5 ways to keep your patients coming back · 2019. 9. 11. · if you want to learn more about the...

Dentrix Magazine Volume 24 Issue 2 — Summer 2012

www.Dentrix.com/Magazine

6 Social Media Tools You Should Be Usingpage 26

Dentrix Does More with eSync Plug-inspage 16

Say Goodbye to Sticky Notespage 22

5 Ways to Keep Your Patients Coming Back

Boost patient retention by improving your continuing care program with Dentrix, page 10

www.businessofdentristry.com

F r o m t h e e D i t o r

Improving Patient Retention

Pick up any newspaper, or listen to any news broadcast, and you’ll

find stories about the lingering effects of the Great recession of

2007–2009. Dentists, too, have suffered, as noted by Kathy Kincade in

her may 10, 2012 editorial at www.drbicuspid.com: “Not surprisingly,

U.S. dentists’ net incomes have declined in recent years, due in large

part to ongoing repercussions from the economic recession.”

Given current economic conditions, it’s also no surprise that

interest in patient retention is higher than ever. For example, at

the upcoming 2012 Dentrix Business of Dentistry Conference

(www.businessofdentistry.com), enrollment is soaring for courses on

topics like internal marketing and improving the patient experience.

this issue of Dentrix Magazine offers several tips to help you boost

patient retention. in “5 Ways to Keep Your Patients Coming Back,”

contributing editor may Wescott recommends five proven recall

tactics and explains how to implement them with the continuing care

tools and reports in Dentrix. in “6 Social media tools You Should Be

Using,” guest author Naomi Cooper provides an update on new social

media services and features that can help you establish and maintain

meaningful, ongoing connections with both existing and new patients.

And, in the Dentrix tips & tricks column, we provide a tip to help you

use text messaging to remind patients about their appointments.

i hope you enjoy reading this issue of Dentrix magazine. Please see

the reading guide on page 2 to find the articles that correspond to

your responsibilities in the practice. And, remember—free copies

of every issue are available online at www.dentrix.com/magazine.

Download yours today.

regards,

matt Singerman

editor

Editor:matt Singerman

Senior Editors:erin Brisk, roger Gagon

Contributing Editors:Sean eyring, Gary Frazier, Damon Graves, may Wescott, Gentry Winn

PRoduCtIon

Production director:eric Wyatt

Production designers:Amber Ahlberg, Alan Nelson, mark Vermeulen

AdvERtISIng

Advertising director:michael Astle

Advertising Editors:mary Blair, tatia meghdadi, Jason Werner

AdvISoRy BoARd

Kevin Bunker President

Brian Peterson vice President of Sales

michael Allsop director of Marketing

Steve roberts director of Product Strategy

Corey Krebs director of Customer Service

howard Bangerter Product Manager

Adam mcDaniel Product Manager

tammy mchood Product Manager

Dentrix Magazine is published four times a year for the benefit of Dentrix customers. Copyright ©2012 by henry Schein inc. All rights reserved. Dentrix, henry Schein and the ‘S’ logo are registered trademarks of henry Schein, inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

to contact Dentrix Magazine, send correspondence to Dentrix magazine, 727 east Utah Valley Drive, American Fork, Ut 84003; call (801) 763-9300; or send email to [email protected].

Although published material is intended to be accurate and free from error, typographic or otherwise, henry Schein will not assume liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on this material.

DentrIx MagazIne | 1

contentsDentrix Magazine Volume 24 Issue 2 — Summer 2012

www.Dentrix.com/Magazine

Say goodbye to Sticky notes

Besides documenting phone contacts with your patients, you can use the office Journal to set reminders and use them to create a basic to-do list.

26 BuSIneSS Of DentIStry6 Social Media tools you Should Be using

Learn about new updates, features, and networks in the world of social media that can drive traffic to your practice.

28 technOteSHow Much disk Space do you Really need?

Find out how much server storage space you need in your practice and what you need to do to keep your digital data safe.

30 DentrIx By the nuMBerS

Departments

02 reaDIng guIDe

06 tIpS & trIckS

22 the DentrIx OffIce Manager CoVer StorY: 5 WAYS to KeeP YoUr PAtieNtS ComiNG BACK

DeNtrix DoeS more With eSYNC PLUG-iNS

10

16

Boost patient retention by improving your continuing care program with Dentrix

Learn about the new eSync plug-ins and how to install them using the eSync Plug-in manager.

2 | www.Dentrix.com/Magazine

Dentrix Help Filesin the Dentrix help Files, you can explore a comprehensive

list of conveniently indexed topics or search the topics for key

words. to search the help files, from the help menu in any

Dentrix module, click contents, click the Search tab, type a

search phrase or topic name, click List topics, and then under

Select topic, double-click the topic name. tip: to turn off the

search highlights, press F5.

Dentrix Resource Centerthe Dentrix resource Center offers an online library

of on-demand software training videos, downloadable

product manuals, and a knowledgebase of technical support

articles. Access is free for dental practices on a Dentrix

Customer Service Plan. Log in today at www.dentrix.com/

resource-center.

HoW To LeaRN MoReif you want to learn more about the Dentrix topics featured in Dentrix magazine, check out these self-paced learning resources.

