Semidey Dental Podcast
Welcome to "Semidey Dental," the podcast that delves deep into the fascinating world of oral health and its profound impact on your healthspan. Join us on an enlightening journey as we explore the intricate web of connections between your oral health and the health of your entire body.
In each episode, we'll unravel the latest research, expert insights, and personal stories to shed light on the link between your mouth and your body. You'll discover how your smile can lead to a healthier, fuller life.
Your hosts, Dr. Alex Semidey and Jeremy Wolf, will sit down with leading dental professionals, healthcare experts, and individuals who have experienced firsthand the transformative power of optimal oral care. Together, we'll bridge the gap between dentistry and holistic health, unveiling the role that your teeth and gums play in maintaining total body wellness.
For more information, visit: www.semideydental.com or call (954) 581-0120
Semidey Dental Podcast
EP #2: Revolutionizing Small Business Health Benefits with Dr. Goluboff and Dr. Benjamin
Could your small business offer high-quality health benefits without breaking the bank? Discover how with this episode as we introduce a revolutionary new approach to employee health benefits with the brilliant minds behind Awaken Health, Dr. Florencia Goluboff and Dr. Michelle Benjamin. Today’s discussion uncovers the creation and potential of DCC Benefits, a tailored health plan developed specifically for small and medium-sized businesses in the Davie Cooper City area. This innovative package promises to enhance employee attraction and retention by providing comprehensive medical and dental care at a fraction of traditional costs. Our guests explain the collaboration with Semidey Dental and how DCC Benefits emerged from a shared vision to support local businesses struggling with the expense of standard health plans.
Join us as we explore the unique advantages of this program, whether your business currently offers benefits or not. DCC Benefits not only aims to fill a gap for those without existing health plans, but also provides a cost-effective and higher quality alternative for employers dissatisfied with their current options. Dr. Benjamin and Dr. Goluboff offer insight into their direct primary care model, an emerging trend that is reshaping access to healthcare across South Florida. This episode is a must-listen for small business owners looking to make impactful changes in their employee benefits strategy while ensuring the well-being and satisfaction of their teams.
Welcome to the Semi-Day Dental Podcast. We're here to provide you expert insights on how dentistry can improve your quality of life and extend your health span. I'm Alex Semi-Day and I'm a practicing dentist, and I'll be your host, along with Jeremy Wolf. Enjoy the show, Welcome. Welcome to the newest episode of the Semi-Day Dental Podcast, Jeremy. Today we have an amazing show on hand man. I'm super excited to introduce the doctors at Awaken Health, Drs Florencia Goluboff and Dr Michelle Benjamin. Welcome to the show, guys. It's an honor to have you here.
Speaker 2:Thanks for having us. We're very excited.
Speaker 1:So, doctors.
Speaker 3:I deal, as you know, with a lot of small businesses in the local community, and one of the things that I've experienced in speaking to small business owners is there is a lack of health insurance for their employees. Owning a small business and running a small business can be very, very challenging. There's a lot of things to do, and one of those is insurance, and one of those is insurance. You guys have come up with a pretty interesting model that you wanted to share today, so can you explain I don't know who wants to take the lead here can you explain what DCC Benefits is and how it was developed to meet the needs of small businesses?
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, absolutely. Dcc Benefits was a joint venture between Semide Dental and Awaken Health to really solve the problem of accessible and affordable benefits packages for small businesses. This was this. This kind of came as the result of.
Speaker 1:Both Awaken Health and Semide Dental were members of the Davie Cooper City Chamber of Commerce and we both have access to care plans that are very similar in a membership plan type approach. And you know we are part of the Chamber of Commerce and our Chamber of Commerce brethren, right Like. We talk about how difficult it is to get good benefits packages for our employees. That's going to improve attraction and retention of our talent, right. So we decided to combine forces and, through this benefits plan, offer a really comprehensive benefits package that includes access to medical care and dental care at a very affordable rate. You know typical plans will cost an employer $450 to $550 a month per employee when they offer benefits, and our plan comes in at $100 a month and the employer gets to choose how much of that they subsidize for their employees. So we're very excited to bring this to our local community and really help other small businesses out, because we're small businesses too, right. So we get how difficult it is to offer those types of incentives.
