Cliff's Notes

“Why Don’t They Use The Camera” & “Re-Evaluating PPO’s”

Cliff’s Notes for February 23, 2014

Cliff Marsh, Henry Schein ……Cell: 201-321-7494……Fax: 201-262-2210

E-mail: cliff.marsh@henryschein.com

http://www.cliffsnotesblog.me

 http://www.youtube.com/cliffmarsh100

       

The reason we do what we do, is so that we can to do what we want to do, when we want to do it!

It’s a tongue twister, but working as a team and making informed decisions, will get us there.

 

 

“If we don’t change direction soon, we’ll end up where we’re going.”

Prof. Irwin Corey

 

This Week’s Feature on the Cliff’s Notes Channel

“Saliva Check Buffer”

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Over 185 Dental Videos

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In This Week’s Issue

• The Root of It Commentary: No One is Using the $3500.00 Camera!
• Product Review: QuatroCare by Kavo
• The Dentrix Office Manager Blog: Time to Re-Evaluate Your PPO’s
• American Association of Dental Office Managers:  April 4, 2014!
• Dentistry Beyond the Mouth:  Respiratory Disease!
• The Disney Magic of Management: Insights from the Mouse!
• This Week in Dentistry: Market Trends in Dentistry!
• The Henry Schein Outlet Store: Biosonic UC-125

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The Root of It Commentary………………………………………………………………………..

  No One is Using the $3500.00 Camera!

 You spent on the up side of $3000.00 on an intraoral camera that is supposed to pay for its self in 1 month. The problem is that after the first week, it has been sitting in the corner and only used occasionally. That seems to be a common problem in every dental office I walk into. The problem is that most dental offices don’t understand all the advantages of an Intraoral Camera.

A standing rule in every dental office should be that when the doc walks into the room there needs to be one picture on the screen. Have the assistant or hygienist do an “observational exam”. If they see anything out of the ordinary such as gum recession,  a ditched filling, a misaligned tooth or crowding, have them take a picture so it is on the screen “so the doctor can look at it”. It is your decision if treatment is required but now the issue has been planted. The average patient trusts your team member that drives a used Toyota more than you and your BMW. Sorry, but that is a fact.

An intraoral camera is a tool to allow you to show a patient something that concerns you that they cannot see, it is not for diagnostics, it is for communication and education.

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Product Review – QuatroCare by KaVo ………………………………………………………

More than 70% of all handpiece failures are due to insufficient maintenance! KaVo QUATTROcare Plus puts an end to the following:

Time consuming and expensive individual maintenance and handpiece repair

Extensive staff training and complaints

Guesswork and cutting corners

Oily mess

Handpiece repair and maintenance headaches

Clean: Don’t lubricate the debris in your handpieces!

The KaVo QUATTROcare Plus will ensure proper cleaning and removal of debris. The secret: QUATTROcare Plus cleaning and lubrication spray solution. This mixture expands inside the instrument, creating an extremely efficient physical and chemical cleaning.

This is especially important when maintaining electric or air driven high or low speed handpieces. These gear driven attachments include many tiny gears and precision moving parts which cannot be thoroughly cleaned with a pure oil.

However, the expanding QUATTROcare Plus spray is proven to reach and clean every one of those gears and parts with the utmost care. Completely automatic, QUATTROcare Plus significantly reduces the time consuming aspects of maintenance and protects your handpiece investment from routine sterilization and use. For proper cleaning and handpiece care QUATTROcare Plus Spray must be used with the new QUATTROcare Plus.

For more information log onto:

http://www.kavousa.com/US/Other-Products/Maintenance-Systems/QUATTROcare-Plus/Function.aspx

For more information, log onto: http://hu-friedyperformance.com/home/ims-office-setup-tools/

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Dentistry Beyond the Mouth…………………………………………………………………….

Respiratory Disease!

For a long time it was thought that bacteria was the factor that linked periodontal disease to other disease in the body; however, more recent research demonstrates that inflammation may be responsible for the association. Therefore, treating inflammation may not only help manage periodontal diseases but may also help with the management of other chronic inflammatory conditions.

Now this information is nothing new, however, most dental practices continually lose sight of the systemic relationships and fail to educate their patients and screen for “non-dental” health concerns. This protocol should be performed by the dental team and any positive test results should be reported to the patient’s primary care provider.

Every exam should consist of a multitude of screenings. Blood pressure, sugar levels, heart rate, blood oxygen concentration, OSA, oral & neck cancer screening, even digestive issues. Believe it or not, all of this will take about 5 minutes but create such added value to your patient services, the impact on your practice and your patient’s lives will be measurable.

Starting a systemic evaluation protocol in your office is not that difficult, but it does require team training and emotional involvement. As the team leader, the responcability falls on you.

