A Gentle Reminder

I talk a lot about how to customized your Dentrix software to make it personal and create that "WOW" factor that your patients will remember.  Sometimes we need to remind our patients of our office policies and a verbal reminder is just not enough.  In today's blog I want to show you how to add a special message onto the appointment card labels.  Some examples might be:

• We kindly request 24 hours notice to reschedule your appointment
• Please give us 24 hours notice if you wish to change your appointment
• YOU WILL BE CHARGED $100 IF YOU CHANGE YOUR APPOINTMENT (just kidding . . . I would never use this one)
• Please remember to take your pre-med before your appointment

In the video below I have demonstrated how to create a custom label and add a line of text to the already existing default appointment label. Since my recording software is having audio issues you will have to watch it like those old silent movies.  Enjoy!

 

 

NOTE:  The Quick Labels work best with the Dymo Label printers

Tis the Season

Tis the season . . . no, I don’t mean it is Christmas (but it sure is getting close). Tis the season for sending out your unused insurance benefits letter to patients with unscheduled treatment. I know you all are working your Treatment Manager report on a regular basis and making follow-up calls to patients, but I also know that sometimes a letter or postcard can smack your patients in the face and get them to take some action.

This is my reminder to you to kick it in high gear and schedule patients for their treatment before their benefits run out at the end of December. You could potentially send this letter out a couple times a year since insurance plans like the school districts renew in October or July.

Since I have written on this topic every year, I am going to point you back to the articles so you don’t have to do a search.

                CLICKHERE to read “Don’t let unused insurance benefits go to waste.”

                CLICKHERE to read “Unscheduled treatment . . . the urgency is now.”

                CLICKHERE to read “Send letters that make an impact”

Keep Your Schedule Full Like a Pro

My two favorite seasons of the year are spring and fall. The spring is when all the flowers are

starting to bud and show their beautiful colors. In the fall, the trees start to show off their amazing reds and golds. There is something else that happens during these seasons and that is the DentrixInsight Seminars. During these seminars, one of my favorite things to do is give away prizes.

One of the rewards for someone is if they can name the four reports to keeping the schedule full. Most of the time I have to drop little hints so that someone can win the prize. Since we are coming up on InsightSeminar season, I thought I would review these four reports. Read carefully and, if you are in one of my classes, you might just win the prize. J

1. ASAP List – This is your first “go to” list for filling the schedule. The way to build this list is to ask all patients, “If I get an opening sooner, would you like me to call you?” If the patient says “yes,” then change the option in the appointment drop down menu under Schedule to ASAP. To read more about the ASAP List, CLICK HERE.
2. Unscheduled List – Your next line of fire is the Unscheduled List. These are patients who have already been on your schedule or they need an appointment now so usually they just need a phone call from you to call them back in. There are two ways to add someone to the Unscheduled List … using the Wait/Will Call button in the appointment or to Break the appointment. To read more about the Unscheduled List, CLICK HERE.
3. Continuing Care Report – When you are looking for patients who are past due for their regular hygiene visit, this is your next go to list. This list can be customized to search for patients who are current or way past due. You can also search for Prophy, Perio, X-rays, exams, ortho, or other specialized continuing care type that you have set up in your practice. I would create some custom report parameters so that you can easily create a customized list for what type of appointment you need to fill your schedule. For more information on the Continuing Care Report, CLICK HERE.
4. Treatment Manager Report – This is probably my favorite report in Dentrix because it is a gold mine. The goal of this report is to find patients who have unscheduled treatment . . . this is your chart audit. You can use this report to fill the doctor’s schedule or the hygiene schedule. I would definitely work this report into your regular routine at least once a week. To read more about the Treatment Manager Report, CLICKHERE.

Remember all of these reports should be part of your regular weekly tasks to managing your schedule and making sure you have a consistent protocol for documenting your phone conversations with patients. My recommendation is to use the Office Journal so your entire front office team will know where to find all administrative notes.

Top 3 features of G6

Today I am talking with Brad Royer, the Dentrix Product Manager, about the top three features of G6 that is currently in beta test.  The Dentrix G6 update is chock full of amazing features that you have been asking for.  Brad is looking for current Dentrix users who would like to participate as beta testers.  He will be taking requests until the end of 2014 ... so if you want to be involved, you should act fast.  You can contact Brad at brad.royer@henryschein.com.

"Can you write me an excuse note for school?"

