Dr. Michael Whyte of
Dr. Whyte Smile May Tell Dad Jokes, but He Knows Insurance Verification, Dental Billing, and Accounting are Serious Business

Dr. Michael Whyte of Dr. Whyte Smile May Tell Dad Jokes, but He Knows Insurance Verification, Dental Billing, and Accounting are Serious Business

Given the number of dental offices in most areas, and the amount of recent staff movement in the dental field, having a positive identity is more important than ever. A practice owner must decide what they want the culture of the office to be; what they want their patients to feel and tell people about the doctor, the team, and the way the practice runs

Dr. Michael Whyte of Dr. Whyte Smile not only decided, but he and his team have been delivering in every way to become an award-winning practice, connect with their patients, and retain both patients and employees.

A Passion for People, Not Just Patients

Like most doctors, Dr. Whyte is passionate about his craft. He built the Dr. Whyte Smile brand around one idea – ‘Impacting lives and increasing self-confidence, one smile at a time.’ He’s proud to be one of the most proficient dental offices in the Richmond area, offering comprehensive services that approach dentistry from a whole-body health perspective.

He’s equally passionate about truly connecting with his patients, and genuinely believes in the power of optimism and positivity to overcome obstacles. He also loves to laugh and admits to telling cheesy ‘dad jokes’ while he’s working. Even the name of the practice is a little ‘punny’ and makes people smile.

Humor is a way of setting the tone that kind of captures who we are and what we do. We love our work, consider every patient a member of our family, and work at exceeding expectations and developing lasting relationships.

Dr. Whyte acknowledges that dentistry can be challenging for patients, and even cause anxiety and fear. They strive to “get on the other side of it in a way that uplifts others and helps them find some happiness about dentistry.” When treatment is required, they always highlight the positive aspects so patients see the ultimate benefit and can get past any anxiety they might have.

Continuously Growing in Many Ways

For Dr. Whyte, being a Top Practice means not just growing the business, but continuously growing their culture, their impact and their identity. He summarized by saying, “We’re trying to be even better tomorrow than we were today. That's really what sets a practice apart from just a normal dental office that you see every two to three buildings around our area.”

The team was especially gratified when a patient recently told Dr. Whyte that she drives past about 50 offices to come to his practice because of how much she values being seen as a person. “The word ‘patient’ can be a cold word. When you’re in our chair you’re a human person, and you're there to be cared for by another human person,” said Dr. Whyte. Providers fully explain procedures in advance, listen carefully to concerns, and assure patients nothing will be difficult or overwhelming.

Dr. Whyte knows “you can’t get there by being cold and clinical and throwing terminology and jargon at patients. You need to let them know ‘I get it’; that you hear and understand their concerns so you can get on the other side of those emotions. This also leads to higher treatment acceptance which you know is in their best interest.”

You need to have the clinical excellence, but also add in that other piece that makes it more personal, more human, more understandable and comfortable.

Practitioner and Business Owner

In addition to earning degrees in biology and dentistry, Dr. Whyte also earned a bachelor’s in economics. This has given him the advantage of understanding both the clinical and the business aspects of owning and running a successful and growing practice, and recognizing that he must wear multiple hats.

As a dentist Dr. Whyte works closely with each patient, listens to their concerns, presents information about the diagnosis and conditions, and fully explains the various solutions. He then allows the patient to choose their desired course of action. “We want our patients to always feel free to make the choice for what they do or don't do with their care, but it's up to the providers, the doctors, the team to inform them so that they can make the choice with all the best information,” he explained.

At the same time, he knows the importance of, first, creating an environment and culture of trust so patients know their provider truly has their best interests at heart. Dr. Whyte says this is where his business owner hat goes on. For him, “a critical juncture is when you shift from the clinician role to the Owner / CEO role which entails several jobs. One is to structure a company such that I have that correct environment and culture – one of comfort, safety and trust, as well as professionalism and modern technology so we’re serving each patient with care and expertise.”

Another of his jobs as a business owner is managing all the financial aspects. And a third is to provide for his people because he knows “most of us spend more time at work than we do with our own families and loved ones. So you've got to have purpose in what you do and know that those you work with value you as an individual, and view the workplace as a second home.”

My job as a practice leader is to make sure my people are well cared for, secure in their employment, happy with their work, and that they've got a place to spend their work-life that is meaningful and impactful to them.

He believes in providing good systems and structure, well-defined expectations, and opportunities for everyone on the team to succeed in an environment conducive to growth. He knows this is critical to maintaining the business structure he has, and to being able to continue building, growing, and promoting team members throughout their careers. He encourages other business owners to think more about what they've done for their teams to make them enjoy what they do.

