From the category archives:

Management

Digital Referrals

December 9, 2011

Follow the link to an article I wrote for the AZ Dental Journal Inscriptions. The article is on paperless or digital specialty referrals.
http://www.azda.org/Inscriptions/2011Dec/index.html#/36/

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Blue Ocean Strategy

December 2, 2011

What I am reading right now.

Businesses that continue to do what they have always done get trapped in fierce competition with others in the same business. Blue Ocean is a metaphor for open markets with less competition. The book defines these and shows readers how to find and implement blue ocean opportunities.

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Free Speech, User Reviews and another Lawsuit

December 1, 2011

From Dr. Bicuspid (registration required)
A New York dentist is in legal hot water for requiring patients to agree not to post negative comments about her online before she would treat them…A class-action lawsuit filed November 29 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York claims that a form Stacy Makhnevich, DDS, [...]

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Exposing the Cost of Health Care

November 30, 2011

Can you imagine going down to the Chevy dealer and picking out a new car, selecting the color and all the options you wanted including the engine, transmission and fancy wheels and then when you ask the salesman how much he won’t tell you?
“We don’t know the fee.” He says, “We will just send you [...]

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Kill Credit Cards and PayPal

November 28, 2011

Another case of the Internet and online services driving down the cost of doing business. As a dental friend said this could be a major game changer.
In my case, I was losing $55,000 a year to credit card companies. I felt like they were stealing from me — I was getting paid and somebody was [...]

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Pre Digital

November 28, 2011

From Seth Godin.

A brief visit to the emergency room last month reminded me of what an organization that’s pre-digital is like. Six people doing bureaucratic tasks and screening that are artifacts of a paper universe, all in the service of one doctor (and the need to get paid and not get sued). A 90-minute experience [...]

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Patients Prefer e-Reminders

November 21, 2011

No-shows, a classic issue which has plagued dental practices since the time of good ol’ G.V. Black.
No-shows are frustrating and expensive. You can get militant and charge patients if they no-show. That’s a great way to create pleasant Kumbayah relationships.
You can be proactive and call everybody on the schedule a few days in advance. This [...]

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The Future Has Arrived…In Some Places

November 3, 2011

 “The future has already arrived—it’s just not evenly distributed.”
William Gibson
The approximate percentage of US dentists using new technology.

Chairside Computers                      65%
Digital Radiography                         50%
Practice Web Site                             40%
Cloud e-Services                              20%
Lasers                                                   15%
CAD CAM                                            12%
Cone Beam CT                                   5%
Social Media                                       3%

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Do You Need To Upgrade Your Technology?

November 2, 2011

The linked Amex Open Forum article examines a situation common in dentistry. When income declines, (due to the general economy or whatever,) one of the first places dentists look to cut costs is IT (technology). However a good argument can be made that IT is the last place to cut as good technology properly utilized will [...]

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Theres an app for that!

October 31, 2011

My most recent DE column is on various small applications that we can use to enhance our Practice Management Systems.
Dr. Gina Dorfman, a dentist in Santa Clarita, Calif., was frustrated by the time and energy wasted in her office when she and her team members tried to communicate with one other and their patients. However, [...]

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Dental Tourism…Aha!

October 23, 2011

Living and working in Arizona I had a negative view of so called “dental tourism”.  All that changed recently when I experienced a true “Aha” moment.
I have on occasion met people at a social gathering who once they found out I was a dentist had to tell me about going south of the border for dentistry [...]

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Good-With-Computers, Part Three: User Types

October 18, 2011

The buzz: If we just had kids at work all our computer problems would be solved
The anti-buzz: The workforce user knows more than they think they do.
A recap of parts one and two:
Technophiles ie. (good-with-computers), are good at abstract thinking and problem solving.
Technophobes, (bad-with-computers), fear both failure and success.
If the above sounds strange to you, [...]

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Training Training Training

October 17, 2011

I firmly believe one of the biggest mistakes dentists make with technology is that they fail to get enough training. Training for both the doctor and the staff. If you have not had any training on your office technology in the last eighteen months you are way past due and you are costing yourself money.
Dentrix users [...]

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New at the ADA Sesame 24-7

October 15, 2011

More news from the ADA. One of my favorite high tech companies Sesame Communications introduced a new upgraded product Sesame 24-7. It is a complete cloud based e-service that manages all (or almost all) of our online patient communication systems. The main components are:

Search Marketing
Web Site Design
Mobile Web Sites
Patient Log In
Appointment Reminders
Patient Engagement

All of these [...]

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The Wisdom of Crowds

October 14, 2011

What I am reading right now.

Very interesting and has implications for future of medicine and dentistry using distributed networks.

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Get Paid

October 10, 2011

Very interesting stats from Sesame Communication research, When patients receive an e-mail billing for a past due amount and they are offered the option of paying online:

Within 24 hours 38% pay the balance.
Within 48 hours 50% pay the balance.

Sesame is introducing a new and improved version of their online web and communication service called 24/7. [...]

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American World Clinics

October 8, 2011

This is a truly amazing even revolutionary concept.
American World Clinics – Barbados, opening in 2013, will provide an exceptional environment for board-certified physicians and dentists from the U.S.

via American World Clinics | Home | American World Clinics.
I first heard of this idea several months ago. Since then I have done considerable follow up and research and [...]

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Stuff vs. Solutions

September 30, 2011

A problem I see over and over again with high tech and dentistry is Stuff vs. Solutions. The most visible element of digital technology is the thing; that is the computer, the sensor the big monitor or even the web page. Because these things are so obvious the tendency is to think of technology in [...]

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Patients Like E-mail

September 29, 2011

Did you know?
58% of consumers start their online day by reading their emails.
76% of dental patients said email is the best way for companies to communicate with them.
This is based on a 2008 Sesame Communications research paper. Most likely today even more of your patients prefer e-mail.
So the question is…are you using it? Or even [...]

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Is Your Practice At Risk?

September 23, 2011

As much as I love high tech I reluctantly admit that the same systems that make sharing information quick and easy also make it quick and easy for people to steal from us. The linked article is from Price Kong a local CPA firm that works with many dentists, including me.
Health care practices that have a [...]

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