Guest blog post by Omar Visram, CEO, Enkel Back Office Systems
In the competitive and ever-evolving world of dentistry, managing the financial health of your practice is just as important as providing top-notch oral health care. A skilled bookkeeper plays a pivotal role in ensuring that your practice not only survives day-to-day, but thrives over the long haul. This post aims to highlight the essential services every dentist should expect from their bookkeeper, ranging from accurate financial reporting to strategic financial planning.
Below are the 5 core things you should be getting from your bookkeeper:
1. Timely, Accurate Financial Reporting
At the heart of any successful dental practice is a robust system of financial reporting. A competent bookkeeper ensures the accuracy of key financial documents such as income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements. These reports are vital for understanding the financial position of your practice, making informed decisions, and planning for the future. Accuracy in financial reporting also helps in identifying areas of improvement and growth opportunities, making it a non-negotiable aspect of bookkeeping.
2. Cash Flow Management
Cash flow is the lifeblood of your dental practice. Effective cash flow management involves monitoring the inflows and outflows of cash, ensuring that your practice has the necessary funds to operate smoothly. Your bookkeeper should excel in managing accounts receivables, timely invoicing, keeping track of expenses, and advising on cash flow strategies. This meticulous management helps in maintaining a healthy balance which is crucial for day-to-day operations and long-term financial health.
3. Payroll Management
Payroll management is more than just issuing checks to your employees. It encompasses handling tax deductions, maintaining employee financial records, and ensuring compliance with employment laws. A skilled bookkeeper will take charge of these responsibilities, ensuring that your payroll process is efficient, accurate, and compliant. This not only saves time but also minimizes the risk of errors and legal issues.
4. Budgeting and Financial Planning
A strategic approach to budgeting and financial planning is essential for the growth and sustainability of your dental practice. Your bookkeeper should assist in creating realistic budgets that reflect your practice’s goals and financial constraints. They play an important role in long-term financial planning, helping to forecast future revenues, plan for expansions or investments, and prepare for any financial contingencies.
5. Advisory and Analytical Insights
Beyond the numbers, a valuable bookkeeper/controller acts as an advisor. By analyzing your financial data, they can provide insights into your practice’s performance, identifying areas for cost savings, investment opportunities, and strategies for financial growth. This advisory role is instrumental in guiding your practice towards profitability and success.
Outsourcing Non-Core Functions: Bookkeeping
Unless you’re running a large, multi-site dental organization, odds are outsourcing your back office functions is the optimal path forward. Outsourcing bookkeeping services offers significant benefits for dentists, primarily by allowing them to focus on their core expertise: providing quality dental care. By entrusting financial management to specialized professionals, dentists get more accurate and efficient handling of their practice’s finances, from payroll and tax readiness, to cash flow management and financial reporting. This not only reduces the risk of errors and non-compliance but also offers valuable insights for better financial decision-making.
Moreover, outsourcing can be cost-effective, eliminating the need for in-house financial staff and associated overheads. Often overlooked, when you work with established bookkeeping firms, you get the professionals to do the work, but you also get established and proven processes. The best bookkeeping firms give you the benefit of best-in-class tools and technology for managing all of the back office functions (which would otherwise cost you hundreds of dollars per month). Ultimately, outsourcing your bookkeeping leads to improved financial health and growth opportunities for the practice, unburdening dentists from complex financial tasks and letting them concentrate on patient care and practice development.
Conclusion
In conclusion, a bookkeeper is far more than a number cruncher for your practice. They are a crucial part of your team, ensuring financial accuracy, compliance, and strategic planning. By understanding the diverse range of services a good bookkeeper provides, you can ensure that your practice is not just financially sound but also poised for future growth and success.
About Enkel
Enkel Backoffice Solutions is one of Canada’s leading accounting as a service providers. We offer bookkeeping, payroll, accounts payable and accounts receivable services to over 300 businesses and not-for-profit organizations across Canada, including a number of Canadian dentists. Our team of accountants and bookkeepers can help you manage your back office on an ongoing basis. Get the monthly reporting and financial visibility that your business needs.
About the Author
Omar Visram | CEO
Omar is the co-founder and CEO of Enkel Backoffice Solutions, which he co-founded in 2016. For over 15 years, Omar has been active in the Canadian taxation, strategic planning, audit advisory, and finance operations disciplines within senior roles at KPMG and BCAA. Prior to founding Enkel, Omar worked to launch BCAA’s Evo car-sharing business by managing the fleet operations and customer experience teams from launch to full-scale operations
Omar holds a BBA from Simon Fraser University and is a qualified CPA, CA.
Guest Post: Anne Genge, Certified Information Privacy & Cybersecurity Professional
Imagine starting the day at your dental practice with a hot cup of coffee, ready to see patients, when suddenly, your computer screen freezes. A ransomware message appears and demands payment to unlock your patient records. Today, ransomware is the most common cybercrime used by cyber criminals where your data is encrypted using nefarious software that easily finds its way into the practice via email. Once it gets installed on one computer, it spreads to the others in your network as well as your server blocking access to everything.
This nightmare scenario is becoming increasingly common in healthcare. It complicates things since, these days, almost every patient management and diagnostic tool is digitized, connected, and often required for critical patient care.
Why is Dentistry an Easy Target?
Cybercriminals target healthcare practices, including dental practices, with ransomware attacks for several key reasons.
