The Dentrix Office Manager Blog

If you are a general practice or pediatric dental practice, your recare system is the lifeblood of your practice. Your doctor’s schedule feeds off the hygiene patients so it is critical that you have a seamless system. But are your hygiene systems working as well as you think they are? You may have patients falling through the cracks or not receiving the reminders that you think they are.

The most important component of your recare system is the setup and making sure your team understands the details. I want to take some time today to walk you through proper setup, checking your individual patients continuing care, and which report to manage.

First, the setup is key. I wrote a blog post on May 23, 2012, called “KISS your Continuing Care Types,” but obviously not everyone read it so I am going to take some of those tips and re-apply them today. Many offices, understandably, try and create a system for 3-month Perio, 4-month Prophy, etc., by setting up new Continuing Care types but trust me . . . IT DOESN’T WORK! Remember that you can only attach one Continuing Care type to the procedure code. To

understand what I am talking about, go to the Office Manager > Maintenance > Practice Setup > Procedure Code Setup, then highlight the D1110 and click edit. You will notice in the middle of the window there is a >> Auto Continuing Care where you can attach one Continuing Care Type to this code. This means you cannot link up a 4-month Prophy and 6-month Prophy to the same code.

Your options are Prophy and Perio or Recare. You can link the Prophy to the D1110 and the D1120 and the Perio to the D4910, or link the Recare to all three.

After you have this setup corrected, when you schedule your patient for a cleaning, it will link up to the appointment correctly. When you set complete, it will update your patient’s due date.

But what if your patient is a 3-month Perio or 4-month Prophy? How do you get it up update the due date correctly? You can update the patient’s frequency on his or her Family File in the Continuing Care window. Once you change the patient’s recare frequency, then your reports will be accurate. When you schedule the patient for his or her next visit, the system will know when he or she is due.

After you get this setup fixed and the patient’s frequency updated on the Family File, then you can feel confident that your Continuing Care Report is accurate. If you are using the Dentrix eCentral communication manager, you will know that your patients are receiving reminders when they are due. For a full article on the Continuing Care report, CLICK HERE.

In our age of technology, more and more people are tethered to their mobile phones, tablets and laptops 24/7. I am not only a practice management coach and trainer, but I am also a dental patient. Like an estimated 88% of smartphone owners*, if you want to contact me and confirm my appointment, the preferred method of contact is email or text message. Many times, the practice is calling patients to confirm their appointments from a back office phone line and the patient might not recognize the phone number … so the call goes to voicemail. In our busy lives, we might not check our voicemail until that evening or a couple days later. By then, it is more than likely after office hours or too late to call back.

If you are using a third-party software for email and/or text messaging, you need to make sure that you are reaching out to as many patients as possible. If you have been spotty on asking for email addresses, you can search your Dentrix software and find patients who have a missing email address. This will help you grow your email list and connect with patients in a more efficient and effective way. You will save time and your patients will appreciate it.

· The first way you can search for patients without an email address is with the Dentrix letter merge feature and generate a list of patients. Go to the Office Manager > Letters & Custom Lists > highlight the Patient Report by Filters > Edit. In the lower left corner, there is a dropdown menu for email. Select only without (see the image below). Check mark patients, but I would not filter it with any other options because then you might skip some people. Click Close and click on the button for Open in List Manager. This will give you a list of patient names who do not have email addresses.

· The second way you can search for patients without an email address is on a daily basis using the Daily Huddle Report. Go to the Office Manager > Analysis > Daily Huddle Report > (see image below). Click on the Selected Patient List > check mark the patients with no email. This will generate a page on the Daily Huddle that will give you a list of patients coming in today. If there is an “x” next to the no email column, then you can ask those patients for their email address.

Communicating with patients using today’s technology and in a way that is more convenient for your patients will increase your confirmations and help increase your patient retention. Do you want to learn more about Patient Retention? CLICK HERE

* Pew Market Research Study

We all know that research shows the systemic links between oral health and the rest of the body, especially the relationship between periodontal disease, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and respiratory disease. As oral health providers, it is our responsibility to educate our patients about the significance of periodontal disease and how it will affect the rest of their body.

One of the tools you have as a hygienist is the Dentrix perio chart module, but do you know everything that it will do to help you with visual aids for educating your patients? Let me show you a few of my favorite things you can do with your perio chart.

