Paperless Office

A few years ago when I went to a seminar about the concept of having a "paperless office," I was still wrestling with the idea. I have always been careful about buying into new technology, especially if it doesn't pass my test.

What is my test? I believe that when it comes to your business, purchases must be made only for:

1. Items that are needed to run the business.
2. Items that will directly increase production.
3. Items that improve the efficiency of the office, and therefore increase income or reduce expenses.

Where technology is concerned, I consider myself above average. While I am rather up-to-date on what is out there, it bothers me when I see dentists buy things just because of the market hype, or because they feel they have to purchase anything and everything that is remotely high-tech.

It is especially troubling when they do this without taking into account the practicality of what they are buying. A good example of this are those voice activated perio-charting programs. I cannot tell you how many of them I have seen in different offices... in storage!

My view about bringing technology to your office is that you have to understand what the goal is in adding software or a network to your practice. You also must be willing to learn the system and use it regularly.

I have seen many offices that have fully loaded practice management software, but still use a paper chart for charting, clinical notes, follow-ups, and a lot of other tasks. I believe the best approach should be one that is balanced. If you bring the technology to your office, bring something that works and when you do, USE IT!

The idea of having a paperless office is tempting, and at the same time a little scary. A few of you may already be almost paperless at this time, but the majority of dentists are not.

Today my office is 90% paperless. We have computers in every room. Everything from appointments and clinical notes to follow-up lists and insurance information is stored in the computer and is accessible to everyone at any given time. It has drastically improved the efficiency of our office and has given me the ability to supervise the entire practice with my computer.

We still use paper for consent forms, patient information forms, medical history forms, and basically any forms that the patients have to fill out or sign. Other than that, almost everything is in the computers. Of course, there are ways to put even those documents into the computer (such as scanning), but remember that the main goal is to use technology when it makes things easier and more efficient, not just because it is high-tech!

As you have seen in Systems, like all other areas of a practice, your network and computer system should be easy to learn. It must be simple enough so that any new staff member can learn the basic tasks within a week. You are in trouble if you need an outside trainer or if you still don't know how to use your own software!

The first person that needs to become the master of the programs you use is yourself. It can be dangerous if you don't know how to use your software. It makes you more vulnerable to fraud, embezzlement, and legal problems down the road.

I never recommend to doctors that they should do everything themselves; what I recommend is to know everything yourself, and carefully delegate tasks to others.

Now let me give you a few examples of how having a paperless office can dramatically improve your life:

Before a patient even comes to the office his insurance information is gathered and entered into the computer.

When a patient comes to our office, the front office staff enters all his information into the software. This includes the referral source, medical alerts, email address and the best time to contact the patient, in addition to all the other basic information.

As soon as the patient goes to the treatment room, his digital chart and x-rays are opened on the screen. A built-in intra-oral camera is also ready to take pictures, when needed.

All the chartings including teeth, perio-charting, and oral exams are directly dictated by doctors and entered into the patients’ digital chart using the software. This is also when treatment planning is done and entered in the computer.

Then, while the doctor has the patient sitting up and is discussing the treatment plan with him, the treatment coordinator or a front office staff member is printing the treatment plan and checking it over before presenting it to the patient.

Once the doctor is done (this is around 4-5 minutes after the exam is completed), he leaves and the treatment coordinator takes over. At this point, almost all the paperwork pertaining to this patient is completed.

Since every bit of information about our patients is entered into the computer, all staff members have constant access to it. We have therefore solved the “lost chart” problem in our office.

Everyone in the office is aware that they have to enter every conversation, insurance follow-up, phone call attempt, etc. into a specific section of the software. So when a patient or a referring doctor calls our office, the front office staff can take a look at the digital chart and have a complete idea of what is going on with that patient.

If my office manager or my treatment coordinator is not in the office, we have no problem finding out what is going on with a patient's insurance claim, report, account, treatment plan, schedule or anything else concerning the patients' situation....

We have also created a few computer files containing all the other information about our office. They include all the insurance information, patient pictures, forms, reports, letter templates, and order histories, among other things.

Each file is on the network, organized in one folder (which is very easy to backup), and is accessible to all 24/7.

Having a paperless office has enabled us to check a full day's activities in about five to ten minutes, and is an invaluable tool that would not be available in a traditional office.