Valuable Data: Dental practices store sensitive patient information, including personal, financial, and medical records. This data is highly valuable on the dark web (digital black market), making it a lucrative target for cybercriminals.
Urgency and Dependence on Data: Dental providers rely heavily on access to patient data for daily operations. The urgency and critical nature of this data make dental and other healthcare practices more likely to pay ransoms to regain access quickly, as any delay can have severe consequences for patient care.
Lack of Robust Cybersecurity: Many dental practices lack robust cybersecurity measures. This could be due to budget constraints, lack of awareness, or the complexity of securing increasingly digital and connected healthcare environments. This makes them more vulnerable to cyber-attacks compared to other industries that might have more advanced security protocols.
Lack of Cybersecurity Awareness Training: Healthcare practices, including dental offices, often lack comprehensive cybersecurity awareness training for their staff. Employees may not be fully aware of the various forms of cybercrime, such as phishing emails, weak password management, and unsafe browsing practices. This can lead to unintentional breaches of security protocols, leaving the practice vulnerable to ransomware attacks. Cybercriminals exploit these vulnerabilities to gain unauthorized access to the network.
The Rising Tide of Cybersecurity Threats
Data breaches are surging, impacting millions globally. In dental practices, where patient trust is crucial, a single cybersecurity incident can devastate your business. Cybersecurity is no longer just an IT issue; it’s as vital as CPR for the digital heart of your practice.
Cybersecurity in Daily Operations
Every email, patient record, and data transfer in your practice carries potential risks. Simple habits like creating strong passwords, recognizing phishing emails, and securing personal devices can significantly reduce digital infection risks, much like handwashing prevents physical infections.
The Critical Healthcare Connection
For healthcare providers, a data breach can lead to compromised patient information, operational disruptions, and damaged reputations. Given healthcare is a prime target for cybercriminals, dental practices must be as vigilant against digital threats as they are against dental disease.
Basic Cybersecurity Training: A Significant Defense
Cybersecurity might seem daunting with its technical jargon, but it’s manageable with plain language and a supportive environment. Dental-specific cybersecurity awareness training is the best way to ensure your team understands the different types of cybercrime they will encounter in their workday and how to avoid them in your practice.
Fostering a Cybersecurity Culture
Cybersecurity is a collective effort. It requires a culture where every team member, from the administrative staff to the clinical staff, understands their role in safeguarding patient and practice data. Regular training, briefings during staff meetings, updating policies, and communicating clearly are key to building this defense.
Practical Cybersecurity Measures
To enhance your cybersecurity, consider these steps:
Have your team complete cybersecurity awareness training, annually.
Obtain a professional security risk assessment to find the gaps in your network.
Implement strong password policies and multi-factor authentication.
Back up patient data securely and regularly test these backups.
Cybercrime are constantly evolving, and so should your defenses. Stay updated on cybersecurity trends, participate in webinars, and refresh your training regularly. Cybersecurity is an ongoing journey, not a one-time task. There are free resources available specifically for dental practices.
The Role of Specialized IT Support
Just as dentistry has specialists like endodontists and periodontists, cybersecurity needs specialized IT expertise. General IT providers may not have the nuanced understanding required for the unique challenges in dental practices, such as protecting sensitive patient data and complying with healthcare regulations. Specialized dental cybersecurity professionals, with their focused training in breach and threat prevention, are better equipped to handle these specific needs.
Security Risk Assessments: The New Patient Exam Analogy
Think of a security risk assessment as a new patient exam for your practice’s digital health. This assessment, much like a comprehensive dental check-up, evaluates your IT environment to identify vulnerabilities in software, hardware, and user practices. It’s a diagnostic tool that helps formulate a strategy to mitigate risks and strengthen your digital defenses.
The Impact of Basic Security Awareness
Even basic security awareness among your team can significantly enhance the security of patient data. Training to recognize cybercrime and adopt safe digital practices is akin to teaching good oral hygiene to patients. It’s a fundamental aspect of overall care.
The Go-Forward Plan
In the realm of dental healthcare, the integrity of your cybersecurity measures is as vital as the quality of the dental services you provide. Education is key in cyberspace, and prevention is always preferable to remediation. By securing your practice, educating your team, and seeking specialized cybersecurity support, you can effectively combat digital threats.
Cybersecurity is challenging, but with a united effort, it’s a battle that can be won, one click at a time. Remember, you’re not alone in this; together, we can safeguard practices and patients’ data against the rising tide of cybercrime.
Together, we can make dentistry safer online.
About the Author
Anne Genge | Certified Information Privacy & Cybersecurity Professional
Anne is the founder of Myla Training Co., Canada’s first-ever online privacy and cybersecurity training platform for dental professionals. With over two decades of experience, Anne has become a leading expert and trainer in this field. Anne collaborates closely with practice owners, managers, dental teams, and IT providers to ensure the safety of patients and practice data while enabling compliance with privacy regulations. Anne can be reached at anne@myla.training or call 877-363-9229 x702.
Feeling overwhelmed? Missing important details? Wanting to feel more prepared when walking into the operatory or when answering an incoming call? You’re not alone. Here are 5 ways to get your team in sync using tools they already have to improve communication at your dental practice.
1. The Huddle – a daily team touchpoint
Given how hectic today’s practice has become, it’s understandable that we’ve started to forget about the daily team check-in, aka the huddle. The huddle plays an important role in that it gives you a chance to discuss challenges and create a plan to resolve them together, enhancing communication at your dental practice.