Use the Graphic Chart to show your patient what a 9mm pocket looks like or where there is a lot of bleeding. You can enlarge a specific quadrant or arch to show specific areas in more detail by clicking on the + in the corners and center of the graphic chart. You can also click on the Show Options button to include the data measurements.
If you want to show your patient any changes in their perio chart, you can compare up to four exams at a time. I would recommend only comparing two exams at a time because then it will show you a colored arrow if the pocket depth got better or worse (a green arrow means it got better and a red arrow means it got worse).
You can print both of these two visual aids for your patient to take home.

As the hygienist, you are one of the primary educators in the practice. Use the tools you have in your software to enhance the case acceptance for perio therapy and help your patients work toward a healthy lifestyle. These diagnostic techniques are extremely important to getting your claims paid, but far more important is educating your patients about the link between other oral health and systemic diseases.

I moderated my first online Dentrix user meeting last Friday and it was AWESOME! It’s called Freestyle Friday and it is open Q&A, which means YOU get to ask the questions during the live event and I get to help you solve it.

One of the most popular questions was about signing treatment plan estimates when you are paperless. This office was printing the estimate, having the patient sign it and then scanning it into the Document Center. I asked the participant why the office didn’t like this option and the answer was, “It is just so time-consuming.” Let’s look at some alternatives to being more efficient.

I gave this office two options to try and they can go back to their office and see which way works best for them. My preferred way is always not the best way for the office … which is why I love Dentrix so much as it gives a few different alternatives so you can choose.

Here are your options for obtaining an electronic signature on your treatment plan estimates. Take note that even if you are not paperless, you might find this workflow extremely helpful.

The first option is to do a “virtual print” to the Dentrix Document Center and then have the patient sign inside of the Document Center. You can find step-by-step instructions on how to do this by reading my blog titled, “A Little Known Secret”. After you have pulled the treatment plan into the Document Center, you can make notes about the agreement and then have the patient sign electronically. If you click on Edit > Sign Document or click on the icon for Sign Document, then you can have the patient sign the document in the Document Center. This will lock up the document to prevent any editing or accidental deleting.
The next option is to attach an electronic signature directly to the Treatment
Plan case. Highlight a treatment case in the Treatment Plan module or Treatment Plan panel in the patient chart, then click on the Settings tab at the bottom of the panel. When you scroll all the way down, you can create or edit the consent forms you would like to use in your office. If you click on the Supporting Information tab just above that, you can attach a selected consent form to your case. When you do this, it will open a new window to prompt you to have the patient sign. After you have the patient sign using an electronic signature device, click on Save and Close. It will automatically save a copy of the consent form along with the signatures in the Document Center.

The main difference between these two options is that the first option will save an exact copy of the Treatment Plan estimate with which the patient leaves. The benefit of this is that you can re-print it for the patient later or review it over the phone and you have the exact copy he or she does. The second option does not save a visual picture of the treatment plan estimate, only the consent form and signatures. You choose what is best for your practice.

For more information on electronic signatures, CLICK HERE.

Does it drive you crazy scrolling through the list of providers every time you are trying to schedule an appointment when ¾ of them no longer work at your practice? How about when it is time to print out your payroll reports and you are having to sort through a list of team members who have been gone for years? Would you like to clean all this up but not sure really how to do it or what ramifications it will have on your system?

Inactivating providers and team members is one of those tasks put on the back

burner and then just piles up for the next person to remedy. I think one reason it doesn’t get done is that all workstations have to be closed out of Dentrix in order for you to perform this task. My recommendation would be to do it at the same time you run month end since you have to dismiss everyone out of Dentrix for this task as well.

Once you are ready to inactivate some providers, then you get stuck because you have to choose a replacement. What does this mean? Who do I choose? Here are the most important things to remember . . .

When you choose a replacement provider, it does not change anything in history so don’t worry about the patient ledger being altered. Inactivating a provider and choosing his or her replacement will swap out anything in the future. For example, any future appointments will be changed to the replacement provider, any treatment planned procedures will be changed to the replacement provider, the default insurance claim provider may be switched and, if you have selected a specific continuing care provider, they will be replaced as well.
If you are inactivating your primary provider (PROV1 in the Family File), the replacement provider will take over in this role. This is common in a practice sale or transition. The PROV1 is used on many reports in Dentrix.
When you inactive a provider, all Time Clock data will be removed so make sure you have payroll reports as a backup.
If you are using Future Due Payment Plans, the assigned provider will be replaced as well.

