Thursday, January 17, 2013
The final step in the truly paperless office will not be some device in the office. It will be more creative use of the Internet. One of the last things we are still dong with paper, and doing rather inefficiently, is referrals to dental specialists.
In most offices a referral to the specialist starts with a scramble through the referral pad box, some scribbled notes from the dentist, then a tedious wait for a copy of the radiograph. That is if you are using film. If you are using digital you can print it out. However, both these methods result in the same thing, a useless non-diagnostic image.
Note: When it comes to printing digital radiographs the best advice is to be the Anti-Nike; just don’t do it.
On the other hand if you have a digital radiograph you can send a digital copy that is just as diagnostic as the one in your computer. You can do it, but unfortunately, just as with copying a film, it is tedious, taking far more steps than should be necessary. Usually the user needs to convert the image to a standard format, save it to a convenient file then attach it to an email and send it to the endodontist, assuming he or she has office e-mail. All that is much more difficult than it needs to be, and there is a very real concern about the security and privacy of e-mail.
Even though you can send a digital image via e-mail, a good referral includes a lot more. You can start with the minimum information we have always sent such as the patient name, the tooth number and the treatment needed. However with a digital system you can, and should, send a lot more than the minimum. You can upload all the patient information; including address, employment, contact numbers and the other things we need to create a new patient record. You could send the patient’s insurance information; plan, group numbers, contacts and benefits. You could even send the patient’s health history with areas of concern noted.
In other words all the information a patient usually needs to spend time writing onto an over-copied form on an old brown clip board could be sent automatically before the patient even arrives for the first appointment with the specialist.
You also can send detailed clinical information such as the condition of the tooth needing treatment, patient symptoms, diagnostic information such as temp sensitivity and even future restorative plans.
In theory you could send all that in an e-mail. But creating the e-mail would take too long, and the information would not be secure or HIPAA compliant. But while e-mail might not be the answer, the solution is a Web-based service.
Online information can be made secure with encryption and password protection for HIPAA. It can be easily accessed from anywhere, and it facilitates asynchronous dialog. In other words you can discuss the case without needing to leave a patient in the chair while you talk on the phone.
A good example of this type of service is RecordLinc, a Web-based portal where dentists can upload and share their patient's X-Rays and related records when they refer their patients to specialists. RecordLinc not only provides a secure way to transfer records, it also provides a history of the work on each patient in a protected central location.
You can set up a network of colleagues similar to LinkedIn or Facebook. You can then upload patient data and share it with dentists in the network.
RecordLinc has already done a lot of the setup work for you. Chances are you are already included in the RecordLinc database all you need to do is log on with your e-mail address and claim your free basic listing much like you can claim your existing Google listing. Once you have claimed your listing you can connect with colleagues and start sharing data. Check it out at www.RecordLinc.com.
Old fashioned referrals = paper and film.
New hip and happening (or better yet HIPAA and Happening) referrals = digital and online.
The future is coming and it will be amazing!