Dental Management Consultants

ToothIQ Pro | Dental Animations on your website

dentalspeaker — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 05:15:37 +0000

I am seeing a lot more dental practice web sites. Some of them are awesome. However most are pretty lame. A simple and inexpensive way to make your sight far more valuable to patients and more likely to pop up high on search engines is to include patient education video. One of my favorite online services is Tooth IQ. They do all the work and provide the educational videos for you. A sample is shown here with links to the sight below.

Enhance your website

Add compelling content that draws patients to your website and helps keep them there.

Educate patients

Educate patients directly from your website. The full-screen option makes it easy for your patients to view the animations from a dental chair.

Very easy to implement

Just select the animations you want. We’ll do the rest.

via ToothIQ Pro | Dental Animations on your website

Why Have a Practice Web Page?

dentalspeaker — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 04:29:56 +0000

Web pages are not just about attracting new patients.

Even more important is a major trend toward using web pages for a lot more than basic contact information. For example, recently I was having trouble setting up a new feature on my cell phone. I could have tried to find the owner’s manual. I could have taken it into the store where I bought it. I could have asked a friend how to do it. I could have phoned an 800 number and waited on hold forever. I could have done many things to solve my problem. However, what I did do was go to the Internet.

I Googled the companies web page, I located my phone model and opened up complete instructions on how to take care of my problem. In just a few minutes, it was done. While I was on the web page, I could have chosen several new ring tones, ordered some accessories or checked my account balance.

A practice web page is not just an electronic yellow pages advertisement. A web page should provide service for existing customers as well as attracting new patients.

Uninformed, Clueless or Frightened?

dentalspeaker — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 10:09:46 +0000

Implementing new dental software technology in the dental office involves a lot more than just chosing, buying and installing some tech gizmo. In fact just choosing the right gizmo is fraught with change and knowledge issues let alone using it effectively. The following is adapted from Seth Godin.

When faced with change or even just making a decision people are one of three things; Uninformed, Clueless or Frightened.

Uninformed people need information and insight in order to figure out what to do next. They are approaching the problem with optimism and calm, but they need to be taught. Uninformed is not a negative term, it’s a temporary state.

Clueless people don’t know what they don’t know, they don’t know what to do and they don’t know that they don’t know what to do. They don’t know the right questions to ask. Giving them instructions is insufficient. First, they need to be sold on what the platform even looks like.

Frightened people will resist any help you can give them, and they will blame you for the stress the change is causing. Scared people like to shoot the messenger.

I have encountered dentists in all three states trying to make buying decisions.

The Secret to Printing Digital X-Rays

dentalspeaker — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 07:15:28 +0000

The secret to printing digital x-rays can be found in an old Nike advertisement.
Just don’t do it

The urge to print out the x-rays is a throwback to film. However, there is rarely a good reason to make a physical hard copy. After all one of the primary benefits is that the image is digital, he image can be stored transmitted and enhanced with a computer and dental software. Once it is printed you lose all that.

You do not need to print it for the chart it is stored as an electronic record.

You do not need to print it for someone else; it is quite easy to transmit the digital image to anyone with a computer.

You do not need to print it for diagnosis; in fact diagnosis from a hard copy is extremely limited compared to an enhanced digital image.

When you hand a printed radiograph to an experienced (read: old) dentist the first thing he/she does it hold it up to the light to look through the solid paper. That makes as much sense as printing it in the first place, and is done for the same reason. That’s just the way we’ve always done it.

Technology Guide: Computers in the Treatment Rooms

dentalspeaker — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 12:00:13 +0000

As a dental practice consultant, I’ve observed one of the fastest growing trends in dentistry is putting computers in the treatment rooms. The question then arises…OK now that I have all these computers, where the heck do I put this stuff? Many dentists either just assumes there is no room for a computer or they stuff it somewhere between the sink and the glove dispenser … then wonder why it doesn’t work very well.
My comprehensive technology guide, “Computers in the Treatment Rooms” lists the six keys to computers in the operatory and it will answer the basic question…Why bother? It then provides step by step help in setting up the computers, including the four access points, avoiding mistakes and resources for hard to locate parts and accessories.
“Computers in the Treatment Rooms” will answer all your questions, provide a plan and show you how to save money… all delivered in a fun and easy to understand style.

25 Web Services for Dental Practices

dentalspeaker — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 09:48:26 +0000

There are many different reasons for dentists and dental practices to get online and utilize technology and the tools that are available. Below are 25 different web services and reasons to get online and get noticed on the World Wide Web.

