How to Attract & Retain the Right Associate Dentists

At the core of all successful Group Practices and DSO’s are engaged associate dentists. But, attracting and retaining the right associate dentist can be a daunting and exhausting process for growing companies and owner doctors. Having a highly productive office that contributes strong EBITDA to your organization starts at recruitment and should be a thoughtful process from start to finish. Having a strong recruitment package that demonstrates your competitive advantage to potential associate doctors is a great place to start.

This should include an explanation of the practices vision and values, an introduction to the owner doctors and leadership team as well as an explanation of all employee benefits. Most of the major players in the DSO space are offering their associate doctors 25-32% of net production/collections, health insurance, malpractice coverage, CE allowance, and a 401K with match among other benefits. So, with such robust offerings, how can you compete? After meeting these standard benefits, attracting qualified doctor talent to your Group Practice and emerging DSO ultimately comes down to reputation, office culture, strong leadership and support, as these are common pain points associated with non- doctor owned/doctor led practices.

Aligned Dental Partners often will build virtual stock ownership options, which create win-win’s for both the associate doctor (in compensation) and the owner doctor (in long term commitment from the associate). For companies who do not have a dedicated recruiter, a professional recruitment service can be used to lessen the burden and stress for owner doctors and RDO’s. We advise using a company who bills after placement of candidates who pass a 90-day probation period.