A History of Success

Stefan Horsky, CEO of Passion Dental Group (PDG), has a proven history of building successful, inclusive corporate cultures in the healthcare industry while improving the quality of care for patients. He has been hailed as a selfless leader with one of the strongest work ethics, who truly lives and breathes by the core values the Passion Dental Group team has built collaboratively. In turn, those within Passion Dental Group are driven by these core values every day, operating with purpose to help support each other, the organization, and the industry throughout. Commitment, focus, energy and passion are clearly evident when working with any one member of the group. Each feeling safe to challenge one another, offer ideas and contribute to this growing organization, given the environment of high trust. Success doesn’t come without the ability to connect with people and build strong relationships; attributes that are continually emulated from the top down within Passion. The team mirrors its leader, working with a strong vision, a dedicated work ethic, and deeply ingrained core values that guide their behavior.

Complimentary Leadership

When the company was created, Stefan and Passion’s executive team recognized the importance of focusing on the ‘right fit’, which aligned with core values.  Of equal importance, they also sought out natural leaders with complementary strengths, collectively driving a positive impact on the organization. With access to leadership training, strong attention to self-awareness and that of others, the result has and continues to be, a hard-working, highly skilled team driven towards enhancing patient care and services. Offering open communication and transparency has also been a constant, allowing for healthy debate, and further innovation.    

Lifelong Learning

From the beginning, there has been continued support to try something different along with a focus on lifelong learning. Resources and equipment to learn at every level of the organization such as in-house and external professional development for doctors, hygienists, and support staff, offer each member continued growth, building a sense of overall satisfaction and engagement. Reinvesting back into the team creates highly motivated people providing the highest quality of patient care, which in turn retains and attracts new patients, helping achieve the organizations’ goals.

Transforming with the Times & Technology

Passion’s leadership team believes that several fundamental changes are occurring in dentistry. Dentists are moving towards a collaborative health model that involves more partnerships with other medical providers such as MDs, physiotherapists, chiropractors, and nutritionists. To help facilitate this, Passion Dental Group coordinates education programs to help build these critical relationships and to provide resources on how and when to refer. 

Another area of change in dentistry is the move away from the solo practitioner model. Driving this change are younger dentists that wish to have more mentorship with colleagues and want to avoid the stress of running a clinic by themselves. Two other factors driving this shift are dentists wanting a better work/life balance and a larger sense of community. “Dentistry has long been a very isolated solo practitioner style. With all the advances in technology and equipment, it is no longer feasible for a dentist to be trained in all those procedures and to be able to afford to house and update all of the technology,” explains Stefan. “By joining group and partnership models, the clinics can have more clinicians to share the work and the cost of the technology, which creates a much more sustainable model. This is an area where we can make a big difference. We are fundamentally founded on the principles of partnership, mentorship, resource sharing and support.”

Talking about digital transformation, Passion’s leadership team believes it involves incorporating technology like digital impressions, CBCT (Cone Beam Computed Tomography), paperless voice-activated charting, 3D printing, and in-office crown design. “Technology allows the clinician to be more efficient and perform more predictable dentistry. A dental implant can now be planned fully, including the alignment, position of an implant, type of implant, and crown design before even numbing the patient,” explains Dr. Michael Parchewsky, Passion’s Chief Clinical Officer. “The power of predictable technology allows for more consistent and improved outcomes for patients. Digital technology is primarily a visual media, and research shows that a human processes visual data up to 60,000 times faster than text. By leveraging visual media, clinicians can improve patient understanding, and that will improve case acceptance for higher-quality dental care. For Passion Dental Group, we have and continue to invest in our clinics to allow our clinicians to harness the power of the digital technology that is available.”

Towards the Future

Passion Dental Group is focused on creating meaningful relationships with the teams that allow them to provide the support and training they need to provide an excellent patient experience. Taking time out of the schedule to train the teams on DISC, patient flow, and communication and creating a positive culture ultimately deliver a more successful outcome for the patient visit.

Regional Managers within Passion Dental Group work closely with the on-site teams to develop healthy relationships. Support from Corporate is always on hand and accessible to all clinics. Regionals are limited to the number of clinics they support to be present often, in a “hands on” manner, to assist teams with any concerns or questions.

“We are trying to be the most respected dental service organization in North America. This is something we will always be striving for and will mean we have unwavering interest in great patient outcomes, highest levels of training and the best team experience possible. This is and will always be a work in progress….but as we say…lets be a little bit better every year,” adds Stefan.