It’s best practice to make it a habit, build it into your scheduled routines, and make it count.
For those who have never experienced a huddle, it’s a chance for the team to get together to set goals, discuss patient needs, assign tasks and prepare for the day ahead, improving communication at your dental practice.
The typical huddle is anywhere from 10 – 20 minutes and is meant to be brief and direct. Having access to the huddle via a workstation in the meeting room or ClearDent Cloud can be a benefit when viewing the day sheet and patient charts.
Assign a huddle leader. This role can rotate through the staff and is responsible for keeping the team on task and on time during the meeting.
Recap goals and team announcements
Overview of the day. Each provider is responsible for going through an overview of their day and highlighting outstanding treatment, insurance coverage, patient warnings, and opportunities for same-day treatment. (Good software will have all this information at your fingertips with tools like chart audit reports, treatment status indicators, patient warnings and linked family members accessible from the day sheet.)
Identify special situations. Bring attention to patients who may require special assistance, challenges with things like room turnover, and timely recall checks or assistance with a difficult patient. Determining when a provider is and is not available to leave their patient is important and sets expectations for other team members before the day gets hectic. Sharing these concerns at the beginning of the day allows other team members to jump in and help.
Celebrate successes!
Bonus topic: Ask the huddle leader to bring a new tip to the meeting. This can be something they’ve learned that would benefit other team members like a shortcut or feature of their practice management software, or a tip relating to loading and unloading the sterilization machine, right down to a tip about an easier way to get to the office during construction
The huddle is your team’s communication hub. After a few meetings, you’ll notice the days are running smoother, the office is more cohesive, and the team is in sync. Your patients will notice too!
2. Make digital the norm
The sentiment of “A place for everything and everything in its place” couldn’t be more appropriate in a digital world, especially when handling sensitive patient information and improving communication at your dental practice.
Phone Calls: First, we must abandon the urge to grab the pen and notebook when the phone rings! Make it a habit to open the patient’s profile and enter information in the appropriate place. Here is an example of a “best practice” conversation fully integrating digital into the discussion.
Example:
[Phone rings]
Receptionist: Good morning, thank you for calling XYZ Dental, Lisa speaking, can I start with your name?
Caller: Hi, it’s John Smith
Receptionist: [Immediately] Hi John, give me just a moment while I pull up your profile. (Patient recognition)
Caller: Ok, but I don’t have a lot of time. I am heading over to the school to pick up my son. He fell and I think his tooth fell out.
Receptionist: [Who can see the family file] Oh my goodness, I’m sorry to hear that. I hope Danny is ok. I will let Dr. Smith know you’ll be heading over. Do you have any other information about his condition? (Empathize, restate the problem, let the patient know you heard them and are going to work with them, ask for more information)
The receptionist can talk to the parent, enter notes, and view the child’s information, making interactions more personal. Remembering the child’s name builds trust and shows they are valued at your practice.
All of the information gathered during the call is logged directly into the patient file – without the need for hand-written notes that must be added to the file later.
Sticky Notes and Notebooks:
Next, let’s remove the labels and sticky notes from the monitor and front desk area. This clears the clutter and to incoming patients, makes the office look more organized.
Reminders and notes may include:
Cancellation requests
Phone numbers and billing information that need updating
Post-treatment reminders
Lab follow-up reminders
Other office to-do’s
Find a digital home for all these items. Use the to-do list in your practice management software, place a digital sticky note directly on the scheduler, indicate lab case statuses on the scheduler view, and associate those lab cases with upcoming appointments. Even a reminder like turning off the monitor can be resolved by setting the proper power settings.
Next, create systems using a digital to-do list to assign tasks to team members. Do not keep a paper notebook of tasks! Things will get lost or missed. Tasks written five pages back are often left outstanding and lose their priority and importance. If you are away for the day, is anyone going to pick up your notebook, decipher your notes and flag items that were due today? The goal is to keep all team tasks digital!
Set start and due dates, use the priority option to flag items of high importance, associate the task with a patient, and even mark the task as private. Assigning tasks gives ownership to the team members and ensures that items are being taken care of consistently. A good practice management solution will have all this functionality built-in, and you shouldn’t have to purchase other third-party solutions. Here’s an example of how productivity tools enhance efficiency when managing multiple locations:
The Office manager had a meeting with the clinic lead in location B and would like to create follow-up tasks. While the Office Manager is at location A, she accesses location B directly from her browser and adds the tasks to her clinic leads to-do list.
Going forward, continue to find ways to digitize the clutter. Scan documents like insurance responses, referral letters, and requests for information directly into the patient file and then securely shred them to ensure patient privacy.
Relying on a single team member to possess the answers to every question can create bottlenecks and inefficiency in office operations. It’s important to foster a collaborative environment where patient information isn’t confined to just one person. Sharing information openly among the staff ensures everyone is well-informed and can step in seamlessly when needed. When individuals (unintentionally) hoard information, it not only restricts the flow of knowledge but also poses a significant risk, particularly when that team member is absent. In their absence, crucial details may be inaccessible, leading to confusion and potential disruptions in patient care. By encouraging transparency and open communication at your dental practice, practices can operate more efficiently, ensuring that vital patient information is readily available to all team members.
Going digital doesn’t need to happen in a day. Set goals and take it step by step. The process of clearing the clutter will gain momentum naturally!