Read These articles and TipsIf You Manage

reading Guide

appOIntMentS

BILLIng & a/r

Intra-OffIce cOMMunIcatIOn

InSurance

MarketIng

OffIce cOMputer SySteMS

patIent cOMMunIcatIOn

patIent InfOrMatIOn

preScrIptIOnS

recaLL

Staff traInIng

treatMent pLanS

Viewing patient/appt. Information with the hover window, page 6 appointment Book keyboard Shortcuts, page 65 ways to keep your patients coming Back, page 10Dentrix Does More with eSync plug-ins, page 16

eliminating non-Billable procedures from reports, page 7 finding procedures that Should be Billed to Insurance, page 7 Dentrix Does More with eSync plug-ins, page 16

creating Quick Messages in Dentalink, page 7Dentrix Does More with eSync plug-ins, page 16Say goodbye to Sticky notes, page 22

new payors added for eclaims, page 5Dentrix Does More with eSync plug-ins, page 16

6 Social Media tools you Should Be using, page 2

Dentrix Does More with eSync plug-ins, page 16how Much Disk Space Do you really need?, page 28

ecentral text Messaging Improvements, page 5creating custom text Message appointment reminders, page 8 Say goodbye to Sticky notes, page 22

Dentrix Does More with eSync plug-ins, page 16

5 ways to keep your patients coming Back, page 10

the Dentrix resource center, page 30

Setting expiration Dates for treatment plan fees, page 8

www.dentrix.com/resource-center

facebook.com/dentrix

twitter.com/dentrix


dentrix.com/pci-compliance


Appointm

ents

the tips in this section describe valuable

but easily overlooked Dentrix features that

simplify workflow and increase efficiency.

Find the tips that correspond to your role

in the practice and try them out today. Start

making your job easier and your practice

more profitable.

Tips&Tricks

appointment Book Keyboard Shortcuts

function keys (F1, F2, F3, etc.) = Switch between Appointment Book Views

Shift + f2 = opens the Select patient dialog box

ctrL + D = Changes to the Day View

ctrL + w = Changes to the Week View

ctrL + M = Changes to the month View

ctrL + u = opens the Patient Picture (when a patient is selected)

Appointm

ents

Viewing Patient/appointment Information with the Hover Windowtired of having to open the Family File or click the More Information button from an appoint-ment to find information about a patient? instead, use the hover window. Customize the hover Window and view the kind of information your office will need to see. For more infor-mation about using the hover Window feature, see article #47550 in the Dentrix resource Center knowledgebase.


Billin

g & A

/R

eliminating Non-Billable Procedures from ReportsYou can eliminate procedures that are not billable to insur-ance companies from appearing on the Procedures Not Attached to insurance report by marking the box in the procedure code editor dialog box labeled Do not Bill to Dental Insurance. this works great for procedures that insurance companies do not pay for, such as bleach trays.

Finding Procedures that Should Be Billed to Insuranceone report you should run daily is the Procedures Not Attached to insurance Claims report. this report displays a list of insured patients with completed procedure(s) that have not had a claim created. You can filter this report to include a range of patients, providers or procedures performed within a date range. to run this report, in the office manager select reports > Ledger > procedures not attached to Insurance claims. For more information about this report, see the reports reference guide, which can be found under the manuals tab in the Dentrix resource Center.

Billing & A/R

Creating Quick Messages in DentalinkWhy retype the same messages over and over again all day long? With Dentalink (available with Dentrix G4 Productivity Pack 8 or higher) you can send instant messages quickly to any workstation in your office. You can create a library of Quick messages (the most common messages your office uses) and not have to retype them each time they are sent. Dentalink Quick messages are specific to each workstation, so you can customize them to fit your staff’s needs. to learn more about setting up and using Dentalink and Quick messages, see article #58038 in the Dentrix resource Center.

Intra-Office

Comm

unication


Tips&Tricks

Clinical Records

Patient

Comm

unication

Setting expiration Dates for Treatment Plan Fees it’s important to set expiration dates for the fee estimates in the treatment plans you create. Setting expiration dates encourages patients to accept their treatment before estimates expire and fees increase. in the treatment Planner, you can set expiration dates for plans you create, and when they expire, you can update the fees to align them with your other practice fees. to learn more about treatment plan estimates see the eNewsletter article titled Setting expiration Dates for treatment Plan estimates. You can find both articles by browsing to www.dentrix.com/articles and clicking tips & tricks.

Create Custom Text Message appointment Reminders Using text message appointment reminders reduces the need for your office staff to make confirmation calls and reduces the number of incoming calls from patients confirming their appointments. With the eCentral Communication manager you can create and send custom text messages to your patients to remind them of upcoming appointments. For more information about setting up and sending text message appointment reminders, see article #57918 in the Dentrix resource Center.

contributing editorMAy WESCott

a single friend of mine recently told me about a blind date experience. after an online dating service connected her with someone of similar interests, the two went out to dinner and had what she thought was a great evening. However, as the night drew to a close, her date’s parting words were,

“Keep in touch.” It didn’t take an expert to know that guy

wasn’t going to call again.Regrettably, too often in dental practices

we brush off our patients with the same ambivalence. We spend a lot of time and money recruiting new patients to the prac-tice, give them good care and service while they’re in the office, and then we let them go out the door without establishing a long-term relationship. If we were really interested in keeping those patients around, we’d make sure to schedule their next appointment without taking no for an answer.

Studies have shown that with the current state of the economy, fewer patients are seeking dental care1. as a result, there are fewer new patients looking for a new dentist. Yet, patient retention still averages somewhere around 55% in most offices2. Dental practices can’t afford to act like the next best patient is waiting around the corner. We need to treat every patient as if keeping him or her coming back is our most important task.

an effective continuing care program communicates to patients that you value their patronage and you don’t plan to brush them off with a “Keep in touch” attitude. Dentrix makes it easy to get your continuing care program working to communicate to patients that you want them in a long-term relationship.


