When I found out that Debbi Costa, the Financial Manager for Allen Dental Associates in Braintree works from her home in Florida, I said “Holy Cow! We need to talk to this lady!”
So, here’s the backstory…
Allen Dental Associates was established in 1929 by Albert J Allen Sr. DMD He was joined by his son Albert (Bud) J. Allen Jr DDS in 1964. Bud’s son Craig M Allen DMD joined the practice in 1995 and Lauren Handwerk DMD joined them in 2003. They welcomed Jennifer Allen in August 2014, making her the 4th generation of Allens to join the team. In the summer of 2016, Lyle Smith DMD also joined the practice. Craig Allen and Lauren Handwerk are the the current partners/owners of the practice.
Debbi joined the practice in 2001 as 1 of approximately 7 employees and worked the front desk alone. It wasn’t until they added a second full time Appointment Coordinator in 2012 that she was able to assume the role of Business Manager. She now oversee the work of the front desk, creates the financial plans, processes accounts receivable & payable, prepare bills, electronically sends and audit claims, posts Delta and BCBS MA electronic payments and maintains a payroll for 25+ employees.
Debbi hasn’t always worked in a dental office, She was a waitress from age 10-33 and always dreamed of opening her own breakfast/lunch restaurant. She finally came to the conclusion that stability of income and benefits were more important. In 1994, while waitressing full time, she went back to school and in 1999 and got her BA Business Management degree from Curry College. Before joining the Allen Dental team, she also did a brief stint as secretary of the Halifax Water Department.
In 2015 Debbi approached the doctors and told them her husband was retiring and that they were moving to Florida.
Here’s Dr. Allen’s part of the story … he called me when he found out that we were interviewing Debbi and wanted to comment too!
“This is the single best thing I’ve done in my practice!” Dr. Craig Allen told me early one morning. “Debbi’s still young (She was only 49 when her husband retired and they relocated to Florida.) so when she told me that she was moving, I asked if she was going to still work. When she said yes, she was going to find a job down there, I knew that I had to figure out how she could work remotely. She’s that good and that valuable that we wanted to keep her, not replace her.”
Debbi is basically doing the exact same job she did in Braintree, MA except now someone in the office now has to go over the financial plans with the patients. The part that is different is that Debbi must rely on the internet for access. It is so much slower than being in the office. The first couple of months were a struggle. She has learned that patience is a virtue when working remotely.
Dr. Allen thinks that, financially, this is a win/win. Debbi gets more done in less time and is more efficient without the interruptions that are normal in a dental office.
Debbi says that she loves being fortunate enough to do the same job as she was doing in MA. She doesn’t have a 45 minute commute and I doesn’t have to worry about outfits for the week. “I now have time to get up an enjoy a walk in the morning before I start work and the doctors have been awesome. They are very flexible with my schedule as long as the work is getting done. FYI, the WiFi works all the way to the farthest corner of the pool!”
The weather and the internet are her biggest challenges. In the summer, June-September, they can get extreme weather and the internet connection may be lost and she cannot work. Fortunately, it usually comes back pretty quickly though. Allen Dental Associates isn’t paperless so Debbi depends on other to get her the information that she needs to do her job. “The hardest part of being off site is waiting for information. I have a Type A personality and looking at piles is extremely difficult for me. Otherwise, it is the best outcome I could have ever asked for.”
I asked Dr. Allen that if Debbi decided to retire, would he consider hiring another remote manager and he emphatically answered “Yes!” Debbi is able to make collection calls, follow up on insurance and pre-treatments are ready to be printed each morning when the front desk staff comes in. She’s totally efficient and tells everyone how happy he is with this arrangement. It was easy because Debbi had worked in the office and knew the office culture. He’s have a new person come in and work in the office for a while before they worked remotely so they would be familiar with everyone and everything first.
Although we won’t see Debbi at our DMS meetings, Dr. Allen thinks that the Dental Managers Society is a wonderful idea and plans to send his Front Desk staff.
I don’t think Debbi is too sorry that she can’t come! She says “When I look out the window and see the sun, the pool and palm trees and I’m quickly reminded of how fortunate I am. “
I think most of us would join her in a heartbeat!
~Pam Snell