3.Follow up with follow-ups!
Consistent follow-up is critical for revenue production, and failing to do so can create a perception of disorganization. Implement effective office systems to ensure daily tasks are completed, avoiding reliance on others to handle them later.
Establishing a follow-up schedule provides a sense of structure, making things feel less overwhelming and allowing the team to concentrate on the task at hand without feeling pulled in multiple directions – leaving incomplete tasks everywhere.
The office should set practical communication goals for the week. While exceptions and urgent situations will always arise, these goals serve as a framework to maintain organized lists and prevent tasks from being overlooked for an extended period.
Here is an example:
Every day:
Check the to-do list.
Monitor the waiting list and booked-and-waiting list for patients who need to be rescheduled or pulled forward.
Monday:
Leverage your Treatment Plan Manager reports to identify unscheduled patients with approved outstanding treatment.
Follow up on pending predeterminations; the insurance company might need additional information. Often, responses are sent directly to the patient, who may not realize they’ve received it or understand its content.
Tuesday:
A/R review, send statements bi-weekly and proactively follow up with delayed insurance payments.
Wednesday:
Follow up on referrals to specialists. Have specialist treatment updates been scanned into the patient’s file? Is there a need for additional treatment?
Check on your reputation management, how have patients been hearing about your office? Have they left feedback that requires action?
Thursday:
Recall Manager – follow up with patients who have received upcoming due and overdue reminders.
Maintain your Patient’s Without a Recall report.
Look for patients who may have been in for their initial exam and hygiene but have not been enrolled in the recall system.
Friday:
Reconcile lab cases delivered throughout the week to match with invoices received.
As the cases are checked in, ensure that patients are booked.
Patients will say yes more often if they receive personalized care from compassionate providers.
4. Patient Communication: How much is too much?
Effective communication with patients is important in any healthcare setting as it fosters trust and understanding. However, it’s equally important to recognize the boundaries of communication, understanding that there is a fine line between being proactive and overwhelming patients with excessive contact. Striking a good balance is key, ensuring patients are well-informed without feeling inundated. By being mindful of your contact policies, providers can maintain respectful communication, enhancing patient satisfaction and overall patient experience.
The office should keep these things in mind when setting up communication templates, automated notifications, and reminders, as well as outreach by the team for surveys, inactivation updates, and follow-ups. Leverage technology to seamlessly connect with both your office and patients, enhancing communication at your dental practice and improving efficiency.
Establish clear office policies and guidelines for communication progression. For example, you may want to initiate with a text message, followed by an email if there is no response, and if still no reply, make a single follow-up call.
Tailor your communication method based on your audience and the message’s sensitivity. For reminders or basic inquiries like appointment confirmations, text messages are appropriate. For more confidential matters, such as treatment proposals, you should utilize encrypted, password-protected emails if your practice management solution allows for that (and if you use ClearDent, you have this capability built-in)
Be mindful of the recipient’s work environment and schedule when considering phone calls. A considerate approach might involve sending a brief text first, asking for a suitable time to discuss important matters over the phone, and demonstrating personalized care and respect for their time and privacy.
Use and maintain patient-preferred contact methods. Without systems in place, staff will waste time trying to contact patients, only to leave messages.
Do not text patients from a personal cell phone. Ensure you are texting your patients from within the software so that you have an audit trail and record of conversations accessible from the patient’s Chart. (If you use ClearDent, you can text from the office phone number which would be best practice)
Provide opportunities for patients to get organized by giving them clear ways to confirm their appointments.
Recall best practices:
Send an automated notification to unscheduled patients 30 days before their due date via email or text which will be logged directly on their patient chart.
Send another automated notification, if still not booked 1 week after their due date.
Do not put cancelled recall appointments on the waiting list. These patients will be captured in the Recall Manager reports. There is no need to have the same patient on multiple lists.
5. Communication is more than words
Effective workplace communication is about active listening, the ability to understand unspoken feelings, and responding with genuine empathy. It’s in these subtleties that true connection and understanding are found, making communication a holistic exchange that encompasses the complexities of human expression and connection within a professional setting.
Avoid Miscommunication
Choose the proper communication method: Knowing a patient’s preferences is key to effective communication, but so is choosing the proper communicator. In situations like treatment coordination, scheduling, or A/R collections you want to have the proper team member communicating with your patients. One team member may be a better fit according to their experience, efficiency, position or the audience they are going to speak with.
Message: The message being conveyed should be clear and concise.
Feedback: Feedback plays a pivotal role in effective communication by offering valuable insights into the reception and comprehension of a message. Actively seeking feedback allows the communicator to gauge the audience’s understanding, ensuring that the intended message aligns with the received one. For instance, in a professional setting, feedback can be instrumental in refining treatment plan presentations, proposals, or instructions. It provides an opportunity for the team member to identify areas of confusion, clarify misconceptions, and adapt their communication style to resonate better with the patient.
Culture: Understanding the cultural context is important for effective communication. It means being mindful of the customs, traditions, values, and norms prevalent within a specific community or group. For instance, in some cultures, direct eye contact signifies confidence and sincerity, while in others, it may be perceived as disrespectful. Similarly, certain phrases or gestures might carry different meanings across cultures. Being culturally aware helps communicators choose appropriate language, tone, and body language, ensuring their message is received as intended and minimizing the risk of misunderstandings.
I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I am not sure that you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.