I was at the mall yesterday shopping for some curtains for my mom’s new condo and the mall was bustling with kids shopping for back to school clothes, shoes, and backpacks. When I was working in a practice, we had a middle school directly across the street from our office and kids would walk over from school for their dental appointments. Since these kids were usually not with their parents, we would write them a note to take back to school so they could receive an excused absence. For a long time, our office would photocopy the excuse notes and write the name and date of the appointment on the note. Then I got smart . . . I added a new Quick Letter so all we had to do was click on the appointment, open Quick Letters, highlight the excuse note, and click print. My team thought this was the coolest thing ever!

So how can you do this? First, go to the Office Manager > Maintenance > Practice Setup > Preferences and then click on the Paths tab. Look at the Letter Template path and click on Open Folder. This is the location where you need to save your new letter so the Quick Letters can find it. If you look through this list of letters, you will find a document called dtxlm99.doc. Right click and open it. This document contains all the merge fields that are available to create a new letter.

Now let’s create your letter. Since you already have Microsoft Word open, click on new document to open a blank page. The excuse note doesn’t have to be long and drawn out, it can be short and sweet. Maybe something like this:

Please excuse <First Name> <Last Name> from school/work. <First Name> had

a scheduled dental appointment on <Appt Date> with

Amazing Smiles Dental. If you have any further questions, please don’t

hesitate to call.

You can see the merge fields in the letter. There are two different appointment dates you could use, <Appt_Date>  which pulls today’s appointment date if it has not been set complete or <Last Visit> which pulls today’s appointment date if it has been set complete.  You need to select the correct merge field depending on how your appointments get set complete.  These merge fields can be copied and pasted into your excuse letter from that dtxlm99.doc letter that you opened. When you are ready to save your letter, make sure you save it in the Letter Template Path from above. The letter name cannot have more than seven characters, so my recommendation would be excuse.doc.

Now back in Dentrix, open Quick Letters and let’s add your new letter to the list. Click on New. Enter the description of this letter on the first line and the letter file name on the second line. Click OK, then open template to make sure Quick Letters can find the letter. You are now ready to use your new, custom excuse note for patients.

Top 5 products from the Business of Dentistry Conference

Now that I am all caught up on my emails and voicemail messages after being in Las Vegas for the Dentrix Business of DentistryConference, I can fill you in on some of the new and exciting products I saw over the weekend. Since I was teaching six classes while I was there, launching my own awesome product (see below), and talking with the vendors, I had an opportunity to see and hear what dental offices are asking for. With that in mind, here are my top five new products I saw at the Business of DentistryConference and I want you to know about.

1. The PPO Analyzer for Dentrix – Not because it is my product, but it generates the most beneficial reports you can have if your office is using fee schedules in Dentrix … and it is such a great value, priced at only $300. If you are looking for statistics on your PPO patients to help you make better decisions on your PPO plans, then this is a must-have for your practice. For more information, CLICK HERE.
2. Practice Safeguard – Are you ready to see financial security as it should be? Practice SafeGuard is a web service for doctors that alerts you to problematic ledger entries the moment they’re submitted. At the same time, it rolls your financial history into real-time business trends and performance metrics. For more information, CLICK HERE
   ·         Prevent potential issues with 24×7 monitoring and instant transaction alerts
   ·         Understand and respond to threats with issue explanations and recommendations
   ·         Drill into entry details and log your actions for documentation
   ·         Slice and dice your financial data with flexible analytics–premium users
   ·         Schedule reports to hit any inbox at any frequency–premium users
   
   
3. Text2Floss – What if you received a text message that said, “Did you floss yesterday?” Would you dig through your purse or glove box and look for that floss kit you just got from your dentist? This new app will do just that and so much more. For more information, CLICK HERE
4. ImageRamp for Dentrix – Are you looking for a streamlined way to scan into the Dentrix Document Center, organize your documents better, and be able to enter more detailed notes? This new product allows you to enter the document information in one place using easy-to-use dropdown menus. Also, if you need to create a new folder, you can do it without having to add it into Dentrix first. For more information, CLICK HERE
5. RecordLinc – In an age of HIPAA compliance, the dental office is constantly looking for secure ways of sharing information between their patients and other healthcare providers. RecordLinc is a powerful, easy-to-use, and secure web-based portal where dentists can upload and share their patients' X-rays and related records when they refer their patients to specialists such as orthodontists, oral and maxillofacial surgeons, and endodontists. The system links dentists and specialists together in a virtual team environment that supports real-time case planning and ongoing collaboration through online study clubs. RecordLinc is a platform that provides a consistent means of coordinating multidisciplinary patient cases by consolidating the history of work effort on each patient into a single, centralized location. RecordLinc provides a history of collaborative patient care from start to finish and allows users to access X-rays and related records. RecordLinc provides a means to create notes that are shared across various disciplines involved in the care of the patient. For more information, CLICK HERE

I hope to see you all at the Business of Dentistry next year!

