Thursday, April 18, 2013
The front desk in a dental office is not a piece of furniture.
It is a business system.
The front desk business system gathers information (AKA data) at a single location to administer the non-clinical business functions. Non-clinical functions include scheduling, billing, insurance processing and more. In fact, it’s really everything except the diagnosis and treatment of dental disease.
The Front Desk is the “Data Center” of the office.
Once a dental practice develops a paperless system of records, charting and scheduling, the office workflow changes significantly. Team members are freed from the drudgery of filing, typing, looking for lost records and doing all the rest of the busywork necessary to keep a paper system functioning. This new system has been called Front Desklessness.
Dental staff members who work at the front desk are understandably distressed by the term Front Desklessness. The concept could be more accurately called: An Alternative Approach to Dental Office Management and Work Flow Using Integrated Electronic Records. Of course while that mouthful may be a less distressing title, Front Desklessness gets your attention.
Front Desklessness is not about eliminating staff or tossing out a piece of furniture. It is all about doing non clinical business functions in a different way because technology allows us to handle data in a much more efficient manner.
When all the practice information is on paper we need some place to pull the information together to make use of it. In other words, we use the diagnosis to make a treatment plan, use the treatment plan to make an appointment, use the chart to make an invoice and use the invoice to make an insurance claim. Almost always we have gathered this “dead tree” paper information at the front desk.
Dead tree data can only be in one place at a time. There is only one paper appointment book, only one paper chart, only one film radiograph. As a result, if one of the pieces is missing, say the chart is in the back, or just lost in a stack on the doctor’s desk, or someone else is “in the book,” the functions of the front desk stop.
Once we transfer the data from paper to an electronic format we no longer need a single physical place—such as the front desk—to gather the information. An administrator can access the data wherever there is a computer. That could be at the front, in the back or even in a different building. The computer becomes the Data Center of the practice.
Let’s examine how office workflow will change with three basic front desk tasks: Answering the phone, Making an appointment and Re-call.
Answering the phone: Once the data center has been transferred from the front desk to the computer, you no longer need to answer the phones at the front desk, you can answer them anywhere you have a computer; at the front, in the back even in a different building.
Making an appointment: If you use an electronic schedule with treatment room computers, why not schedule from the treatment room? Who better to make the appointment than the chairside assistant? She has just heard the dentist and the patient discussing the treatment. She knows exactly what needs to be done next. She knows if the patient is a gagger or a fishing buddy who needs extra time. She knows if there is lab work involved healing time needed or any of the other clinical considerations which would affect the appointment time.
Re-call: With a paperless record and an electronic appointment book there is no need to walk the patient up to the front so he or she can wait in line to schedule or hand address a “happy elephant” postcard to remind him or her to call for an appointment in six months. The hygienist can schedule the re-call appointment before the patient leaves the room.
What better time and place to schedule the next continuing care appointment than chairside, while the patient is motivated to improve his or her dental health? Who better to make the appointment than the hygienist who knows exactly when the patient needs to come back? He or she also knows exactly how much time this patient will need, if the patient is a gagger or smoker who needs extra time, or if the patient is a healthy 21year old who needs very little time.
Another great benefit of paperless records for the assistant, the hygienist and the dentist is instant access to patient data. For example, what do you do when a patient asks, “When is my husband due, and what do the kids need done next?” In a traditional front desk, paper based office you can’t readily give an answer. You can have the patient wait up front, go find all the family charts, and look through them for the answers. With paperless electronic records and chairside computers the answer is an easy and instantaneous click away. The result is better communication, better service and ultimately better dental health for our patients.
Front deskless, paperless workflow is not about furniture or staffing, it is about using technology effectively to serve our patients better. It is about the future. The future is coming and it will be amazing!