Case Study: How Dr. Joseph Digitized His Family’s Dental Practice
Today, electronic health records (EHRs) play a pivotal role in most dental practices, creating efficient workflows that keep staff and patients happy. However, as recently as 2017, 48% of offices weren’t using digital patient files, according to a study in Clinical Medicine & Research.
Paper-based systems can be incredibly time-consuming and tedious for office staff to sort through and manage, contributing to long waits for patients, among other problems. When Orthodontist Dr. Spencer Joseph noticed these issues in his family’s practice, he knew they needed to modernize.
The Challenges of Reinventing
After serving four years in the U.S. Army Dental Corps as the officer in charge (OIC) of the Marshall Dental Clinic, Dr. Joseph began orthodontic training at Howard University College of Dentistry. Upon graduating, he joined his father’s practice, Braces on 10, in Metro Detroit. However, they were still using physical charts and multiple disparate software systems. The antiquated processes and legacy software that persisted not only impacted the productivity and efficiency of office staff, but the patients also noticed the slow workflows.
As soon as Dr. Joseph noticed that there was an issue, he started asking patients about their experiences and listening to their complaints online and in person. The biggest thing that stood out were the long wait times and unanswered phone calls. When front desk staff became overwhelmed with calls, manual appointment scheduling and taking payments, patients were often left sitting in the waiting room. He also looked at the numbers and found a surprising 38% of patients missed their appointments because they didn’t have reminders.
Dr. Joseph knew that implementing the changes necessary for patient satisfaction required an automated digital solution. After trying two tools that didn’t do the job, he landed on Sensei Cloud, from Carestream Dental— a powerful practice management software designed by and for dental professionals.
How Sensei Cloud Enabled Dr. Joseph’s Digital Transformation
Sensei Cloud allowed Dr. Joseph to meet the rising patient demands by streamlining his practice’s workflows and removing the element of human error. The user-friendly interface is also highly intuitive, which made implementation and training fast and easy for his practice. From online booking to payment and insurance verification, Sensei has enabled Dr. Joseph to completely reinvent his father’s practice.
According to him, Sensei Cloud “checked all the boxes” with:
- Automated appointment reminders
- Two-way communication
- A digital payment platform
- Electronic charts and records
- Workflow and scheduling tools
- Easy and secure file sharing
With this truly cloud-based solution, Dr. Joseph can now access his schedule and view operations from anywhere and at any time — a critical capability when patients have emergencies and call in at all hours of the day. For day-to-day operations, he can template and color-code workflows to keep everything running smoothly. Sensei also enables Dr. Joseph to send personalized content and information to follow up with patients after treatment.
But the best thing about Sensei Cloud, according to Dr. Joseph, is that “it’s
always growing… every week there are updates and new changes based on user feedback.”
Want to learn more about a powerful digital solution with Sensei Cloud? Request a demo today and see how you can eliminate paper processes.