As a busy dental practice, you know that the more efficiencies you can introduce to the front office and patient communications, the better. One of the best business decisions you can make is to introduce dental automation software into your workflow. However, not all software is created equal; to get the most out of a new system, you’ll want to find one that seamlessly integrates with your practice management software and that syncs in real-time. This way, you can ensure that patient information is always up to date and that alerts generated through your PMS are accurate. Furthermore, seamless system communication means you can say ‘goodbye’ to manual data entry, awkward patient handoffs, and needless form review.
Real-time Syncing Saves Time!
Paperless dental software with digital forms can eliminate hours spent scanning, shredding, or manually entering patient data. But what about document review? Even if the system can digitize patient records, the information still needs to be transmitted to your PMS. Software such as YAPI’s Fast Import feature[1], for instance, immediately writes, collects, and syncs patient information into your database the second that a form is submitted.
And if a patient record is updated, there’s no need to sift through documentation to figure out what information changed. Systems such as YAPI will flag the date that changes were made and what changes were made. No more wild goose chase for information!
Your front office can also save time by streamlining the appointment confirmation process. For example, a team member can send a text or email to a patient to confirm an appointment; once the patient confirms his or her appointment that event is automatically synced to the PMS.
Improve The Patient Experience
Patients who fill out forms (digitally or otherwise) expect that information to be correctly entered into your system and referenced during their appointment. However, without an automated dental software system that auto-syncs to your PMS, there’s a higher chance of human error. For example, if Sally at the front desk answers the phone while inputting forms into the PMS, she’s not updating the patient’s chart in “real-time” so by the time the information reaches the doctor, information might be missing. Not a good look.
Instead, here’s how the situation could play out. An existing patient comes in for routine cleaning. When she checks in at the front desk, she lets the office coordinator know that she needs to update her medical history to include her recent diagnosis of diabetes. The patient updates her information through an iPad and the practice’s PMS immediately reads her updated medical information. Then, a patient alert displays her record updates on the Practice Dashboard. By the time the patient reaches the operatory, her dentist will have the updated information for reference and will ask informed questions. This seamless integration and communication between systems can show patients that your practice is tech-savvy and invested in the quality of care.
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Using an automated dental software system with real-time syncing means your dental practice can devote its attention to other areas, such as marketing and continuing education, that will help your business grow and be more productive.
If you are a current customer of YAPI or are in the process of signing up for services, FAST Import is available for Dentrix, Eaglesoft, and Open Dental.
As of July 21, 2021, Dentrix customers have access to Fast Import.
