Why dentists do that?

[salmon]

Hey guys,
I went to my dentist yesterday and I was surprised by the amount of papers that his assistant has to work with.
For example, I wanted to find out how much money I still have on my insurance and it took her about 10 minutes to calculate it using the price list from my insurance company and a calculator.

I was wondering why dentists don't have everything electronically? I mean all patients profiles, their history, insurance information, etc.
In this case it would take her just 2 seconds to answer my question. Or, for example, to give me the price on some procedure.

As a software engineer, I know that this kind of system is not to hard to build. Why don't dentists use something like that? Is there some sort of regulation preventing it?

 

[Mike2]

For the most part they are frugal and I am being nice. I played with a bunch at the golf outing last Mon.and some of the balls they used were ones I usually hit into the woods for practice.

 

[trianglej]

C'mon Guys, give the Doc a break! If you had to deal with everything that he does you would be a bit more understanding. They have some tough decisions to make on a daily basis like:Should I pay my receptionist more or hire a temp? A BMW with leather seats or cloth? How am I going to pay my Country Club dues and still pay the Lab guy? If that disgruntled patient sues me can I still blame it on the Lab guy?If I pay everyone except the Lab guy this month will he still take cases from me next month? If not, where will I find another Lab guy that will take my abuse? At one time I had heard that Dentists have a high rate of suicide, no wonder with all the stress they encounter!!

 

[Labwa]

Salmon,
In Australia we have a system called HICAPS. most dentists/doctors/physios and any other professional that patients can claim from their health fund have the system.
its like a P.O.S. electronic funds transfer. the patient swipes their card. the operator puts in the cost of an item. take about 30 seconds and they get a refund amount.
its a great way to do things. Although the insurance companies sometimes get a little lazy getting their systems up and running every morning.

 

[salmon]

Salmon,
In Australia we have a system called HICAPS. most dentists/doctors/physios and any other professional that patients can claim from their health fund have the system.
its like a P.O.S. electronic funds transfer. the patient swipes their card. the operator puts in the cost of an item. take about 30 seconds and they get a refund amount.
its a great way to do things. Although the insurance companies sometimes get a little lazy getting their systems up and running every morning.

So this HICAPS system has all the information about different insurance rates, etc?
Doe it also keep the information about my account - history, payments, etc?
I have not seen anything similar in the US - every time they have to check some papers to find out how much exactly my insurance is going to cover specific procedure.

 

[Wyolab]

Many Dentists have records digitized. There are a bunch of software options out there. Henry Schein has one that ties scheduling/insurance/patient treatment documentation/digital x-rays and intraoral photos all together. These systems do make things much more efficient, but none of like change. Your doctor and assistant have probably just been using this method of record keeping since they started working and don't see the benefits of change.

 

[Labwa]

So this HICAPS system has all the information about different insurance rates, etc?
Doe it also keep the information about my account - history, payments, etc?
I have not seen anything similar in the US - every time they have to check some papers to find out how much exactly my insurance is going to cover specific procedure.

They take everything in to account on your refund.
>how much of your Dental fund you have used(for example)
most of our insurance companies limit each service they will pay out over the course of the year.
>the type of services your health fund will refund you for
>what level of cover you have.
the program has flaws though.
if the receptionist puts say
crown
clean
inlay
bleach trays
implant crown

they will get a far less refund then if it was

implant crown
crown
inlay
bleach trays
clean

dont know why but thats how it works.