5 W ay s to K e e p yo u r patients Coming BaCK

LooKing for a Way to Boost your patient retention?

Here are five ways to use your continuing care system to Help your patients understand How mucH you value tHem as clients.

1 Levin, Roger p. “Seven Ways the New economy Has Changed Dentistry.” Dental Economics. pennWell publishing, 29 Dec. 2011. Web. 25 May 2012.

2 pardue, Sandy. “The Forgotten patients.” Dentrix Magazine 24.1 (2012): 26-27. print.


dental practices can’t afford to act like the next best patient is waiting around the corner. we need to treat every patient as if keeping him or her coming back is our most important task.

If you’re not sure that your continuing care program is sending the right message, here are five ways to activate and keep your existing patients coming back:

pre-book your hygiene appointments.

effectively communicate with patients about their scheduled appointments.

Find patients who managed to leave without pre-booking an appointment.

Reach out to patients who may be embarrassed about returning to your practice after a long interval.

Keep track of continuing care statistics.


Pre-Book Your Hygiene appointments

practice management consultants have recommended pre-booking for years. Often this suggestion is met with resis-tance, such as “patients don’t like to book an appointment ahead of time, they don’t know what they’ll be doing in six months” or “When we pre-book, we wind up with holes in our schedule because patients don’t show up for their appointments.” With persistence and a good attitude, you can easily overcome these objections.

Remind patients that by scheduling their appointment now they select a date and time that best works for their schedule. additionally, by pre-booking they prioritize a vital component to overall wellness, as good dental health helps to minimize the risk for other conditions, such as heart disease.

If you’re using the Dentrix appointment Book as designed, then you’ve got all the tools you need to make scheduling that next hygiene appointment a breeze. If today’s appointment has been scheduled for a continuing care reason, you can set the appointment complete and schedule the next appointment with only a few mouse clicks.

To pre-book the next appointment, click on the patient’s appointment. Click the Set complete button. a dialog box appears listing the procedures scheduled in the appointment. Click Set complete to post the procedures to the Chart and Ledger. Next, a prompt appears asking you to create a new continuing care appointment. Click yes.

Figure 2 With the Communication manager you can stay in touch with your patients who have pre-booked by sending postcards, emails, and text message reminders at staggered intervals. With open communication, patients are less likely to break or no-show on appointments.

12

3

4

5

Figure 1 Dentrix makes pre-booking easy. When you set the current hygiene appointment complete, Dentrix prompts you to schedule the next appointment.

Dentrix creates a new appointment for the patient using the same time, the same operatory, the same provider, and the same continuing care reason using their new continuing care date as the appointment date. Make any necessary changes to the appointment time and click Ok to pre-book the next appoint-ment (Figure 1). It’s that simple.

effectively Communicate With Patients about Their Scheduled appointments

Once you’ve started pre-booking your patients, you’ll want to make sure that they don’t forget their scheduled appointment date and time. By actively contacting patients who have pre-booked their appointments, you can minimize your no shows. Fortunately, Dentrix can do the contacting for you.

With the Dentrix eCentral Communication Manager, Dentrix can send appointment reminder cards, emails, and text messages to all your pre-booked patients (Figure 2). You just have to set up the correspondence intervals. Start by designing a dynamic “Keep in Touch” strategy. For example, two weeks before the pre-booked appointment send patients an appointment reminder post-card. Follow up with an email reminder two days before the appointment. as a final reminder effort, two hours before the appointment, send a text message inviting patients to ask about a cosmetic service such as bleaching at their sched-uled appointment.

While you’ll never fully eliminate last-minute cancellations and no-shows, with the right communication campaign you’ll get patients the information they need and let them know that you value their relationship with you.

Find Patients Who Managed to Leave Without Pre-booking an appointment

Despite your good attitude and winning ways, some patients will leave your office without pre-booking their next appointment. But don’t give up on this budding relationship; instead nurture it with a follow-up phone call. Luckily, Dentrix is already keeping track of these patients. You can quickly iden-tify the patients that may need a little extra TLC by generating a continuing care list that shows patients who should have scheduled a hygiene appointment, but didn’t (Figure 3).

You should generate this list for

patients who are due for hygiene care but haven’t scheduled an appointment. From the appointment Book, click the continuing care button. Once the continuing care list opens, click View > temporary View. Make sure that the type option is set to with cc and the Sched. appt? option is set to

Only without. Click the use Due Date range option and enter a date range to target patients who are due for hygiene care within the dates you specify. For example, if you want to find patients who are due for hygiene next month, enter the first and last days of next month in your date range. Click Ok to generate the list.

Use the list to make phone calls. as you make contact with patients, make detailed notes about the phone call in the Office Journal to help you remember what happened on the call. The Continuing Care List is dynamic, so once you’ve scheduled a patient for an appointment, they’ll be automatically removed from your call list.

Reach out To Patients Who May Be embarrassed about Returning To Your

Practice after a Long IntervalWe’ve all had the experience

of putting something off and then forgetting about it. When we finally remember, we may feel embarrassed

about how much time has passed. This is a critical time in your relationship with patients. Because they feel embar-rassed, they may decide it’s easier to go to another dentist than to deal with the awkwardness of seeing you again. Rather than lose these patients, reach out to them with an attitude that

communicates that you don’t care what happened in the past, you want to see them again.

