The Dentrix Office Manager
Top 10 Dentrix Features You Aren’ t Using
My goal with this article is to share with you my top 10 Dentrix features that you might not even know exist.
Since I work with dental practices every day, I have the unique opportunity to see what features they are using, what features they are not using, and what features they have no idea even exist. My goal with this article is to share with you my top 10 Dentrix features that you might not even know exist. I won’ t be able to provide detailed information about each of these features in this short article, but you can go to my blog at thedentrixofficemanager. blogspot. com for more information. At the end of most sections, you’ ll see references to other articles on my blog where you can read more about that feature. You can also find helpful information about using these features in the Dentrix Help( from the Help menu in Dentrix, click Contents, and use the Search tab to search for key words).
Figure 1 The More Information button is available on most Dentrix toolbars.
# 1 Quick Letters and Letter Merge Maybe this sounds familiar: you have a folder containing all of your office’ s standard letters that you send out to patients, including collection letters, welcome letters, and letters to specialists. When it’ s time to send a letter, you edit the date, type the patient’ s name and address, sign the letter, and scan it into the Dentrix Document Center. That process sounds like a lot of work to me. Why not add your custom letters into the Dentrix Quick Letters or Letter Merge feature with the proper merge fields, and then let Dentrix do the work for you? The best part is that this approach will automatically add a note in the Dentrix Office Journal, and you can print to the Dentrix Document Center without scanning( see # 5 on the list).
For more information, see“ Send letters that make an impact”( November 14, 2013) and“ Can you write me an excuse note”( August 19, 2014).
How are you going to let your patients know not to come in? Has the dentist in your office ever been out of town and received a call from a patient requesting a prescription refill but there’ s no way of checking the last prescription without going into the office? Both of these common scenarios can be solved by registering for Dentrix Mobile. It’ s included in your Dentrix Customer Support Plan, so there’ s no excuse for not using this service.
For more information, see“ Three reasons you should be using Dentrix Mobile”( December 10, 2013) and“ A lifeline to your patient info”( October 24, 2012).
# 3 Payment Agreements I continue to see office managers who store all their verbal payment agreements in their head. I also see new doctors purchasing practices with a significant amount of the accounts receivable over 90 days past due or new office managers taking over a practice where there has been no management of the accounts receivable. Using the Payment Agreement feature in Dentrix will not only help you get organized with patients who are making payments, but also allow the entire team to see on the Ledger what the arrangement is with the account.
For more information, see“ Two options to help you manage your A / R”( August 31, 2015) and“ Get the info out of your head and into the computer”( April 17, 2014).
# 4 Tracking Gratuities and Referrals Do you know where your new patients are coming from? Are they hearing about you from friends, online search, or
# 2 Dentrix Mobile Have you ever been sitting in the comfort of your home watching a thunderstorm outside and hoping that the power doesn’ t go out when suddenly there’ s nothing but darkness? You check on the office and the power is also out there.
Figure 2 The More Info button is also available when you select a patient.
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