Hygiene Tribune U.S. Edition

Hygiene Tribune U.S. Edition | October 2015B2 Tell us what you think! Do you have general comments or criticism you would like to share? Is there a particular topic you would like to see articles about in Hygiene Tribune? Let us know by emailing feedback@dental-tribune.com. We look forward to hearing from you! If you would like to make any change to your subscription (name, address or to opt out) please send us an email at c.maragh@dental- tribune.com and be sure to include which publication you are referring to. Also, please note that subscription changes can take up to six weeks to process. HYGIENE TRIBUNE Publisher & Chairman Torsten Oemus t.oemus@dental-tribune.com President & Chief Executive Officer Eric Seid e.seid@dental-tribune.com Group Editor Kristine Colker k.colker@dental-tribune.com Editor in Chief Dental Tribune Dr. David L. Hoexter feedback@dental-tribune.com Editor in Chief Hygiene Tribune Patricia Walsh, RDH feedback@dental-tribune.com Managing Editor Robert Selleck r.selleck@dental-tribune.com Managing Editor Fred Michmershuizen f.michmershuizen@dental-tribune.com Managing Editor Sierra Rendon s.rendon@dental-tribune.com Product/Account Manager Humberto Estrada h.estrada@dental-tribune.com Product/Account Manager Will Kenyon w.kenyon@dental-tribune.com Product/Account Manager Maria Kaiser m.kaiser@dental-tribune.com Business Development Manager Travis Gittens t.gittens@dental-tribune.com EDUCATION Director Christiane Ferret c.ferret@dtstudyclub.com Accounting Coordinator Nirmala Singh n.singh@dental-tribune.com Tribune America, LLC 116 West 23rd Street, Suite 500 New York, NY 10011 Phone (212) 244-7181 Published by Tribune America © 2015 Tribune America, LLC All rights reserved. Tribune America strives to maintain the utmost ac- curacy in its news and clinical reports. If you find a factual error or content that requires clarification, please contact Managing Editor Robert Selleck at r.selleck@dental-tribune.com. Tribune America cannot assume responsibility for the validity of product claims or for typographical errors. The publisher also does not assume respon- sibility for product names or statements made by advertisers. Opinions expressed by authors are their own and may not reflect those of Tribune America. Editorial Board Dr. Joel Berg Dr. L. Stephen Buchanan Dr. Arnaldo Castellucci Dr. Gorden Christensen Dr. Rella Christensen Dr. William Dickerson Hugh Doherty Dr. James Doundoulakis Dr. David Garber Dr. Fay Goldstep Dr. Howard Glazer Dr. Harold Heymann Dr. Karl Leinfelder Dr. Roger Levin Dr. Carl E. Misch Dr. Dan Nathanson Dr. Chester Redhead Dr. Irwin Smigel Dr. Jon Suzuki Dr. Dennis Tartakow Dr. Dan Ward INDUSTRY NEWS When I returned home from my holi- day, I read an article in my local newspa- per about a medical app that lets patients schedule their own appointments online. Patients also could fill out registration forms and verify insurance acceptance. While the concept seemed great, the $250-per-month, per-doctor price tag did not. I decided to investigate further. Another app offered a starting price of about $40 a month with each individual staff member an added $10. The more costly application offered real-time ap- pointment slots with computer integra- tion, enabling patients to instantly grab the time slot they wished. Patients aren’t seeing your entire schedule, just a short list of available appointments. A patient in pain will drive a long ways if it means being seen that same day or on a Saturday. These applications seem so much easier than surfing through the Yellow Pages and making countless calls. Plus, there is the added stress of guessing if your insur- ance is accepted. During regular business hours, it seems that there is only one “instant-message” of difference between the higher-cost and lower-cost app service: patients directly placing their names into an office sched- uling software system. Unless the recep- tionist is extremely busy, out for lunch, or just not paying attention — I don’t see where there would be much of a time lag between a request for an appointment and a confirmation when comparing Everseat and ZocDoc. “ WILLIAMSBURG, page B1 In terms of hygienists working on com- mission, they are typically tethered to their cell phone and prefer to be the sin- gle “point of contact.” Regardless of the pay structure, hygienists with too many holes in their schedule run the risk of los- ing office hours. While ZocDoc may en- able a patient flying in from Singapore to schedule and confirm an appointment at 2 a.m., when an office is closed, I doubt this particular app would have a big edge over Everseat to “get the patient seen sooner.” Also, while my knowledge of computing is minimal, it seems to me some programs may offer less of a chance for a dental of- fice computer to become hacked or poten- tially infected with a subscriber’s virus. Internet security questions will be preva- Left, in Colonial times, if you had a tooth that needed to be pulled and there was no doctor in town, you went to the barber (despite a royal decree against it), whom, if you were a well-to-do young woman, could also shave your head for a wig fitting. Above, poppies bloom in Williamsburg this summer. lent as more and more scheduling apps become available. Most of the scheduling apps have a dropdown menu for medical or dental specialties. I liked the Everseat presenta- tion that allows for the bio and photo of the hygienist to be added separately from the dentist’s information. On one of the sites, a dropdown search yielded the word “Dysport’ under specialties. Still being in “dental-think” mode, my immediate re- action was “what the heck is dysport? One of those new multicolored mouthguards for hockey players?” I am now taking great delight in the fact that I am not old enough to be familiar with every popular facial filler available at the dermatologist. Having the name of your practice vis- ible for the tech-savvy patient has be- come increasingly important. It needs to be either in a search-engine return for the prospective patient or a convenient download application for the established patient. Wouldn’t it make sense to have your “appointment-app” logo highly vis- ible while patients are tap-tap-tapping onto their cell phone in the waiting room? Tech attracts tech. I would even add the app symbol to all print advertising and the office website. Having a dental office website with an “appointment-request” option is not the same as merely clicking onto a visible available-appointment time. Many hospitals are already starting to offer this app option. It’s just a matter of timebeforedentistryofferspatients more control over their appointment slots. A patient cell phone app in the pipeline is being developed by LocalMed.com. Ac- cording to its website, “59 percent of GenY respondents said they would switch doc- tors for one with better online access.” A “schedule-now” widget by LocalMed gives your office website direct integration with Eaglesoft or Dentrix. Patients also can use this widget to schedule appointments through insur- ance company dentist directories. Cur- rent cost is $99 a month for two providers. Following are brief descriptions of a few other reliable medical apps that might be of interest to dental professionals. Most are free from iTunes. • BetterDoctor (BetterDoctor.com) may not support making appointments on- line, but it does give you the option of Yelp reviews and supports “location finder” on cell phones. According to the BetterDoctor website, “No-show rates for same-day appointments are half that for appoint- ments made three weeks in advance.” • The Medvana app (Medvana.com) Ad ” See WILLIAMSBURG, page B4

Hygiene Tribune U.S. Edition

Pages Overview