What are the Benefits of Taking a Data-Driven Approach to Running Your Dental Practice?

by Ryan Pell

Dentists and hygienists are often busy with day-to-day tasks, including managing patient records, keeping financial information updated, supervising the team, implementing different procedures, and even working on marketing and PR.

But what if we told you that running your daily operations can get easier if you take a data-driven approach to them?

Not sure how it will help? Here are three key benefits which data can bring both short- and long-term for your dental practice.

1.   Reduce the Chances of Errors

First and foremost, if you don’t treat data as an integral part of all operations, it may cause unnecessary bottlenecks and even harm your reputation. If you capture incorrect data or interpret the correct one inadequately, it can cause major problems.

For instance, let’s say a patient has to cancel their scheduled appointment for a procedure. However, the patient’s case is complicated and requires an immediate response, so it would be a logical solution to send them a follow-up and set an appropriate date taking into consideration the peculiarities of their situation.

Imagine if you misread or disregard this data?

It will undoubtedly result in a mistake that could have been avoided. And, if the patient’s case is complex, any delays may result in a need for a more complicated and expensive treatment. Hence, your reputation suffers as well.

2.   Manage the Needs of Your Patients Better

If you’ve been running your dental practice for a while, then you probably have a considerable volume of patient records. Surely, you can decide not to do anything with them or use this data as an opportunity to improve your relationships with your patients.

Let us give you an example. It’s not from the healthcare industry but is still a valid way to show how managing customer records can personalize your business.

In 2021, Preply decided to take a more data-driven approach to tailor its services to the needs of its clients. Originally a language learning platform, it decided to introduce math tutors to the learners who expressed the necessity of getting math lessons. This service has united over 900 tutors and thousands of learners so far.

How can Preply’s experience apply to your dental practice?

If you pay attention to your patient data and their cases, you can come up with some kind of loyalty program or any other solution that would make them want to return to you instead of your competitors.

3.   Improve Operational Efficiency

Data directly impacts the financial future of your practice, and if you’re not using it efficiently, it can lead to revenue drops, loss of important information, and affect the productivity of your staff.

What do we mean by the efficient use of data?

First and foremost, we’re talking about automating the key processes and eliminating human error. If your co-workers are still entering all the patient information into the spreadsheets manually and spend a lot of time collecting and analyzing the data, it can create bottlenecks in the essential operational processes.

Therefore, it’s important to not only use software that manages patient records (although it should be your priority) but also to involve an additional data analysis tool. It will save you a lot of resources; first of all, the time that your employees spend on mining the data, which will also positively impact their motivation to work.

Over to You

As you can see, taking a data-driven approach to running your dental practice brings in more perks than pitfalls. It’s your chance to eliminate unnecessary mistakes, improve the relationships with your patients, optimize operational efficiency, and even make your employees more motivated and productive.


About the Author

Ryan is a passionate blogger and writer who likes sharing his thoughts. Now he works as a content editor and internet researcher (his website). He likes to travel and explore new countries.

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