I think once you understand that none of your history will be altered, it makes the process easier to swallow. The most significant change will happen if you are inactivating one of your primary providers because this will change the PROV1 in the family file and will affect some reports. Hopefully this helps and will allow you to move forward with this necessary task.

I learned the coolest thing today! Actually, I am rethinking the way I run the Continuing Care report. I know, right? If you have been reading my blog over the years, I talk a lot about the four reports to keepyour schedule full— ASAP List, Unscheduled List, Continuing Care List and Treatment Manager Report. Today, while I was working with a team on their hygiene workflow, we discovered something together that could completely transform the conversations you have with your hygiene patients when you are making follow-up calls.

As oral health clinicians, it is our fiduciary responsibility to inform patients of oral disease or infection so they can make educated decisions about their health and schedule them for their preventative maintenance visit. This education and communication with the patient is a full team responsibility, not just the clinical team. The front office team becomes part of the equation whenever patients are balking at scheduling their next visit or if they are following up with overdue patients.

The front office team does not need to know every clinical detail about the hygiene visit. However, having one little nugget of information to reiterate the value for the patient to schedule the recare visit can be critical. In previous versions of Dentrix, I would teach my front office teams to read through the clinical note from the hygienist and find something in there that would build value for the patient like “watching pocket #3,” “needs to floss more in lower anterior,” or “check margins on crown #30.” What happens a lot of the time is the front office team either doesn’t like going into the patient chart or these notes are still being written in a paper chart.

So where can the front office team build their own arsenal of “value added notes” so when they call the overdue hygiene patient, they can say something like, “You know, Sally really needed to see you in four months so she can check how the bleeding has improved in the upper right area” and the patient will say, “Oh yeah. That’s right. She did want to check that.” The motivational note in the patient’s continuing care is a perfect spot . . . and now it shows up on an awesome report.

If you are on Dentrix G6, you have a new amazing feature called List Manager. It’s like doing a Patient Reports by Filter … only on steroids. This List Manager will also allow you to put your Perio and Prophy patients on the same list . . . Whoo Hoo!

Watch the video below and see how to create a new kind of list.

In 2003, the dental practice I was working in transitioned from an archaic DOS-based dental software to the amazing, feature-filled practice management software called Dentrix. I was so excited to learn everything I could about my new software and I immersed myself in my 1,200-page Dentrix user manual and watched as many learning videos as I could get my eyes on. Then in November 2005, the state of Washington was looking for trainers and I quickly submitted my application to get certified as a Dentrix trainer. Over the next 10 years, my passion has been to help dental practices optimize their software and create Dentrix super-users.

Today I am taking that passion to the next level and introduce the world to Novonee.com . . . The Premier Dentrix Online Community. I am inviting you to be part of this exclusive network. Watch the video to learn more and find out how you can have access to the exclusive benefits.

If your patient had a medical emergency and your team had to call 911, how long would it take you to pull up his or her most current medical history? Is the list of current medications and allergies buried among all your clinical notes or does your most recently scanned health history form have the words “no changes” all over it, forcing you to continue searching back to the next scanned document … only to find the words “no changes” all over this one as well. It’s not just about being prepared for an emergency … it’s about being prepared for anything.

During the time I was working in my practice full time, my doctor performed complicated surgical procedures and placed dental implants on a regular basis. We had a patient whose dental implant did not integrate and she had several complications during the healing time and, in the end, we ended up removing the implant because it was just not in the cards for her. She decided that it had been the doctor’s fault that her implant failed and I remember working with our malpractice insurance company trying to piece together all her documentation into a timeline beginning with her first visit.

In my opinion, the health history should have at minimum six pieces of critical information. If you are a more detailed clinician, there are other pieces you can add as well. Here are my top six pieces and a few alternates . . .

