The Calm Before the Storm

As your office is learning the new normal when it comes to scheduling and seeing patients, you may find that you are not seeing as many patients as you were prior to the COVID-19 virus. This may be due in part to scheduling appointments at a reduced capacity and that patients may not be ready to proceed with elective dental treatment yet. 

This could be considered the calm before the storm. We know that your practice will get back to normal capacity at some point, but in the meantime, this could be an opportune time to re-train your staff while you are less busy. 

Here are some areas that you can concentrate on when it comes to re-training your staff:

Chart Review

Whether you have your team enter patient information in Dentrix or in a paper chart, it’s always a good idea to review that information prior to their appointment. Your staff may need a refresher on what to look for when doing chart reviews. Here are some ideas of things to look for while reviewing charts: 

• Patient health conditions like pre-medication requirements, blood thinners, or drug allergies
• Outstanding balances
• Unscheduled treatment plans
• Overdue continuing care, including X-rays

Inter-Office Communication

Reviewing the way the team communicates with each other and with the doctor is an area that often needs improvement.  Having a morning meeting or daily huddle can start the team on the right foot for the day by knowing where the entire team needs to be, when they need to be there, and why.

Reviewing, understanding, and using patient route slips can help to communicate patient treatment needs between the front and back office.

Make sure the whole team knows how the doctor likes to be communicated with. Some doctors like short and concise explanations regarding patients, while some doctors prefer more detailed explanations. 

Verbiage and Scripts

Now would be a great time to remind your staff of the words and phrases your office prefers to use when speaking to patients. Take the time to review and update any phone scripts you are using in the practice. After experiencing time away from the office due to shutdowns and quarantines, some of this preferred speech may have been forgotten. 

Investing some time now to re-train your team while the office is slower than usual will help your practice to operate more smoothly once you are busy and at full capacity again. If you have questions on these topics, e-mail me at vectordentalconsulting@gmail.com.

Charlotte Skaggs, Certified Dentrix Trainer

Charlotte Skaggs is the founder of Vector Dental Consulting LLC, a practice management firm focused on taking offices to the next level. Charlotte co-owned and managed a successful dental practice with her husband for 17 years. She has a unique approach to consulting based on the perspective of a practice owner. Charlotte has been using Dentrix for almost 20 years and is a certified Dentrix trainer. Contact Charlotte at vectordentalconsulting@gmail.com.

Adding COVID-19 Tracking Protocols to the Appointment Checklist

If your office has re-opened, you’ve probably established a protocol for screening patients for COVID-19 prior to their appointment. Using the Appointment Check List in Dentrix would be a good way to communicate to your team that the screening protocol you have in place has been completed for each patient with an appointment. 

The Appointment Checklist is found at the bottom of the Appointment Information window of each appointment. It is a customizable checklist that can be used to communicate details about the patient’s appointment to the rest of the team. You can customize the items that appear in the Checklist from the Office Manager > Maintenance > Practice Setup > Definitions. 

Select Appointment Checklist from the Definition Type drop down list, type the Definition Text as you want it to appear on the Appointment Checklist, then select Add.  You can have up to 12 items included in the Appointment Checklist.

Here are some ideas of items you may want to include on your Appointment Check List:

• If you are taking patients’ temperatures in order to screen them for COVID-19 prior to their appointment, “Temperature Taken” may be a good item to add to the Appointment Check List. When your front office checks the patient in for their appointment, they can take the patient’s temperature, and check the corresponding box on the Appointment Check List to indicate that it has been done. Then, they can change the appointment's status to Ready for Operatory. This will indicate to your clinical staff that the patient's temperature has been taken, that they have been cleared, and they are ready to be taken to the operatory.
• Another item you could add to the Appointment Check List is “COVID-19 Questionnaire”. Many offices are having patients fill out a questionnaire to find out if patients have been exposed to the virus. You can find an example of a patient COVID-19 screening form in the America Dental Association Return to Work Kit by clicking HERE. By adding the COVID-19 Questionnaire item to the Appointment Check List, you can easily indicate to your team that the questionnaire has been completed. Completed forms can be stored in the Questionnaires module or scanned and saved in the patient’s Document Center, depending on where your office keeps patient forms. 
• Some offices are having patients sign a consent form or release to be seen in the office. “Consent Signed” may be another item to add to your Appointment Check List. Create a consent form for patients to sign (either digitally or on paper) and then save these forms in the patient’s Document Center.

By customizing the Appointment Check List, you can communicate important details about the patient to the rest of your team in order to prepare them. Using the Appointment Check List can help streamline your COVID-19 screening and patient check-in process for your practice. 

If you have questions on this topic, please email me at vectordentalconsulting@gmail.com.

Charlotte Skaggs, Certified Dentrix Trainer

Charlotte Skaggs is the founder of Vector Dental Consulting LLC, a practice management firm focused on taking offices to the next level. Charlotte co-owned and managed a successful dental practice with her husband for 17 years. She has a unique approach to consulting based on the perspective of a practice owner. Charlotte has been using Dentrix for almost 20 years and is a certified Dentrix trainer. Contact Charlotte at vectordentalconsulting@gmail.com.

Charging for PPE: What You Need to Set Up in Dentrix

Now that many offices have re-opened, some are charging a fee for the additional personal protective equipment that is required to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The American Dental Association has suggested the use of the procedure code D1999 to charge for this additional PPE*.

If your practice decides to use this code, here are some things you can do in Dentrix to make using it a little easier.

