Category: Internet

The Patient First Manifesto: The New Way To Build The Practice Of Your Dreams

Post author By Larry Emmott
Post date April 27, 2021

A must-read for anyone that cares for (and about) patients, this book describes the rules to building a successful practice that have fundamentally changed. While caregivers have maintained our vigilant focus on delivering high quality care, the world around us has transformed. The sea change of convenience and immediacy that has overtaken our lives has also led to a tremendous gap between what professionals and patients believe to be quality care. This has propagated the tragic environment where almost everyone hates going to the dentist.

By Dr. Bryan Laskin

Corona Pandemic Future Tech Internet Management

Is the 9-to-5 office routine dead? Here’s what workers want

Post author By Larry Emmott
Post date April 19, 2021

From Fortune:

Taken together, these survey questions help paint a picture of how workers have evolved—and how the workplace must evolve, too.Here’s what we found. The numbers to know 63%… of knowledge workers prefer a hybrid model. Another 20% prefer fully remote, and 17% want to always work from the office.

Source: Is the 9-to-5 office routine dead? Here’s what workers want | Fortune

These findings apply to dentistry.

Do NOT be in a big hurry to get back to normal; defined as the way we did things prior to February 2020.

The pandemic and shutdown showed us we can do many of the management tasks in a dental office remotely using technology. There are three different systems that we can use.

Do tasks that used to be done in the office using the office website. For example take payments and collect forms.

Use an e-service to do tasks that people had to do. For example send reminders and statements.

Work from home. For example run and evaluate month end reports.

Some tasks can simply be eliminated. For example you do not need to pull and replace paper chats if all charts are electronic.

Internet Mobile

5G in the US: Why the network of the future has not yet delivered on the revolution that we were promised.

Post author By Larry Emmott
Post date March 30, 2021

Interesting.

In 2020, 5G speeds in the US did not come anywhere close to the 10 Gbps commonly associated with the latest cellular technology. The data collected from 1 October 2020 to 31 December 2020 by our speed test , which measures the quality of Internet connections on millions of devices yearly, shows that 5G networks in the US did not deliver the super cellular connections that we were promised.

Source: 5G in the US: Why the network of the future has not yet delivered on the revolution that we were promised.

I have a 5G phone, the Samsung Galaxy S-20. However frankly I do not see much difference in performance. Most of the time I am using Wi-Fi.

e-Services Radiography

Dental Implant Identification Service

Post author By Larry Emmott
Post date March 29, 2021

New service Spotimplant to identify an implant based on a submitted x-ray.

AI-based | Spotimplant

How Does It Work?

1. Upload an x-ray image showing an unknown implant to identify

2. Our AI will analyze the image, and our implantology experts will review the results

3. You will receive your identification report shortly

Source: Dental Implant Identification Service | AI-based | Spotimplant

Digital Marketing Internet Management Mobile Paperless

Can your website do this?

Post author By Larry Emmott
Post date March 18, 2021

From a Sesame Communications promotion:

• Online Appointment Booking: New and existing patients can quickly book appointments on your website that sync with your Dentrix PMS
• Virtual Waiting Room + Tap-to-Text: Deliver a safe and effective virtual waiting room experience for patients and staff
• Custom Design, Branding & Copywriting: Help your practice’s website stand out from competitors
• Virtual Consultation: Provide a basic, free consultation, before the first in-person visit with a prospective patient occurs
• SSL Certificate: Secure communication between your practice’s website and your patient’s internet browser
• Responsive Design: Your website will provide a great user experience across all device types including desktop, mobile, and tablet
• Live Backgrounds: Immediately capture the attention of visitors to your site with a beautiful, moving, site background

Your practice web site should not be a once in a lifetime experience just for new patients. A good dental website includes support for existing patients. In addition to the appointment booking and tap to text features shown above your website should also allow patients to fill out interactive forms (not just a pdf) check the time of future appointments and pay their bill.

e-Services Management

eAssist Revisited

Post author By Larry Emmott
Post date March 16, 2021

From a busy Texas dental practice:

Hi Dr. Emmott,

I wanted to share with you how much eAssist has helped us. We signed up in November with their Insurance Billing service. I had a handful of claims that had been appealed numerous times. They were 16 to 9 month old. They took them over and got them all paid. It has been wonderful not having to review claims every day and getting all the necessary documentation attached. It is allowing us to actually do dentistry instead of dealing with insurance companies.

