Re-imagining practice management with patient-centered focus is the way ahead for any dental practice planning to scale up. Take back from this webinar, how to meaningfully engage your patients by streamlining practice workflow and ensuring a wholesome experience before, during, and after the visit.
Panelists: Lynne Leggett & Teresa Duncan, MS
Click here to watch more webinars- https://www.carestack.com/resources/webinars/
Patient expectations have changed a lot with the onset of the pandemic, pushing dental practices to change their game plan. With millennials looking for multiple options to effortlessly access care, practices are in search of solutions that help them to futureproof themselves incorporating evolving patient needs.
Alisha Gerrard, Office Manager – Wasatch Dental Associates, talks about how her front desk has made the task of insurance eligibility verification easier and more efficient by switching to an all-in-one cloud-based management solution. As an office manager, she has had the first-hand experience of how her practice struggled with paper forms that they had to scan and shred after each use. She explains how the digital forms they implemented as a part of cloud-based PMS integration have become a huge time saver expediting and streamlining the process and boosting their data accuracy.
Listen to our podcast here: https://www.carestack.com/podcasts/help-software-subscription-overload/
It’s a simple fact: if you like your dentist and the office staff, you are more likely to return for your check-ups, follow their advice and keep your pleasant smile. It’s very important that you select a dentist that you trust. This person will be your ally in creating a healthy mouth that will let you enjoy everything from eating your favorite foods to laughing with your friends for years to come.
It’s a basic but necessary question to ask what am I going to use this software for? Dental software solutions provide many tools to help professionals with necessary administrative tasks. Features may include:
Each dental software system offers different features. Assessing your practice’s needs is the first step toward choosing the software that can best improve patient experience and business growth.
Most employees expect an understanding and easy-to-use platform in their workspace. All staff in the front and back offices should be trained easily on how to use the technology smoothly.
When choosing software, let all stakeholders take part in a demo if possible. Listen to everyone’s opinions on whether they had an enjoyable experience using the software. If all stakeholders had a pleasant time adjusting to the new solution, there are likely to be fewer frustrations with it down the road. Happy staff means happy patients. It’s a win-win.
When it comes to investing in new or updated software, one of the most important factors is cost. Many factors can affect the cost of dental solutions, including whether it’s server or cloud-based, its functionality, its updates and scalability, the security, and whether or not it offers continued support.
When determining how much you’re willing to spend on a new platform, consider what value this product will bring to your practice. Spending more on a high-quality platform might speed up income and reduce loss, which will improve your overall return on investment.
Let’s face it, as a dental practitioner, you didn’t go to school for information technology development. Dental management solutions have many advanced features that can help you grow your practice, but they’re only useful if you know how to use them.
Many modern dental systems are software as a service (SaaS) products. When you pay for a SaaS product, your customer experience does not end when you install the software. You can expect continued support, training, analysis and consultation on how to best use the software for your business. Whether you’re a family operated clinic or an enterprise level network, dental IT experts can guide you and enrich your practice.
The most proven way to select a trustworthy software is to learn from your peers. Reading marketing materials will provide you with insights on what a product does, but your peers can tell you honestly how dental software has impacted their businesses. Verified user reviews are a great way to learn from other dental professionals about the most effective and beneficial technologies available. If you have queries or doubts about a dental SaaS product, a salesperson will usually give you biased information, but fellow dental professionals will tell you the truth.
There are a lot of factors to consider when choosing the right provider for your practice. It may feel like a huge investment of staff time to understand the priority needs of your practice. However, in the end, all your hard work can help ensure you’ve selected the right technology for you.
Practice management software in dentistry propounds a much-facilitated set of software functionality in similitude with generic medical software for surgeries and check-ups. While there are few common features in regards to administration, dentists and orthodontists require their own set of clinical management framework.
Integral factors of dental practice management will include the ability to cover administration, such as a calendar and a way to schedule, track, and manage appointments. An In-voice software section records fees and automates claims with insurance companies, as well as track payment status and automate billing reminders as required.
There will often also be a patient portal for self-service and provide a direct point of contact with customers. However, the main need is the ability to work with patient records and charts, and often include some form of graphics or modeling software to plan and record treatments. This will often need to be integrated with imaging equipment and x-ray sensors to make it simpler to keep patient records comprehensive and up to date.
As with a lot of other modern software, most of the best dental practice software runs as Software as a Service (SaaS), meaning that it runs in the cloud as an app, that is we can access it through a browser regardless of your device, and also validates it should be mobile-friendly.
