Oral Surgery Associates Case Study

Imagine you have a practice with multiple locations, disciplines, and doctors, about to embark on a multi-million-dollar state-of-the-art new build. You realize that while your current IT provider is good, you feel you have already surpassed their resources, and your current configuration has maxed-out their capabilities. Now you have more you need to add. What would you do?

A Job of Monumental Scale
That’s the exact predicament Oral Surgery Associates found themselves in as they were commencing on this whirlwind of a journey that began in January 2018. Oral Surgery Associates, consisting of five Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons and two Endodontists were having space issues. They had exceeded their existing spaces with no room left to grow. Dr. Johnson, one of Oral Surgery Associates two Endodontists, explained they had four locations at the time and were faced with either splitting their specialties or building a new, larger, state-of -the-art facility capable of housing more providers. The decision was made to build one state-of -the-art facility with enough room to grow the practice in the future. They would maintain representation in Altoona, Rice Lake and Menomonie in order to serve West Central Wisconsin. It wasn’t just a new build, a merge, or a move – it was all three at the same time!

Dr. Johnson described the process as “a job of monumental scale.” They knew the practice needed help, and something more than just an IT company. Oral Surgery Associates was looking for a comprehensive company that would complement its comprehensive practice. As they had meetings, discussed plans, and reviewed quotes, Dr. Johnson said that it was Brad Newman and Sunset Technologies’ multi-phase, customized plan that sealed the deal. “Sunset met us where we were in order to get us where we wanted to be,” Dr. Johnson recalled.

We Got This
The personalized strategic plan that Brad laid out gave Oral Surgery Associates the ability to manage their then-current technology needs, which also allowed them to focus their time, energy, and funds on their patients and the new build. Once the build was complete and everyone could take a breath, the project then phased the practice and technology into the state-of -the-art facility it is today. During the hectic transition there were a great deal of moving parts that needed management, not just on the technical side or the practice side, but also with the design, build, and construction teams. Dr. Johnson remembers it would have been easy for so many things to have been missed, “We were a little stressed out in trying to make sure everything that was needed was done. It was great when Sunset came in and said, ‘We got this.’ They worked with the contractors and mapped everything out. Rather than making us the middle man – and not knowing the answers – we knew we could rely on Sunset to get the right solution to the right people and allow us, within the practice, to go back to managing the rest of the colossal project.” Indeed, a fantastic way to enable Sunset clients to work Rest Assured.

Rest Assured
Rest Assured isn’t just a tagline to Sunset Technologies, it’s genuinely how we want our clients to feel. When Dr. Johnson was told this and asked if he felt that way during the long building process, he replied “We did, and still do!” He explained that prior to their move to Sunset, he was the most tech savvy in the practice, but that also meant that whenever something went awry he and a few other key people were the ones that went through a battery of tests and processes in an attempt to pre-diagnose the issue before calling their IT person. He found it amusing that during the first few exchanges with Sunset’s Support Team (before the new systems were installed) they went through the same procedures they were accustomed to, and when they finally called for support the question was, “Why did you wait so long to call?” Dr. Johnson responded that the office wanted to be sure it wasn’t this, that or the other, and Sunset’s reply was, “Well, that is what we do, that’s why you have us. If something like this happens, call us, let us take care of the problem so you can take care of your patients.” That is Rest Assured.

Technology that Works for Us and not Against Us
When asking Dr. Johnson what he felt was the most helpful piece of working with Sunset, he said “I believe it is a total package when it comes to the framework we now have of redundancy, multiple processes, and behind the scenes work that we don’t even know about much less have to worry about. We know they are monitoring us 24/7/365 and able to take care of many of the things that need attention without us even knowing about it. In the past, many times if we had a problem that happened over the weekend, we wouldn’t know until Monday morning, and that was chaos. Now with Sunset, they have our backups set up during the day in a redundant system, so if something happens, they are on it without it causing us a delay or concern. Quite frankly, I don’t even know if we are having problems. Having the equipment work the way it is supposed to, enhances what we do in the practice, and that’s why we have it in the first place. The real gains are having an efficient operation from a consistency standpoint; technology that works for us and not against us.

We Love Working with these Guys
Technology only gets you so far, but it’s the people that make the technology work; it’s the same way with Oral Surgery Associates and Sunset Technologies. When there is an issue, “Adam and the Sunset Support Team are amazing, we love working with these guys. We start a ticket and the next thing you know, they are remoting in and doing what they need to do. They go beyond to make sure we have everything we need to run efficiently. For example, I wasn’t even working this weekend, and I received an email from Adam. An update from our practice management system was a little buggy on my laptop; he emailed me and asked if I was around my laptop as he had some free time and could remotely fix it for me if I wanted him to. It was totally out of the blue, and those are the moments we appreciate so much, and not the type of service we had been used to.”

Peace of Mind
When Dr. Johnson was asked the number one thing Sunset has done for him and Oral Surgery Associates, he didn’t hesitate with his answer: “Peace of mind. When I can come into the office and focus on patient care and not have to worry about the printer not working or a machine malfunctioning, it’s a great day.” He was in the same boat as other doctors probably are; his day would run late if there were technical issues that needed troubleshooting before he could authorize the call to IT. “Now, it’s great because most issues get red-flagged in a backup and are resolved before I even know about it. Equally, our staff knows it’s not an issue to call and get a ticket started. They let our Office Administrator know and it is taken care of without pulling any Doctors from patient care.

That is peace of mind. That is Rest Assured.
That is Oral Surgery Associates. That is Sunset Technologies.