Electronic Services
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
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.
…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.
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.
Fill last-minute appointments with rapid waitlist messaging…automatically remind patients to pre-register, sign consents, pre-medicate and follow pre and post op care instructions.
From PBHS
The above is a direct quote from a PBHS ad. I have not used that system and have not talked with anyone who has so I am not necessarily recommending it. However what it is describing should be part of every dental office’s patient communication system.
It starts with a good integrated web site. That is a site integrated with he patient records and the patient communication systems including e-mail and text.
From AIM Dental Marketing:
Following nearly five years of testing and development,AIM Dental Marketing‘s Dental Marketing Dashboard (DMD)is now available to solo and group practice owners, dental support organizations, and dental consultants…
…The motivation behind DMD is to address a persistent challenge faced by dentist and practice consultant alike; how to easily and simply, and in real time, identify and monitor their (or their client’s) dental marketing results.
Source: Dental Marketing Dashboard (DMD) | AIM Dental Marketing
I like this a lot.
In theory digital marketing provides immediate real time analysis of results. Rather than guessing how many people may have looked at and read a print ad in a magazine or newspaper a digital ad give immediate feedback as to who has viewed it and better yet who has clicked and taken action. Digital marketing makes the marketers accountable and gives the people paying for the ads real data and ROI information.
Unfortunately most dentists do not get this kind of information from the people selling them marketing.
The dashboard is included for customers of AIM however it is also available for a fee to any dentist who wants a quick and easy way to see if his/her marketing is effective.
Click HERE to see an real time example of the Dental Marketing Dashboard.
From 9to5Mac:
Smart home company Wink has been accused of extortion by customers furious at an announcement that they will be forced to pay a monthly subscription else their existing products will cease to function.
Source: Wink accused of extortion over mandatory subscription policy – 9to5Mac
This is another example if the hazy issue of ownership in the digital age. If a vendor can make a device you have paid for useless by disabling online functionality do you really own it?
A dental vendor could easily do something similar with any device that is linked to the Internet. For example a digital impression scanner. What happens if you do not pay your monthly subscription fee?
Parking Lot Check In is a simple and easy to use web app that helps your staff track customers who arrive for appointments without having them enter your business. Let customer safely wait in their cars and easily notify them when you’re ready to see them.
Source: Parking Lot Check In – Home
Follow the link to check this out. It looks like a nice tool to use in order to follow safe distancing policies as we re-open our dental practices. There is a free trial offer.
BTW this service is designed for general businesses not just dentists. Be sure they sign a HIPAA BAA as they will necessarily be seeing PHI.
So Abdul and his team set to work, and in three days and three all-nighters, they created an online directory of dentists who provide emergency care, including where they’re located, their specialities, and whether they accept Medicaid and other forms of insurance.”
If you believe you have a dental emergency and have not been able to reach your dentist or do not have a dentist, we may be able to assist you in those circumstances,”
Source: ‘Dental Cupid’ Makes Pandemic-Era Matches Between Emergency Patients And Dentists | CommonHealth
From Jeff Tonner:
Here is the skinny. “Regular” SMS texting violates federal law if it contains “electronic protected health information” or ePHI. To comply, a dentist and staff need to employ a HIPAA-compliant app, one that encrypts the message. Call your text or app provider and ask if their service satisfies HIPAA. If not, find one that does.
Not only does ePayments Secure help office staff manage their daily tasks more efficiently, patients benefit from the convenience, too. ePayments Secure lets practices accept all the latest payment methods, such as chip debit/credit cards, Apple, Google and Samsung Pay. Practices can add Online Pay directly their websites, so customers can to pay anywhere and anytime for even more flexibility.
If a dental team member believes his/her job is pulling charts, filling out forms and calling patients then she/he is stuck in the past doing a job that has (or at should have) ceased to exist. Technology in the form of management software, online e-services and even smart phone aps will do most of the daily practice management tasks people used to slog through every day. Not only will technology do the job it will save the practice thousands of dollars.
Technology used well has a huge ROI, Technology used poorly is a money pit.
The most valuable dental team member now and in the future will be the person who knows how to use and integrate all the technology to do these tasks. Technology should not be the extra we add to our business and clinical functions it should be the core of all off them. The person who masters these technologies will be the practice technologist. I repeat, the most valuable person in the office is the practice technologist.
Here are a few of the tasks that dental staff used to do that should now be done with software and e-services: Phone reminders, taking payments, pulling charts, re-activation, writing chart notes, checking eligibility, patient forms and data entry.
In order to accomplish all this and get a great ROI the office needs four things:
From The Dentrix Office Manager Blog: :
For a patient to be able to fill out and submit forms before they arrive in the office is very beneficial. This can help to eliminate surprises before the patient arrives, for example if the patient has a medical condition and has a need to pre-medicate. Having patients fill out the forms ahead of time can also help your schedule to run on time. All it takes is having one patient who is slow to fill out their forms while in the waiting room, to cause the whole schedule to run behind for the rest of the day!
Source: The Dentrix Office Manager Blog: How Dentrix Questionnaires can Streamline Patient Paperwork
From doctor.com health trends survey:
3. Online scheduling and digital communications will be the norm
The ability to book or request appointments online is in hot demand. And this trend continue to grow year over year. In 2018, 31% of patients consider online scheduling options when deciding on a provider, and 42% even report that being able to schedule or reschedule an appointment online has impacted their choice of healthcare providers.