Robert McCloskey
Conclusion
When feeling overwhelmed and seeking a sense of preparedness, it should be reassuring to know that many dental professionals share these sentiments. Using these practical solutions will help to bring your team back in sync. The daily team huddle serves as a valuable touchpoint, providing a structured opportunity to align everyone’s focus. Embracing digital solutions proves essential in streamlining communication at your dental practice and information sharing, enhancing overall efficiency. The emphasis on thoughtful follow-ups emphasizes the importance of consistent, yet respectful communication, avoiding overwhelming contacts. Communication transcends mere words; it’s about understanding unspoken cues, fostering empathy, and building meaningful connections. By implementing these strategies, teams can navigate their challenges effectively, ensuring a cohesive and well-informed work environment.
There have been many advancements in the dental industry over the last decade, but none have come close to the potential of the cloud. Cloud technology is currently being used in almost every business. It’s changed how we use the internet and interact with the world around us. In dentistry, the cloud presents endless opportunities for dentists. It has the potential to revolutionize practice workflows, standardize operations, and promote limitless growth, thereby allowing you to spend more time doing what you love — treating patients and growing your business!
So, how can the cloud benefit your dental practice? While there are hundreds of advantages to using cloud-based practice management software, here are 6 core benefits of switching to the cloud.
1. Access Patient Information from Anywhere
Being able to access your patient information from anywhere can be a lifesaver. Luckily, with the cloud you can easily access patient files, schedule appointments, view treatment notes and process payments from anywhere. As a group practice owner, Dr. Timucin Ari, said: “With the cloud system, I can use any computer at the hospital, pull up all the information, update my treatment plan, and without going to the office, I can finish my charts after seeing the patient, and sign them right on site.”
So, whether you need to access patient information from the hospital like Dr. Ari, equip your remote workforce with all the information they need, or check in on your other locations to ensure everything is running smoothly, the cloud provides the interconnectivity and flexibility needed to have your practice run smoothly, wherever you and your staff may be.2. Your patient base is growing, and so are your management issues.
2. Build a Remote Workforce
One of the most well-known benefits of running your practice on cloud-based dental software is the ability to create a remote workforce. For decades, dentists have dreamed of having an off-site call center to manage all incoming calls for appointments, emergencies, billing questions, and more. With the new cloud solution, your team can access patient records, x-rays, notes, treatment plans, and billing information from anywhere – which enables you to easily structure your workforce with remote work and mobility in mind.
3. Monitor Practice Performance
Regardless of whether you are a single practice owner or run multiple dental practices, keeping an eye on performance is key to growth and profitability. With the interconnectivity brought by the Cloud, you will always have a high-level view of key performance metrics for each location, as well as information on how the practices in your portfolio are performing relative to one other. This real–time view helps you make more informed decisions around the operational and financial aspects of your dental practice(s).
4. Scale More Easily
If you’re a dental practitioner who is looking to set up multiple locations and ensure long-term success, it’s essential to invest in the right infrastructure from the get-go. By embracing cloud technology, you can take advantage of limitless growth opportunities while saving up to 67% in infrastructure costs. As your practice grows, you can expand without having to make significant capital investments in hardware or software. This means that you can focus on delivering high-quality care to your patients while also staying ahead of the curve with technology and innovation.
5. Standardize Your Operations
One of the key benefits of the cloud is its ability to provide a standardized set-up process that can be easily replicated across multiple locations. This means that you can establish successful systems in one location and then quickly and easily roll them out in others. With curated templates for clinical notes, referrals, and treatment letters, you can streamline your operations and save valuable time and resources.
6. You sometimes run out of materials unexpectedly.
Nowadays, unexpected system disruptions, data breaches, and lost data are constant worries for dentists and office managers. Dental practices end up spending more every year on server maintenance, data back–ups, and IT services to prevent costly security issues. Cloud-based dental software like ClearDent, offers the reliability you need for your business to feel secure – at all times. Our platform is powered by Microsoft Azure’s secure facilities, ensuring tier-one security and protection for your confidential patient information, financial data, documents, and images while saving you thousands in server maintenance and IT costs.
Conclusion
Moving your dental practice to the cloud and converting your patient charts, notes and x-rays can seem like a daunting task – but at ClearDent, we’ve worked hard to make the transition smooth and simple. There are many benefits that make it worth it. Moving to the cloud gives your dental practice more modern functionalities that server-based software can’t offer such as the ability to manage a remote workforce, scale at a fraction of the cost, standardize your operations, access the system from anywhere and even work from home. And because everything is in the cloud, there’s no disruption to your day-to-day operations while you get up to speed on your new system.
Want to see how cloud software can revolutionize the way you work? Schedule a demo now.
Charting and digital imaging were meant to grace your screen: don’t they look great together?
Most dentists eventually realize that, by removing the need to rifle through paper charts, their standard of patient care can improve. In fact, gathering information by switching software programs or finding a paper chart is a thing of the past. Dentists are now treating patients with tools stored in a single location, that are retrievable with a few clicks.
Digital Imaging in 2021
Since this blog post was published in 2020, the state of digital imaging in the dental software space has changed. Some practice management software vendors have announced they will be discontinuing digital imaging support this year.
ClearDent believes that supporting digital imaging is essential for a practice management software company, unlike those vendors.
When dentists provide extraoral X-rays, including panoramic (Panorex) X-rays, they need to access the information through practice management (PM) software.