Current medical conditions, recent surgeries and hospital visits. This should never say “no changes.” You should always have a list of what is current at this point in time. If they are diabetic last visit, they are more than likely diabetic now. List it. Don’t write “no changes.”
Current prescription medications, over the counter medications and herbal supplements. If their medication list didn’t change from last time, never write “no changes.” You should have a date stamp with their current medication list every time.
Current allergies, including reactions to local anesthetics. Again, if they are allergic to latex, then your health history update today should list Latex Allergy not “no changes.”
Today’s BP and pulse. I had a doctor recently say to me, “I am not their medical doctor and my patients say they will leave my practice if I force them to take blood pressure.” Okay there are two parts to this comment. First, you are their oral health physician so start acting like it. Second, if your patient is going to leave you because you care, let him or her go.
Emergency contact name, relationship and mobile number
Physician name and contact info
Tobacco use
Pregnancy (this could go in #1 even though it is a temporary condition)

I love using the Questionnaire module in Dentrix because it is efficient for your clinical team. There is no scanning and you can use an iPad or tablet if you do not have a monitor in the treatment room that the patient can see. The Dentrix Questionnaire module will turn any paper form into an electronic form and the way it auto-fills information from previous appointments makes it about a 30-second task for the clinician. These electronic forms can be digitally signed and locked up into history for added security.

If you would like a sample Health History Update that I use in many offices in the Questionnaire module, email me directly at dayna@raedentalmanagement.com.

I created a video on how to create an electronic form in the Questionnaire module and you can watch it by CLICKING HERE.

“I have pulled up three different reports trying to find out what my accounts receivable number is and they all have different numbers,” says Nichole from a client office in New York. Renee from a different office states, “I have a patient who has a $6,000 balance and she has never received a statement and she did not show up on my collection report.” Sound familiar? I know these situations can be frustrating and it is easy to blame the software for differences in reporting. However, I want to take you through a few check points to make sure you are getting similar data on different reports and also walk you through what is different on reports.

If you have been reading my blog for a while, you know that my favorite report for managing your accounts receivable is the CollectionManager. There are some things to know about the Collection Manager Report . . .

This report only shows positive accounts receivable so if you are trying to compare it to an Aging Report or the Practice Analysis snapshot, you will not get the same numbers. The Aging Report can be filtered to show all balances, positive balances or credits, and, if you have a lot of credit balances, these two reports could show very different bottom line numbers.
The Collection Manager can be filtered down a lot to give you a very specific report or a very broad report and, depending on how you are matching it up to another A/R report, if you don’t select the same parameters, you will get different numbers.

If you are looking at the snapshot Practice Analysis report (Office Manager > Analysis > Practice), then you will also get a different ending balance depending on a few things . . .

This snapshot is affected by month end so, depending on if you are up to date with month end, will determine how accurate this number is and if it will match up to any other A/R report.
This Analysis snapshot cannot be filtered by billing type … so if you have balances in billing types like “Sent to Collection,” this will affect this number.
This report is only run by Entry Date (you cannot change this). If you are running any of the other A/R reports by Procedure Date, then you will get different numbers.

Most of the accounts receivable and collection management reports can be filtered by different parameters to give you different numbers. Here are the most common troubleshooting tips to check if you are matching up reports.

Did you select the same providers?
Did you select the same billing types?
Did you choose Entry Date or Procedure Date?
What aging category did you select?
Are you selecting the same date range or ending date?
Were there any other boxes that were checked that might have filtered out a particular patient from one report over another? In the first paragraph, I had an office questioning why a particular patient did not show up on the Collection Manager Report. It was because she had checked “If not billed since” on the filters so this particular patient had been excluded.

Hopefully this will help you understand how different each report is and why they might give you different numbers. Numbers tell a story and it is important to have as accurate report as possible.

Back in February, I wrote an article on using visual tools to help communicate the status of the treatment plan with your entire team. If you want to re-read it, CLICK HERE. If you have implemented some of these visual aids, did you know that you can filter one of the Treatment Plan reports to give you a narrower search?

Open the Treatment Planner or the Treatment Plan Panel in the chart and click on Print. For most of you, this is how you would print a treatment plan estimate for the patient … but have you ever printed the Practice Treatment Case Report? Even though I am all about going paperless, this report gives you some great search tools to find patients who have unscheduled treatment and have been marked with a particular status.

Going back to my February article, if you have marked the case with a particular status, then you can search for it. For example, let’s say you have marked a case as Accepted or High Priority, then it is now searchable. Click on the Print > Practice Case Status Report and select your filters. See the image below to follow along.

Fig 1 shows how you can choose a Case Status. You can select all the cases you have marked as accepted and get a call list from this selection. If you have been reading my blog for a while, you know how much I love the Treatment Manager. However, it does not have this filter (which I think is a great tool).
Fig 2 shows how you can select a Case Severity. If you are marking your cases as Immediate, Eventual or Optional, then you can filter your report by one of these choices.