The basic choice of software needs to be based on three factors:
Various types of software can help dentists manage their new practices and set them up for long-term success. Some budget-friendly options are even excellent choices for cost-conscious practices just starting out. Plus, some types of software can be useful down the line once your practice has become more established and you’re looking to take things to the next level.
Email Marketing Software
Opening a new practice, attracting new patients is more critical than ever. As your practice grows, retaining the patients that you’ve worked so hard to attract will become just as crucial. One very low-effort way to stay connected with your patients is by regularly communicating with them through newsletters.
Systems for Online Appointment Scheduling
Right now, many patients expect to be able to book appointments immediately online, 24/7. A high percentage of appointments scheduled through online systems are booked outside of business hours. By forcing patients to call your office to make an appointment, you may be missing out on many opportunities. In addition, by having your staff spend less time on the phone, they can focus on other tasks, including providing the best patient experience possible.
Depending on your choice, you also may be able to solicit more patient reviews to build your online reputation and gain additional exposure to new patients. Therefore, the result and reward of this type of software extend beyond the immediate ability to offer your patients a convenient way to schedule appointments and check availability.
Practice Management Software
Present, dental health care is delivered mainly by private practitioners all around the globe. More importance was given on the design of the dental treatment rooms than on the design of business management.
The planning of the business office workspace is also a key factor and such an area should be carefully designed as the business staff can deliver its tasks with maximum efficiency. Any patient who arrives the first time in the dental clinic is the most important person for the dentist. The infrastructures can improve practice efficiency, reduce administrative costs, and improve communication with other providers. Also, there are various software’s that are available in the market for dental practice management.
Insurance Verification
Policy updations and consistent communication about the insurance policies and pending payments have to be taken care of and automated. It's a very crucial part of the practice and needs much care and attention.
Patient Communication Software
Automated patient communication software is useful for reducing no-shows and cancellations, improving patient recall, and soliciting patient reviews. Typically, it works by integrating with your practice management software so it can automatically message patients who are overdue for appointments or who require appointment confirmations.
Membership Programs
There are many benefits to creating a membership program for your company. An in-house membership plan will give your practice recurring revenue every month while helping patients gain access to the dental care they deserve and become more likely to say yes to easy and affordable dental care. However, these plans involve some setup and ongoing maintenance.
The choice of the right dental plan will be the gateway to progress and it can be the most important choice throughout the business.
CareStack is an all-in-one cloud-based dental practice management system to manage the administrative and clinical needs of a growing enterprise via centralization, automation and analytics. It offers different products and services to improve Operational Efficiency, Patient and Staff Safety, New Patient Growth, Reimbursement and Collections.
CareStack’s practice management software helps you manage your practice in a clean, easy-to-use interface. Its HIPAA-compliant, integrated modules include patient engagement, scheduling, telehealth conferencing, charting, automated two-way reminders, claims & billing, and business analytics. Simply put, CareStack is rewriting the rules of what an intelligent solution should look like for dentistry - for groups, DSO's and solo practices
With dental practices getting back to business navigating through the effects of COVID-19, the change that was brought in a matter of months has been found quite hard to adapt with. But the only way to figure out this change is to get deep into it, step with the times and make a successful recovery.
After COVID-19 transformed the way dental practitioners perform, many of you certainly have a lot going through your minds right now from your patients’ safety and convenience to the retention and acquisition of patients and practice revenue. With the new protective guidelines laid out, you would be hesitant to apply them in your practice as you might not really be sure on how they are going to affect your practice; both financially and professionally. But, the best way to be ahead of the curve is always to phase out and finish with assurance because the next normal in dental care is definitely not going to be the one we are leaving behind us.
Outlining the recovery plan for your dental practice
With 93% of dental providers expecting the changes in the dental industry to be long-term, a new strategic recovery plan is of great importance to your practice’s survival. According to ADA, strategic planning is usually created to review the practice history and to use the relevant information to identify what needs to be done, when it needs to be done and how it needs to be done to ensure a successful future. Thus, the strategic recovery plan should be kept simple and focused to prioritize the three core players in your practice journey: Patients, Staff, and you; the dental practitioner.
With the safety of your key stakeholder at bay, the disruption of the dental industry is real and long-standing. The reduced patient visits to dental providers are a raising concern. As a solution to this, dental providers are shifting rapidly to telehealth platforms to offer routine dental services. 27% of the dental providers are currently consulting their patients through telehealth platforms while 13% of them are soon expected to take up teledentistry.
