Starting Dental Practice: Top 6 Technology Trends

1. Electronic claims submission – Starting a dental practice right means providing the safety and security of encrypted, digital insurance claims submission, which saves time in claims form completion and reduces errors -meaning fewer resubmissions and faster payment turnaround time with improved cash flow. The addition of a cost-effective border appliance, such as the Astaro Security Gateway, which combines firewall, content filtering, antivirus protection and encryption, secures the integrity of your data before a threat even reaches your network.


2. Online patient forms – Take the next step beyond email appointment reminders and e-birthday cards. Allow patients to access and complete forms securely in the privacy of their home, with hosted, online, HIPAA compliant, new patient and medical history forms. Look for forms packages that will integrate with your practice management software, like SDF some even trigger provider alerts within the practice management software program.


3. Online Patient Payment Portals - With the advent of online bill payments, patient billing and payment processing is now easy and convenient. According to Bird Blitch of Secure Health Pay(link to secure health pay), "The convenience of patients paying their dental bills on online has proven to increase revenue collection by 50% and more."


4. Automated online backups – Secure your business and patient information. Starting a dental practice with online backups makes it easy to achieve HIPAA security compliance by storing data in multiple remote locations. For HIPAA compliance, look for solutions that can provide fast data restoration solutions in the event of a natural disaster.


5. VoIP –For the same price as a typical digital phone system, Voice over IP offers feature rich capabilities - automatically forwarded phone calls, voice to email messaging for your blackberry or mobile phone, conference calls and PBX features, as well as inbound and out bound call tracking.


6. 3-D Digital Imaging – Conebeam CT scanner images are fast becoming the legal standard of care for any practice engaged in dental implants and endodontics. Select an imaging package with a full suite of intra and extra oral products that integrates or bridges to your chosen practice management software. Image quality should be your main concern in making the selection as the major Practice Management and Imaging software packages can be implemented to work well together.