Running a profitable and successful dental practice was much simpler and easier a few years back. But things have changed now; not only do dentists have to keep abreast with the latest clinical advancements and skills, but they also have to be excellent business managers to get ahead of the competition.
Dentists do everything in their power to attract more patients and generate revenue – renovate the office, offer more facilities, services, and flexible payment options. These are all extraordinary measures. But one crucial aspect that is often overlooked by dentists that can help them elevate their practice: is a user-friendly and straightforward dental practice management software.
After reading this, if you are thinking, “Why should I spend money to buy a piece of software when I am already struggling with revenue generation?” This article is for you. Continue reading to find out 5 ways an effective dental practice management software can help you increase your patient flow, customer satisfaction, and, more importantly, your earnings.
Record Management
Managing paper-based patient records can be cumbersome and time-consuming. Every time a patient comes, one of your staff members will have to search the filing cabinet for their records. And then, there is the issue of sharing records with a fellow dentist or healthcare professional. With practice management software, you can maintain all your patient records electronically and retrieve them whenever required. This will not only save your time, which would have been spent in writing patient notes but also your staff’s, enabling them to use this focus more on patient care satisfaction.
Keep Track of Your Inventory
Running successful practices requires dentists to ensure the availability of materials and equipment needed for optimal patient care. To ensure that, dentists or their staff had to check paperwork to keep track of order deliveries manually. Again, this is a time-consuming process. A good practice management software can do that for you. It will keep a record of your orders; simply scan the barcode of every received product, and the system will add it to the inventory. When the item is used, the barcode can be scanned again to remove it from the inventory. In this way, the software can tell you exactly the quantity of each dental product in your inventory.
Timely Equipment Maintenance
Dental offices have various electrical and mechanical equipment that requires frequent servicing, registration renewal, or licensing. With the record of this equipment only maintained on paper, you could easily miss out on their servicing or licensure renewal. But, with practice management software, you can simply scan a barcode on the equipment to indicate servicing and then enter the date for the next maintenance exercises. The software will then notify you – through email or a smartphone app – regarding the scheduled equipment maintenance. In this way, you can always keep your equipment well-maintained and avoid any overhead expenses and embarrassment in front of your patients. Imagine you’re about to perform a dental gum graft surgery, and the laser machine suddenly breaks down!
Keep Track of your Finances
One of the most effective ways of maximizing practice revenues is to cut down on unnecessary expenditure. Unfortunately, with a manual, paper-based practice management system, keeping track of your expenses and generated revenue is quite challenging. Sometimes, these costs keep adding up, and when you realize that you’re spending too much on something, you might have already entered into agreements with the suppliers.
A practice management software gives you a detailed account of what you’re spending and where the money is going. This allows you to cut down on any unnecessary purchases and utilize the saved money on improving patient care, staff welfare, or simply increasing your revenues!
If you are interested in learning more about managing your finances and increasing your practice’s profits, the American Dental Association offers some valuable resources to help you maximize your revenues without compromising patient care and staff welfare.
Hassle-free Patient Appointment Scheduling
Efficient appointment management is the backbone of a successful and thriving dental business and ensures the well-being of your patients. If your staff forgets to give the patients a reminder call, they might miss out on their vital dental checkup appointments. A practice management software will certainly ease things for your staff on this front. It will keep track of all your patient appointments and send notifications regarding upcoming ones. Some software can also be integrated with systems that can even send patients automatic emails or text messages to remind them of their appointments. In this way, you and your patients will not have to worry about their next dental checkup, as they will be automatically reminded – well in time.
The American Dental Association also recommends using practice management software to run a successful, hassle-free, and organized practice. Good practice management software allows you to simplify and automate your daily routine tasks, reduces unnecessary manual labor, streamlines patient flow, and most importantly, helps increase your earnings. Therefore, if you haven’t installed practice management software in your dental office yet, this might be the best time to do so!
Author:
Dr. Mehmood Asghar is a dentist, an educator, and a researcher in dental biomaterials. He is currently working as an Assistant Professor in Dental Biomaterials at the National University of Medical Sciences, Pakistan, in addition to pursuing a Ph.D. in Dental Biomaterials. Apart from his professional activities, Dr. Asghar loves reading, writing, and working out.