Dental Office Actions

• Website promoting business
• Insurance eligibility information
• Financing approval within minutes
• Electronic claims
• Add attachments
• After-insurance credit card payments
• Automatic file back up
• Tracking insurance claims
• Sending statement
• Radiography diagnosis
• Financial analysis
• Banking
• Dental Practice Marketing
• Social pages

Communications with Patients

• Recall card
• Email appointment reminder
• Text message

Patient Actions

• Web scheduling appointments
• Research on some cosmetic dentistry one has been
considering

• Patient Education
• Updating medical
• Confirming appointments
• Participating in patient satisfaction surveys
• Referring a friend
• Accessing web site to pay outstanding balance

High Tech Dental Software and Change

dentalspeaker — Thu, 27 May 2010 10:32:48 +0000

Using advanced technology and dental software will change how things are done in the dental office. It will change the nature of some of the tasks. It will change how much time is required to do things. It will change the location of some tasks. It will change the personnel needed. It will change how we communicate with our patients and it will allow us to do some things we could never have attempted before.

However all these changes are not revolutionary they are evolutionary. That is they will not happen instantly by themselves but will slowly evolve over time as the doctor and the team become accustomed to the technology.

For example, the first time the front office administrative assistant tries to make an appointment with the electronic scheduler it will take much longer than the old paper book and be very frustrating. In fact it will be awkward, slow and frustrating for several days and the scheduler will be begging the doctor to go back to the old book. After another month electronic scheduling will be easy and much faster than the old book and the advantages of the electronic schedule will be so obvious that the office would never go back.

After another few months the scheduling tasks will be distributed to others. Since it will now be possible to schedule wherever there is a computer appointments can be made by any number of team members and they can be made anywhere there is a computer, including in the back, chairside. Next you could confirm the appointment with a card or better yet an e-mail, which has the exact date, time and purpose of the appointment listed. Finally you could then do a computer search of the electronic schedule to evaluate scheduling effectiveness.

This is just one example of how the task changes, the people doing the task change and the location of the task changes. How we communicate with our patients changes and we can do some things we could never have attempted before.

Guide to Digital Radiography

dentalspeaker — Thu, 27 May 2010 09:26:24 +0000

Digital Radiography is one of the most exciting and fastest growing technologies in dentistry. It is also the area with the most misinformation. I constantly talk with dentists who either do buy digital for the wrong reasons or don’t buy for the wrong reasons.

My comprehensive technology guide, “Digital Radiography”exposes nine myths about digital radiography and it will answer the basic question…Why bother? It then provides step by step help choosing and then setting up digital x-rays.

You will learn about; the five part imaging chain, the sensor wars, image enhancement and much more. And what will come as a complete shock to most dentists… there is even a budget and financial analysis that shows how digital radiography is actually cheaper than film.

“Digital Radiography” will answer all your questions, provide a plan and show you how to save money… all delivered in a fun and easy to understand style.

Are We Adequately Securing Personal Health Information?

dentalspeaker — Thu, 27 May 2010 09:00:48 +0000

I have assumed a rather casual attitude toward data security. In large part because I often see vendors using scare tactics to sell dentists stuff we don’t really need. And the scare stories make dentists reluctant to use new technology. If we do not understand something it can be unsettling and we tend to do nothing.

The linked article discusses some of the issues that large aggregators of health care records face. That is hospitals, insurance companies and the proposed new central health care record registry. These issues seem to be real and there are no sure fire solutions. On the other hand the article indicates that for the most part the organizations in charge of this data take their security responsibilities seriously and follow protocol. The problem is that protocol may not be good enough.

You can lock the doors and secure the deadbolts even put bars on the windows but any thief with enough motivation can eventually break in.

The good news to keep in mind is that the data most at risk is not a single practitioner dentist but a large clinic, hospital or third party.

In a discussion about electronic health records (EHRs) a couple weeks ago, one of the Human Resource team members at a prospective client said, “I don’t believe it’s possible to secure electronic health data. It’s always an accident waiting to happen.”

via The Health Care Blog: Are We Adequately Securing Personal Health Information?.

Three Paperless Options

dentalspeaker — Tue, 25 May 2010 06:24:36 +0000

Forms and signatures are one of the essentials of record keeping. How then can you have a paperless record? There are three methods to gather the information electronically and totally bypass the paper.

Tablet PC: A tablet PC is a mobile computer in the shape of a slate. The iPad is the latest tablet form. The iPad like all Apple products is tragically hip but is not a good fit for most dental offices. Tablets use a touch screen that allows the user to operate the computer with a stylus (a digital pen) or a fingertip, instead of a keyboard or mouse. In other words the user can simply tap the screen to check off a box on a form, and sign directly on the computer screen.

Digital Signature Pad: The tablet PC represents the ultimate computerized version of the brown clipboard. However there is a second way to fill in forms that may be easier and less expensive to implement. That is to simply use existing desktop computers and a signature pad.

Online: The third way to gather data without paper is the Internet. A web based system puts the same digital forms as you would use on the tablet onto a web site. The patient could then fill out the forms from home or office. Once the forms are filled in the data could then transfer to the dental office and eventually to the patient’s electronic record. This is by far the best option however, the office needs to have complete paperless records, a practice management software that can accept web based information and a well designed web page.