you need to just call me and ask and I’ll hook you up.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:58:21] So, if you want me, find me. I’m at porourke@practicequotient.com. Our telephone number is 470-592-1680. I would like to, once again, thank Lois Banta for coming all the way from Kansas City and spending time and for such a great show. This is awesome.

Lois Banta: [00:58:36] It’s been great. Thank you.

Patrick O’Rourke: [00:58:38] Yeah. It is absolutely my pleasure. And with that, until next time.