The High Cost of Inefficiency

I guess I am on a new kick. In my last post, I shared my enthusiasm for voice recognition software — Dragon Naturally Speaking — based on how much time it saves me every week on administrative tasks like reports, memos, and e-mail communications. Dragon can be installed on Macs or PCs. In this difficult economy, dental practices have to create ways to increase their productivity through efficiency. Simply stated, we need to collect more dollars with the same staffing infra-structure because hiring more people is not an option. Let me share two ideas that I am excited about.

Isolite systems is a high speed suction/isolation/high visibility system that allows the doctor to prepare teeth unassisted. I recently had a Cerec restoration done in this fashion, and I could not believe that my former partner — who used to be as hopelessly dependent as I was on a dental assistant — could do the prep all by himself. And I was amazed at how comfortable this dental experience was for me. The dental assistant was in another treatment room busily taking off temps and getting some other patient ready for a crown and bridge try in. This is efficiency!

Demand Force is a Silicon Valley company that was originally introduced to dentistry for the purpose of automated appointment confirmation sent to an e-mail address or a text message to a cell phone. Obviously this is a big time saver for the front desk and frees them up for other administrative duties. But I am really excited about another feature with this cool technology. Demand Force can automatically generate a brief customer satisfaction survey that can be  sent after a patient appointment. It is easy and intuitive for that patient to write a positive review about their dental experience. These reviews are referenced by Google, and in just a few months your practice is at the top of the local Google business map.

New technologies can be a big help and they are fun– so do not overlook the opportunity and challenge to improve and redefine every single management and clinical system in your practice.