Speaker 3:Very, very interesting. I'm curious, though, because obviously many businesses already have insurance group health plans in place, many don't, and obviously it's important for employee retention and to keep your staff happy by having good benefits for them. Is this like what's the target ideal audience for this program? Is this specifically geared towards those companies that have absolutely no insurance in place currently, or is it also a benefit to companies that already have group plans in place? Can you talk a little bit about the distinction between traditional health group plans and this new service you're offering?
Speaker 4:Yeah, so yes, ideally it's going to be targeting those small businesses who, you know, financially weren't able to originally provide their employees with a benefits package. So that's kind of our ideal niche customer. But we're also presenting it to really, you know, small, even medium-sized employers that are looking to also save money and who are in the area as well. You know, this is obviously more of a local target because we are here located in the Davie Cooper City area. So we are, you know, looking at a local target, but usually small to medium sized businesses who either have something in place already and are looking to, you know, find something more affordable and higher quality, or who don't have anything at all and would like to start offering their employees benefits.
Speaker 1:And Dr Benjamin, I really I wanna piggyback on something you just said there. For a lot of places they offer benefits but they are disappointed with the quality of care they're receiving for the tremendous amount of money that they're paying, right? So I would love for you guys to take a minute and discuss your model, discuss the direct primary care, because it's beautiful.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Direct primary care, or short for DPC, is a new nationwide movement here in South Florida. It's pretty new and we're lucky that we knew about it and we started this. It pretty much gives affordable, accessible, personalized care to patients. So with this plan they have full access to the medical doctor. They can be seen right away. If they're sick. We try to see our patients within 24, 48 hours. There's no wait time when you come see us. There's no rushing through the visit. You know you're seen. You're not a number. We get to really know you and help you. It's all about prevention, it's all about optimizing health, but if you're sick we also see you that day.
Speaker 4:And we try to. And the key with direct primary care, what kind of differentiates us from, say, a concierge type practice, which most people have heard of concierge medicine is really the price tag that comes along with it. So you know, obviously in the employee benefits package it's 100 including both, but we try to keep the price point low versus concierge medicine Pretty much. We offer the same quality of care and the level of care but at a much more affordable price.
Speaker 1:Concierge care that doesn't break the bank.
Speaker 3:So you mentioned, you guys mentioned it's $100 a month for the plan to enroll, but you also, dr Alex, you talked about customizing the benefits. Talk a little bit, if you could, alex, first about what's basically included under the $100 and how the plan kind of covers additional things that maybe aren't encompassed under the plan, and then also a little bit about the customization of the benefits.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely the customization of the benefits. Yeah, absolutely. So that's one of the one of the key components of this benefits package, right? Is that the employer gets to subsidize all or nothing of this, right? So the the basic cost is a hundred dollars per employee and that gives you access to awaken health as your primary care physician and somebody dental as your dentist. We something that that Doc said earlier that I really loved is that a key difference of Awaken Health, and something that Semire Dental takes a lot of pride in too, is just how much time we take with people. People aren't kind of rushed in through our offices like just being another number. So this isn't a package that is just based on low cost. It's really like you're getting premier medical and dental services for you and your employees. So, again, it's $100 a month. Employer gets to decide how much of that they want to cover. We deal directly with employees. So once we enroll the business into the DCC benefits plan, then we deal directly with employees. So that's one less HR headache the employer has to deal with After that. So as far as I'll let the doctors talk about the medical services that are included in the plan I'll touch a little bit about.
Speaker 1:On the dental side. With the plan you have basically all of your preventive dentistry included. You have two cleanings a year, you have your fluoride treatments, all of your checkups, your oral cancer screening is done every year, your full checkup, x-rays, CT scans whatever we have to do from a preventive and diagnostic standpoint is fully covered with the plan. Then, on top of that, you receive 30% off any and all of our services, whether that is something necessary like a filling or a crown, or something that is necessary for other reasons like deniers or whitening. That 30% is applicable across the board, with an additional $500 off Invisalign services. So it's a very, very comprehensive dental benefits package, and I'll let the doctors talk a little bit about how the medical side of it works.