Edit the Procedure Code

First you will need to edit the procedure code and attach a fee for the code in the Procedure Code Editor in the Office Manager. Select code D1999 from the Preventive category and click Edit. You can then change the description and abbreviated description for the code to “PPE.” You can also edit the fee in this dialog box as well. The fee you will charge for PPE should be determined by your practice owner based on the cost of additional PPE items, such as PPE gowns, face shields, shoe coverings, an oral rinse, and so forth. Although it varies by state and area, I’ve seen the D1999 charge for PPE range from $10-$25.

If you aren’t planning to bill the code to dental insurance, or if you don’t expect insurance to pay and you want to have patients pay this expense, you can select Do Not Bill to Dental Insurance within the procedure code setup, and Dentrix will include the fee in the patient portion of charges.

Add the Code to Initial Reasons for Appointments

Adding the code to the Initial Reasons box makes it quick and easy to add it to an appointment. The Initial Reasons box is available within the Appointment Information dialog box and typically includes commonly scheduled procedures like a prophy or bitewing X-rays. You can edit the procedures that appear as options to choose from in the Initial Reasons box in the Office Manager. Click Maintenance > Practice Setup > Definitions.

In the Definition Type drop-down list, select Appointment Reasons. Add procedure code D1999 and in the Definition Text field, give the code a name that will make sense to the team. This could be as simple as "PPE." Click Add, and the code will then be easily accessible to add to each appointment along with the procedures the patient is coming in for. Then be sure to train your staff to add the D1999 code to every appointment.

Create a Custom Claim Remark (Narrative) to Add to Claims

If you plan to bill D1999 to insurance for patients, you can create a custom narrative template you can access from the Remarks for Unusual Services block on the insurance claim. Click Claim Remarks and select the PPE template to add the narrative to each claim.

Create Custom Clinical Notes

If you use clinical note templates in the Patient Chart, you can create a new template where you describe the additional use of PPE due to COVID-19. This will support your office charging a fee for additional PPE. Make sure that staff is trained to add this new clinical note for patients that have the fee charged on their appointment.

Charging patients and their dental insurance for the cost of additional PPE can help to offset the expense your office has incurred to purchase these items. The suggestions above can help you to set up Dentrix to make this process more streamlined. If you have questions please email me at vectordentalconsulting@gmail.com.

*Please consult the laws and regulations in your state for guidance on charging for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and other COVID-19 related costs and particularities. You should not rely upon the material or information provided by HS1 as a basis of making any decisions without the proper legal or other professional advice specific to your situation as needed.

Charlotte Skaggs, Certified Dentrix Trainer

Charlotte Skaggs is the founder of Vector Dental Consulting LLC, a practice management firm focused on taking offices to the next level. Charlotte co-owned and managed a successful dental practice with her husband for 17 years. She has a unique approach to consulting based on the perspective of a practice owner. Charlotte has been using Dentrix for almost 20 years and is a certified Dentrix trainer. Contact Charlotte at vectordentalconsulting@gmail.com.

Improvements to Passwords in Dentrix G7.3

Your practice may be considering hiring new staff or reassigning job responsibilities among your existing team. Dentrix G7.3 Update 1 has improved password features that can make managing these types of staff changes easier.

Here some of the new features in Passwords that I like and how I think they can benefit your practice.

Password Permission Templates

One new feature is the ability to set up templates for password permissions. I would suggest setting up a template for each job classification: Hygienist, Assistant, Front Desk, Office Manager, Practice Owner, Associate Doctor, etc.

For example, set up a template for your hygienists. Assign all of the rights a hygienist should have access to in Dentrix, and then, once the template is set up, you can easily assign those same password permissions to additional hygienists on the team using the template.

Set up password permission templates for each job classification in your practice, and if you hire a new team member, you can assign their password permissions based on their job title without having to take the time to select each permission.

Set Password Expiration

Another feature is the option to set password expiration for individual users. This will be useful for when you want staff to have to change their password at next log in.

Password Rights Navigation

Password rights are much easier to navigate than they were in previous versions because you are now able to sort by selecting a column of information. This is helpful if you are searching for a particular permission, such as "Appointments, Delete." You can sort columns of information by the Selected, Category, and Description column headings. You also have the option to search for a permission by typing in a search bar. 

Select/Deselect Multiple Permissions At Once

Another feature I like is the option to Select All or Clear All from a category. This is useful when you want to quickly remove all permissions in a category that a team member doesn’t need access to. For example, your hygienist and assistant may not have the need to access the Billing and Collections set of permissions.

View Password Administrators

And finally, in Dentrix G7.3, you can clearly see which users are listed as administrators. This is important because you should limit who is considered an administrator within the Passwords module. I would recommend that only the practice owner and the office manager be listed as administrators. This is for your practice’s protection because administrators can change password permissions.

I’m excited about the improvements in the Password module in Dentrix G7.3 because it will make password permissions easier to assign and manage. I also love the new layout because I find it clearer and more user friendly.

If you have questions about the topic, email me at vectordentalconsulting@gmail.com.


Charlotte Skaggs, Certified Dentrix Trainer

Charlotte Skaggs is the founder of Vector Dental Consulting LLC, a practice management firm focused on taking offices to the next level. Charlotte co-owned and managed a successful dental practice with her husband for 17 years. She has a unique approach to consulting based on the perspective of a practice owner. Charlotte has been using Dentrix for almost 20 years and is a certified Dentrix trainer. Contact Charlotte at vectordentalconsulting@gmail.com.