The increased interest in teledentistry is not just concentrated for the providers. With the very low upskill time for using this alternative, around 44% of patients are preferring online scheduling and paperless onboarding to face-to-face appointments. With an all-in-one telehealth software, you can fix your practice hours and allow patients to schedule their appointments, collect their medical history and every other relevant information digitally without much hassle. You can also engage with your patients through high-quality video conferences, documenting the clinical notes using odontograms and smart notes. With the curbside check-in feature that teledentistry offers the patients can check-in for appointments and fill out intake forms from the safety of their vehicles, making the front desk tasks contactless and convenient.
For these reasons implementing a telehealth platform as a part of your recovery plan is an excellent step to maintain patient retention and appointment volume in these challenging times.
It has always been important for dental practices to have a requisite number of PPE, gloves and surgical masks. With COVID-19, these items have gone high in demand, reserving them more for the dental practitioners. But, the guidelines insisting PPE protocols for the front-desk staff is making it hard to get hold of enough supplies. At the same time, the safety of the staff are cornered as they have to be in direct contact with patients coming through the clinic doors.
Implementing virtual scheduling addresses all of the above challenges in no time. With improved communication in real-time and pre-planning the appointments, you can schedule to minimize the visits of your patients, thereby reducing the amount of staff-patient interactions. (and of course the unnecessary use of PPE)
Virtual scheduling can also help the staff to answer the patient's queries via text messages; whether it’s a follow-up on the treatment or a change in the next schedule. They could efficiently handle them with a few taps on their tablets or PCs. This reduces the number of pointless patient visits to the clinic.
As the owner of the dental practice, your revenue goals play an important role in the recovery plan. It’s time that you focus more on your patients and overhead cost control than worry about claims management and patient collection. Do away with the traditional ways of conducting your practice and shift to a cloud-based dental practice management software; your all-in-one solution to maximize revenue, growth and operational efficiency.
Dental practice management software offers a multitude of remote features that includes HIPAA compliant billing, online forms, electronic pay per claims, analytics and much more, and all you have to do is take advantage of these practice management products available to help you navigate smoothly through the turbulent times.
As you lay the last phase of your recovery plan streamline your workflow with efficient practice management systems to reach the maximum potential of the practice owned. Implement the best products available in the market and optimize your practice to be super-efficient to quickly recover from any unexpected downturns. Set targets to increase the practice capacity, case acceptance, and patients appointments to double your revenue as the synergistic effect of these works magic on your profit.
There is no “return to the normal”
It’s not the first time that a global pandemic is affecting the dental industry. If it was AIDS in 1980, it is COVID-19 in 2020 and maybe some other contagious disease in the coming years. But the opportunity that they present still remains the same for you. The key is always to keep your dental practice resilient and future-proof that it doesn’t get attacked unexpectedly. As former President Barack Obama had once said, “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time.” It’s just a matter of time and getting hold of the right products that would seamlessly integrate your practice workflows into a flawless well-established model.
Reputation is an unavoidable aspect of a business, be it a new one or a well-established one. Maintaining a good reputation for your dental practice will go a long way in helping acquire new patients and in improving revenue. Here we will investigate how you can exponentially increase your client base, using proper reputation management.
Reputation Management can be carried out locally, i,e offline, or Online. Offline reputation management is the traditional form of improving your brand value by offering special discounts and offers to the local residents and engaging in community events.
We will be concentrating more on Online reputation management, as it is seen that most practices give the least importance to that.
Online Reputation Management refers to the creation and maintenance of an online presence or profile for your practice. It demands work and won’t yield results unless acted upon proactively. The entirety of the internet is available to broadcast and attract new clients. We will look into a few methods to make the most of the services online.
Cementing an Online Presence
It is essential that your practice has an online presence in all major social media sites like Google, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. Having accounts on these sites will ensure maximum reach and cater to audiences that are confined to some sites.
Search Engine Optimization
Needless to say, you must have a website for your practice as a way of verification and to obtain more information. SEO is a set of techniques used to optimize your website and as a result, end up higher in search results. You could hire an SEO specialist or contact an SEO company to do it for you.
Managing Online Reviews
The best way anyone online will know about you is by reviews on review sites like Yelp and rateMDS. Ensuring that you have good reviews will encourage more patients to choose your dental practice over others. As with anything else, there may be negative reviews, but rather than trying to get those off the site, we suggest responding to them positively and taking them as constructive criticism.
