When it comes to the import of wide-reaching technology, the size of a practice has historically felt like the deciding factor. For smaller dental offices, there is often a window of ‘wait and see,’ as practices look to other, similarly-sized offices for success. The incredible aspect of cloud technology is that it offers value not just to the firms that may have five or more offices in a city, but also to the dental offices that have five or fewer employees. Cloud computing for a single-location practice provides the ability to work from anywhere, check in on patient files when you’re away from the office, and manage business functions and financials at your convenience, immediately displaying the value of making the switch to new technology.
The four advantages using cloud computing for a single-office practice are:
1. Taking the Work with You
Whether you’re a practice owner who’s been open for a few months or have had a long career, you understand the dedication it takes to provide stellar dental care to each person who enters your office. Reviewing complex records while deciding extensive treatment plans and double-checking prescriptions occupies a lot of time and effort. You might rush to complete it between appointments, stay late after staff go home, or find yourself starting an extra early day before anyone arrives to open up shop. While the need for work may be there, you don’t need to be chained to a desk, office, or single computer with the cloud. Reviewing patient files or completing the day’s paperwork can happen from the comfort of home, on the train home, or just about any time you’ve got a moment to spare and a device with the internet.
2. Managing the Finances
Few people understand the financial complexities of operating a small business like dentists. Overdue insurance bills are frequently the biggest complication to your business’ finances, already facing costly medical equipment and general overhead. Understanding exactly what is going out the door, and being able to compare it to how quickly payment from an invoice is completed is paramount. Cloud services allocate and automate your reporting by giving you line items for expenses the moment they show up. Being able to grasp revenue as it compares to restocking an inventory, in real-time, at all times, is the first step to understanding your success. Add in ledgers, and the ability to backdate a payment or office charge means there’s a single source of truth on the lifeblood of your business.
3. No Need for Downtime
Cloud technology takes everything you input and handles saving, and data recovery on its own. Almost all cloud services use a technique called load balancing, wherein updates, patches, and bug fixes are applied, usually without any disruption to service. Rather than micromanaging servers based on timestamps or needing to schedule costly downtime, save the data or info, and know that it’s safe, without wondering if you might need to close up shop for a day while an IT specialist upgrades the firmware of your server.
4. Managing Your Recalls
Patients do not receive dental care worth a whole lifetime in one appointment. It’s not a shock to hear that, but how you bring them back to your practice for ongoing care directly affects your bottom line. Managing the recalls of hundreds of patients at a time, while fitting them into a crowded schedule, is a laborious task. Responding to a quick cancellation or having to update contact info after a failed text or email requires a responsive system. With cloud computing for a single-location practice, your entire pool of patient contacts and schedules becomes one single system accessible by front office staff, assistants, and dentists, capable of juggling priorities based on needs, to-do lists, and integrated waiting list options. Through the cloud, it is also possible to engage patients through methods they are comfortable with, including web-to-text messaging. Cloud technology is the perfect way to ensure that your patients continue receiving the care they need, whenever they do or don’t need it.
Regardless of your practice size, cloud technology can supply benefits large and small that increase staff productivity, regardless of their role. Learn from four dentists on their journey to move from paper-based and/or legacy, on-premise practice software to CleaDent’s cloud-based platform.
To learn more about cloud computing and why it is right for your dental practice, download our free eBook today!