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Practice Management

Discuss anything related to reporting, staff, outcomes, growth, marketing, training, appraisals, team vision and more!

  • 34 Conversations
  • 96 Replies
34 Conversations
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Dentally Ambassador Gold
Anne-Maree SideridesDentally Ambassador Gold
posted in Practice Management
Cancellation policy accepted by patient at booking stage on Dentally Portal

Cancellations have been significantly higher over recent months for us - anecdotally we are hearing the same from colleagues in Aus, I'm sure this can be validated by Dentally also.Cancellations and unutilised time are a challenge for practices to manage. At our practice, we try to be as proactive as possible to prevent issues arising.We are looking into what we can do to improve Cancellation rates - one initiative is to inform patients of our Cancellation policy (that we may take a cancellation fee out of their deposit, if they cancel with short notice - to deter them from cancelling). The ‘deterrant’ effect is important, psychologically, and used by many business across industries.  The difficulty is, as our online bookings are with Dentally, there is nowhere we can display this policy at the stage of booking. Eg "do you consent to our cancellation policy" or something similar.Could we please have this added as an improvement on the Portal for booking, as it could have the potential

314
Saymon
Community Manager
Hebe Lowen
Dentally Team
Hebe LowenDentally Team
asked in Practice Management
🦷 Tools that match your needs - Week Four!

For this week’s Summer School/Winter Workshop, we’re talking about the regional tools that work for you, freeing up your time so you can focus on what matters.For UK/AU users 🇬🇧🇦🇺, it’s all about integrations - the features that support your practice behind the scenes, from faster payments to better reporting. Let us know in the comments which integrations have made your life easier! 👇Read the full integrations blog here 👉 For CA users 🇨🇦, we’re reminding you of the powerful claim management tool, which takes out as much of the manual admin as possible, while ensuring you have everything you need. Check out our blog to see if you’re getting the most out of this handy features, and share your tips below! 👇Check out our CA insurance blog here 👉

130
Hebe Lowen
Dentally Team
C
Enthusiast
clairemEnthusiast
asked in Practice Management
How to search for a referral

Hi, does anyone know if it’s possible to search for a referral that has been sent and is stored on the patients “Referrals” tab. We have received a rejection email for a patient but I can’t locate it on Dentally and would like to be able to search by LAN number. Thanks

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C
Enthusiast
BCDC2023
Savvy Contributor
BCDC2023Savvy Contributor
posted in Practice Management
Patients misusing the online booking system

We went live with our online booking some 6 weeks ago.On average we’re getting only 3-4 online bookings a week despite having the portal link in all our recall emails and reminder emails and mainly from existing NHS patients.  More importantly, we’re seeing a large number of these patients making multiple bookings and failing to turn up for any of the appointments.  Why does the portal allow users to book more than one of the same appointment without warning them to either cancel or rescedule an appointment? There is no feature to switch off online booking for persisten offenders, only an option to prevent further appointments in general (in the patient’s details tab) which is not the same thing as I might be happy for them to call and my staff book them inWhat is the solution here because I can see this becoming an issue as not only are we seeing wasted appointment slots but multiple text msgs which just add up?

913
BCDC2023
Savvy Contributor
S
Enthusiast
Sarah SalisburyEnthusiast
asked in Practice Management
Appointment report when the diary is unavailable

It would be really handy if there was a way of running a report to find any appointments that are booked when the calendar is set to unavailable due to override. For example; we have a clinician who has booked annual leave- so the day is set to unavailable and turns grey. The only way you can find this is by manually searching but if you could run a report it would be much easier.

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S
Enthusiast
A
Savvy Contributor
Ali AfzalSavvy Contributor
asked in Practice Management
Outbound calls

Dentally had a feature of outbound calls, that was very convenient to make calls when other phones are busy but it seems to be discontinued. Is there any plans to bring it back anytime soon?  

331
Hebe Lowen
Dentally Team
A
Enthusiast
ac0569463Enthusiast
asked in Practice Management
NHS claims on the API

I have a question about NHS claims on the API.There are several claim state but do you have a definition of these states by any chance? “The status of the claim new, queued, submitted, completed, error, invalid, received, queried, withdrawn” -  this is from the API docs do you have any definition by any chance? In addition when I query the API for approval_date I always get null values is this normal?Any advice is appreciated!

1118
Saymon
Community Manager
S
Enthusiast
Sarah SalisburyEnthusiast
posted in Practice Management
The new search feature

Would it be possible to update the new search bar…If you input all the information required such as 45mins for a new patient examination with dentist X. if you go to the diary and the patient then can’t do that time etc. If you go to search again you need to re-input all the information. It would be really helpful if it could save your last search.

