Why Wait?
Sometimes you just have to have patience and wait until the mail arrives—for things like a letter from the kids at camp or a Christmas present from Grandma. But, in the dental office, waiting for records and X-rays to arrive in the “snail mail” can delay treatment, prolong patient anxiety, and interfere with case acceptance. Practices with digital X-ray technology can use email to send patient records instantly to referring dentists, insurance companies and even patients themselves electronically and securely.
Electronic medical records reach their destination faster, and my software lets me send the forms and the images together,” says Dr. Justin Moody. “With email, the files get to their destination in one neat, electronic package. There are no excuses about lost or delayed mail, or the packet ending up under a pile of other files on someone’s desk.”
As part of the American Reinvestment and Recovery act of 2009, some medical offices received stimulus money this year to adopt electronic medical record systems (EMR) so that they could achieve a “meaningful use” standard. For those who do not meet deadlines EMR implementation by 2015, the government will start to reduce their Medicare reimbursements by 1 percent and continue to increase that percentage incrementally over time. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius noted in her blog, “Electronic health records will provide major technological innovation to our current health care system by allowing doctors to work together to make sure patients get the right care at the right time.”
Sending traditional X-rays by mail takes extra time and effort—to duplicate the film, complete the paper form, find the correct address, make out the envelope, and then, wait for the letter carrier or send a staff member to the post office. Electronic files are sent with the click of a mouse and received instantly and directly. Here’s how simple the function is in DEXIS when sending an FMX as one image (you can send individual images, too):
So remember, it’s ok when that package from Grandma is delayed a few extra days, but when a patient is waiting for information on his/her dental health, there’s just no reason to wait.
Find out more about how DEXIS can create efficiencies in your practice at www.dexis.com.
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