Thursday, May 16, 2013
There are six distinct areas the doctor and staff need to understand in order to use practice management software effectively, but not every member of the staff needs to have the same level of expertise in each of these areas.
In fact, it’s probably not a good idea for everyone to become an expert on every facet of these vast software applications. Instead, different members of the dental team should be trained on the areas of the software they need to access while performing the duties of their jobs.
The six areas of the software are:
- General Use of the Software: This includes how to open it, how to find a patient, how to find a specific procedure or appointment.
- Charting: That is entering treatment, creating treatment plans and entering procedure notes. Charting also includes linking to diagnostic aids such as radiographs, photos and perio pocket charting.
- Finance: This includes making an estimate, creating and sending insurance claims, billing, and entering payments.
- Scheduling: This encompasses creating new appointments and finding existing appointments.
- Communications: This covers maintaining patient contact and insurance information, as well as sending correspondence, insurance, re-call and confirmations.
- Administration: Compiling numbers, running reports and maintaining security.
So which members of the team need to know about which of these six areas? It breaks down in this way:
Dentist: The dentist needs to concentrate on areas 1, 2 and 6. He or she must be able to launch the software, find a patient record or appointment, and enter treatment if needed. However, the doctor’s primary duty is to maintain the dental record and to manage the practice. For that reason the dentist needs to be able to find a specific procedure in the patient chart then retrieve and edit existing procedure notes or enter new notes.
Additionally, the dentist needs to be able to run financial reports, understand what they mean and create custom reports. The dentist also needs to understand and administer the security features of the software such as passwords.
Assistant: The clinical dental assistant should concentrate on areas 1 and 2. The assistant needs to be able to launch the software, find a patient record or appointment and to enter treatment. The chairside assistant must also know how to find an image specific to a procedure—either a photo or an x-ray—and then display it for the dentist to refer to during treatment.
The assistant is primarily responsible for chart entries, and therefore he or she needs to know how to enter treatment. That includes existing treatment, planned treatment and completed treatment. The assistant also will need to know how to enter and edit procedure notes. Some practices also may want the assistant to learn area 4 so he or she can schedule from the treatment rooms.
Hygienist: The dental hygienist has four areas to learn—1, 2, 3 and 5. He or she will need to know how to launch the software and find a patient record. But beyond that, the hygienist will need to know how to chart treatment the dentist prescribes in the hygiene room as well as any treatment the hygienist actually does. The hygienist must know how to set up continuing care procedures, schedule appointments for recall and how to use the patient data to communicate with recall information through online services, e-mail or post cards.
Administrator: The front desk business administrator needs to know everything. The only item he or she can routinely leave to others is area 2, charting. The administrator’s primary duty will be area 3, finance. He or she is the only team member with responsibility in this area. This means knowing how to create a treatment plan and an estimate, how to determine insurance benefits, how to submit claims, and how to manage the patient ledger.
The administrator also has primary responsibility for the schedule. He or she will need to know how to use the system to communicate. This means correspondence, re-care, insurance claims and appointment reminders. For the most part, the communication activities can and should be done using online e-services.
Finally the administrator will have shared responsibility with the dentist for creating financial reports.
Every dental team member does not need to be a mouse master with intimate knowledge of every click and cranny of the software. However every dental team member—including the dentist—does need to understand the basics and to master the sections specific to their area of responsibility.
The future is clearly digital. We will be using computers more, not less, as time goes by. The sooner you learn the better. The future is coming and it will be amazing!