Start by sending these patients an email reminder that tells them you’ve missed them. Create a special campaign for them in the Communication Manager. Select a template that’s both friendly and inviting (Figure 4). edit the text of the email to say something like, “We’ve

Figure 3 With the Continuing Care List you can generate an interactive report of patients who might have fallen through the cracks. Using the list you’ll find patients who are due for hygiene visit but who haven’t yet scheduled an appointment. A quick phone call can get them back into a healthy relationship with your practice.


missed you. at Dentrix Dental practice we want to make sure that you have the best smile possible. We’ll be calling to see how we can best meet your oral health needs. Talk to you soon.”

Once your emails have gone out, follow up with a phone call that encour-ages patients to schedule their hygiene appointment. Work from the continuing care list to identify patients who need a phone call. generate a list similar to the one in the previous section, but change your due date range to target the patients you’re trying to reactivate.

Keep Track of Continuing Care Statistics

You can see how well you’re doing with getting those appointments sched-uled by running the practice advisor report. To run the report, from the Office Manager click analysis > practice advisor. Click the practice advisor report button. Make sure that the continuing care and Include graphs for continuing care options are selected. Click preview to see the report (Figure 5).

The cc Due section gives you the number of patients flagged overdue for the previous month, the current month, and next month, in addition to giving you the total number of patients flagged as overdue in your database. The # of patients Due with appt Scheduled row lets you know how many (and what percentage) of those overdue patients have scheduled an appointment.

The report shows you statistics for the continuing care visits you’ve completed and for patients with continuing care due. The cc Visits section of the report shows you visit data about the previous month, the current month, and the year to date. The # of cc patients Seen row shows the

total number of patients that have been seen in the time period (prior month, month-to-date, or year-to-date). You can see how many of those patients have their next appointment already sched-uled by looking at the # of patients Seen with appt Scheduled row. (The graph-ical option shows you the # of patients Seen with appt Scheduled option as a bar graph to help you visualize the data.) Use the # of patients Seen with appt Scheduled number to quickly gauge how well you’re doing at keeping your patients active in your practice.

In today’s economic climate, you need to communicate clearly to patients that you want them to come back to your office. Using your continuing care system effectively communicates to patients that you want a long, healthy, and productive relationship with them. The message of “Let’s schedule you for your next visit, right now” is much better at conveying that message than the message of “Keep in Touch.”

Learn MOreTo learn more about scheduling continuing

care appointments, see the Scheduling Continuing Care Appointments and Setting a Continuing Care Appointment Complete topics in the Dentrix Help. To learn more about setting up Communication Manager campaigns, see the Sending Postcard Appointment Reminders (#58041) Sending Email Appointment Reminders (#58039), and Sending Text Message Appointment Reminders (#62956) articles in the Dentrix Resource Center. To learn more about generating a continuing care list, see the Continuing Care List View Options topic in the Dentrix Help. To learn more about customizing an email template, see Editing Email Templates in the eCentral Help. To learn more about the Practice Advisor Report, see the Dentrix G5 Reports Reference.

Figure 5 Keep track of how you’re doing with your new and improved continuing care program by monitoring the Continuing Care section of the Practice Advisor report. You’ll see how many patients you’re missing and how many patients you’re keeping active in your continuing care efforts.

Figure 4 reach out to those patients who may be embarrassed about how long it’s been since their last visit with a friendly, blame-free, invitation to come back. the Communication manager allows you to customize and send emails to patients who are overdue for their continuing care visits. After sending a card, follow up with a phone call to schedule an appointment.


dentrix.com/communicate


DeNTRIx DoeS MoRe WITH

eSync Plug-ins

You already know that Dentrix provides many eServices solutions to extend the capabilities of your practice management software. What you might not know is that the latest release of eSync, which is free to anyone on a current Dentrix Customer Service plan, makes it easy to install and use eServices plug-in tools that are available for Dentrix users. This article introduces the latest version of eSync, version 3.6, explains how to use the eSync plug-in Manager, and offers a brief overview of some of the available eSync plug-ins.

What Is eSync?eSync is an information transfer tool that allows Dentrix to integrate and

communicate with eServices and other software. It improves the efficiency of many daily tasks by allowing the real-time transfer of data between Dentrix workstations, network servers, and third-party programs.

For example, after patients arrive at your office and fill out a Dentrix questionnaire at an electronic check-in kiosk, eSync pushes the patient data to your Dentrix server immediately after it is submitted, so the front office is able to expedite the check-in process. patient data can be easily imported

Learn about the new eSync plug-ins and how to install them using the eSync plug-in Manager.


DentrIx MagazIne | 17DentrIx MagazIne | 17

dAMon gRAvES

Dentrix eServices Product

Marketing Manager


to your Dentrix database, allowing the appointment to begin without delay. Using eSync plug-ins, you can also do the following:

• Sendandreceiveintra-officecommu-nications using Dentalink.

• ViewelectronicEOBnotificationswhen they arrive and double-click them to go directly to the Ledger’s Batch Insurance payment entry dialog box where you can process your electronic eOBs.

• Submitinsuranceeligibilityrequestsfor patients from the appointment Book and Family File.

• UsePowerPayLEtoprocessescreditcard charges and credits by swiping a credit card or by entering the credit card information.

• VerifypatientaddressesagainsttheNational Change of address service (NCOa) to verify that you have the patient’s most current address in your practice management database.

• Updatethestatusofappointmentsin the Dentrix appointment Book when appointments are confirmed by e-mail, text message, using eCentral appointment Manager, or using eCentral Kiosk.

Installing eSync 3.6If eSync 3.6 is not already installed,

browse to www.dentrix.com/products/eservices/esync to download the Installation guide and download and install the latest software. If you need help downloading, installing, or setting up eSync or any plug-ins, contact eSer-vices Customer Support at 800-734-5561.

