How To Increase ROI By Switching To A Paperless Practice

Is the growth of your dental practice slowing down because you are not keeping pace with the rapid technological advancements? Do you still find it challenging to manage payment collections and insurance management along with providing your patients with the best possible experience? If so, this is the right time to switch to a completely paperless practice.

As we know, dental practices have always dealt with instances where they are forced to use physical records. These include coordinating with suppliers, dental labs, and other service vendors, as well as maintaining patient records, schedules, reminders, and calendars.

Paper-based workflows introduce redundancy, creating more overheads and serious cash-flow issues for dental practices. Yet, practices choose not to switch because of the stress associated with introducing change.

Besides smooth transition, modern practice management systems offer integrated solutions that streamline every bit of your practice, from third-party coordination to electronic health records, ensuring easy accessibility for all your practice data without needing any paperwork.

Scaling efficiency with a paperless practice

Switching to a cloud-based practice management system might seem time-consuming initially, as your practice has to get accustomed to automated workflows and processes. But, the time invested in transition will be worth the rapid growth of your dental practice.

Modern practice management systems store data on the cloud, that is, on dedicated servers with round-the-clock online security and built-in data optimization techniques. With an all-in-one dental software solution assisting you with administrative tasks, you can turn your focus back to productive dental work, thus ensuring a well-spent and effective treatment experience for patients. Let’s see how:

A modern cloud-based dental practice management solution brings significant changes in the following areas:

Patient Information:

• Patient information and health records are saved in a single, centralized database that enables ease of access to both patients and providers.

Appointments:

• Online appointment scheduling helps to set customized office hours and allows patients to schedule appointments by themselves.

Billing & Payments:

• Streamlined insurance billing and collections with a claims control center.

Payment Plans:

• Credit cards can be stored in the database and can be used for creating recurring payment plans.

Submitting Insurance Claims:

• Smart eligibility forms that analyze patient data to eliminate inaccuracies before claims submission.

Treatment Plan:

• Create personalized treatment plans that patients can read and understand by themselves.

Inventory Tracking:

• Continuous and intuitive tracking of dental supplies across multiple locations.

Clinical & Charting Notes:

• Auto-generate clinical notes based on customized treatment plans and ease documentation works.

Patient Statements:

• Send a friendly, personalized text message to patients with a link to view and pay their invoices.

Patient Communication:

• Patients can text the practice anytime and thereby reducing the number of calls to the practice.

Benefits of Going Paperless

The benefits of going to an entirely paperless practice include increased efficiency and productivity, lower costs, reduced stress, a more empowered staff, and improved patient experiences.

Making the transition does require investments of time and money, but you can take comfort in knowing many offices have already abandoned paper-based systems successfully. Improved technology and increased access to assistance will make it easier for you to compete in today’s technology-enhanced dental landscape.

• Accuracy: Data is prone to manual error at the point of entry. With a PMS, even this does not happen, as the patient intake forms are filled up by patients themselves using their mobile devices. This improves accuracy and increases the efficiency of everything from eligibility verification to claims submission.

• Compliance: HIPAA compliance is increasingly becoming compromised, and paper documentation adds unnecessary risk to the process. Electronic documentation and databases can be customized with access controls so that only the relevant members of your team can access sensitive data. Also, with a cloud-based PMS, patient data is kept safe on and off transmission abiding by HIPAA regulations.

• Ownership: Now that every action can be traced back to the team member responsible, there will be greater ownership of tasks and lesser mistakes. An efficient PMS allows the dentist to exercise the usual functions of ownership and decide who has access to the data. It also ensures that the data is available in a readily transferable and accessible format, not a proprietary format only the PMS can use.

• Speed: Even before they are seated in the dental chair, patients do not want to wait. With PMS integration into your dental practice, you can streamline the patient flow between various departments, reducing the check-in to check-out time, and providing a better patient experience.

• Accessibility: One of the biggest challenges with paper records is accessibility.  With a secure cloud-based environment, electronic records are readily accessible, no matter the time, location, or file type. You can finish your notes and access your practice from anywhere in the world on your computer, tablet, or phone.

• Security: Data stored electronically in cloud-based systems have security measures, making it safer than paper records. You can assign permissions and secure communications with your providers and patients, along with ensuring end-to-end data encryption.

Key Takeaways

A modern paperless practice provides:

• A smooth-running office that is efficient and productive every day, with patient data accessible anytime, anywhere.

• A feature-rich system that provides a quick return on your investment.

• A one-stop destination for all your third-party integration needs, world-class support, well-trained providers, and up-to-date enhancements.

Get started on your paperless journey with CareStack, offering you the easiest way to collect patient information, reduce no-shows, streamline your operations, and increase patient satisfaction.