with Dr. Matthew T. McGuire
Q: What was your motivation for moving toward a paper-free practice using XLDent software?
A: When I took over the office in May 2017, we really wanted to make this improvement to go paperless. I think it is important for patients to realize that the office is being brought into the modern dental age, and I feel it shows a commitment we are making to the practice and our patients.
Q: What improvements have you seen as a result of implementing an electronic dental records system?
A: It gets the information in one place, makes it easier to update patient histories, and allows remote access from home when there is an emergency. It also demonstrates that we are committed to the latest dental technologies for the benefit of our patients, and allows for easier electronic billing and claims processing. Statements are no longer printed and mailed from the office, saving time for our office manager to perform other tasks.
Q: What’s been the coolest thing about using a digital forms system?
A: We are very excited to be getting the online portal for patients to fill out their registrations and their health and dental histories online, and also make payments online. We are also looking forward to removing the thousands of charts from behind the front desk—it will give us extra space and clean up the front desk esthetically.
Q: How important is it that your XLDent software solution is all-inclusive?
A: Software is a big investment that sticks around for years—it is not something that you would want to change very often, if ever. Managing fragmented technologies is no picnic. You don’t want to have x-rays in one place but use another software for charting, etc. The dental software needs to be seamless and convenient to use. We want to simplify the computer hardware requirements of our office, and having to run multiple programs to accomplish these tasks is inefficient and often causes conflicts within the system that create more IT costs.
Q: What advice do you have for a dentist who is considering digitizing practice forms?
A: Do it sooner rather than later and commit to the process. Running dual paper and software systems is inefficient and expensive in terms of time and motion.