Using eSync and the Plug-in ManagerBy default, eSync starts automati-

cally when you turn on your computer. However, if eSync is closed and you need to start it, from the Windows Start menu, point to all programs > henry Schein practice Solutions, and then click eSync.

When eSync appears, it displays the plug-in Manager, from which you can install and uninstall the various eSync plug-ins (Figure 1). Different computers


Figure 1 the Plug-in manager shows which plug-ins are installed.

Figure 2 You can select which eSync plug-ins to install.

DentrIx MagazIne | 19DentrIx MagazIne | 19

Figure 3 Use Dentalink to send quick messages to coworkers.

The latest version of eSync provides several time-saving eServices tools that you can integrate with your

Dentrix system. What’s more, the Plug-in Manager makes them easy to install.

in the same office are not required to have the same plug-ins installed, so you can choose to install different plug-ins based on job function or computer location.

To install a plug-in, on the available tab, select the check box of the plug-in(s) you want to install, such as Dentalink, then click Install selected plug-ins (Figure 2).

DentalinkDentalink uses eSync to transmit

instant messages between workstations so the entire office can communicate easily over the computer. For example, you can send messages to the dentists and hygienists to tell them when their next patient is ready (Figure 3). Unlike other messaging systems, with Dentalink, there is no way for messages to accidentally go beyond an office’s own private network, so you don’t need to worry about the accidental disclosure of private health information outside your office. If you send short, routine messages such as “Your next patient is ready,” Dentalink lets you set up Quick

Messages that you can send with just a few mouse clicks. For more information on Dentalink, refer to the article “Instant Messaging in the Dental Office” (www.dentrix.com/magazine/issues/2011/fall.pdf) in the Fall 2011 issue of Dentrix Magazine, or the Dentalink Help.

electronic eoBsWith explanation of Benefits (eOBs)

that arrive from insurance payors, eSync helps you receive them elec-tronically as electronic eOBs (eeOBs) and imports them directly into Dentrix, rather than requiring you to manually enter the information into Dentrix from paper eOBs.

You can set up the eSync eeOB plug-in to notify you when eeOBs arrive (Figure 4). You can then click the noti-fication to go directly to the Ledger’s Batch Insurance payment entry dialog box and process your electronic eOBs. For more information on eeOBs and the eeOB plug-in, refer to the eeOB plug-in Help and the eeOB topics in the Dentrix Help.

Insurance eligibilityeCentral’s electronic eligibility verifi-

cation process also uses eSync. eCentral can automatically verify a patient’s insur-ance eligibility prior to an appointment and make the report available in the Dentrix Family File or appointment Book. The eligibility can also be updated with the click of a button within the Dentrix

appointment Book or the eCentral appointment Manager. This ability reduces the number of eligibility verification phone calls the front office is required to make. For more information, refer to the Insurance eligibility plug-in Help.

PowerPay Lepowerpay Le uses eSync to post

patient payments automatically to the Dentrix Ledger after you swipe a credit card or enter a credit card number. Because the payment card information is posted to the Ledger automatically, eSync eliminates accounting inaccuracies resulting from manual entry (Figure 5).

powerpay Le processes credit cards using Moneris Solutions, Inc., a third-party credit card merchant. To use powerpay Le, you must have Internet access, and you must set up and activate an eSeLeCTplus account with Moneris Solutions. after you have installed the powerpay Le plug-in, you will need to register for payment processing. For more information on powerpay Le, refer to the powerpay Le plug-in Help.

address CorrectionsQuickBill includes a feature that

reports address corrections back to the front office. When patient state-ments are mailed using QuickBill, the

Figure 4 eeoBs simplify claims processing.

addresses are compared with the National Change of address database to ensure accuracy. If there is an error in an address or if a patient has recently changed addresses, QuickBill will report the new address to the front office using an eSync notification bubble (Figure 6).

Because the updated information allows the front office to keep the Dentrix family files accurate, all future mailed communications, QuickBill statements or otherwise, are delivered accurately and confidently.

Before you can receive address corrections and notifications, you must register providers in your office who use QuickBill with eSync and enable address correction notifications. You must register from the computer(s) you submit QuickBill statements from, and the address Corrections plug-in must be installed on the computer(s) you want to process address corrections from. For more information on address Corrections, refer to the address Corrections plug-in Help.

Questionnaire and appointment Status Updater

Because eSync pushes patient ques-tionnaire data immediately after it is submitted over the web, the front office is able to expedite the check-in process. For example, you can configure Dentrix workstations to display a notification

bubble above the notification area of the Windows taskbar when new ques-tionnaires are received (Figure 7).

You can easily import patient data, allowing the appointment to begin without delay. eSync can also change the patient status in the Dentrix appointment Book to alert the clinical staff that the patient is ready for the operatory. With these two integrated features, eSync allows eCentral to func-tion as a complete patient check-in tool. For more information, refer to the Help for the Questionnaire and appointment Status Updater plug-ins.

SummaryThe latest version of eSync provides

several time-saving eServices tools that you can integrate with your Dentrix system. What’s more, the plug-in Manager makes them easy to install. If you’re not already using the latest version of eSync and the plug-in Manager, get started today!

Figure 6 the Address Corrections plug-in reports new addresses.

Figure 7 the Questionnaire plug-in notifies you when patient questionnaires are completed.


