Going Chartless: It’s Easier Than You Think


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While most dental offices in the U.S. already use digital imaging, more offices are switching to it all the time. This continuing shift to digital technology means clinicians are taking advantage of electronic charts, clinical notes, treatment planning and other tools.

As the most-used electronic patient chart, Dentrix is helping more dentists make the move to a chartless practice than any other practice management software. If your office hasn’t yet gone chartless, here are some motivating reasons to start.

Faster charting

Making new chart entries takes just three clicks of a mouse button. Select a tooth, click the procedure button, then click the status button—just like that, the procedure is posted faster than you can reach for a pencil and paper chart. Dentrix comes preloaded with all the most common procedure options and even groups them together to reflect standard treatments so you can select a series of procedures with one mouse click. Dentrix also makes it easy for you to customize procedure buttons and group them to fit your own practice.

More detailed notes in less time

Making more detailed, accurate notes with less effort might sound too good to be true, but it’s not. Your Dentrix software comes with a variety of clinical note templates that allow you to create notes using pre-set options for fields like anesthetics, dosage, needles and more. We make it very easy to modify existing templates or even create your own for any type of case, whether routine or complicated. Once you’ve selected all the options, the note will go into the system in plain English with all your selected options incorporated into the text. What took several minutes before now takes less than a minute, and no important information is left out.

Legal protection

One key feature of clinical notes that is unique to Dentrix compared to other practice management software is the electronic signature. Once you sign the note, it is locked—meaning no one can alter it in any way. If you need to add critical information later, the note can be amended. Signing the amendment gives it the same protection as the original note. Because notes cannot be altered, they can provide powerful evidence in the event of a board review or legal proceeding.

Multiple treatment plan options

When you present a treatment plan to a patient and they ask if there are any other options, Dentrix can show them those options and record the fact that they were presented. Dentrix makes it simple to create alternative cases and link them together. It even shows the patient how many visits are required for each option and can access patient insurance information to estimate costs for each alternative. Using the electronic signature capability, you can have the patient sign the treatment plan to keep a record of which treatment the patient accepted.

Patient file protection

Electronic files with proper off-site backup give you the kind of protection that paper files never can. Even in the event of a natural or catastrophic event, your files can stay safe, ready to be retrieved whenever you need them.

If you have been thinking about going chartless, the great news is that you already have the best tool to help you. To learn more about the Dentrix chart, visit the Resource Center for helpful training videos, documentation and more. Good luck and happy charting!



Author: Jay Wood
Published: 05/26/2012
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