PSDS Solutions - News and Articles

Is Your Dental Practice Losing Patients?

noreply@blogger.com ('Making a Difference') — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 06:24:00 +0000

How to prevent Patient drift

As a Dental Practice owner, you are dependant on the size of your Patient list and their loyalty, but all too often Practices lose sight of the very causes of Patient drift and eventual loss. As part of our Practice Review Process we specialise in identifying and rectifying the causes of Patient drift and put the necessary processes in place to check the loss, and attract lapsed Patients back in conjunction with the acquisition of New Patients. Our aim is always to improve your profit, well in excess of any investment you make in us.

We invite you to take a look at our website to see the range of services we offer and the ways in which we could help you. Why not download our Free Report – ‘Is Your Dental Practice Losing Patients?’ available from our Home Page. You may be surprised at the adverse financial impact losing Patients has on the average Dental Practice, but effective solutions are available that will rectify this trend.

Visit us at http://www.psds-solutions.com/ to find out more.

Why using 084 Telephone Numbers could be a barrier to your business

noreply@blogger.com ('Making a Difference') — Thu, 05 May 2011 12:56:00 +0000

Selecting the wrong phone system provider could be a very costly mistake:

“Pitfalls – What you need to know”

Looking for a new telephone system for a Dental Practice can be a daunting task especially with the number of communication companies vying for your business. Finding the right service provider is vitally important if you are going to reap the potential rewards on offer. Even small Practices can promote a big Practice presence by choosing a system that is right for their needs.

You should be able to offer delay free access to your Practice via the telephone at the local geographic call rate. It is vital that an appropriate number of incoming and outgoing lines are available to handle all your call requirements. Delivery of strategic marketing and Practice information messages, designed to promote treatment and services offered, is paramount.

Having visited many Dental Practices we have become concerned at the apparent miss-selling of unsuitable phone systems that has not benefited the Practice or enhanced the Patient experience. Furthermore, the financial cost and contractual obligations of such systems, is proving to be a mill stone around the neck of many Practices for which there appears to be no escape.

We have all heard the well used phrase ‘If it sounds too good to be true then it probably is’ well this is certainly the case for some of the supposed benefits being promoted by at least one Telecommunications Company offering their services to GP and Dental Surgeries.

You will be asked to change to a 0844 number for which it is said callers will be charged a local geographic call rate based on BT charges, but in addition they will also be charged a connection fee of over 2 pence. Furthermore, callers with free landline call packages will find that 0844 and 0845 number is excluded so higher charges will apply. This is also true of mobile phone accounts for which the call rates are considerably higher. All in all, callers do not benefit from this service, as they will in many cases, be paying higher charges.

It is worth noting that NHS Practices cannot make profit from calls, but a percentage of call charges is used to offset the cost of the equipment thereby getting around this regulation, but what does the equipment actually cost? You will be offered the chance to lease the system over an extended period to reduce the monthly cost and this could be for as much as 7 years. It is worth noting that a 7 year contract on electrical equipment is too long given the operational life of such devices and the speed with which developments in technology occur. Comparing the cost of equipment to other providers you may be very surprised at just how much it will cost you in the end. We would suggest that you may be paying premium rates for average but functional technology. Remember that at the end of the leasing period unless otherwise specified, you will not own the equipment.

The contractual cost of using an 0844 number is excessive and like the equipment contract, getting out of it, is extremely difficult and costly. It is a legal obligation of the seller to inform the customer that they are entitled to cancel their contract within a 14 day cooling off period, but examination of some contracts have established that this clause is missing.

If you elect to use the financial services of a leasing company the purchaser must also be offered a 14 day cooling off period, and the contract must clearly show the interest rate and actual interest being applied to the agreement. Once again this mandatory requirement is not always followed so you may not know exactly how much the system will cost you over the life of the contract.

Finally the last thing any Practice wants is an increase in complaints from Patients who have been unable to get through or have been on hold for excessive periods at their cost. Having the wrong phone system will without doubt damage your Patient experience and you’re hard earned reputation, so remember, ‘Buyer Beware’. Test the market before rushing into a contract that you will later deeply regret, but the good news is there are good ethical Communication Companies out there offering solutions to match your Practice needs and budget.

Communication must be regarded as one of the most important aspects of any Dental Practice and should be given the fullest consideration it deserves. It provides the opportunity to make that all important first positive impression, that can make the difference between success and failure.

If you would like any help or guidance on this or any other business issues please contact us via our website at:

http://www.psds-solutions.com/contact/contact.asp

Data Protection Act

noreply@blogger.com ('Making a Difference') — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 10:44:00 +0000

What Dental Practice Management need to know about the Data Protection Act

'Are you Compliant or at Risk?'

In today’s Healthcare Sector, there has never been more pressure on Dental Practices to continually adapt to the ever-changing demands of the industry, including the provision of services, operational infrastructure, financial management and legal compliance. It is therefore little wonder, that some areas of vital operational and legal importance get overlooked.

Data Protection is one such area and like many other business sectors which gather, retain and use personal information, Practitioners often fail to register as Data Controllers under the Data Protection Act 1998, and those that do, may be failing to implement suitable Policy and Procedures or comply with the eight principles of the Act. The penalties for failing to register or comply with the provisions of the Act can be severe resulting in criminal prosecution and large financial penalties being imposed.

The Data Protection Act 1998 gives individuals the right to know what information is held about them. It provides a framework to ensure that personal information is handled properly. The Act works in two ways. Firstly, it states that anyone who possesses personal information must comply with the eight principles, which ensure that personal information is:

Fairly and lawfully processed
Obtained only for specified and lawful purposes and further processed only in a compatible manner
Adequate, relevant and not excessive
Accurate and up-to-date
Not kept for longer than is necessary
Processed in accordance with the rights of the data subjects
Kept secure
Not transferred to other Countries without adequate protection

The Second area covered by the Act provides individuals with important rights, including the right to find out what personal information is held on a computer and most paper records.

