Office Management

[dentheartthrob]

Hi, I'm just curious to know if there are dentists out there that would use Microsoft office softwares such as excel to run their practices, instead of the heavily favored and pricey ones like Patterson?...

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[Mackerel]

Why use excel? I know of a dentist that saves more money by using paper spreadsheets and an abacus. He has the fee schedules tattooed on his wrist. He also sends in his insurance claims by horse-mounted messenger.

Open Dental is cheap.

 

[dentheartthrob]

Why use excel? I know of a dentist that saves more money by using paper spreadsheets and an abacus. He has the fee schedules tattooed on his wrist. He also sends in his insurance claims by horse-mounted messenger.

Open Dental is cheap.

you talk as if you know what you are talking about....seriously, mastery of an excel spread sheet, provides many functions one can incorporate, if one is so inclined to do so. The reason why I am asking is because the clinic Im working at uses a Patterson software from which i see scheduling of the patients, profile of the patients (address, insurance, some personal information....etc. etc.), and probably some other stuff....I was at Fry electronics this morning, and I scan through an excel 2007 book which highten my curiousity if a dental clinic can be run by using Microsoft Office applications, just a thought though.

 

[DrJeff]

The biggest advantage to using one of the major practice management softwares hands down is the integration it offers. I use Kodak's Softdent in my practice, and with that 1 program, it handles, my patient records (x-rays included), scheduling, billing (both e-claims submissions to insurance companies, self pay, and third party finance company payments), back records(billing statements, proceddures done, missed appontments), form letters for missed appointments, missed work/school excuses, referral letters, as well as entire practice indicator calculations just a mouse click away (production/collections over any interval for any or all billing providers from the 1st day I started using softdent, hourly productions by provider, etc, etc etc.

Could you get away with just something like excel, sure, but then you'd end up with another program for scheduling, a different one for e-calims submissions, etc. The major practice management programs just integrate all you need to run your practice into one program that very often includes real good tech support to boot!

 

[dentheartthrob]

The biggest advantage to using one of the major practice management softwares hands down is the integration it offers. I use Kodak's Softdent in my practice, and with that 1 program, it handles, my patient records (x-rays included), scheduling, billing (both e-claims submissions to insurance companies, self pay, and third party finance company payments), back records(billing statements, proceddures done, missed appontments), form letters for missed appointments, missed work/school excuses, referral letters, as well as entire practice indicator calculations just a mouse click away (production/collections over any interval for any or all billing providers from the 1st day I started using softdent, hourly productions by provider, etc, etc etc.

Could you get away with just something like excel, sure, but then you'd end up with another program for scheduling, a different one for e-calims submissions, etc. The major practice management programs just integrate all you need to run your practice into one program that very often includes real good tech support to boot!

Thank you for your mature response.

 

[setdoc7]

Thank you for your mature response.

DrJeff is right. If Excel worked we would all use it. Softdent is an excellent software package and very user friendly. I have it in my office for years. We recently purchased Discus for the clinic in my hospital...not as user friendly, but needed this sysem due to # of providers it serves.

 

[Daurang]

You'll learn quickly that you'll be massively overcharged for everything simply because you're a dentist so it's usually worth it to shop around. You must be viligant in controlling costs in all phases of dentistry or you'll be drowned in debts.

Last year Patterson offered me their Eaglesoft for "free" IF I just pay $3600 for training and technical support. I searched and found Perfectbyte for $69 on ebay, which I taught my frontdesk to use in 10 minute and works flawlessly. I have considered Excel but it's pretty useless.

I just ordered 2 Liters of dental compressor oil (jun-air js27) and was billed $485! I called Schein to tell them it must be a price mistake because synthetic motor oil is only $10 bucks and they said no. I found it for $110 from a non-dental vendor, still too much, so I'll look around some more.

When I built my practice in 2000, Schein charged me $1000 for a small stainless steel sink cabinet, the exact same one that you can get at home Home Depot for $30. I cancelled all the dental cabinets and have my builder installed sinks and shelves from Home Depot as part of the construction cost. It looked the same and worked the same and saved $30K.

Quickbooks payroll is the only one I haven't found a cost-saving alternative to. They charge $169 annually plus a forced upgrade extortion fee of $200 every 3 years.