Using Social Media to Understand Patient Requirements
Having a social presence is only the start. Creating and posting relevant materials online regularly facilitates more reach. The reach and acceptance of each post can be monitored using the analytics features available. Maintaining a consistent and pleasant attitude with your audience will boost your ratings.
Having an Active Blog
This may seem odd but having a regularly updated blog goes a long way in improving your presence online. Not only does it show off passion towards the field, willingness to share knowledge and it can also feature practices and services your practice offers. It also invites people to suggest and discuss between themselves the need for proper dental care.
Running Email and Social Campaigns
In order to let your current customers and viable prospects know about the various services you offer, you could use online promotional and email campaigns. All of these can contain reviews and testimonials of satisfied customers from your practice.
Local PR and Partnerships
Reaching out and having tie-ups with community clubs to provide periodic checkups for its members and their families will help spread the news of your practice and help get more clients.
Social Responsibility
Being part of charities and local causes can help your dental practice earn a good reputation and gain value among the residents of the community. It serves the purpose of reputation boosting and the act of giving back to society. Simply put, create a genuine consistent presence that upholds the morals and values of your dental practice. Be it a simple website with a blog and an interactive social media handle, or an elaborate social network with Stay tuned for more!
The past few weeks have been difficult for all of us. The dental industry has also been affected extensively by this, with most of the practices forced to close its doors and the staff asked to stay at home. We are seeing instances where businesses are resorting to extreme measures such as laying off staff or even permanently shutting down practices due to lack of business. Given the circumstances, the best way dental practices can keep functioning and provide services is through the proper utilization of technology and careful management of business finances. This is where teledentistry comes in.
What is teledentistry?
Telemedicine and in extension, Teledentistry, have been around for quite a while. It is primarily used for situations where patients do not have access to dental services easily, like rural areas (which amounts to almost 20% of Americans). Teledentistry refers to the utilization of technologies like live video conferencing and online portals to run “Tele-appointments”, where dentists are consulted by patients over a live video channel.
During this virtual appointment, the dentist and the accompanying treatment coordinator provides the patient with necessary dental advice and sets up an emergency in-person appointment if necessary.
In some cases, patients and dentists may not be able to meet each other online in real-time. In such situations patients can record their queries, the dentists can view them later and get back with solutions.
What are the benefits of using Teledentistry?
Teledentistry can make patients feel safer as they can get the dentist’s services sitting in the safety of their homes. As they do not meet the dentists or travel to the practice they will have nothing to worry about catching an unwanted infection. Even if a patient needs an emergency in-person appointment, all the follow up can still happen online.
Dentists can also save the money they spend on maintaining a large office if they can use teleconsultations. Not to mention the travel cost savings both to the dentist and the patient.
How can your dental practice offer Tele-Appointments?
Currently, HIPAA regulations have been modified to allow dentists and patients to use non-public facing technologies like Apple FaceTime, Facebook Messenger video chat, Google Hangouts video or Skype for tele-appointments. According to the current rules, they can continue to use these technologies till the lockdown is over. But dentists should avoid using public-facing technologies like Facebook Live, Twitch and TikTok. Further, the allowed platforms are not completely safe, so the dentists must inform the patients about privacy risks and use encryption wherever possible.
Tele-appointments and Claim Reimbursements
Patients do not have anything to worry about how to pay for teledentistry appointments. This is because most insurance carriers have announced they will cover the costs if patients seek teledentistry services during the lockdown phase. All that dentists and patients need to do is ensure the special codes, D9995 (synchronous) and D9996 (asynchronous), are specified while submitting the claims.
Offering Teledentistry options to your patients
Any dentist can offer tele-appointments but if a dental practice has an automated practice management system then it can offer teledentistry way more safely. Patients may be worried about data safety while using common online portals for tele-appointments and may even avoid using it altogether. But if you have a secure, HIPAA compliant, interactive teledentistry product to offer them, they are more likely to choose you.
Taking your dental practice one step further
Several cutting-edge dental practice management software (PMS) like CareStack offers just that. With CareStack, dentists and patients can meet on extremely safe, cloud-based encrypted platforms and there will be no data leak worries. Also, CareStack has an inbuilt audio and video interface that will allow dentists to securely meet their patients synchronously (real-time) or asynchronously (recorded and forwarded), do an online triage, exchange clinical documents like x-rays or test reports and prescribe medicines online.