Figure 5 PowerPay Le makes it easy to process payment cards.

dentrix.com/workshops

Say Goodbye to Sticky NotesBesides documenting phone contacts with your patients, you can use the office Journal to set reminders and use them to create a basic to-do list.

dayna Johnson | Dentrix Certified trainer


I f you have been following my blog at thedentrixofficemanager.blogspot.com for a while, you know how much i use

the office Journal for documenting phone conversations with patients about continuing care follow-up, unscheduled treatment management, and collection calls. Now i want to show you how to take the office Journal to a whole new level.

how many of you have a desk covered with sticky notes or a big desk calendar with all of your reminders to follow up with patients? What if i could help you eliminate all those pesky

pieces of paper by showing you how to use the office Journal to organize your daily tasks?

You likely already know that the Dentrix database tracks each patient’s appointments, billing statements, letters, payments, journal entries, privacy requests, and so on. But, did you know that Dentrix also tracks the journal entries of each provider and staff member in your system? if you haven’t already done so, create a provider or staff iD for yourself. From the office manager, click Maintenance, point to

practice Setup, and then click practice resource Setup.

From the dialog box, click new and create a provider or staff iD (Figure 1). From the office manager toolbar, click office Journal. the office Journal opens and the Select provider/Staff dialog box appears (Figure 2). Select your iD from the list. Dentrix opens your office Journal. if you have been using the office Journal to document your phone

the Dentr ix off ice manager

Figure 1 the practice resource Setup dialog box.

Figure 2 the Select provider/Staff dialog box.

Figure 3 the add Journal entry dialog box.


conversations, you will see several blue telephone icons in chronological order next to each patient’s name; otherwise, the journal will be blank.

Besides documenting phone contacts with your patients, you can use the office Journal to set reminders and use them to create a basic to-do list. to set a reminder, from the View menu, click By patient. From the Select patient dialog box, select the patient you want to set a reminder for. From the edit menu, click add. From the add Journal entry dialog box, select reminder from the type list (Figure 3). Click the prov/Staff search button and select your iD from the Select provider/Staff dialog box. type a description of the reminder and a note, and then click Ok. From the View menu, click By provider/Staff, select your iD from the Select provider/Staff dialog box, and click Ok. the reminder appears in the office Journal (Figure 4).

i have one other feature to show you that makes it even easier for you to enjoy the benefits of the office Journal. From the Maintenance menu in the office manager, point to practice Setup, and then click preferences. From the general Options tab, select automatically Launch Office Journal (Figure 5) under Startup Options. Now, every time you open Dentrix, the office Journal will open with your to-do list. Say goodbye to chaos and hello to organization.

Learn MoreTo learn more about using the Office

Journal, see the Office Journal topics in the Dentrix Help. See “How to Learn More” on page 2 for instructions on accessing these resources.

Dayna Johnson, founder and principal consultant of Rae Dental Management, helps dental offices improve patient care, increase collections and reduce staff headaches by implementing efficient management systems. With 18 years experience in the business and technical side of dental offices, Dayna’s passion for efficient systems is grounded in both personal understanding and professional expertise. Contact Dayna at [email protected] or visit her website at www.raedentalmanagement.com.

Figure 4 the Dentrix office Journal.

Figure 5 the preferences dialog box.

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S ocial media—it could be the biggest buzzword to hit the dental profession in decades. And while an

ever-increasing number of dentists have become familiar with using social media in their personal lives, the landscape for businesses is constantly changing. As a result, the practical reality of how to incor-porate social media into the practice’s marketing plan can be elusive, to even the most marketing-savvy dentists.

here are six new updates, features, and networks in the world of social media that you should start using in the second half of 2012.

1) Facebook—Utilize the New Business Pages

Facebook recently launched its new Business Pages, which incorporates the chronological timeline layout, a new page design that was phased in to personal profiles at the end of 2011 and into 2012. this same concept rolled out for businesses on April 1, 2012.

the new Pages update eliminates the need for you to create custom features like tabs and landing pages on your busi-ness Facebook Page. While this may seem like a frustrating setback, the reality is that Facebook has done every dental prac-tice a huge favor with this new, simpler design. Dentists no longer have to hire a designer to replicate the look and feel of their website on their Facebook Page—a simple upload of a cover and profile photo goes most of the way toward customizing the look of a new Page.

Browse to www.facebook.com/FacebookPages for more information about creating a Facebook Page for your business.

2) YouTube—Dial in Your Channel

Youtube is now the internet’s second-largest search engine. more

than sixty hours of video are uploaded to Youtube every minute, and over four billion videos are viewed a day! And did you know that Youtube spent over $200 million in 2011 just to fund original content creation for the web? Youtubers around the country are getting paid to create custom video content for online delivery just so Youtube can start to compete with television for those valu-able eyeballs and impressions.

how does a dentist get in the game? the likelihood of Youtube paying anyone in the dental industry to create compel-ling content for the dental professional is low, but dentists around the globe are finding that including several one- to two-minute videos on the practice’s website and Youtube channel can be an effective part of an overall search engine optimiza-tion strategy. the videos on the practice website play into Google’s algorithmic preference for fresh, relevant content (Google finds video highly relevant), so your practice is listed higher in Google searches. And the videos posted directly on Youtube drive Youtube search traffic to the practice website as well.

Browse to www.youtube.com and click create account for more information about creating a Youtube Account.