383
S
Enthusiast
S
Enthusiast
Small but knowing ClownEnthusiast
asked in Practice Management
Payment Allocations

Is there a way to change the payment allocation settings? At present they seem to allocate once the treatment is completed, but I was hoping there could be a way to allocate payments to specific dentists at the time of payment as we have a lot of treatments, Invisalign for example, that can take up to 6+ months and the dentist isn’t getting paid for the treatment until the whole course is complete. It would be nice to be able to filter it monthly. 

331
Saymon
Community Manager
P
Enthusiast
PMTDSEnthusiast
asked in Practice Management
Tracking revenue

How are people please tracking their revenue/the practice position?As far as I am aware there are at least 3 different reports which all give slightly different amounts:Takings Allocated payments InvoicesAs many do, we work to a target each month so it would be really useful to know what other practices do which gives the best overview of practice performance on a monthly basis. Many thanks.

462
RegentStreet85
Community Pro
J
Enthusiast
jw_MDCEnthusiast
asked in Practice Management
[AUS] Unable to do electronic claim on patient, possible bug

Hey Dentally Team,I have encountered a possible bug during my workflow. Patient has booked in online for a recall, paid a deposit. However, when I charged the patient for the account we were unable to do electronic HICAPS claim. I have checked the date of charge and it is correct. There is no bug for the deposit as it is unallocated and it did jump into the invoice.Or if I did something wrong please let me know. Joe

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A
Dentally Team
Annabel
Savvy Contributor
AnnabelSavvy Contributor
asked in Practice Management
Keeping track of referrals.

Good morning All 🌞I would like to know how practices keep track of referrals especially urgent referrals within Dentally. We currently use a custom Wait List but it is a workaround and not efficient.  We would also like to use automated SMS to contact patients 2 or 4 weeks after the referral to confirm that they have been contacted by the specialist. 

391
David Rutherford
Dentally Team
Saymon
Community Manager
SaymonCommunity Manager
asked in Practice Management
How are you customising your Treatment Plan templates? 🤔

Hey everyone! Did you know we’ve recently introduced some exciting updates to make Personal treatment plan templates even more customisable? Now, they’ll retain details like custom pricing, clinical notes, and appointment specifics, all tailored to your exact needs! We’d love to hear how you’ve been using these templates to streamline your charting process. Are there any features you’d like to see added? Let us know how you’re making the most of this update or if you have any ideas for future improvements! 👇 Head over to the blog for more details on the update.

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Saymon
Community Manager
H
Savvy Contributor
Harry LeakSavvy Contributor
asked in Practice Management
Do Dentally have any plans to integrate card details for automatic charging on DNA and late cancellatrions?

I am exploring this as its much easier just to take the payment automatically than trying to do it manually or retrospectively. I know Stripe has this feature but keen to have a system that integrates with the appointment and makes sure there is a card added with details of cancellation policy when they confirm their appointments.Thanks

623
Saymon
Community Manager
Lesley Morgan-Barlow
Community Pro
Lesley Morgan-BarlowCommunity Pro
posted in Practice Management
Chairsyde

Hi Everyone, I’m looking for feedback from anyone using Chairsyde in their practice.specifically:Are your clinicians actively using it during appointments or when treatment planning, and if so how are they finding it? Do patients seem to engage with or benefit from it? Do you audit its usage to track how often it’s being used and its impact?I’d be grateful to hear about your experiences, both the positives and any challenges so I can assess its effectiveness and how best to make use of it in our practices or decide whether it is an unnecessary business expense in my practices!

1352
BCDC2023
Savvy Contributor
BCDC2023
Savvy Contributor
BCDC2023Savvy Contributor
asked in Practice Management
Examples of more complex Dentally automations you have setup

I’d be interested to know some examples of non-standard automations other practices have setup and the rule logic they applied in the settings to get it to work.An example of a few that I have setup include:Missed appointment warning - Automation set to send an email to a patient whose state is DID NOT ATTEND and email them 2 hours afer their missed appointment warning them that essentially 3 strikes and they are off our NHS list if they miss or late cancel (within 48-working hours) 1) their first appointment with us, 2) 2-3 appointments within the last 5 years or 3) a family appointment consisting of 3 or more family members (nearly 45 min of clinic time!)iMOS referral appointments - oral surgery referrals to us where we send them pre-operative instructions for the extractions.  We send this T- 48 hours and again T-12 hours as there are various things the patient needs to do e.g. not drink alcohol, eat several hours before, where to find us etcWould like to know more interesting autom

512
BCDC2023
Savvy Contributor
R
Enthusiast
RobertCEnthusiast
asked in Practice Management
calculating practitioner wages

Hi. What are you using for dentist wages calculations? Is it the practitioner activity report or the payment allocations? We are struggling with errors on the allocation of some treatments and been using practitioner activity. is there a better way to do this?Thanks

944
BCDC2023
Savvy Contributor
David Rutherford
Dentally Team
David RutherfordDentally Team
posted in Practice Management
Perfect Day / Date Rate - how do you zone your diary for success?