Where an individual or organisation believe they are being denied access to any personal information they are entitled to view, or feel their information has not been handled in accordance with the said principles, they can refer to the Information Commissioner’s Office for help. Complaints are usually dealt with informally, but if this is not possible, enforcement action can be taken.

All Dentists who keep personal information on a computer or computer network must notify the Information Commissioner and comply with the Data Protection Act 1998. These principles establish standards of procedures to protect an individual against misuse, unauthorised access, unauthorised disclosure, inaccuracy and loss of the computerised personal information held. These principles must also be observed by holders of manual (paper based) records.

Practices need to notify the Information Commissioner if their records include:

Patient databases and recall systems
Patient health care information (including details of dental care and treatment)
Personal staff data which is used for any purpose other than calculating payrolls, pensions and accounts (for example, sick leave records)

When examining the application of the Data Protection Act in your Practice consideration should be given to the following points:

It is a criminal offence to process personal data on a computerised systemwithout being registered under the Data Protection Act
All Practice staff must be aware of the need for strict Patient confidentiality
Data must not be disclosed to third parties without prior Patient consent
Only registered data users/staff may access the stored data
Data entries should be logged, with individual passwords allocated to staff
The computer system should have a full audit trail facility which prevents data being accidentally deleted or tampered with
Adequate back-up records must be maintained in case of accidental destruction
The back-up copies must be stored in a secure and fire-proof container
Practices should have policies covering information security, data protection and confidentiality
Retention of Patient records must be managed in accordance with the Act. See BDA website for guidance
Other data should be kept for as long as is necessary for its intended purpose

We would recommend that Practice Principals examine their current Data Protection arrangements including Policy and Procedures and address any compliance issues in a timely manner. Don’t adopt an 'Out of sight out of mind' approach because you could end up 'Out of pocket or out of business'.

If you would like any help or guidance on this or any other business issues please contact us via our website at: http://psds-solutions.com/contact/contact.asp

Getting The Best From Your Practice Database

noreply@blogger.com ('Making a Difference') — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 17:06:00 +0000

Dental Patient Management

As with all businesses providing services to the Public the Patient Base of a Practice sits at the very core of the business, but all too often effective management of this vital data resource is lacking or even absent. Where Dental Practices continue to struggle to maintain their competitive advantage, information becomes the vital component. Understanding the relationship between data sets and how they interrelate to provide real-time visibility enabling better decision making, higher process efficiencies and tighter overall financial controls must be a Key objective.

In today’s technology driven world it is somewhat surprising to see so many Practices still operating fully paper-based Patient records systems. When the reasons are probed there is a strong perception that change will put the business at risk, staff will not be able to cope with the technology and cost benefits will not be realised. However, the reality is that paper-based Practices suffer from limited data visibility, analysis is very time consuming and often inaccurate, if indeed it is ever undertaken, and the overall financial value of a Practice is reduced. It is also worth noting that in the event of a disaster such as a serious fire where paper records are destroyed, in most cases the business would be exposed to a potentially catastrophic failure.

Without doubt those Practices who operate computer driven Patient Database Systems have the advantage over paper-based organisations. With so many proprietary systems on the market it is important that the right choice is made based on Practice requirements. As it will undoubtedly involve a significant financial investment it is paramount that the right decision is made, but what are the considerations that will ultimately lead to your final choice?

Here are some of the Key areas for consideration;

• Reputation of the Vendor – We all like to choose service providers and products based on reputation, but always consider, quality of service or product, price, technical support and acceptable response time

• Cost of System licences – The more computers the greater the cost. Does the vendor offer a charging cap on the number of licence fees payable i.e. above a certain number any additional licences are free?

• Will you have to pay for future system releases, not to be confused with service packs and bug fixes etc? Many vendors charge for new version releases thereby introducing significant additional costs to those clients wishing to upgrade, but what benefits will you be getting?

• Reliability of software – Does the software have a history of stable operation, is it crash free with minimal software bugs? Another point worth considering, is has the software package been built on an older legacy system with cosmetic changes that still retains some of the inherent issues

• Functionality of software including data interrogation, analysis and report generation – This is crucial since the software package will become your most important management tool

• Data Security and Backup – A critically important process that must be without question reliable at all times

Hardware specification, cost, installation and support – When the hardware specification and installation is arranged by the Software Vendor does it meet existing and future requirements? Under specification is very common and nearly always results in performance issues and additional costs to the customer. Don’t forget to factor in hardware support costs?

End user experience including training – When introducing a new software solution to a Practice albeit to replace a manual paper process or an existing Patient system, any stress to end-users should be minimal. The scope and quality of user training undertaken by the provider must result in appropriate levels of competency being delivered. To assist this process consider your needs and questions prior to training

Technical Support performance – A test of any Vendor is the client’s accessibility to help and speed of issues resolution. You will always get through to Sales, but can you get through to technical Support without a long wait? Is support UK based or overseas?

Having chosen a system, implementation must be supported by a clear project plan including training. To ensure optimum performance with trusted data, regular data maintenance including accuracy checks must be undertaken as this will ensure that you have the best information on which to base business decisions. The true values are contained in the ability to measure and manage the patient base activity, growth, revenue generation, financial forecasting and future business planning. Now your Practice can become pro-active instead of reactive.

If you would like any help or guidance on this or any other business issues please contact us via our website at: http://psds-solutions.com/contact/contact.asp