Saliva-Check BUFFER by GC America is a great place to start (http://www.gcamerica.com/products/preventive/Saliva_Check_BUFFER/).  It is a saliva-testing examination tool that is used to educate patients, assist in preventive treatment planning and properly select dental materials in order to initiate changes in the patient’s oral hygiene. This product plays a significant role in maintaining oral health. It identifies, measures and assesses the patient’s saliva condition, which helps determine the body’s possible risk of caries. It is also helpful for testing hydration, salivary consistency, resting saliva pH, stimulated saliva flow, stimulated saliva pH and saliva buffering capacity.

The Saliva-Check BUFFER is ideal for use during routine oral examinations and the cost of implementation can be as low as $7.00/exam. This is a service that can be billed out for $10.00 because it does require a clinical test.

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The Office Manager Blog:…………………………………………………………………………

Time to Re-Evaluate Your PPO’s

The beginning of the year is usually the time where the doctor and team are getting back in the swing of things after vacations and preparing for a new year. With all of the uneasiness in the insurance world, I have had many offices looking to re-evaluate their contracts with PPO insurance companies. But, if you are using your fee schedules and billing out the PPO fee to the patient and not posting adjustments to the ledger, how do you assess the amount of your write-offs? Use the Utilization Report for Dental Insurance.

This report can be found on the Office Manager > Reports> Ledger > Utilization Report for Dental Insurance. This report will give you a total amount that was billed to insurance and compare your PPO fee with your full fee. At th

e end of the report, you will see a net difference, which would be your write-off. The Fee column is your full fee amount being pulled from your full fee schedule and the Co-Pay column is being pulled from the patient’s ledger.

There are a couple of things that will make this report more workable for you — make sure your insurance companies are all spelled the same and make sure you always have a fee listed in your full fee schedule, even if you change it up sometimes. For example, I would name all your Delta Dental of Washington plans with the same name. Don’t have some spelled WDS, while others are labeled as Washington Dental Service or Delta Dental of Washington. The report will let you search with a TO and a FROM and if one insurance plan is spelled different ways, you can’t produce a good report for that plan. Also, make sure all your procedure codes have a fee. Never leave any procedure codes you use with a $0 as this will skew the report.

http://thedentrixofficemanager.blogspot.com/

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Tips from the AADOM……………………………………………………………………………….

  Metropolitan Association of Dental Office Managers!

Next meeting – Friday, April 4, 2014, Englewood Cliffs, NJ / 9:30 AM-12:30 PM

Topics: “Managing the PPO’s” & “Receivables & Collections”.

To register, call: Asteto Dent Lab @ 973-763-1000

February 18^th marks the beginning of the new season for the AADOM Virtual Study Club. The club is open to National AADOM Members Only. Sessions are hosted by Teresa Duncan. To view the full schedule, log onto:

https://secure.confertel.net/tsregister.asp?program=AADOM2014

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The Magic of Management………………………………………………………………………..

In-Sight from the Mouse!  People must feel safe to exchange ideas!

February 11, 2014 by Bruce Jones, Programming Director, Disney Institute

Creativity is critical to an organizations health and vibrancy. Creativity, by definition, requires generating as many ideas and solutions as possible.

However, listen to some of the reasons we hear about why potential contributors do not express their ideas:

“People might think my ideas are stupid.” “I feel Im being judged.”  “Im intimidated by the presence of certain people in the room.” 

Why does this occur? This happens because an organization has not created an environment built on trust where employees believe they can share an idea that will be considered protected without judgment, knowing that they are contributing in a safe environment – one that encourages ideation.

Here is what we have learned: Collaborative, creative processes can only succeed when high levels of trust are present, and where ideas are separate from identity. To illustrate this concept:

To read more and see the video, log onto:

http://disneyinstitute.com/blog/2014/02/how-environment-affects-innovation-/240

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This Week Dentistry: ……………………………………………………………………………….

Market Trends in Dentistry

By Jeffrey R. Lavers

The dental-care system will evolve more in the next 20 years than in the previous 50 years. Failure to change with it will likely spell stagnation for your practice.

Those are the words of American sociologist and futurist John Scholar. As far as I know, he had no professional involvement in the dental industry. However, based upon a report submitted by the American Dental Trade Association (ADTA), his words might just as well have been those of dentists throughout the United States.

Nearly two years ago, we in the ADTA undertook a rigorous study to better understand the market trends for the domestic dental industry. Having now digested nearly every aspect of the study, those of us who are on the product development and manufacturing side have found this report to be objective, illuminating, and wide-ranging. Furthermore, for those of us who are comfortable with the concept of change, the results of the study range from enthralling and energizing to provocative and challenging.

We thought it would be helpful to share the highlights of the ADTA study with those on the industry’s front lines. These highlights point to a considerable degree of change — changes in technology, changes in the marketplace, and changes in the economic trends of dental care.

To read the rest of this article, log onto:

http://www.dentaleconomics.com/articles/print/volume-92/issue-10/features/market-trends-in-dentistry.html

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Henry Schein Outlet Center………………………………………………………………………

Overstock – Reconditioned – Demo

For the Special of the Week or More Outlet Store Offers, Call Cliff @ 201-321-7494

Warranty: 2-Year

February 23, 2014 - Posted by Cliff's Notes Blog | Uncategorized