Minnesota Carlson students sank their teeth into a key social challenge: expanding pediatric dental care access across the Twin Cities metro.
Three Carlson Consulting Enterprise students partnered with Ready, Set, Smile, a Minneapolis nonprofit focused on accessible dental care.
“I was ready to take on an important problem in our community using what I had learned,” says Sevda Akbari, an MBA student who worked on the four-month project.
Through partnerships such as this, Carlson Consulting Enterprise gives students the chance to work on real consulting projects for clients, including companies, nonprofits, foundations, and public-sector organizations. Since its founding in 2003, Carlson Consulting Enterprise has completed more than 600 projects spanning strategy, operations, financial modeling, organizational effectiveness, and public-sector problem-solving.
With Ready, Set, Smile, the students’ work supported a profound mission. “Our goal is to help kids establish a lifetime of sound oral health,” says Tessa Trepp-Wetjen, the executive director of Ready, Set, Smile. The organization now operates in three Twin Cities public school districts, along with several charter schools and early learning centers.
Dentist Adele Della Torre launched Ready, Set, Smile in 2013 to serve lower-income children at an elementary school. Early on, she noticed a lack of accessible dental providers. Although many families have Medicaid coverage, only 53 percent of Minnesota dentists accept it.
“Ready, Set, Smile’s mission to expand access to pediatric dental care for underserved children aligns strongly with CCE’s history of taking on projects where rigorous analysis can lead directly to meaningful social impact,” Carlson Consulting Enterprise Managing Director Siddharth Chandramouli says. “The challenge sits at the intersection of healthcare access, economics and system design. It provides our students with a valuable opportunity to work on an issue that can improve care for children across Minnesota.”
Delivering insights
The Carlson Consulting Enterprise team, which consisted of Akbari, MBA student Wade Garrison and senior Stefan Larsen, analyzed financial data and connected with area dentists. This helped the team understand what’s stopping dentists from accepting Medicaid and what works well for those dentists who do take it. For example, a common perception among dentists is that accepting Medicaid patients poses a financial risk to their practices, as the dentists frequently cite low reimbursement rates and complex administrative burdens.
At the project’s conclusion, the Carlson Consulting Enterprise team produced four “playbooks” that provide different strategies for various practice sizes. The playbooks have been designed to help dentists and practice managers perform financial modeling to identify profitability thresholds, determine sustainable patient mix ratios, research successful participation models, develop practical solutions to reduce administrative burden, and improve patient engagement. In other words, the CCE participants have helped Ready, Set, Smile make the business case for treating Medicaid patients, particularly younger ones.
Looking back on his experience with Ready, Set, Smile, Larsen says, “I enjoyed connecting with the client, building the relationship, and helping them with their mission. It feels really good to do your best work and know what you’re doing is going to help people directly—people who are in need.”
As for Akbari, she plans to focus her career on strategy and execution, particularly “growth and transformational projects,” after she graduates this year. The Ready, Set, Smile project “aligned perfectly with my passion for improving accessibility for underserved communities,” she adds. “It was meaningful work that tackles a real problem and creates tangible impact. I want to continue pursuing this kind of mission-driven work alongside a corporate career after completing my MBA.”
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