This trend toward digital capabilities is mirrored in how patients prefer to communicate with their healthcare providers. 53% prefer appointment reminders via text messages, and 17% prefer email. It’s important to reach patients through their channels of choice: 70% think doctor communications — like follow-up and annual checkup reminders — matter when leaving a five-star review.
Source: (2) New Messages!
One of four interesting trends listed in the linked article. All four have to do with online patient interaction. Not surprising as that is what doctor.com specializes in providing.
My surveys indicate that the number one online service dental office are currently providing patients is the ability to “request” an appointment. Very few are allowing patients to actually book an appointment. Most dentists and dental team members can’t imagine letting patients schedule themselves directly online. Never the less direct booking is gaining traction and I agree that it will be common in the future.
High Tech Dental New Year’s Resolutions
1. Before you purchase new technology resolve to use what you have now more effectively. Chances are you already have some pretty sophisticated technology and you are not getting all you could from it.
Plan at least two technology training session for the team and the dentist in the coming year. Plan it now and budget the funds needed, don’t wait until you get around to it.
2. Beware of old dogs. Resolve to upgrade and maintain your technology infrastructure. For most offices this means workstation computers in the treatment rooms, the business area and the dentist’s office networked to a central server. Computers age like dogs, indeed faster than dogs. Computers need to be constantly upgraded as newer versions of software are released, including Windows. Then they should be replaced every three to four years.
3. After the first two are done resolve to eliminate paper and have completely digital patient records in the next ninety days. How? Look here.
4. Take data security seriously. Resolve to do the HIPAA basics. The first thing the 2013 omnibus rules require is that the office assign a security officer to oversee data security and HIPAA compliance. The second item is to do a technology assessment. A technology assessment is not a do it yourself project. Get an experienced dental IT professional to help you and your staff do the assessment.
Encrypt your data.
5. Use the Internet more effectively. Claim your Google my business page in the next thirty days. If you have already done this make sure it is up to date, has all the correct practice information such as phone numbers and has some good professional photos.
Get a professional web page.
Office web pages are not just for new patients. Consider spending less on web site optimization and more on adding functionality that supports existing patients. At a minimum this should include online appointment requests, online bill pay and online forms.
6. And finally, just like last year, lose ten pounds and visit the gym twice a week. Happy New Year.
This is great news:
Henry Schein, Inc. today announced the integration of CareCredit’s financing tool into Henry Schein’s dental and veterinary practice management software solutions. The integration offers dental and veterinary practices more financing options for their patients and pet owners, while improving practice efficiency.
CareCredit integrates into Dentrix® and Easy Dental®, practice management software solutions offered to dental professionals by Henry Schein One, a joint venture of Henry Schein.
Dentrix and CareCredit are two of my favorite dental companies. In the past they did not easily work together. The cause, I am told, had to do with high level corporate politics. Maybe the company leaders had some good reasons to avoid working together however in my opinion the customers, that is us dentists, were poorly served by the feud. I am so glad to see this integration, now the best patient financing option is part of the best management system.
Follow the link for the full press release.
Workflow equals systems. We all have systems in our offices. Some systems were designed and refined, and others just happened by accident. A system is the process we use to accomplish a task in the office. For example; how do you create a new chart? How do you confirm appointments? How do you get charts from the file room to the treatment room?
Many systems start with the collection of data that is then acted upon to achieve an objective. The action is the application of the data. For example, we can collect data by looking at the appointment book to see who is scheduled for the following day, get more data in the form of a phone number from the patient chart then apply that data by phoning to confirm the appointment. Data and application, that is a system. Following the system is workflow.
Using our simple example of calling to confirm an appointment we can follow the evolution of digital workflow. Traditionally the data was on paper, in an appointment book and a paper chart. The staff person collected the data then applied it by calling. The next step is a hybrid. The data is stored on a computer rather than on paper. The staff person gathers the data from the computer, a much faster and easier task than getting it from paper. Then he/she applies it in the same manner as before by calling to confirm.
The third step is digital workflow. The data is stored on the computer however it is not gathered or acted upon by a person. A computer application or e-service collects the data and applies it by creating a reminder with no human interaction. It is completely digital.
A human sets up and manages the e-service but no one needs to do anything on a daily basis. No looking up data, no calling, no typing a text or an e-mail, no humans involved.
Digital workflow is faster, more accurate and less expensive than the traditional paper or hybrid systems.
Bumped from Aug 30. I find this very disturbing.From Eaglesoft support:
If you are a current DemandForce/Sesame user, the interface with Eaglesoft will no longer work after Oct 31, 2018. Please reach out to eServices Sales at 800.294.8504 to further discuss the many options available.
Source: Support Home Page
Who owns the data? It seems the powers that be at Eaglesoft have decided that dentists cannot use their own practice data with certain e-service providers. I find this very disturbing and short sighted. This is a huge blow against interoperability and an attempt to keep dentist as prisoners in a closed company playpen.
If I was an Eaglesoft user I would have to be asking myself, what next, where does this end?
Dental Intelligence is a web based Practice Intelligence platform. Bringing your data and your team together in real time.
Source: Web based practice Intelligence platform | Dental Intel
Another online dashboard to help dentists quickly see KPIs (Key Performance Indicators)
The problem however is not limited to seeing the numbers but dentists need to know what they indicate and what to do if there is an issue. That a lot harder than simply gathering data. Data is not information and information is not knowledge.
