Howard Speaks: Doc, I practiced through the 2008 bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers

Dentistry Uncensored with Howard Farran

Doc, I practiced through the 2008 bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers. I met the financial crisis that led to the Great Recession when investors withdrew a record $196 billion from their money market accounts. 2020, you're no 2008. I’ve been contacting my friends at Henry Schein and Benco. In 2020 Benco closed fewer accounts due to collections/payment issues than in either 2018 or 2019, in fact in 2020, the number of accounts closed due at Benco according to my buddy Chuck Cohen, the managing director at Benco Dental and the only man in dentistry smart enough to be published in the Harvard Business Review, said their practice retirement sale closure declined more than 20% vs. 2018 or 2019. Halfway through 2021, the numbers indicate that the trends from 2020 are holding steady. Why? The federal programs to support dentists, most notably the PPP - Paycheck Protection Program worked, Benco had fewer collections issues in 2020 vs two prior years. Fears of the pandemic leading to either an exodus of doctors from the profession due to health financial fears or an overall consolidation wave due to DSO acquisitions are overblown, in fact, fewer dentists closed due to retirement/sale/closure than in the two prior years, probably due to a combination of a slowdown in practice acquisitions by larger players during and directly after the shutdown and dentists deciding to remain in practice post-pandemic, possibly because their net worth declined during/after the pandemic.