Mike's Newsletter | Anthropic Moves Into Medicine. Their Ai Models Pass Security Checks
- Mike Vidikan
- Jul 3
- 6 min read
Updated: Jul 15
Welcome Orthoprenuers!
Every week, we bring you the latest in practice management, marketing, profitability, and next-level ortho techniques so you can work smarter, grow faster, and build the practice you want.
In this issue:
🚨 News Update🦾 Mike’s Prompt
🗓️ Plan Your 2026 CE Calendar
📢 Juan’s Marketing Tip
🔥Trending in the OrthoPreneurs Facebook Group
🎙️ The Orthopreneurs Podcast
✨ Final Thought
🚨 News Upadte
🧬 Anthropic Launches Claude Science — And Plans to Develop Its Own Drugs
Anthropic just announced Claude Science, a new AI workbench built to help researchers organize fragmented tools, datasets, figures, and scientific workflows. The bigger headline: Anthropic also said it plans to develop drugs of its own, with a focus on neglected diseases.
Why it matters: This is another sign that AI is moving beyond simple chat and into complex professional work. For orthodontic practices, the takeaway is not that AI replaces clinical judgment — it is that the tools are becoming powerful enough to assist with deeper research, documentation, analysis, and operations when used carefully.
🛡️ Anthropic’s Most Powerful AI Models Are Back Online After Security Review
Anthropic’s advanced AI models, Fable 5 and Mythos 5, are back online after the U.S. government lifted temporary export controls tied to cybersecurity concerns. The restrictions were originally connected to fears that powerful AI models could be misused to find software vulnerabilities or support cyberattacks.
Why it matters: This shows how quickly AI is becoming both a productivity tool and a security risk. For orthodontic practices, it is another reminder to ask smarter questions before adopting new AI vendors: What systems can it access, how is patient data protected, and what safeguards are in place if the tool is misused?
🦾 Find the Leak Before You Spend Another Dollar on Marketing
When starts are soft, the instinct is to buy more leads. But most practices don't have a lead problem. They have a leak somewhere between the first phone call and the signed contract, and more leads just means more patients falling through the same crack.
Before you spend more, find the leak. Paste this into ChatGPT or Claude and let it walk you through your patient journey one stage at a time:
[I run an orthodontic practice. I want you to audit my new-patient journey from first inquiry to start and find where we're losing patients.
Interview me one question at a time. Wait for my answer before asking the next one. Cover these stages in order: inbound calls, web form response time, text follow-up, consult scheduling, no-shows, treatment presentation, financing, and post-consult follow-up. Ask follow-ups when an answer is vague or a number seems off.
Do not guess or fill in answers for me, and do not give me a diagnosis until you've walked through every stage. When you're done, show me the top three places we're most likely losing patients, ranked by lost revenue, and tell me which one to fix first and why.]
It will interview you like a consultant would, one question at a time, then show you the three stages costing you the most and where to start. Fifteen minutes of honest answers usually beats another month of ad spend.
✨ Astro Outlook: Week of July 6-12
Key date: July 12
This week builds toward July 12, when Mercury retrograde reaches an important midpoint in Cancer. Astrologically, this is a review point. It is not necessarily about pushing forward harder. It is about noticing what the last two weeks have revealed, especially around communication, emotional tone, and the way people experience your practice.
For orthodontists, this is a great week to listen carefully. What are patients repeating? Where is your team confused? Which part of your consult process creates hesitation? Which messages are not landing the way you intended? The signs most likely to feel this are Cancer, Capricorn, Aries, Libra, and Virgo.
The takeaway: retrograde periods are not just about mistakes. They are useful for finding the places where your message needs to be clearer.
Best use of the week: Review patient objections, team confusion, or missed follow-ups and look for patterns.
🗓️ Plan Your 2026 CE Calendar
October is stacked with opportunities to learn, connect, and get ahead of the second half of the year.