3) Google+—Stay in Google’s Good Graces

Google+ continues to grow into 2012, albeit at a much slower pace than when it first launched in June 2011, when it reached a record 10 million users in two weeks. today, Google automatically creates a Google+ profile for anyone with a Youtube, Google, or Gmail account. While there are 170 million registered users on Google+, mashable.com reported in February 2012 that Google+ users are only spending 3.3 minutes a month on Google+ compared to Facebook users,

who spend an average of 7.5 hours on Facebook each month.

however, because of its Google affiliation, Google+ is still a great tool for developing inbound links. Building your practice’s Google+ business page offers you many opportunities to feature videos, share photos and images, and create direct inbound links, all of which are incredible drivers of search engine optimization. From dentists who are social media mavens to novices, it’s a no-brainer to add this social media profile if it helps patients easily find you and connect with your practice online. After all, Google is synonymous with online search, and one of the easiest ways to make sure that Google’s algorithms continue to work in your favor is to play in their sandbox—Google+.

Browse to www.google.com/+/learnmore for more information about Google +.

4) Google Places—Get Your Practice on the Map

Not to be confused with Google+, your Google Places page is your practice’s profile within Google Local/Google maps. this profile provides the same opportunities for inbound links, images, and video as Google+, and it also includes patient reviews, which can have a huge impact on your word-of-mouth referrals. it used to be that when someone recommended their dentist to a friend, they wrote his or her name and number down on a Post-it note. today, they’ll just blurt out the name and suggest that the friend Google the practice to find out more.

Google creates a Google Places page for every business in the country, but it’s up to the business owner to claim that profile and make sure it’s accurate. Being familiar with your Google Places profile also enables you to monitor what your

6 Social Media Tools You Should Be UsingLearn about new updates, features, and networks in the world of social media that can drive traffic to your practice.

naomi Cooper | President of minoa marketing and Chief marketing Consultant for Pride institute

Business of Dentistry

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patients are saying about your practice and to highlight these comments (at least the positive ones) through other social media platforms.

Browse to www.google.com/places for more information about Google Places.

5) Twitter—Reach into the Universe of Potential Patients

on Facebook, your posts aren’t searchable or indexed, so it’s unlikely that anyone beyond two degrees of separa-tion will ever find out about your practice unless they’re specifically looking for you. What’s unique about twitter is that every single tweet you’ve ever tweeted is public and searchable unless it was specifically marked private. that means anyone who happens to be searching for any of the keywords you’re tweeting about will find your tweets.

this is an incredible way to build a loyal base of followers, regardless of whether they actually know you or not. And because about half of Americans don’t have a dentist, if your twitter followers are in your local area, they certainly have the potential to eventually become patients in the practice when they’re ready.

Go to business.twitter.com for more information about creating a twitter business account.

6) Pinterest—Reach the Dentist’s Dream Target Market: Moms

Pinterest is the current darling in the world of social media. Not only did it grow to 18.7 million users in march 2012 from its launch in march 2010, but it’s a known hub for the dental practice’s ultimate target demographic: moms. Pinterest is the kind of site that may initially seem redundant, but it’s a truly viral site. But that viral nature is only part of the story. the real secret is that Pinterest is a social network that really speaks to its target audience. moms love “pinning” stories, photos, and articles to their Pinterest Boards. Facebook has even started emulating Pinterest by adding the ability to “pin” important content to the top of a page. For dentists who have a true general or family practice, and especially for pediatric dentists and orthodontists, Pinterest is the latest addi-tion to the practice’s social media arsenal.

Browse to www.pinterest.com/pinterestbiz for more information about creating a business profile on Pinterest.

At the end of the day, social media is the ultimate patient-to-practice connector. imagine being able to broadcast every patient’s positive sentiments about the practice to his or her entire social circle! What’s more, social media has become a big part of every search engine’s decision-making algorithm, so a practice’s level of social

media engagement will play an increas-ingly larger role in its rank or score for a particular keyword or searchable phrase. And, perhaps most importantly, social media helps dentists and dental teams establish and maintain meaningful, ongoing connections with existing patients and prospective new patients.

once a practice makes a conscious decision to participate in social media, the most important step is to devise an integrated and targeted approach. this process begins with setting goals and identifying key objectives and outcomes so they can be woven into a social media strategy. Certainly not every dentist’s website needs to feature a Facebook icon, twitter link, Youtube channel, and Pinterest pin, but practices should find some way to participate in social media in order to ensure that Likes, Pins, retweets and online reviews are driving traffic—and positive word of mouth—to the practice.

Naomi Cooper is President of Minoa Marketing and Chief Marketing Consultant for Pride Institute. In this capacity, she works one-on-one with dentists and specialists who are looking to assess their current social media and marketing plans to develop a cohesive marketing approach. For information about Naomi’s seminars and marketing consulting services, call Pride Institute at 800-925-2600 or visit www.prideinstitute.com. Naomi can be reached at [email protected].

henry Schein Practice Solutions wants your opinions and suggestions. Visit our Facebook, twitter, Youtube, and myVoice Pages and join the conversation.

www.Dentrix.com/Facebook—Join the Dentrix fan community. Speak with customer service representatives, chat with other Dentrix users, and learn tips and tricks.

www.twitter.com/Dentrix—Get up-to-date information on Dentrix events, seminars, and more.

www.Youtube.com/DentrixVideos—Subscribe to the Dentrix Channel to view our latest videos. hear from customers and product experts how Dentrix can improve your productivity and boost profitability.

http://myVoice.Dentrix.com—Got an idea for Dentrix? myVoice allows you to send us your ideas and vote on other dental professionals’ ideas on ways to enhance Dentrix.

Join the Dentrix conversation

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It seems like every day another piece of technology gets added to your digital practice. electronic documents, digital

cameras and imaging devices, digital radiography, and cone beam scanners

all clamor for space on your computer network. how do you know how much server storage space you’ll need today, tomorrow, and three years down the line? Furthermore, are you confident that your data will be protected in the event of a server failure or catastrophe?