Using these visual tools can help you and your team communicate better and give your admin team the options necessary to generate a really good call list when they are following up with patients and trying to fill openings in the schedule.

These are just a couple of examples of how you can use the status and severity tools. You can discuss with your team how they would best serve your practice.

Dental insurance benefits are the thorn in our side every day. Checking benefits, eligibility and maximums for our patients is a great benefit … and it also sucks the life out of us to the point where we don’t have time for other things during

the day. There needs to be a balance between it being a customer service task and a hand-holding task. The insurance benefits belong to the patient. They do not belong to the practice and we need to put the verbal skills in place to help our patients understand this.

One thing I have been doing with my practices is teaching them to transfer that ownership back to the patient in a way that is beneficial to the patient and not too time-consuming for the practice. The easiest, most efficient way I have found is using the eCentral Insurance Eligibility feature inside of your Dentrix software. Have you seen the “E” all over inside of your Dentrix software and wondered what it does? CLICK HERE to learn how eCentral Insurance Manager works. Let me share with you some of my tips in using this amazing tool.

What has worked really well for many offices is to print a copy of the electronic benefits for the patient and then send a copy to the patient’s Document Center for your reference. Now, how you hand off the information to the patient makes a big impact on how much you will be babysitting in the future. So here are some of my best tips . . .

When you print out the eligibility benefits from eCentral for the patient, I would highlight a few key pieces of information (insurance company phone number, maximum and coverage percentages).
Hand the patient the printed copy of his or her benefits and say something like, “I took the liberty of checking on your dental benefits for you and here is what we received from your plan. Notice I have highlighted some of the important things about your plan. One thing I want to point out is that if there is a procedure you need that is not on this print out, then we don’t know how much your insurance company will pay so we estimate zero.”
Let patients know if they would like more details about their plan, you highlighted the insurance company’s phone number for them.

Using eCentral Insurance Eligibility not only as a tool for your practice efficiency but also using it as a resource for your patient will help you to strengthen your relationships with your patients and they will trust you more. Trust will help build your practice and grow your referrals.

Are you the doctor who wants to give the patient a treatment plan estimate with a total case fee instead of a line item estimate? I have worked with many of you and I get it. You want to offer your patient a total case fee that includes everything for the end result.

I was working with a prosthodontist a few years back and he was one of those doctors who wanted a total case fee not a line item treatment plan. So we worked together and got creative with the software. This question came up again this week while I was talking with one of my colleagues so I thought I would share some ideas with you.

Here is what you can do. Create your custom procedure codes in the Office Manager. Go to the Office Manager > Maintenance > Practice Setup > Procedure Code Setup and add your new in-office custom codes. Here are some examples . . .

Implant Option – Crown & Bridge
Implant Option – Fixed Hybrid
Full upper rehabilitation
Full lower rehabilitation
Four on the floor (I don’t know what this is but I have heard it)

Make sure when you are creating these custom in-office procedure codes that you mark them to not bill to insurance because you will have to bill things out by line item in order for your chart to look accurate, but this is a way you can provide a total fee estimate that the patient will understand.

Now when you treatment plan one of these codes, you can note everything that is included in the note field (see the screen shot here). Then, when you print out the estimate for the patient, it will only show a full fee and then what is included in that fee. Let me know what you think. I would love to hear some feedback.

I was at the Henry Schein Center in Seattle today working with the new DTS (Digital Technology Sales), Tyler Call. He wanted to learn more about Dentrix so he could present a more effective demo to prospective Dentrix clients.

My first question to Tyler was “Who is your target audience? Which team

members attend your Dentrix demo?” I remember when I demoed Dentrix back in 2003 I was the only participant in the process and my doctor just wrote the check.

It was important for me to know who attends the sales call because each team member is going to have a different set of priorities. Just like all of you who read this blog, you all have a different set of priorities. So I thought for the holiday weekend I would put together a priority list for the doctor, hygienist, dental assistant and admin team. Here are the top three posts in each category.

Doctor’s must reads . . .

Super Efficient with Templates - For all the Dentrix users, I want to give you some help when it comes to building templates, which can be a huge time-saver in your office. Here are some of my favorite template tips.
How to Read Your Clinical Notes - With more offices every day transitioning from paper charts to electronic charting, we need to find the most efficient ways to not only document in the clinical record and view the information without having to click all over the place.
Top Five Reports Every Doctor Should Read - I received an e-mail from a doctor the other day who had a situation that needed attention. Her clinical team had started posting procedures in the patient chart and had accidentally posted a root canal as “complete” rather than “existing.”

