| Page 15 | Kisaco Research
 

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

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

Clear aligners are no longer just a cosmetic upsell — they’re a strategic service line that drives recurring revenue, higher treatment acceptance, and longer-term patient retention. For DSOs, offering in-house aligners can eliminate referral leakage, streamline workflows, and open the door to capturing more adult patients seeking aesthetic treatments. This session breaks down how growth-minded DSOs are implementing or scaling profitable, patient-friendly aligner programs, using digital scanning, patient education tools, and smart marketing to make clear aligners a core part of their service menu. 

  • In-house vs. outsourced ortho or external referrals — where the margins lie 

  • The pros, cons, and clinical flexibility of using Invisalign, Dandy, Candid Pro, or fully in-house aligners 

  • How DSOs are driving demand through lifestyle branding, social media, and subscription pricing 

Service Innovation

Denied claims don’t start in billing — they start at the front desk. Inaccurate or delayed insurance verification remains one of the top hidden sources of revenue leakage in DSOs, leading to denied claims, uncollected balances, and unnecessary patient dissatisfaction. In this AI-driven case study, learn how one growing DSO eliminated this bottleneck by automating real-time eligibility and benefits verification at scale. 

  • Audit the front-desk workflow and identify where coverage errors are happening 

  • Implement an AI-based verification platform to run pre-checks before the patient visit 

  • Integrate verification into both scheduling and check-in, improving accuracy and speed 

  • Reduce denials by over X% and improve time-of-service collections 

 

Financial Management
Revenue Cycle Management

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. monthly — and which are most often ignored 

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

Financial Management
 

Tim Harris

Partner
Osborne Clark

Tim Harris

Partner
Osborne Clark

Tim Harris

Partner
Osborne Clark

M&A is the engine of growth for many DSOs — but 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

Expanding same-store performance isn’t just about adding chairs. It’s about patient retention, service mix expansion, and operational excellence inside every practice. This panel brings together DSO leaders who are proving that sustainable growth comes not from how many practices you buy, but how well you grow the ones you already own. 

  • Driving patient retention and recall through engagement and membership models 

  • Expanding service offerings to capture more lifetime patient value 

  • Leveraging technology, AI, and analytics to increase case acceptance and optimize scheduling 

  • Training teams and clinicians to balance patient experience with production growth