Is it Global or Workstation specific?

Do you wonder why if you run statements from one computer you don’t get the same result if you run them from another computer?  Or why a patient chart looks one way on one workstation and completely different on another?  This is because some settings are global and some settings are workstation specific.  Today, I am going to break down for you what is workstation specific and teach you how to create some consistency in your office.  This article assumes you have Dentrix G3 or higher installed.

Office Manager

• Practice Defaults – Office Manager > Maintenance > Practice Setup > Practice Defaults. Everything here is workstation specific, except the default Insurance Claim Provider. This is a global setting.
• Print Setup – Office Manager > File > Print Setup. You can select a different printer per workstation.
• Report Fonts – Office Manager > Maintenance > Practice Setup > Report Fonts. If you want a special font or want the reports bigger, this is how you can set it up your way.
• Preferences – Office Manager > Maintenance > Practice Setup > Preferences. Here is what is workstation specific:
• Show close messages
• Startup Options
• Additional Options
• Default Signature on File for New Subscribers
• Print Options
• Billing Statement Setup – Office Manager > Reports > Billing. What I would recommend here is once you have the setup and the check boxes the way you want them, make a screen shot (ALT-PRNT SCRN) of it and save it to a Word document so you can reference back to it if the setup gets lost or you want to setup a different workstation.
• Prescription Setup – Office Manager > Maintenance > Practice Setup > Prescription Setup. The prescriptions are global but the printer and print setup are workstation specific. 
• Electronic Claims – Office Manager > Maintenance > Practice Setup > Electronic Claims Setup. You must set up each workstation individually.
• Electronic Billing Setup – Office Manager > Maintenance > Practice Setup > Electronic Billing Setup. You must setup each workstation individually.

Patient Chart

• Procedure Buttons – Setup > Procedure Buttons. You can create a button set and save it.  Then at each workstation you can select the button set from the drop down menu.  FYI . . . always make sure you SAVE your buttons if you make any changes and do not have more than one workstation editing buttons at the same time. 
• Colors – Setup > Chart Display Setup. You can create a custom color scheme and give it a name just like with the buttons.  Then in each room, you can select the color scheme from the drop down menu.  FYI . . . a lighter blue background (blue sky) usually works better because the contrast between the completed work and lighter blue background is more clear.
• Perio Setup – Perio Chart > Setup > Entry Settings Setup. This is where you can create a custom script.  For more information on creating a custom script, CLICK HERE.
• Perio Setup – Perio Chart > Setup > Perio Display Setup. This is where you can set colors, red flag limit, etc.  Just like the chart colors, you can save the theme with a name and then select it from the drop down menu from other workstations.

Appointment Book

• Background Colors -  Appointment Book > Setup > Practice Appointment Setup. Then you can change the open and closed colors.
• Views – Appointment Book > View > If you have never setup a custom view, click on New. If you want to change your view, click Edit. Each new view correlates to the function keys on your keyboard.  My recommendation for the treatment room is to create a view that will assist with a HIPAA compliant schedule, then to match it up to the F1 key so if the view gets changed, you can easily hit the F1 key to bring it back.
• Flip Tabs– Appointment Book > Setup > Flip Tabs. Then you can create up to four quick tabs on the right side of your appointment book to jump you to a certain date.
• Hover Setup  - (G4 PP7 and newer) Appointment Book > Setup > Practice Appointment Setup, then click on the Hover Detail Setup.  You can slow the Hover down, edit what shows in the Hover or disable it completely.

Ledger

• Checkout Options – Ledger > File > Fast Checkout Options. You can customize this for your workstation.
• View –Ledger > File > Ledger Colors Setup. You can create your own color scheme.

·         Finance and Late Charges – Ledger > Month End > Apply Finance Charges or Apply Late Charges, then enter your settings.

In all of the Dentrix modules, you have the option to add or remove any of the icons from the toolbar so you can customize each toolbar. You can add spaces to spread them out or move them to a different location. If more than one person uses your workstation, however make sure you both agree on the customization. J

Anything that is not on this list is more than likely a global setting. My recommendation is to have someone in the office, either the doctor or office manager, who has rights to edit, add or change the global settings.  If you are using passwords, you can password protect some of these global settings.