Full disclosure – this blog has absolutely nothing to do with dentistry – but I hope you will read it anyway. My wife and I were recently in New York City for a quick two day whirlwind of business, theatre, and dinner with friends. The unquestioned highlight of our visit was a two hour guided tour of the 9/11 Museum at the lower tip of Manhattan. A year ago, on another trip, we had gone to see the new World Trade Center building and the memorial pools, but didn’t have the time to visit the Museum.

The 9/11 Museum has been constructed within the actual footprint of the North and South towers that were destroyed. This is hallowed ground. At one point, you are seven stories below street level on the bed rock of Manhattan. It is very overwhelming to visit this museum. Bring a handkerchief. The minute by minute account of what happened on that Tuesday morning 15 years ago is dramatically portrayed with video, photography, and the real size artifacts of twisted steel and damaged fire engines. Almost 3000 innocent people lost their lives, and their families were forever impacted.

I can not help but think that as we celebrate Thanksgiving and enter this Holiday season, we should remember the resilience that the citizens of New York and our nation as a whole displayed in dealing with this unspeakable horror. Perhaps that will help us now and give us courage and optimism as we try to understand and cope with the current economic and political issues that are seemingly dividing our country.

Dental Purchasing Group (DPG) is a dental specific group purchasing organization that was started almost 4 years ago. I originally wrote about this company early in 2016. I was impressed with it then, and even more impressed today.

The company has added 300 doctors and over 100 new offices in the past year.

Seth Josephs, the co-founder and CEO, told me that he estimates that based on its negotiated pricing from vendors within the network, DPG member offices will save $1,000,000 in calendar year 2016.

Ten new unique vendors have been added this year including Lighthouse 360 (patient communication software), Prexion (one of the major players in 3-D scanners), and Alpha NetSolutions (a well respected regional IT company).

Prior to this year, DPG members would receive a hard copy vendor book. A big upgrade has been the creation of a new website that makes it easy for members to access valuable information. This is especially helpful now that so many new vendors are being added. New offices can also sign up online and seamlessly have access to all member benefits.

DPG continues to offer the first 12 months free, and then $99 annually for each subsequent year. I asked Seth why more offices haven’t joined. “We all have learned the hard way that if something sounds too good to be true, then it probably isn’t true. Unfortunately we are having a difficult time overcoming this ingrained attitude.”

I encourage all of you who read my blog posts to check this company out. There are no hidden fees. Do the math – if you already buy from these vendors anyway, by being a DPG member,  you get an additional substantial discount. And if you discover a new vendor that you want to buy from, you get the DPG member discount. You can call Seth Josephs directly at 978-609-4281 or visit the website.