How Alpine Dentistry Saved Over $10,000 in One Year with Method's Procurement Platform

Alpine Dentistry faced several interconnected challenges:

Manual price comparison was impractical
With staff focused on patient care, spending 20-30 minutes on the phone comparing prices for a single product wasn't feasible. The time required simply didn't justify the potential savings.

No visibility into alternative pricing
Ordering through a single supplier meant Alpine had no way to know if they were overpaying. Without price transparency, cost optimization was impossible.

Rep-dependent ordering created friction
While Patterson provided excellent service, the weekly rep visits and phone-based ordering process added unnecessary steps to what should have been a simple transaction.

Limited budget oversight
Without real-time spending data, Alpine couldn't easily track whether supply costs stayed within target percentages of collections.

The practice needed a solution that would provide pricing transparency without adding complexity to their ordering process.

Alpine Dentistry learned about Method through their practice management consulting company. The platform's ability to compare prices across multiple suppliers in real-time immediately appealed to Janet.

"Our primary goal was to find something that would help make the ordering process more automated and streamlined, and obviously find better pricing," Janet said.

During onboarding, Alpine set up accounts with multiple suppliers through Method's platform. While they initially had concerns about changing their relationship with Patterson, the transition proved smoother than expected.

Janet and her lead dental assistant both participated in training sessions, allowing them to support each other as they learned the platform. Within about a month of placing orders, the team became proficient with Method's system.

The cost analysis feature became central to Alpine's ordering process. When the dental assistant submits an order, Janet reviews it and immediately checks the cost analysis button to ensure the team selected the lowest-priced option for each item.

"She's been trained to make sure if something says lowest cost in green, she clicks it unless it's out of stock or has an unknown delivery time," Janet said.

The financial impact was clear from the start. By comparing prices across multiple suppliers before each order, Alpine Dentistry saved over $10,000 in their first year using Method.

The cost comparison feature revealed significant price variations for identical products. Armed with this data, Alpine shifted approximately 60% of their orders away from Patterson to suppliers offering better pricing, primarily Darby.

"Pretty much everything except [certain supplier exclusive products], we now find better pricing elsewhere," Janet explained.

Time savings proved equally valuable. Instead of visiting multiple supplier websites or calling reps to compare prices, the team now sees all pricing options in a single view. What once took hours now takes minutes.

The budget management feature helps Alpine maintain spending discipline. Janet sets monthly supply budgets based on the previous month's collections and a target percentage recommended by their CPA. Method automatically warns if an order will exceed the budget.

"There's only been one time since we started with Method that I had to modify an order because it would put us over budget," Janet said. "We made the changes and just ordered the remaining items when the new month rolled around."

The relationship with their Patterson rep remained positive despite the change. He still assists with equipment purchases and questions about new products, but weekly ordering visits are no longer necessary.

Looking ahead, Janet plans to fully adopt Method's inventory scanning features to further automate the reordering process. While the team still uses their familiar tag system, scanning barcodes would eliminate even more manual work.

"My next step is to really utilize Method to its fullest potential with the scanner and automatic reorder notifications when we reach our thresholds," Janet said.