Choosing A Practice Management Solution
Dentists who begin searching for an ideal practice management solution face several challenges. Teams commonly consider all benefits and consequences of switching to a new practice management software provider, which can feel overwhelming with all the options.
The marketplace offers many dental software alternatives: some vendors support digital imaging, while others lack similar support.
As cloud-based software becomes more readily available to the dental industry, these protocols can become even more obscure and difficult to understand.
Here are some identifying questions to help you choose the right solution (on-premises or cloud) for your specialty practice.
Can the PM software capture, store, and view patient information?
Are charts and x-rays accessible within a few clicks?
Can you administer treatments and view schedules?
Can you pull up patient medical histories?
Can you manage your clinic’s supply and inventory?
Can you manage all the financials from the software?
Most importantly, will your vendor continuously support the development of critical features needed to help you run an efficient practice? The last thing your team needs is to waste time finding decentralized information or relying on third-party integrations. Third-party integrations carry security risks, leaving practices vulnerable to data breaches.
Switching to ClearDent
Every dentist who has shifted to ClearDent have been able to capture, store, and retrieve patient data all in one place.
Over 1,400 practices from coast to coast in Canada have already switched to ClearDent.
Learn how your dental practice can be powered by ClearDent – our demos are free.
So, you’ve successfully made the jump into the digital age by implementing software to help manage your practice. Maybe your contract is coming up for renewal, or you’re starting to wonder what else can be streamlined in your business by implementing more technology. We’ve scoured the latest tech features from practice management software providers to give you a list of problems in your dental office that the latest code can resolve.
Digital Ledgers
A well-designed digital ledger means fast and easy access to patient financial information, completed treatments, insurance and claims submissions, billing, and even printed statements. By digitizing billing, you remove lots of human error risk and the time it takes to complete, ensuring a faster response from insurance companies and payment.
Explanation of Benefits (EOB) and Coordination of Benefits (COB)
When invoicing, speed and accuracy are everything. Having a system that automatically updates the insurance co-payment amount in the transaction based on EOB provides instant and correct calculations of a patient’s portion of the invoice. This facilitates accurate, real-time patient collections. If your patient has dual insurance companies, a software system capable of handling COB electronically will do the job of forwarding the portion unpaid by their primary insurance to the secondary insurance to determine the eligible portion to be paid, and then forward any remaining to the patient, enabling real-time patient collection even in the trickiest case. These tech featuresensure seamless handling of complex billing scenarios, enhancing efficiency and patient satisfaction.
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)
Submitting electronic claims is only one of the many things in a software system approved by CDAnet and ITRANS for EDI in Canada. You can learn more about EDI integrations through the Canadian Dental Association and their own CDAnet website. Some software systems can support all the EDI functions, such as the ability to transmit documents and dental images electronically, which speeds up insurance benefit adjudication, to future-proof your investment.
Ortho Contract Billing
Many software providers offer contract billing for ortho treatment to keep you on track for both treatment and billing. For ongoing treatments, you can automatically submit claims, send invoices, and update ledgers.
Dental Patient Scheduling
A staple of any dental practice software, the ability to integrate scheduling directly into calendars with easy viewing and updating is one of the biggest time savers you can find. Simplifying to the level of drag-and-drop, maximizing your schedule takes a second or two, instead of minutes or hours. A clear and easy boost to the art of schedule making.
Automatic Patient Reminders
An extension of expanded patient communication, automatic reminders remove the burden of early morning check-ins. Select a message for people a week before their appointment, starting their treatment, or who haven’t been in for a check-up for 6 months, and let the software take care of the rest.
Patient Communication
Increasingly, patients prefer to communicate over a silent text, rather than a call they might have to step outside to take. Comprehensive software will allow you to shoot out an SMS or email to confirm appointments, reminders, and everything in between. Automating reminders and confirmations takes even more strain off your front desk. Consider the increased value of group messages as well. Software that can message a single cohort means your staff can send one quick group message when trying to fill a hole in your schedule instead of calling or messaging each person individually. These tech features streamline patient communication, making it more efficient and effective.
Complete Patient Clinical Record
With built-in charting and imaging, x-rays can be fine-tuned to be seen in greater detail. Save even more time by automatically rotating, mounting, and labelling the image with the correct tooth number before attaching it to the odontogram. And, with periodontal charting built in, and click-to-include clinical notes, everything you need is just a click away.
Production Growth Reporting
Well designed, and easy-to-understand reporting is key to analyzing the metrics of your business. By visualizing the important day-to-day information, you can get comprehensive, at-a-glance insights into things like cancellations, comparative productivity, and average earnings.
Practice Communication
Sharing pertinent information from the operatory to the front desk means that reception can pre-verify completed procedure codes, submit an electronic claim right after treatment is complete, and prepare an accurate patient invoice if required before the patient arrives for checkout
Staffing + Hours
Ensure there is coverage for all your patients and appointments with a system that allows you to see your schedule while also tracking staff hours from sign-in, to sign-out. Removing the manual counting of hours and the required comparison to the shift schedule will also translate to a smoother run of payroll.
Inventory Management
Don’t get caught with low stock. An inventory management tool keeps track of quantities and can notify you when supplies are close to depleted. Top-of-the-line inventory services will also provide vendor price comparisons, so you know when you’re getting the best deal.
