Oahu Dental Practice Enjoys Big Benefits from Outsourcing HR

Thirty-six years ago, Stephen Shoultz, fresh from University of Indiana’s dentistry program, arrived in Hawaii for an internship at St. Francis Medical Center. At the conclusion of his one-year commitment, he decided to stay in the islands and start his business. Today, Dr. Shoultz runs a thriving dental practice in Kaneohe, serving 2,500 patients island-wide who have come to trust and depend upon him and his dedicated staff.

“I wanted to build a family practice,” explains Stephen Shoultz, DDS. “We do our best to create a family atmosphere.”

His family-friendly vision plays out in his Kaneohe office, beginning with the warm, welcoming feel of the reception area. Patients have grown attached to his practice—even over multiple generations. Some of his current patients are the grandchildren of his long-time patients from the 1970s.

For dental and medical practices, the first few years are especially tough. Cash flow, initial debt, building clientele, and staffing issues are immense hurdles to success.

“Staffing is always a challenge,” Dr. Shoultz says. “Finding, training, and retaining qualified staff is the biggest challenge.”

In an industry that often sees employees turn over every 12-18 months, Dr. Shoultz has been able to retain staff successfully year after year. Half of his staff has been with him for 10-15 years. “We’ve been fortunate,” he says.

He’s also made some smart business decisions. As the practice grew, Dr. Shoultz looked for ways to retain those valuable employees. “I wanted to offer my staff more benefits.” Yet, how could a relatively small employer provide a bigger benefits package?

In 1996, on the recommendation of a trusted friend (and patient), Dr. Shoultz turned to Hawaii’s employment experts, ALTRES. “ALTRES offered the benefits I wanted,” he says.

Through ALTRES’ outsourced human resources program, Dr. Shoultz was able to offer “big company” benefits to all his employees. In addition to a pension plan that he had already in place, he now was able to offer his staff better healthcare options, a 401(k) retirement plan, a pre-tax flexible spending plan, and other benefits.

His decision to outsource not only delivered better personal benefits to his employees, it brought about business benefits as well. While offloading all the time-consuming tasks associated with benefits administration, Dr. Shoultz was able to unload the burdens of payroll processing, employer compliance, and workplace insurance as well.

With ALTRES assuming responsibility for everything related to employment administration, “we’re not dealing with all those companies directly,” Shoultz says. “Everything’s taken care of.”

In the world of healthcare providers, emergencies regularly arise, rearranging planned days. A clinic’s administrative tasks, such as payroll processing and workers' comp can often slip as their focus remains on patient care.

In years past Dr. Shoultz and his staff handled the payroll themselves. “I was glad to get rid of that,” he smiles. Now that ALTRES was handling the time-consuming, payroll-related activities, Shoultz and his staff were free for the fundamental activities of a family dental practice—treating patients and nurturing relationships with families.

“I’ve been able to concentrate more on my practice,” reports Shoultz. “ALTRES relieves me of the tasks and pressure I used to have. And my staff is pleased with it, too.”

If his employees have any questions about their health plans, retirement, automatic payroll deposit or flexible spending plans, they simply call ALTRES directly. “The staff at ALTRES is excellent. They’re very cooperative and helpful.” he says.

Dr. Shoultz’s success is evident from the thousands of long-term patients who refer others, year after year. “We get folks who have moved to the mainland and come back to see us,” he says. They schedule their dental check-ups in Kaneohe to coincide with their return visits to the islands.

The secret to success has been simple for Dr. Shoultz and his team. “We treat people as family,” he says. “That’s the way I wanted to be treated.”