Dental Assistant must reads . . .

What is the Status of the Lab Case? Do any of these lab-related scenarios ever happen in your office?
How to Chart a Supernumerary Tooth - Our patients walk in with some unusual situations, but one of the more common situations I see is an extra tooth or Supernumerary Tooth.
Health History Update, being prepared for anything - If your patient had a medical emergency and your team had to call 911, how long would it take you to pull up his or her most current medical history?

Dental Hygienists must reads . . .

Oops, the wrong tooth was removed from the chart - Have you had a patient in your chair for his or her 6-month checkup and, while you are perio charting, you notice that the wrong tooth is missing.
Hygienists, you are one of the primary educators in the practice - We all know that research shows the systemic links between oral health and the rest of the body, especially the relationship between periodontal disease, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and respiratory disease.
Where do I Make Notes - Do you ever find yourself searching endlessly for the patient’s most recent list of medications? What if the doctor wants to know if the patient has any allergies before the anesthetic is administered?

Admin team must reads . . .

Can you write me an excuse note for school?
Get Creative with your ASAP List - I was working with an office recently and they have a program specifically for patients who do not pre-appoint. These patients are mostly retired and have very flexible schedules.
Are you a Stickler for Accurate Numbers - How often does a patient call and ask, “What is my balance?” If it is a single patient ledger, the answer is relatively simple. But what if a mother of five calls and asks for each of her kid’s balances?

The Secret Weapon of every dental office is their practice management software. The big secret is how it is used or underutilized. There are many good systems available to the dental community but most dentists only use a fraction of their utilities capabilities. Looking toward the future, dentists must embrace the power and versatility of their practice management suite. The benefits of a robust PMS can help them become more efficient and even more profitable. Whether you are a solo practitioner or a large group, practice efficiency and seamless technology integration is the goal!

If you assess the business acumen of independent solo dental practices across the USA you will find these four business styles. These styles address leadership, management style and degree of confidence. There is a direct correlation between leadership type and operational efficiency as well as PMS competency and offices that track their key production numbers.

CLICK HERE to continue reading my interview with Jack Abrams from The Abrams Report courtesy of the Everything Dental Blog.

Practice management software is a critical element in every thriving practice. Yet many Dentists and Team Members are only using a small fraction of the capabilities of their practice management software. In this Thriving Dentist Show, Gary interviews his friend Dayna Johnson on specific tips to optimize your dental practice management software. Dayna is an authority on this subject and passionate about helping her colleagues. In this interview, Gary and Dayna discuss; Why many dental offices are still using a paper chart, the four specific benefits of converting to digital records, the three key elements of a successful paperless transition, important security tips, a fool proof back up system and the five most important statistics that every office should monitor with their practice management software.

CLICK HERE to be directed to the podcast

One of the most frequently asked questions I receive from multi-doctor practices about the Dentrix appointment book is, “How can we see which doctor is assigned to the patient for the exam?” Since the appointment is set in the provider color (usually the hygienist color), it is difficult to see which patient each doctor needs to see during the day. Another question along these same lines is, “Can I post the exam to the doctor and the cleaning to the hygienist?”

In the past, there was no good answer.

Now with the release of G6, there is a way to answer both these questions . . . Yeah!

When you schedule a patient for an appointment in G6, you will notice an Addl Provider box in the upper left corner where you can add the specified doctor for this patient’s exam. When you add an additional provider, you will be able to view it in a couple of places depending on your preferences.

If your practice is using Route Slips or Patient Visit Forms, then you will see the additional provider in the Appointment Details section of the form.
Back in (I think) Dentrix G3, they added the Hover. When you let your mouse sit over the top of the appointment, it will pop up a window that will give you more information about the patient such as his or her picture, birthdate, insurance info, etc. One of these new pieces of info in the Hover is the Additional Provider.
You can add the Additional Provider to the View. From the Appointment Book, click on View from the top toolbar, and select the view you want to edit, then on the right side you will see a bunch of drop-down menus for Appointment Display Info. Here you can select the Additional Provider to show on the appointment book view so you can see visually on every appointment.

When you go to check out the patient and set the procedures complete, you can assign the exam to the additional provider and give that production to the doctor without having to go to the ledger and change it manually. This will save you a ton of time.

