The Power of Centralization

Sponsored Content: Henry Schein One — MultiSite

Practice management software experts discuss the benefits of streamlining practice management processes in a growing dental organization

As a multisite dental organization grows, operations frequently become more complex, and communication among staff in different offices becomes more difficult. That additional office you bought out with such high hopes may be operating with an entirely different practice management system than your other offices, which could be limiting your productivity and profitability.

Multisite dental organizations often have a hard time getting offices with disparate systems to work together seamlessly. Unfortunately, this sometimes becomes their norm: They operate in a decentralized system where they don’t have easy access to the information they need to manage their practice.

However, implementing the right centralized data systems doesn’t happen overnight — it requires thoughtful planning, careful selection and skillful implementation.

Benefits of a centralized practice management system

Several dental industry leaders who have helped dental organizations successfully transition to centralized practice management and data systems recently discussed the key benefits available to dental service organizations when they decide to centralize their practice management software. They
identified 7 tools and processes that benefit from a centralized practice management system:

1. Staying on top of key performance indicators, by location and as an organization. Decentralization prevents practices from receiving and analyzing data that could be critical to managing important decisions in a timely manner. “Practices will say, ‘I can’t deal with all of these different systems. I can’t manage and make sense of them.’ They want to get all their data in one place,” says Mike Uretz, founder of DentalSoftwareAdvisor.com. “It’s possible with centralization to establish and review key performance indicators on an aggregated basis so you’re not shooting from the hip when you make business decisions.”

2. Implementing standardized business processes across locations. A key advantage of centralized dental organizations is their ability to manage locations using standardized processes, templates and data. Using the same technology tools across locations
is a prerequisite to effective, centralized sharing.

3. Sharing and scheduling providers across locations. Many multisite organizations find it valuable to capitalize on their No. 1 resource — their team members — by having them work
in multiple locations, but scheduling a provider in more than one office can be challenging. When individual locations have centralized tools to see a provider’s schedule at other locations, however, the process is much smoother.

4. Streamlining overhead costs for key functions such as insurance processing, billing, scheduling and more. Adam McDaniel, director of Product Management at Henry Schein One, has witnessed firsthand the inefficiencies that decentralized group practices experience, especially when they’re operating on different practice management systems. “We’ll often see a decentralized practice struggle to operate. Just processing an insurance claim may require their staff to know two, three or four systems. Their processes become so bloated that they struggle to manage them.”

5. Supporting collaboration between providers. “Think of having one set of data for a patient,” says Dr. Lorne Lavine, a former dentist and president/owner of The Digital Dentist. “Think of the benefits of having every one of your locations have immediate access to all of the most current information on the patient.” Having one shared set of patient records has clear benefits when providers are seeing current patients in a new office but still need access to treatment plans, images, health history and more. With a centralized system — resulting in a single, shared patient record — all patient information is right there for the provider’s use.

Henry Schein One created an eBook, “The Power of Centralization: Streamlining Practice Management in a Growing Dental Organization” that draws upon insights from dental industry leaders who have helped dental organizations successfully transition to centralized practice management and data systems. Download the eBook at: https://tinyurl.com/DentrixGroupPractice

6. Sharing records to serve patients at multiple locations. “If you’re not using a centralized system, collaboration doesn’t happen that fast,” said McDaniel. “It’s very hard for staff to collaborate and say to each other, ‘Hey, I was thinking of doing this sort of implant. What do you think of that?’” With a properly centralized system, providers in different locations can pull up all patient information while they discuss treatment options. This includes the ability to see diagnostic images, treatment history, medical alerts and more.

7. Onboarding a newly acquired or newly built office. Without a centralized system, growing dental organizations can find themselves reinventing the wheel each time they onboard a new practice. Even with uniform standards for running all offices, such policies and procedures can be difficult to convey and implement without shared digital workflows and centralized forms. Not only can this slow down the process of onboarding a new practice, it can also create confusion for patients and staff.

Although centralization comes with upfront costs, it is a long-term investment that will pay off as inconsistencies and redundancies among offices are resolved. As offices begin to operate as one, a dental practice will reap the rewards as it saves both time and money through increased efficiencies. In the long run, centralization supports the success of the dental organization’s leaders, clinical and administrative staff — and, ultimately, the patients they serve.

How Henry Schein One Can Help

Both Dentrix Enterprise and Dentrix Ascend from Henry Schein One offer ways to centralize your growing practice.