Cherry — Implementation Playbook (DSO)

Executive Summary

Cherry is a membership-financing platform that enables dental practices to offer patients affordable, predictable out-of-pocket costs through monthly subscription models—eliminating insurance friction and stabilizing practice revenue. For DSOs managing 10+ locations, Cherry creates standardized patient financial pathways across the enterprise while capturing real-time data on per-location membership adoption and patient lifetime value.

DSOs benefit uniquely because Cherry's platform consolidates financing logistics (previously fragmented across locations), enables cohort benchmarking across practice groups, and allows centralized pricing strategy with local execution flexibility. A 20-practice DSO typically achieves 25-40% membership penetration within 6 months, unlocking $400K-$800K in annualized incremental revenue through predictable patient cash flow and reduced insurance claim overhead.

Expected Timeline: 16 weeks from kickoff to full network deployment (100% of locations operational and staff-certified).

Pre-Implementation Checklist (Weeks 1-2)

Technical Requirements

• EHR Integration Readiness: Verify your primary EHR (Dentrix, Eaglesoft, Open Dental, etc.) API access; confirm IT team can execute webhooks for patient eligibility sync. Document current patient data architecture (how membership/insurance flags are stored).
• Payment Infrastructure: Audit existing payment processing (Dental Labs, Heartland, Square, etc.). Confirm PCI compliance status and whether your processor supports recurring billing natively or through tokenization.
• Network & Security: Test Cherry's HIPAA-compliant portal on your VPN and public WiFi; confirm firewall rules don't block cherry.com domains. Run security audit on existing practice management workflows to identify data handling gaps.
• Staff Device Inventory: Catalog front-desk, clinical, and back-office devices (tablets, desktops, phones) to establish deployment specifications for Cherry point-of-sale integrations.

Stakeholder Alignment

• Executive Sponsor: Designate a C-level DSO leader (CFO, COO) as sponsor; schedule weekly 30-min governance calls through week 16.
• Clinical Leadership Council: Convene practice owners/clinical directors from pilot locations and 2-3 early-wave sites; establish that Cherry enhances (not replaces) clinical decision-making. Address misconception that membership models incentivize over-treatment.
• Finance & Compliance Review: Legal review Cherry's patient agreements (non-refundable annual membership structure); Finance confirms revenue recognition approach (ASC 606 compliance for DSO consolidation).
• IT & Vendor Management: Identify Cherry implementation partner (Cherry's professional services team or certified implementation agency); define escalation paths and SLA expectations.

Baseline Metrics to Capture

By end of Week 2, establish a data warehouse snapshot across all locations:

• Current patient count, active member count (insurance plans), average transaction value (ATM)
• Insured vs. uninsured patient mix by location
• Monthly cash collections, days sales outstanding (DSO)
• Insurance denial/appeal rates, average claim lag time
• Patient acquisition cost (PAC) by channel
• Staff headcount dedicated to insurance/billing per location

Store these in a shared analytics dashboard (Google Sheets, Tableau, or your BI tool) to track delta vs. post-implementation performance.

Pilot Wave (Weeks 3-6)

Location Selection Criteria

Choose 2-3 pilot sites with:

1. Stable, engaged leadership. Practice manager and clinical director must be internal champions; avoid locations in transition or with recent staff turnover.
2. Representative patient mix. Select one high-volume location (100+ new patients/month), one mid-volume (40-60/month), one with higher uninsured load (30%+). This mirrors network diversity.
3. Technical readiness. Prioritize EHR-native integrations; avoid legacy standalone systems requiring manual data sync.
4. Founder engagement. If possible, include the DSO's flagship location; executive visibility accelerates feedback loops and decision-making.

Configuration & Setup

Week 3:

• Cherry implementation team conducts 2-hour discovery session with pilots' front-desk, scheduling, and clinical staff.
• Map patient journey: intake → treatment plan → financial presentation → enrollment.
• Configure membership tiers (e.g., Essential $29/month for prophys + exams; Premium $59/month + basic restorative; Concierge $99/month + comprehensive).
• Set allowances (e.g., 2 prophy/year, 1 exam, 10% discount on restorative) aligned with practice margins.

Week 4:

• EHR integration testing; sync patient eligibility and treatment plan data to Cherry portal.
• Payment processor tokenization setup (recurring billing infrastructure).
• Staff training environment launched; 10-15 practice staff gain sandbox access.

Week 5-6:

• Soft launch (internal staff + 20-30 volunteer patients); identify UI/workflow friction.
• A/B test two enrollment messaging variants at front desk (e.g., "Predictable care" vs. "No surprise bills").
• Daily standup calls between pilots and Cherry support to resolve bugs and staff friction.

Scaled Rollout (Weeks 7-16)

Wave Planning

• Wave 2 (Weeks 7-9): Deploy to 5-7 locations; prioritize those showing strongest pilot interest and IT readiness.
• Wave 3 (Weeks 10-12): 8-12 locations; now emphasize peer-to-peer training (pilot staff train new locations).
• Wave 4 (Weeks 13-16): Remaining locations; focus on tail-end technical edge cases and staff certification.

Stagger deployments by 2 weeks minimum to avoid support bottlenecks and allow each wave's operational staff to stabilize before the next group goes live.

Change Management

• Weekly Drumbeat: DSO-wide Monday 30-min syncs (one per wave) with rotating location spotlights; celebrate early enrollment wins (first 5 members per location).
• Resistance Management: Conduct one-on-one coaching calls with hesitant clinical staff; frame Cherry as patient advocacy (reducing financial anxiety before appointments) rather than sales pressure.
• Incentive Alignment: Tie 10-15% of practice manager bonuses to membership penetration targets (starting conservative: 10% of new patients by week 10; 20% by week 16).
• Communication Cadence: Bi-weekly email updates to all staff; monthly town halls with Q&A from Cherry's product team (builds trust and addresses concerns transparently).

Support Infrastructure

• Dedicated Cherry Success Manager: Assign one Cherry onboarding lead to your DSO full-time (Weeks 1-12, part-time thereafter).
• Internal Help Desk Tier-1: Train 2-3 DSO staff (ideally from pilot locations) as internal Cherry champions; they field basic staff questions before escalating.
• Escalation SLA: Critical issues (payment processing down, patient data sync failures) → 1-hour response; feature clarifications → 24-hour response.
• Knowledge Base: Curate a shared Slack channel or confluence wiki with screencasts of common workflows; minimize support ticket volume through self-service.

ROI Tracking

Key Metrics to Measure

30/60/90-Day Benchmarks

Day 30:

• Pilot locations: 40-60 enrolled members (target: 8-12% of active patient base).
• Staff certification: 90%+ of front-desk and scheduling staff completed Cherry training modules.
• Zero critical