In Defense of the eDR Industry

Posted on November 3, 2011 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

One Dentist Consultant’s Opinion

By Paul L. Child Jr, DMD, CDT
CR Foundation
3707 North Canyon Road, Building 7
Provo, UT 84604

Three days ago, I shared the email I sent to Dr. Paul Child and Kathleen Noll concerning their claims that electronic dental records offer dentists a return on investment (ROI). Dr. Child responded yesterday.

Darrell K. Pruitt DDS

———————————————

Dear Dr. Pruitt,

Thank you for your recent communication and questions regarding my recent article in Dental Economics, specifically your question: Does the ROI for Practice Management systems include the cost of HIPPA compliancy?

In regards to your communications with QSI, I cannot comment as I do not represent them. Unfortunately, I too am not able to give you the “proof” you are seeking, as I do not have a specific chart nor do I plan on fabricating one to “prove” the efficacy of computers in the dental office (although a controlled study would be interesting, I’m not sure it would be an effective use of funds to prove something that is already proven in every other industry).

However, I will provide you with information from thousands of our readers at CR as well as many more in our lectures worldwide.

The section of the article to which you are referring is under the title of: Practice and patient records management and patient education. Specifically, the paragraph states:

“Implementation of computers into each operatory and throughout the practice is the first and most frequent adoption of digital dentistry. In North America and most developed countries, this has reached the “early majority” stage as all of the criteria for being an advantage have been met. Dentists who have not yet adopted this prerequisite for digital dentistry should do so now! Daily advances and improved software adapted from other industries allow this technology to be affordable, attain the fastest adop¬tion rate, and offer a high return on investment. Current and highly effective systems include Eaglesoft (Patterson), Dentrix (Schein), PracticeWorks (Carestream Dental), and Web-based software such as Curve Dental” (underlines added for emphasis).

Please note that the sentence in which “high return on investment” is mentioned is referring to “advances and improved software adapted from other industries”. As such, other industries (too many to count) have proved without a doubt, the massive improvement in return on investment in the following areas: improved efficiency (eg. Legible records vs. scribbles, or worse off, incomplete records), improved accuracy of records, use of computers for rapid recollection of stored data, rapid recording of data, time savings, standardization, and many more. A brief look at the medical industry and literature (our closest industry – of which we are a part of) can demonstrate the above. In addition, the observations I made are directed to the use of computers in a practice.

Finally, proper implementation of practice and patient management systems can easily improve ROI, via better record taking, accurate financial statements that can be easily generated daily for better practice management, treatment planning with all options, benefits, and risks recorded – then printed for the patient, and most of all – time savings. What is a dentists time worth? My time is priceless (as is most dentists I know). Yes, there are clearly unknown aspects of this digital transformation from paper to digital. Government and controlling organizations may make new rules and regulations that can positively or negatively affect this process.

But, from our observations of thousands of other dentists that have made this transition, very few – if any, would even think about reverting back to paper.

To your question regarding HIPPA compliance, YES, the overall ROI would include even this. HIPPA compliance is still relatively new to many dentists, even though it has existed for years. This compliance in important for all the reasons you already know. As dentistry evolves and new technologies are introduced (and ruling bodies continue to make new rules and regulations), this digital evolution will continue to prove itself an EXCELLENT ROI for today’s and tomorrow’s dentists.

Best regards,

Paul L. Child Jr., DMD, CDT

Conclusion

Your thoughts and comments on this ME-P are appreciated. Feel free to review our top-left column, and top-right sidebar materials, links, URLs and related websites, too. Then, subscribe to the ME-P. It is fast, free and secure.

Speaker: If you need a moderator or speaker for an upcoming event, Dr. David E. Marcinko; MBA – Publisher-in-Chief of the Medical Executive-Post – is available for seminar or speaking engagements. Contact: MarcinkoAdvisors@msn.com

OUR OTHER PRINT BOOKS AND RELATED INFORMATION SOURCES:

Product Details

Filed under: Information Technology, Pruitt's Platform | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments »