Thursday, January 3, 2013
It is difficult to make predictions, especially about the future, so said Yogi Berra.
Yogi is right if you are trying to make accurate predictions.
The best New Year’s predictions are wild and exciting not necessarily accurate. On the other hand some dentists may actually want advice in making technology decisions for 2013.
Here is a compromise, six fun wild predictions followed by the practical side for dentistry.
Google will buy the state of California.
Google may not actually have the power to buy a state even though they certainly are in better financial shape than California. However, what is important for dentists is that people will Google you by name every day. Even existing patients or referring offices will Google you just to get the office number or address. What shows up when you Google your name? Google is powerful.
Frustrated with dentists not using their systems properly and then blaming them when things go wrong, all the major Practice Management Systems will offer free life-long software training for dentists and their team members.
Almost every dental office would benefit from more training on their technology systems. Too many dentists don’t know how to use the system they have paid for, and when it fails to do what they want, they blame the system rather than learn how to use it. Practice Management Systems are not going to give away training, but even if they did, far too many dental offices still wouldn’t get it.
Microsoft and Apple will merge creating a single user friendly computer world where everything works with everything else. The new company will be called Micropple and the software will be Macdows.
The fact that windows PC products won’t work with Apple and vice versa is just the most visible compatibility battle. In dentistry we are plagued with proprietary systems that refuse to play together. Digital x-rays, digital impressions and even digital records can’t be transferred from one system to another. This is good for the manufacturer but not good for the dentist.
The first fully automated dental practice will open in Hobbs, N.M. The office will not just be paperless it will be peopleless, with no team members just a dentist with a high speed Internet connection to the cloud.
We are a long way from a peopleless office. However, we already have numerous online e-services that can do many of the dreary repetitive tasks we have paid people to do in the past. This includes sending recalls, checking insurance eligibility, taking payments and reactivating inactive patients. Freed from spending hours on hold with insurance companies, team members can devote themselves to patient care and relationship building.
A new cell phone app will be introduced called “YuckMouth”. The user just takes a photo of his or her mouth, and if the software doesn’t like what it sees it will call the dentist, set up an appointment and put it on your calendar.
I am certain an app like “YuckMouth” will be available in the future, maybe not in 2013 but sometime soon. In the meantime people are using smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices in creative ways we did not even imagine just a few years ago. Take advantage of the smartphone revolution by sending text messages and creating a mobile-optimized, thumb-friendly Web page.
Dental insurance companies will accept dental claims online, review the claim and transfer payments to the dental office account instantly just like credit card companies do now.
Oops, that is not going to happen…but this will for sure: The future is coming and it will be amazing!