I hope this tip helps you be more efficient and productive in your everyday routine. You use your practice management software every day and it is the little things that make the biggest impact on your day.

If you have been reading my blog for a while you probably have stumbled across an article or two about Patient Retention and if you have worked with me personally we definitely have discussed ways to improve your patient retention and create more meaningful relationships. In many of my articles you will find tips on where to document these relationship building tidbits about your patients so you can create a dental experience your patients will rave about online.

I met a company recently that shares my view on creating those meaningful relationships and improving your patient retention. Social Dental believes that the best practices deserve the best patients. If you share this belief, read on.

By definition, the best patients are engaged. They’re not just “shoppers” who are looking for the lowest price on a one-time procedure; they’re looking to invest in a long-term relationship. These “above-the-bar” patients keep their appointments. They appreciate the care they receive and they accept and follow through on treatment recommendations. Consequently, these highly engaged patients achieve the best outcomes and the highest levels of patient satisfaction. And engaged patients tend to have friends and family members who are a lot like them. Audience engagement is, of course, the key to a building a successful online presence for your practice. Trust is the currency of the web and being real and authentic online builds trust. Not surprisingly, the most effective way to create engagement is by sharing real photos of real patients. Authentic patient photos (vs. stock photography or manufactured content) open a window into your office culture, helping potential patients feel connected to you before they ever step foot in your office.

Social Dental also makes it easy to quickly request Google Reviews from your patients by getting their attention before the distractions of life take over.

The one thing that makes all of this work is for you and your team to genuinely care about your patients. Otherwise, asking to take a photo with a patient may feel forced and cause your team to feel like they’re imposing. When this happens, the process can feel more like a chore than a celebration and the idea of creating a lasting culture of patient engagement will never take root in your practice.

Developing a culture of appreciation is the most important way to grow your practice—online and offline. Visit www.socialdental.com to schedule a demo and
mention this article and Dayna Johnson and you’ll get a $1000 discount off the set up.

Have any of you been noticing your X-rays being denied more frequently than usual or have you been subject to an insurance audit on excessive X-rays? It is

happening and if you have not seen it yet, you will soon. I want you to be as prepared as possible when the insurance companies come knocking on your door.

When I work with dental teams, I often see the practice using the Continuing Care system in Dentrix as a way of tracking when a patient is due for his or her next series of X-rays. Your recare system is the most powerful system in your practice and it is the lifeblood of your practice. If you let patients fall through the cracks, you are letting thousands of dollars walk out the back door and your patients may suffer from unscheduled treatment. I do not doubt that your team has the best patient care at heart when you use the Continuing Care system in Dentrix as a way of staying focused on staying current on your diagnostics for your patients. However, taking X-rays is not based on the insurance frequency nor your “office policy” on BWX frequency.

Diagnostics is the reason for taking X-rays, not frequency. With this being said, your clinical documentation needs to reflect this in order to defend yourself in the case of an insurance denial or insurance company audit. I recently attended a study club meeting presented by my good friend and colleague, Teresa Duncan. She stressed two main points in your clinical documentation.

Since I help dental practices all the time with their custom clinical note templates, there are two things you need to include in your template. This can easily added to your clinical note template with a checkbox prompt so you can choose the variable answer for each patient.

X-rays were reviewed by . . .
X-rays are needed because of . . .

One office I know has made a new office policy that the doctor comes into the exam before the hygienist or dental assistant starts to take the X-rays so they can be properly diagnosed. I have another office that has changed up its recare appointments so that the X-rays are diagnosed at the current appointment and then scheduled with the next recare visit so they cover all their bases.

Now, I am not suggesting that you stop using the Dentrix Continuing Care system for tracking X-rays. However, I am suggesting that you add the risk assessment and diagnosis in your clinical note to substantiate the taking of the X-rays.

If you would like the full report developed by the ADA and the FDA on this topic, please email me directly and I will send it to you.

Does your front office have a basket over flowing with papers with a sign on it that reads “TO BE SCANNED?” No one in the office wants to touch it because it is one of those tedious tasks that no one wants to do … so it just grows and grows. I know how you feel and many practices I work with say that scanning is one of the biggest pain points they deal with every day.

Let’s look at how we could cut that pile of paper in half … but first let’s look at what’s in that pile and how we can deal with it in the electronic world. Some examples of what ends up in that pile of “TO BE SCANNED” paper are . . .