Mobile Applications
If you’ve become accustomed to late hours in the office pouring over your schedule and checking in on patients, it’s time to consider support for mobile apps. Many software solutions now offer a way to securely access records and even connect with multiple practices or locations with much more convenience. A few companies will even offer tablet or iPad apps to speed up patient check-in and record reviews!
Want to learn more about tech features and what practice management software can do for your office? Download the free guide today!
Without proper dental scheduling, there are many ways that time can be wasted in a busy clinic. And when time is lost, revenue and morale take a hit too.
A full schedule does not always translate to productivity and profitability. The goal of an efficient schedule is to run your dental clinic smarter not harder, maximizing time and revenue. A well-managed appointment scheduling system allows you to anticipate, prevent, and react to unexpected changes while minimizing the impact to both your team and patients.
Everybody suffers with an ill-managed schedule:
Patients are kept waiting when appointments are overbooked or lagging behind
Potential revenue is lost when appointments are under-booked
Dentists are burnt out when there is no balance between types of appointments
The team feels stressed and overworked when they’re behind schedule
The role of a dental scheduler is not an easy one but we’ve got four dental scheduling tips that will help you avoid the problems above, run an efficient schedule, and optimize your clinic to its fullest potential.
Set goals for your clinic
Your dental clinic is a business like any other. Before you delve into the nitty-gritty of day-to-day scheduling, take a step back and look at the whole picture.
Ask yourself what is it that you’re trying to accomplish; it will help you set a production goal for your dental scheduling.
To create a profitable schedule, work backwards:
Determine how much profit you want to make in a year,
Then translate that to a monthly goal,
And get your daily average production goal by dividing your monthly goal by the total number of working days in a month.
This gives you an idea of how much production you should aim for in a day. Use this goal as you schedule a mix of routine and complex appointments. However, remember to be mindful of available resources, which leads us to our next tip.
[Keep track of your goals easily using ClearDent analytics, aka ClearInsight – book a demo today to learn more]
Schedule dental appointments strategically
When scheduling appointments, you have to consider factors such as available time slots, types of procedures, cancellations, and much more to ensure the mental, emotional, and financial health of your dental clinic and team. Use these tactics to strategically schedule appointments:
1) Organize your daily schedule in blocks to accomplish your goals
Designate time blocks for different types of procedures, such as:
Determine how long procedures take by timing each accurately for the most common length. Don’t forget to factor in time for the anesthetist, hygienist, and dental assistant. This exercise will give you a good idea of the average time needed for each procedure.
For example, complex restorative procedures can sometimes require 2 hours or even more. While on the other hand, new patient consultations don’t require as much time but are equally as important. You need to allocate enough time to a first appointment so the team can make a good first impression and build a relationship with the patient – new business is critical to growth.
For longer procedures, consider blocking off a specific time slot for that type of procedure each month so when a patient wants to book a longer procedure, there’s an appointment available.
Set up your schedule with blocks dedicated to each type of appointment in a way that helps you reach your production goal. Complexity and time involved for each procedure are both useful to know when scheduling appointments so that you can make sure to properly block off enough time for the procedure, as well as to let patients know how much time they need to take out of their schedule.
2) Stagger the schedule
Creating an effective schedule is almost like a puzzle. When scheduling appointments, always keep your team in mind. Complicated procedures can be mentally and physically draining for both dentists and dental assistants. Schedule procedures in a way that gives dentists and assistants some buffer time to recover by alternating routine and complex procedures.
3) Maximize the team’s time
Avoid dental assistants waiting for the dentist by scheduling their tasks separately. This way, both dental assistants and dentists can perform tasks concurrently, maximizing everyone’s time. In addition, try to schedule appointments so that the dentist is able to use at least two chairs at any given time, rotating between the patients.
Set up proper clinic practices
There are certain procedures you should have in place that allow you to organize your schedule more efficiently.
Keep detailed notes on your patients
Some appointments require more time depending on the patient, and detailed notes can help you plan for that. For example, a dental cleaning will take longer on someone with gum disease than one that does not or certain patients may be chatty, while others just want to get in and out. Maintaining notes about patients’ preferences and history can help you properly schedule sufficient time for each.
Automate patient recalls
Ensuring your patients return for regular check-ups helps keep your schedule populated. Using an automated patient recall system takes the onus off of you to keep track of when it’s time to reach you. You can set up reminders in the form of email, text, or phone call that automatically go out letting them know it’s time to reschedule.
Minimize patient cancellations
No-shows and last-minute cancellations are an unfortunate but inevitable part of running a dental clinic. However, there are ways to minimize its impact.
Send appointment reminders
Considering appointments are often made weeks, even months, in advance, relying on patients to remember their appointments is likely to lead to many unnecessary cancellations. Prevent this by sending reminders a couple weeks before the appointment date, asking patients to confirm the appointment and allowing them to reschedule if the time no longer works for them. Follow up with another reminder within 24 hours of the appointment if they haven’t confirmed.
These days, many dental solutions have patient communication tools that not only sends these appointment reminders automatically but allow you to communicate with your patients through their preferred method of contact, whether it’s by email or text.
Have an on-call list
A patient waiting list can help you fill gaps that last minute cancellations create in the schedule. There are a number of dental systems that help you maintain online waiting lists. These allow you to send out a mass notification of an opening to patients on that list, rather than having to go down the list and call each person. This instant communication significantly increases your chances of filling the slot.
Creating an efficient appointment scheduling system is a fine art, requiring carefully honed skills over time. These tips will help you schedule effectively and run a well-optimized dental clinic.
