Planet DDS Pay Simplifies Payments for Southern Family Dental Partners
Southern Family Dental Partners (SFDP) is a private equity-backed dental support organization (DSO) founded in 2022 with seven offices and ten dentists in Tennessee and Georgia. In just a few years, SFDP has more than doubled its footprint across the Southeast, now operating twenty-two locations throughout Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, and Arkansas. With more than 130 team members, SFDP has been recognized as Group Dentistry Now Emerging Groups to Watch in 2024 and growing strong.
Enhancing Payment Operations for a Growing DSO
Southern Family Dental Partners is committed to growth while prioritizing positive experiences for both patients and staff. This mission requires a modern dental practice management and payment solution that makes software integration as easy as possible while also optimizing operations for greater efficiency.
Southern Family Dental Partners chose the Denticon cloud-based practice management solution to centralize data, enhance front- and back-office workflows, and scale with its multi-location DSO as the organization grew from just six locations.
Looking for enhanced payment functionality, Planet DDS Pay offered a timely solution. Integrated with Denticon, the secure payment platform automates posting, reduces administrative burden, and simplifies financial workflow, making it well-suited for a growing DSO.
As an existing Denticon user, SFDP was eager to implement Planet DDS Pay across the organization. The opportunity to expand functionality within their existing platform aligned well with their operational goals.
Faster, Simpler Setup Across Locations
With previous legacy systems, setup required multiple steps, involvement from IT, and waiting on vendor support. Madi Hoesten, vice president of integration at Southern Family Dental Partners, found Planet DDS Pay to be the optimal solution.
By implementing Planet DDS Pay, Southern Family Dental Partners significantly reduced the time required onboarding each new location. “The final setup for Planet DDS Pay is so much easier and smoother than our previous platform,” Hoesten said. “I can do it myself in about five minutes.”
In addition to ease of use, Hoesten noted the value of ongoing support during each implementation: “When I am integrating a location, Planet DDS makes it super simple. Everything is done before I show up at the new office. The Planet DDS team is great, and they walk me through the process. At this point I can do most of it myself, but they’re always there for support.”
Hoesten added: “For other companies considering Planet DDS Pay, I would tell them that we’ve used other systems and Planet DDS Pay is easier to implement, it’s easier to use, and my staff is really happy with it.”
Improving Compliance and Protecting Patient Data
Before Planet DDS dental practice management solutions, Southern Family Dental Partners had to conduct extensive IT audits and manage large amounts of paperwork for PCI compliance.
“The platform we used made it very difficult to integrate into a new office, and there was a lot of back and forth,” said Hoesten. “It all happened on the day of integration, which made it feel chaotic and frustrating.”
Each time a new location was added, the team had to provide redundant data, complete the same forms, and involve both their accountant and CEO, regardless of how many times they had gone through the process before.
With Planet DDS Pay, the payment processes are automated and internal, saving valuable time and reducing the burden on staff. The solution supports secure patient transactions with robust protections for sensitive data and ongoing regulatory compliance. PCI-compliant safeguards—including end-to-end encryption (P2PE)—are applied to all transactions, ensuring patient information remains protected.
“Now with the security provided by Planet DDS Pay, compliance is fast and easy and saves a lot of time,” expressed Hoesten.
Modern, Mobile-Friendly Payment Terminals
Prior to Planet DDS Pay, Southern Family Dental Partners used a payment processor with poor integration and inconsistent patient experiences. Payment terminals tethered to computers were difficult, with several barriers to adding new offices, making the process difficult for teams.
Planet DDS Pay, powered by Stripe, operates on modern, intuitive terminals that are more portable and user-friendly than legacy payment systems, helping DSOs improve both staff workflows and the patient checkout experience.
“Terminals don’t have to be wired to a particular computer, so several people can move around to use it,” said Hoesten. “Patients are more used to a mobile-friendly payment solution, and we can hand it to the patient, and they just tap their card, and it’s done. Very easy for office staff and the patients.”
With Planet DDS Pay, DSOs and dental groups can accept Apple Pay, Google Pay, and text-to-pay, in addition to all major credit cards. This offers an effortless, tap-to-pay experience that meets patient expectations.
Enhanced Payment Visibility and Reconciliation
Planet DDS Pay provides real-time financial analysis, allowing DSOs and dental groups to make data-driven decisions. Detailed reporting tools helped Southern Family Dental Partners optimize revenue cycle management (RCM) and financial planning, with immediate visibility into payment activity and trends. This has improved payment speed, cash flow visibility, and operational efficiency.
“We get a daily revenue report by email every day, which we did not get with our previous system,” Hoesten said. “It shows the amount, and then it gets broken down by the patient, what the charge was, and what we were paid. We can easily run daily, weekly, or monthly reports for our accountant to see gross and net revenue. It’s very flexible.”
Planet DDS Pay also supports a surcharge (cost offset) solution for credit card payments, which helps increase revenue collected from patients.
“We’ve rolled out the surcharge in a couple offices, and there’s been no reaction or pushback, which is great,” said Hoesten. “People are getting used to the idea of a surcharge when you use a credit card instead of cash, so it’s been a smooth rollout.”
Get Smarter Payment Processing Built for DSOs
The Planet DDS Pay implementation process has been well-executed from start to finish, with Southern Family Dental Partners benefiting from easier integration, secure payment processing, and better tools to manage revenue operations more effectively.
The organization plans to continue rolling out Planet DDS Pay across all its locations, helping to improve payment processes across its growing network of dental practices.
Planet DDS Pay enables SFDP to create a more consistent, scalable approach to payment processing, one that supports both operational efficiency and patient convenience.
Want to discover how Planet DDS Pay can simplify dental payments and help your organization grow? Contact us today.