Letters from specialists
Treatment plan estimates
Insurance EOBs and pre-estimates
New patient forms
Health history updates
Consent forms
Letters to/from patients

We can’t really do much with the paper that comes in through the mail because it is already in a paper form. There is not much we can do other than scan it. What I would recommend is reaching out to the people who are sending you paper and see if you can receive electronic correspondence or (even better) see if they can send the letter as an attachment to an email. NOTE:Make sure you are using a HIPAA-compliant email service when you are sending protected patient information.

There are two in-house ways you can eliminate the scanning without adding any additional cost or third-party service.

“Send to the Dentrix Document Center” is the easiest, most efficient way to get a document into the Document Center without scanning. This can be used for anything you receive in an email, off a website (insurance breakdowns, EOBs, etc.) or as an attachment. You can also send all your treatment plan estimates to the Document Center using this feature and then have the patient sign in the Document Center using an electronic signature device. If your referring doctors are still sending their follow up letter in the mail, you can implement a secure way for them to send it to you via email and now you can send it to the Document Center without scanning. CLICK HERE for instructions on how this works.
Start using the Dentrix Questionnaire module for all in-house forms, including health history updates, all treatment consent forms, financial arrangement forms and updates to your HIPAA acknowledgement. You can use the Questionnaire Module without adding any expense for electronic services … all you will need is a signature pad. You can print out your consent forms and have them laminated so the patient can read them in a paper form. After that, have the patient sign in the Questionnaire or just pull the form up on your monitor for him or her to read. It is so easy. CLICK HERE to learn how to create a new form.

Give your team a break . . . give your scanner a break and save time. Use this time to do more productive things like fill your schedule and improve your collections.

It’s the little things that matter. I hear that statement all the time being out in the

dental industry working with dental practices from all over the country. I love it when I show clients something and their eyes light up because they now know something that is so simple but makes such a huge impact on their day.

Dentrix is by far the most comprehensive and feature-rich practice management software in the industry and this is why it is the leading software for dentists. However, when a keystroke or menu maneuver helps you do something better, faster and easier, it is HUGE.

Here are some of the top “Ah-Ha” moments I have seen over my career as a certified Dentrix trainer.

Printing the full day of Route Slips or sorting them. When I walk into an office and I see in the Batch Processor 30-60 single Route Slips being printed, I know this office does not know how to print out the whole day at one time. There are two ways to accomplish this . . .

Office manager > Reports > Lists > Daily Appointment List > check mark Patient Route Slips and send to the Batch. From this menu, you can also sort by provider or operatory.
You can also print the Route Slips within the Daily Huddle Report.

Filter the Office Journal. If you have been reading my blog, you know how much I love the office journal and I recommend all teams use it for admin communication with patients. However, I find that a lot of offices refuse to use it because it takes so long to load. Good news! You can filter your office journal so it will load less information and speed it up. Open the office journal and click on View and then Filters. Here you can select only the information you want to list in your view and you can select a starting date so it doesn’t look back to the beginning of time.
Lock your computer with a CTRL + ALT + DEL and select LOCK COMPUTER when you leave your workstation. This way, you do not have to close down all your Dentrix windows to secure your computer.

Let me know what some of your “Ah-Ha” moments are. I would love to hear your stories and quick tips to share. You can comment on this post or email me directly.

Recare is the lifeblood of your practice

Find patients with missing email addresses

Hygienists . . . you are one of the primary educators in the practice

Obtaining a patient signature on the Treatment Plan Estimate . . . helping you create a more efficient workflow

Inactivating providers and team members . . . is it still on the back burner?

Transform the way you follow up with over due recare patients

You are invited!

Health History Update . . . it's about being prepared for anything

Why don't my reports show the same numbers . . . grrrrrr!

How to generate an Unscheduled Treatment Report for patients who have already said "Yes" to treatment.

Checking insurance benefits will suck the life out of you unless you change your system

Are you that doctor?

Must Reads for Doctor, Assistant, Hygienist and Admin team

Everything Dental Blog - June 2016

The Thriving Dentist with Gary Takacs - podcast

How can I see which doctor is scheduled to do the exam? Here are 3 ways . . .

Creating rich, meaningful relationships to increase your patient retention

Protect yourself from an insurance audit with proper documentation

Give your scanner a break . . . two ways to eliminate scanning

It's the little things . . .