We then signed up with the Insurance Verification service in January. Both of these have been awesome. Especially since we will have out front desk girl out on maternity leave.

Dentrix eAssist

e-Services Management

Dentrix eAssist

Post author By Larry Emmott
Post date March 8, 2021

…together, eAssist and Dentrix take these headaches off your plate by adding a team of insurance claim and collections experts to your Dentrix platform. The result is faster payments, steadier cash flow, and a lower uncollectable balance,

Source: Dentrix eAssist | 2020Q3

Another e-service. This one allows you to outsource your insurance claim creation and submission to a dedicated team of experts. That means you do not need to hire and pay an insurance administrator.

It is only possible to use this service if you have complete digital records which can be accessed over the Internet by the eAssist team.

Using this kind of service and reducing costly team members and reducing submission errors is how you get technology to pay for itself.

Internet Paperless Security

Every Prescription Should be Electronic

Post author By Larry Emmott
Post date February 23, 2021

From AZDA Inscriptions:

e-Prescribing can reduce errors. Pharmacists are no longer deciphering handwriting. Phone calls, missed calls and voicemails no longer add steps to the process and the potential for your patient’s prescription getting lost or delayed during the game of “Telephone”

AZDA Inscriptions

Mandates are in place or on the way to requite eRx for all controlled substances. However the linked article makes a great case that all Rxs should be electronic. I agree.

Internet Management Mobile Software

5 Reasons You Should Be Sending Electronic Billing Statements

Post author By Larry Emmott
Post date February 22, 2021

From Dentrix Magazine:

Most people have their phones with them all of the time, and they are constantly checking email and buying things online. Since patients are already doing that, why not send them their billing statement in a way you know they’ll see it and allow them to pay their balance online right then?

With electronic billing statements, patients can see their statement wherever they are and whenever it’s convenient for them, and the same thing is true of online payments. When patients can pay their bill right from the email message they receive, they don’t have to find time to write out a check and mail it or call the office during office hours to make a payment over the phone. They can pay whenever it’s convenient for them, which means you’ll get the payment faster than you would have if you were waiting on their check or their call.

Source: 5 Reasons You Should Be Sending Electronic Billing Statements – Dentrix Magazine

This one reason alone should be enough for you to start using electronic billing and online bill pay. Do you really expect people to write and then mail you a paper check? How 1980s. It baffles me how few dentists are using online bill pay…it is a no brainer.

Follow the link for the other four reasons to be sending e-statements. Then just do it.

Health Care Politics Internet Management

Association moves to develop unified system to verify coverage, obtain cost estimates in real-time

Post author By Larry Emmott
Post date February 9, 2021

From the ADA:

As a result, the ADA Council on Dental Benefit Programs is acting upon a directive from the 2020 House of Delegates to assess the development of a simplified system to verify coverage and obtain patient cost estimates in real-time before treatment begins.

Source: Association moves to develop unified system to verify coverage, obtain cost estimates in real-time

This is a nice start (better late than never) but what I really want to see is real time payments. When you complete treatment the claim is submitted electronically, adjudicated and the funds electronically transferred to the dentist’s account that instant. The technology is available.

I wonder why it has not been implemented already?