Good Systems are Good for Business and Patients

Several of the good systems that are helping Dr. Whyte Smile continue to grow and satisfy patients are better approaches to dental insurance verification, dental insurance billing, dental patient billing, and dental accounting and bookkeeping. In September 2020, Dr. Whyte joined the eAssist platform and has since more than doubled his average monthly production, and in less than a year he and his team were nominated for Top Practice status.

The eAssist services have been absolutely transformative for our practice. They all work together so that when I'm sitting knee-to-knee with a patient I've got all the tools at my disposal to have the most intelligent conversation. In my practice these services are paired with modern technology so that we have the rest of the structure of records and imaging at our disposal so we can provide same-day dentistry.

Insurance Verification: Finances drive most treatment decisions made by patients, so it’s not surprising when discussing recommended treatment that the first questions Dr. Whyte usually gets are ‘How soon?’ and ‘How much?’ He appreciates that “by partnering with eAssist and having really robust insurance verification done beforehand, I have a high degree of certainty when discussing with a patient that not only have we gotten the rough breakdown of their insurance, but our insurance expert (referring to his eAssist team member) has gone in and looked at all the details, limitations and exclusions. They know dental terminology, the right codes, the alternate codes, and alternate benefits.”

As a result, Dr. Whyte can produce and print a treatment plan for a patient that is exceptionally accurate. They can then present and discuss financial obligations and payment options.

Dental and Patient Billing: Dr. Whyte’s eAssist patient billing team member sends statements to patients electronically via email or text that also include convenient click-to-pay options. Since joining the eAssist platform, total patient balances have been decreased by 49%.

Requiring even more tenacity, his dental billing specialists work diligently to get insurance claims submitted and paid, and fight for all the practice is rightfully owed by aggressively appealing denied claims. To date, insurance balances over 90 days have been decreased by 93%.

Dr. Whyte finds it invaluable having specialists do that for him so he doesn’t have to take time out of his day to follow up, rewrite narratives, create letters, or have a meeting with someone in the office to strategize how to better file a claim. Moreover, his on-site team is free to connect with the patient on an individual basis, and ensure their appointment experience is at its best.

With eAssist it’s all on autopilot. They know exactly what to do, and do it with a level of precision and expertise that is difficult to find for everyday dental practices.

Accounting & Bookkeeping: When wearing his business owner hat, Dr. Whyte has budgets, payroll, taxes and other financial matters to deal with on a daily, weekly, monthly and annual basis. “That's where the eAssist Accounting platform makes sure everything is where it belongs and neatly buttoned up,” he said.

Dr. Whyte knows that especially for a solo practitioner or small group practice, the backend of the business can make or break a small company. He advises that a business owner must learn to delegate, but only to people and services in which you have a high level of confidence in the expertise, professionalism and follow-through.

I’ve found that with eAssist. The platform supports the patient experience as well as the staff experience by providing another resource – fighting for benefits that benefit the patient and the practice.

Learn From the Past and Look in the Mirror

Dr. Whyte admits it has taken many years of success, and also a lot of failures to get to where he is now, and where the practice is at this point from its beginning nine years ago. When asked what his best advice is for new practice owners or those wanting to move their practice to the next level, Dr. Whyte offered these thoughts:

• Learn from every experience, especially the failures. He believes our experiences sculpt who we are and who we become, so encourages others to learn and grow from every one of them. “In addition to the successes, we all have failures from which we sometimes learn the most. So lean into your failures, especially as a new doctor. It doesn't mean you've done something wrong or that you are a failure, but that you can learn what not to do again in the future,” he advised.

  At Dr. Whyte Smile the entire team makes the time at least weekly to debrief and diagnose anything that went wrong, or any experience that was less than ideal – whether a clinical outcome or a patient satisfaction issue. “Maybe it was a miscommunication or inadvertent lack of follow through; we identify and solve the root cause so it doesn’t recur. That's very different than accosting one of your team members about why xyz didn't happen,” he explained

• Look inside first; that's where you're going to find your opportunities and your truths, even though some of them are hard to admit.

Until and unless you're ready to lead by example and really look for answers to why something isn't running the way it ought to, it will be hard to grow a practice to the next level.

Dr. Whyte also agrees that working with a business coach can be invaluable in helping a practice go from where it is today to where it could go, and without having to reinvent the wheel. He appreciates the mentors that have helped coach his growth as a business owner, acknowledging “They’ve helped me develop the ability to create that culture and environment that keeps patients coming back, retains employees, and ensures a financially successful business.”

To learn from others honored as eAssist Top Practices visit www.dentalbilling.com, and subscribe to our top-rated How We Did It podcasts on which Dentists Teach Dentists by candidly sharing their experiences, best practices, and what sets them apart in their communities.