Speaker 4:So essentially, with the medical benefits, the employees will have their annual checkup and basically it covers all of our office visits, so there's really no limitations on how many times the employee can see us. However many times they need us is however many times they see us. So it's open access. A part of the direct primary care model is improving access to cares, so they also have direct access to us via text and phone and we usually can respond within 24 to 48 hours, and we usually can respond within 24 to 48 hours. And then we also offered tremendous discounts on laboratory and diagnostic testing. So you know, there is a potential that people can choose to get some kind of like a secondary insurance to cover the catastrophic things and whatnot. In that case we can run labs and diagnostic imaging through insurance. If not, we do get big discounts, so we can save a lot of money when it comes to paying for those costs as well.
Speaker 2:We also want to make it convenient for the patients and the employers. We draw blood here in office so you don't have to go to another appointment to get your labs done. But we can also offer if we have a group we can even go to their office and run everyone's lab that day. So it's convenient for everyone.
Speaker 4:It takes time, yeah.
Speaker 3:All good stuff. One of the things that impresses me kind of, as a bystander looking from the outside in at both your practices, what you're doing. Obviously I love the direct primary care model. I think that anytime you have a direct line into your healthcare provider it gives you an added sense of security and a peace of mind. And I know, dr Alex, over at your practice nobody likes to say this all the time tongue in cheek, right, nobody likes going to the dentist and there's nothing worse than getting to a practice and there's this kind of medical setting and everything's sterilized and it just can be very uncomfortable. One of the things that you do at your practice is create a warm, welcoming environment for your patients that not only hits them when they come in the door but extends throughout the relationship that you build with your patients so that when somebody comes into your office they feel very, very comfortable being there, which is a huge thing when you're going to the dentist, you know.
Speaker 1:It is. It is, you know, regardless of what medical setting you're walking into, there's always fears and apprehensions that are associated right. So it's important for us to take those things into account and be sensitive to those things. And that's one of the things that really, when we were at the initial stages and ideas for this partnership, really kind of attracted us to Awaken Health, in that they have a very similar philosophy. Right, it is a. Every detail is taken into account. Right From the moment you walk into the office you feel like these are practitioners that pay attention to the details and are working really hard to get it right. So it's a very exciting partnership and we really hope that it can solve a lot of issues for small businesses around our community.
Speaker 3:Yeah, very excited to see this new model launch for you guys. How can our listeners learn more about this? Any business owner out there that finds themselves intrigued by this idea that's looking for benefits to give their employees, what's the best way for them to learn more and reach out to you guys to get enrolled?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so they can find all the information on the plan through dccbenefitscom. That's dccbenefitscom. It'll be in the show notes too, so they can just click on that and I'll let the doctors talk about how they can contact your office. They can contact either office to get started with the plan.
Speaker 4:We'll, we'll, we'll work things out yeah, and best way to reach us is, you know, really anyway, uh, by phone, so or text, or email, and we'll get back to you all right, sounds good yeah we.
Speaker 3:We will course drop a link down below in the description to all the information, the website contact information, so you guys can reach out and learn more. Guys, always a pleasure, love what you're doing in the community. Keep up the great work offering true value for our community. So thanks for what you're doing, guys.
Speaker 4:Thanks.
Speaker 3:Jeremy.
Speaker 4:Thanks Alex, thanks Alex.
Speaker 1:Thanks Awakened Health and keep smiling folks.
Speaker 3:Everyone take care. All right, bye-bye, bye.
Speaker 1:Thanks for tuning in to this episode of the Seminary Dental Podcast. We hope you enjoyed the show. Don't forget to subscribe, leave a review and follow us on social media for the latest episodes. You can find us at Semide Dental. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out. We're always happy to help. Until then, keep smiling and stay curious.