57th SIDO International Congress
Date: Thu, Oct 08
Make More Money Meeting
Date: Fri, Oct 09
Southern Association of Orthodontists
Date: Thu, Oct 15
PCSO 91st Annual Session
Date: Wed, Oct 21
2026 GLAO Annual Session
Date: Fri, Oct 23
Bookmark the calendar, pick your priorities early, and stop letting CE planning become a last-minute scramble.
📢Explore AI and HIPAA
"Is AI actually HIPAA compliant?"
With a few simple guidelines and the right training, your team can confidently use AI while protecting patient privacy and staying compliant.
That's exactly what we'll be discussing during AI Shift Live on July 10. I'll show you what information is safe to use with AI, what should never be entered, and how to build simple guardrails your entire team can follow.
We're now just one week away, and tickets are available for $197.
BUT! You can use this code to get $50 for just THIS WEEKEND ONLY!
Code: 50OFF26
If you've been waiting to decide, now's a great time to reserve your seat before the Independence weekend is over.
Not quite ready for the event?
Dino also put together a free HIPAA AI Guide that explains the basics of using AI safely in your practice. It's a great place to start if you want to better understand where the real risks are and how to avoid them. Looking forward to seeing you on July 10.
📢 Juan’s Maktering Tip
Your Follow-Up Speed Is Part of Your Brand
A great ad can get the lead.
But a slow response can lose the patient.
If a parent fills out a form and waits hours for a response, the practice already feels disorganized before the first conversation even happens.
Here’s the play:
● Respond to new leads within minutes whenever possible.
● Use text first when the lead comes from a mobile form.
● Have a clear handoff between marketing, front desk, and TC.
● Create a follow-up cadence for leads who do not answer.
● Track how many leads are contacted, booked, showed, and started.
● Review lead quality and team response together, not separately.
The bottom line:
Marketing does not end when the form is submitted. The real conversion work starts the second the lead comes in.
🔥Trending in the Orthopreneurs Facebook Group🔥
💬 Hello all!
I’m in a position where I need to sell my two practices in Washington state, and I’m looking for a complete exit. I’ve never sold a practice before and am looking for advice please! I’ve just posted it to the AAO Career center, but if there are other avenues anyone has used in the past that worked well for them I’d love any recommendations. If anyone has recommendations for a practice transition consultant for practices in Washington state, particularly any that have worked with franchise groups before, I would be grateful!
🎙️ On the Podcast: Orthodontists: You’re Not as Efficient as You Think l 5MF
What if I told you the reason your practice isn’t growing isn’t your marketing, your team, or your patients—it’s your systems?
In this Five Minute Friday, I’m challenging orthodontists to take an honest look at their operational efficiency. Too many practices assume their systems are working simply because the practice is surviving. But surviving is not the same as scaling, and “good enough” might be exactly what’s keeping you from building a more profitable, less stressful practice.
I break down why bringing in the right technology and expert support early—whether it’s remote monitoring, financial systems, scheduling, or front desk workflows—can save you time, reduce staffing dependency, and make your practice more profitable. This episode is a reminder that being penny-wise and pound-foolish with technology can cost you far more than the investment itself.
✨Featured in OP
New Podcast: The Future of Fully Custom Fixed Appliances
Dr. Mehdi Peikar, founder of Celebrace and winner of two 2026 AAO awards, joins The Golden Age of Orthodontics to discuss how AI-supported planning, patient-specific 3D-printed metal brackets, and digital indirect bonding are reshaping what is possible in fixed appliance treatment.
Why it matters: For growth-minded orthodontists, this is more than a technology conversation. It is about precision, efficiency, differentiation, and keeping the orthodontist in control while building a smarter custom workflow.
✨ Final Thoughts: Did you notice the speling mistakes?
AI is getting stronger.
Technology is getting faster.
Vendors are moving quickly.
But your practice does not need every new tool.
It needs better questions.
What problem does this solve?
Who owns the workflow?
What data does it touch?
How will we review the output?
The practices that win will not be the ones that chase everything.
They will be the ones that adopt carefully, train consistently, and keep the orthodontist in control.
– Mike Vidikan
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