With the launch of our new appointment search function, I’m keen to understand how sites are managing diary zones to make sure they're hitting financial goals while seeing patients promptly as well as keeping practitioners happy.I usually stand by the blend of the 3 P’s - Patient, Practitioner & Practice, by taking each into consideration you can achieve the perfect day across your practice.To break down the diary zones into its basic format I normally suggest starting with the below zone groups:- Emergency- Recalls- New Patient consultations- TreatmentI’m keen to understand what other sites are doing to Zone out the diary or what's stopping you from zoning yours out.@Lesley Morgan-Barlow & @Esther Egan I know you both have a great set-ups for making sure each day hits your targeted day rate to ensure success but what does everyone else look at when organising this space? 

2327
BCDC2023
Savvy Contributor
A
Dentally Ambassador Gold
Anne-Maree SideridesDentally Ambassador Gold
asked in Practice Management
Ability to schedule emails or SMSes

Hi team,Having the functionality to schedule an SMS or email to go out at a certain time (particularly SMS) would really help in practice management.We find for example, during business hours, as many people are busy or working they do not reply to our calls or messages sometimes.One of my staff members actually tested the theory and found the “golden hour” for confirming appointments etc is after work hours from 6.30 onwards - hence I’d like to propose the ability to schedule SMS’s especially to go out later - so that staff do not have to stay back to do so, but we can catch patients at the optimal time.Even for things like social media, the 7-8pm and beyond window is one of if not the most active period of the day - reflecting people’s behaviours and ability to take in information at this time of the day. I believe sending out correspondence at this time when people have the time/ability to engage with it would be really effective.

503
BCDC2023
Savvy Contributor
RegentStreet85
Community Pro
RegentStreet85Community Pro
asked in Practice Management
Xero Integration

HiDo Dentaly have any plans to improve the Xero integration?If a site is a single practice it works really well but multi sites who have seperate bank accounts for each practice, it doesnt work for as Dentally sends one massive invoice for the whole business to Xero. Would be nice to have better integration including xero’s invoicing system Tom 

503
Saymon
Community Manager
A
Enthusiast
ac0569463Enthusiast
asked in Practice Management
How to manage membership plans in Dentally?

I want to know what tips people have for managing their membership plans in Dentally including how to keep track of quotas and discounts (not necessarily only through the portal but also keeping track in core Dentally) and also ensuring correct pricing for each plan?

561
K
Enthusiast
Lesley Morgan-Barlow
Community Pro
Lesley Morgan-BarlowCommunity Pro
asked in Practice Management
Elevate Workshops

This is one for the @Dentally team. Are there any plans this year to repeat the Elevate workshops?

651
A
Dentally Team
Emily Bendelow
Savvy Contributor
Emily BendelowSavvy Contributor
asked in Practice Management
Are you explaining your deposits?

We have previously instructed the team to explain all transactions, including deposits, to ensure that incorrect deposits are not linked when a new invoice comes in. However, they are frequently forgetting to unlink and match the deposits to the correct invoices. I would love to hear how you are managing this @Lesley Morgan-Barlowx 

1315
Emily Bendelow
Savvy Contributor
A
Enthusiast
ac0569463Enthusiast
asked in Practice Management
Upgrading plan

Hi, I was thinking of upgrading plan and I was interested to hear experience on lock in e.g is it possible to upgrade from standard to advanced and if I don’t feel the benefits in a few months can I downgrade back to standard easily?

241
Saymon
Community Manager
H
Savvy Contributor
Harry LeakSavvy Contributor
asked in Practice Management
How to customise email signatures

Hi, what are the guidelines for customising email signatures to be more on brand and match that of our main email system, or ideally, will Dentally ever integrate with Office 365.for example as a mail relay so it's all handled in one place?I am keen to tailor the messaging and offers on the patient Comms as we send most of this out through Dentally to existing patients. Thanks 

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A
Dentally Ambassador Gold
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