Knowing the right moment to adopt new technology in dentistry and understanding the role that technology plays in your clinic is how you can use innovation to grow your dental business.
Let’s cover how technology changes already help, what these changes can look like for a business, and how to keep an eye out for opportunities in the future.
Taking the Paper Out of Paperwork
We spent a lot of time writing things down on paper before computers became as ubiquitous as they have. With the paper format, we had a system that worked easily and felt easy, even when an error required a whiteout or a new sheet to correct. What wasn’t easy was finding something misplaced or lost. As more and more of our records and bills digitize, software that focuses on your workflow as you move between sensitive oral care and insurance provider billing continues to speed up.
Patient management software, especially digital records, has taken much of the stress out of record-keeping, largely speeding up the busy work of dental practices everywhere. By creating a reliable digital system that saves on investment and even square footage costs, but is focused on ease of use, you can grow your productivity while costs continue to decrease.
Technology as a Service
The classic approach in business is to appraise market demand for a product, and then make a call on whether that business can profit over a period of time.
Services can be different. They often require additional training or specialty staff. While not especially new, take sedation dentistry as an example: simple training, yes, but to offer a full range of services that meet the many demands of those suffering from deep anxiety, you need IVs, access to general anesthesia, and even another medical degree. While that investment in a specific niche can pay off, full sedation is unlikely to work for a dental office without an oral surgeon.
Making The Case For New Technology
When you see an opportunity to provide additional services, the cost to the bottom line can be complex depending on how you intend to offer those services. Judging whether or not a new technology in dentistry is the right fit requires looking at the influences and conditions that could impact success outside of your office.
However, sometimes vendors back out of a specific space and force entire markets to reassess their needs. In the case of practice management software, when vendors back out of offering on-premises software, dental clinics are forced to judge whether it is time to switch to a new software vendor.
Chase Solutions, Not Products
People are more passionate about the brands they choose than ever. When the ones that innovate in a particular field get the word out, they can better create a passionate following. When patients inquire about invisible braces, are they asking about getting a beautiful smile without ugly braces, or about Invisalign? The invention of invisible braces cracked the market wide open for self-conscious adults actively chasing the opportunity to straighten their teeth.
Listening To Your Patients
In an age where product marketing can achieve cult status, you don’t want to end up simply buying into the most viral video. If your patients are routinely mentioning a product or service, dig deeper to find the reason that stands out for so many, and then find a way to tackle the issue they present. Even if many companies will narrow your choices by way of patent or expensive training, knowing that you’re paying for a technology in dentistry solution your patients will love, and not the marketing that sold them is what makes a difference to your bottom line.
Having your dental practice listed as a business on Google has more impact than you think! Currently, 41% of patients state they search for new dentists online. Therefore, if your practice doesn’t show up on their Google search, you have just lost a potential patient. It’s crucial to verify your dental office on Google to ensure your practice is visible to those seeking dental care.
The same goes for online reviews; 30.4% of patients find their dentists through online reviews. Consequently, not having any patient reviews or having one to three rating stars impacts the patient’s’ decision when choosing a new dentist.
This is why you should invest time on developing and enhancing your online reputation – and this is where Google My Business will help you!
Google My Business is a free tool that allows you to promote your business on Google Search and Google Maps. By verifying your business, you can engage with your customers, manage your business information, and gain insights on your audience.
To take advantage of this free tool and start enhancing your online reputation, follow these 2 easy steps below:
Log in with your business account. If you’re already logged in, click “Manage Now”
Fill out the necessary information
Verify your business listing: choose from post card, phone or email verification
All done! You can now:
Add photos and videos to your listing
Write a description of your business
Use Google My Business Q&A to engage with your customers
Request and manage Google reviews
Explore search insights
You may have noticed we’ve made some adjustments to our brand. These were made in tune with how we see the future of ClearDent and the improved solutions, refreshed look, and services we aim to provide dentists across Canada and align with our three core values: Community, Creativity, and Courage.
When it comes to our Community, we are always listening and looking to improve the way we communicate. This includes the release of a new ClearDent News feature that will be accessible within your ClearDent software, to ensure important messages don’t go unnoticed.In our Support team, we’veincreased our capacity to answer your calls, resulting in lower average call wait times. We’ve also introduced new methods to route your request to those who can help you best including a new Cloud support team (cloudsupport@cleardent.com) available to help you via e-mail.To strengthen our lines of communication, we also intend to re-introduce an improved Account Management team (myaccount@cleardent.com).
During a time when everyone is doing their part to limit in-person interactions, we’ve looked to Creativity in both the software and services that we provide. We’ve launched a Patient Portal as part of ClearConnect that helps you provide a safe, contactless experience for both your team and patients. While we normally invest in your continuing education through in-person seminars, we’ve pivoted to holding monthly webinars for our customers on best practices in dentistry and using ClearDent.
Working toward the future, we are also setting bold goals that will hold us to our final core value – Courage. We’re excited to be working on a Cloud solution that will offer a full suite of administrative, clinical, and patient engagement features. Our all-in-one Cloud solution will enable us to broaden our community by working with partners on third-party integrations and more. The future of dentistry is always changing and we strive to be at the forefront of emerging technology, teaching our community how to use these tools to improve efficiency and productivity across your dental practice.
As we continue, we will continue leaning on you, our customers, to create solutions made for Canadian dentists.