An average practice using intra-oral cameras and basic intraoral-only digital radiography generates around 20 gigabytes (GB) of data a year. Your practice is generating electronic data at a tremendous pace. even though intraoral pictures and x-rays only generate about 20 GB of files a year, your practice uses other systems that constantly add to your digital information.

How Much Disk Space Do I Need for Documents?

At techCentral, we work with many dentists who are moving to paperless office best practices. in these offices, there is usually an unlucky person who is responsible for scanning any piece of relevant business paper that makes it through the door into the electronic record. You can help that

person save time and effort by using an efficient, high speed document-scanning solution.

Depending on the scanner and settings used, scanned records can be

as small as 150KB (about the size of a large email file) or as large as 10mB per page (about the size of a high resolution photo). Ask yourself if you really need a full-color, high-resolution scan of that eoB form attached to the patient’s chart. When a document is scanned, make sure you are using the appropriate scanning settings for the information.

in general, scan black-and-white documents at 100 dots per inch (dpi) and items with color pictures at 150 dpi. only scan in color if truly necessary. Black-and-white files are the smallest by far, followed by grayscale files, then color documents. these settings vary from scanner to scanner, but poking around with the

How Much Disk Space Do You Really Need?Find out how much server storage space you need in your practice and what you need to do to keep your digital data safe.

Brian Calverley | National Field operations manager, henry Schein techCentral

techNotes

Figure 1 it’s important to monitor your server’s free space on a regular basis.

your practice is generating electronic data at a tremendous pace. Even though intraoral pictures and X-rays only generate about 20 gB of files a year, your practice uses other systems that constantly add to your digital information.


settings on your scanner can be a huge space saver in the long run.

How Much Disk Space Do I Need for Imaging?

When you add that new digital panoramic or cone beam imaging machine, your data storage needs to be moved to a whole new level. Digital pan images can be up to 15 mB each and cone beam scans can easily be 10 times that size. if you capture these images for every patient in your practice over the next 18 months, make sure that your data server can handle the load. remember that each piece of electronic information you capture adds to your data storage needs. it adds up quickly—a connected practice can easily generate over 100 GB of data per year.

How Much Free Space Do I Have?You do know how much free space is

on your server, don’t you? if not, follow these steps to find out. First, log on to your data server. Double-click the My computer icon on the desktop or click Start > computer. You will see all of your drives listed with the amount of free space listed below them (Figure 1). if you don’t see a free space number, you can also access it by right-clicking the hard drive icon and selecting properties (Figure 2).

there should never be less than 25% of the drive space available as free space on any drive. this gives you a space buffer and facilitates better performance. Don’t worry if one of your drives is smaller than the rest. it is typical for servers to be configured with the operating system files and the data on separate partitions.

How often Should I Upgrade My Disk Space?

We recommend monitoring your server’s free space on a regular basis. if you document your dataset’s growth monthly, it will help you better plan for future needs. remember to contact your hardware partner if your free space approaches less than 25%. Depending on the server configuration, you may need anything from relatively inexpen-sive disk upgrades to a replacement of the entire machine.

Your hardware partner may offer a server monitoring package. techCentral offers eGauge, which monitors your server for critical events such as disk failure or overheating, in addition to providing warnings for low hard drive

space. Proactive monitoring has helped many of our customers avoid disruptive surprises and protected their network from avoidable problems.

How Do I Back Up Digital Data?most offices don’t have a high level

of confidence in their backup routine. techCentral recommends a multi-layered

approach to backups to protect your data and to help get you back to productivity in the event of a problem.

the first backup option you have is manually backing up data and storing it offsite for protection. When you evaluate your backup options, make sure that your it provider understands your needs and is familiar with the requirements neces-sary to secure protected health informa-tion. most USB drives do not come with the encryption necessary to protect data. Don’t skimp on this item—imagine the headaches if your backup drive fell into identity thieves’ hands and you didn’t spend the extra dollars for encrypted drives. techCentral uses an easy, more secure

solution that takes advantage of secure USB hard drives.

Also, don’t assume that you have a recoverable backup just because you swap out your backup device each day. Automatic backups can prove disastrous if relied on with blind trust. it only takes a few extra seconds each day to check that your backup was done

properly. make sure you have documentation on how to perform checks on your backup system.

Should I Use an online Backup Solution?

You should also consider using an online backup solu-tion as part of a multilayered approach to data backup. these online systems usually run overnight and offer a great offsite backup solution. Dentrix eBackUp offers 5GB of free storage to customers who maintain a Dentrix Customer Service Plan. this is typically enough storage for the average practice manage-ment database with room to spare for your office’s busi-ness documents and payroll information. if you are storing digital images in an imaging database, you will most likely need more storage space. You can learn more about eBackUp at http://www.dentrix.com/ebackup.

one great feature of online backups is that they usually provide multiple dated copies of your informa-tion. this could be valuable if

you needed to restore a copy of your data from a certain date. With the right online backup system, if you ever needed to see exactly what your data looked like several months ago, you could download that archived copy upon demand.

Turn to TechCentral for answershenry Schein techCentral special-

izes in assisting clients through every step of their technology journey. if you need help, techCentral can customize a network server solution for digital practices of any size. For more information about techCentral and what it can do for your practice, visit www.henryscheintechcentral.com.

Figure 2 the Properties dialog box shows you how much free space you have on the drive.

Dentr ix by the Numbers

Log In Todayif you haven’t visited the Dentrix resource Center, log in today! Browse to www.dentrix.com/resource-center and find training videos, manuals, and answers to your Dentrix questions.

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