Future Tech Internet Management

Lynk raises $24 million to bring knowledge-as-a-service platform to more industries

Post author By Larry Emmott
Post date February 2, 2021

From VentureBeat:

Lynk, a “knowledge-as-a-service” platform that connects domain-specific experts with businesses, has raised $24 million to fuel expansion in the U.S.While there are myriad platforms and tools that unlock insights from vast swathes of data, Lynk offers an AI-powered engine that indexes “knowledge domains” and vetted experts to find answers to questions businesses are asking.

Source: Lynk raises $24 million to bring knowledge-as-a-service platform to more industries | VentureBeat

This is a very interesting concept. I can see many dental applications. Dentists can ask business and or clinical questions. Such as what is the average overhead expense in a US dental office. Or what precautions should be taken with a patient taking the drug XYZ?

Patients may also wish to ask dental questions. In this case the dentist could be signed up as the expert.

Corona Pandemic e-Services Internet Management

Three MUST Have Digital Tools for Dental Practice

Post author By Larry Emmott
Post date January 5, 2021

Every dental practice should have had these online digital tools before the Covid 19 pandemic. Now the pandemic has forced us to consider no touch and even no appointment processes. Patients appreciate the ability to do business with you from home now even more than they did before.

Online Bill Pay: This is so simple and inexpensive it is surprising how few dental offices offer this. Your patients do not want to come to the office to pay you, They do not want to mail you a check (how last century). They do not even want to call and be put on hold in order to give you a credit card number over the phone. They want to be able to pay you just like they do everybody else, online using a credit card or PayPal. Make it as easy as possible for someone to give you money.

Online Forms: That is true online forms that synch with the practice management system NOT a pdf that the patient must download, print, fill out by hand, remember to bring to the office just so an staff member can type in the data. Forms are not just for new patients. Existing patients need to update demographics such as address or employment as well as updating their medical history at least once a year.

Online Scheduling: Many offices offer online schedule requests. The newest trend is to offer true online appointments for selected procedures, such as re-call or new patents.

Not only do these digital tools allow patients to do business with you from home they also allow your team members to work from home.

All of these tools should be part of your practice website. For help check with my friends at TNT Dental.

Internet Security

Brave Browser Review 2020

Post author By Larry Emmott
Post date December 15, 2020

From Crypto Coin:

Future of Private Web Browsing?

The internet is an integral part of daily life in many ways. The brave browser offers users a way to browse the internet ad-free, by simply limiting your data exposure to advertisers. Algorithms or algo’s can’t identify you because tracking data is not sent to them, so it’s not worth an advertisement being rendered. This is what saves your battery life and loads pages faster.

Source: Brave Browser Review 2020: Future of Private Web Browsing?

The linked article provides an in depth look at both the good and the bad of the Brave Browser. Personally I have been using Brave as my primary browser for several years. I like the speed, the lack of ads and the privacy. The only issue I have -as the review notes- is that there are some plugins I use that do not work with Brave.

Brave Browser

Internet Management Software

Management in the Cloud

Post author By Larry Emmott
Post date November 23, 2020

The cloud is the future of dentistry, and cloud-based practice management software offers practices a variety of benefits:

Data stored in the cloud is accessible 24/7, even when you are away from the office.

Automatic updates reduce maintenance because you always have the latest version of your software.

Automatic backups to the cloud help protect your practice data and keep it safe.

Practice data is available on the device of your choice—Mac, PC or iPad—because you access your practice management software through an Internet browser.

Source: Dental News, Dental education, Dental Social networking

The above comes directly from a Dentrix Ascend ad. Yes, it is a marketing piece, never the less the advantages to cloud based management systems are real and will change how we do the business of dentistry.

One of the primary after-effects of the Covid pandemic will be increased work from home and Tele-medicine. Cloud based management systems will simplify both of these activities.

Any change of the practice management system has multiple problems associated with it. At this time a practice that has been using the original server based Dentrix platform for many years and is using it effectively has little to gain by switching to the cloud based Ascend. Ascend is quite different from the original Dentrix. On the other hand a new practice or a practice upgrading from other less robust systems should consider a cloud based system.