We Dropped Delta: The Truth About Dropping PPOs What REALLY happens when a dental practice drops its biggest PPO? In this episode of the Automatic Patient Podcast, I sit down with Dr. Dan Nelson to talk about what happened after his practice went completely out of network—including dropping Delta Dental, which represented roughly 51% of their patient base.

AI has fundamentally changed how patients find dental practices—and most marketing teams haven't caught up. In this episode of The Automatic Patient Podcast, Jordon Comstock sits down with Adrian Lefler, CEO of My Social Practice, to discuss how Google's AI-powered search is reshaping dental marketing. They explore why traditional SEO strategies are becoming obsolete, how AI agents are replacing repetitive marketing tasks, and what practices and DSOs need to do now to stay visible online. You'll also hear why copywriters are becoming AI automation editors, what questions to ask your marketing agency, and how AI is creating an entirely new go-to-market playbook for dental organizations. In this episode you'll learn: Why Google's AI search has changed SEO forever. How AI is transforming marketing teams and workflows. What "zero-click" search means for patient acquisition. Why every practice needs an AI-first marketing strategy. How DSOs and private practices can prepare for the future of marketing. Whether you're a solo practice, multi-location group, or DSO executive, this conversation will help you understand the biggest shift in dental marketing in decades—and how to stay ahead of it. Connect with Adrian Lefler & My Social Practice: https://www.mysocialpractice.com If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to The Automatic Patient Podcast, leave a review, and share it with another dentist or marketing leader looking to future-proof their practice.

In this podcast episode, Dr. Dan Nelson and Jordon Comstock discussed the challenges facing dental practices in the current industry landscape, including declining median income for dentists, increasing overhead costs, and the impact of insurance reimbursement rates. They explored how practices often inadvertently hurt their financial performance by zeroing out treatment codes or adjusting fees to match insurance reimbursements, which can negatively affect data tracking and insurance negotiations. The discussion highlighted the importance of proper bookkeeping, maintaining appropriate write-off percentages, and implementing preventative business strategies to avoid complacency. Key takeaways included Dr. Nelson's two commandments for practice management: "thou shalt not zero out any treatment codes or procedures" and "thou shalt not adjust your fees to match that of the insurance companies." They also touched on the need for practice owners to transition from clinical work to business management roles while avoiding the trap of staying in a comfortable financial zone without implementing proper business preventative care measures.

On this episode of the Automatic Patient Podcast, Jordon Comstock and Dr. Dan Nelson discussed the five barriers to success in dental practice ownership: arrogance, ignorance, ambivalence, fear, and capacity. Dr. Nelson, who has a psychology background, explained how these barriers manifest in practice owners and shared real-world examples from his consulting work. The discussion covered how arrogance often stems from overconfidence in areas outside one's expertise, ignorance can be combated through mentorship and education, ambivalence is a choice that leads to misalignment and potential burnout, fear of change can prevent practices from evolving, and capacity involves both bandwidth and actual abilities. The conversation highlighted the importance of self-assessment, finding the right mentors, and understanding alignment in overcoming these barriers to achieve greater success in dental practice management.

Delta is tightening control (even buying practices), so dentists need a strategy to regain power: prep your team + track key KPIs + build a membership plan first + over-communicate + run recall/outreach, and expect a ~12-month stabilization period after the PPO exit. The result: less write-off pain and way more freedom.

In this episode of The Automatic Patient Podcast, Dr. Dan Nelson, Jordon Comstock, and guest Justin Comstock explore effective leadership strategies for dental practices.

Introduction to Financial Insights in Dentistry:Jordon Comstock and Dr. Dan Nelson discuss the challenges and opportunities in managing practice finances, including calculating true costs and identifying areas for improvement.

In this dynamic episode of the Automatic Patient Podcast, Jordon Comstock teams up with dental billing expert Ericka to dive deep into the complexities of dental billing and the transformative power of membership plans

In this lively and insight-packed episode, we sit down with Minal Sampat, a powerhouse in the world of dental digital marketing. Known for her unique blend of humor, energy, and no-nonsense advice, Minal shares actionable tips to take your dental practice's online presence from "meh" to mind-blowing.

In this episode of The Automatic Patient Podcast, host Jordon Comstock chats with Gina Kiner, Office Manager at Pioneer Valley Dental Arts, about her incredible success in growing their patient membership program to 365 active members in just one year. Gina shares her strategic insights, emphasizing the power of empowering clinical teams to promote the membership program alongside the admin staff. Together, they discuss the importance of patient experience, the role of membership plans in reducing financial barriers, and how effective communication fosters trust and treatment acceptance.