My patient scheduler vs. Lighthouse 360
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djanash@mac.com
- Posts: 59
- Joined: Sat Mar 13, 2010 11:11 am
My patient scheduler vs. Lighthouse 360
Any one have any experience or feedback with either of these systems? MPS seems clunky and a pain in the butt to use based on my limited experience
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peterskuben
- Posts: 32
- Joined: Wed Aug 19, 2009 8:38 am
Re: My patient scheduler vs. Lighthouse 360
We just switched from Lighthouse to My Patient Scheduler. They both do pretty much the same thing, Lighthouse is $200, My Patient Scheduler is $150. If you think that My Patient Scheduler is hard to use then you should forget about Lighthouse. Their GUI is as confusing as it can get. There is no single screen that shows you exactly what Lighthouse is sending out, instead there are endless dropdown menus to find what you are looking for. My Patient Scheduler definitely has a more polished streamlined look.
But you should vote for Feature request "Text Messaging" so we can get it built into OD and then don't have to use either of these two.
But you should vote for Feature request "Text Messaging" so we can get it built into OD and then don't have to use either of these two.
Re: My patient scheduler vs. Lighthouse 360
THEY ARE NOT THE SAME! similar maybe but not the same. and yes lighthouse is a bit clunky but they will walk you through or actually set it up for you.
differences lighthouse does postcards, letters phone calls text and email. mps doesnt do postcards or letters
lighthouses biggest advantage is it does survveys which help drive google rankings and their facebook interface helps also.
MPS does have this pay portal but its not really a portal its more of a message tunnel.
differences lighthouse does postcards, letters phone calls text and email. mps doesnt do postcards or letters
lighthouses biggest advantage is it does survveys which help drive google rankings and their facebook interface helps also.
MPS does have this pay portal but its not really a portal its more of a message tunnel.
Re: My patient scheduler vs. Lighthouse 360
I use Lighthouse.
My patients like it.
The post-appointment survey is nice, but I don't see how it effects Google searches at all.
enamelrod...care to elaborate on this?
My patients like it.
The post-appointment survey is nice, but I don't see how it effects Google searches at all.
enamelrod...care to elaborate on this?
Candy is dandy, but sex won't rot your teeth.
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Cheers!!!
Go Bears!!!!!
Savvy
Re: My patient scheduler vs. Lighthouse 360
sure thing...have light house to send your patient surveys to google for reviews. your patient reviews show up in your google search. I have had several patients flat out tell me they came to the office because i had great reviews on Google and they were current!
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djanash@mac.com
- Posts: 59
- Joined: Sat Mar 13, 2010 11:11 am
Re: My patient scheduler vs. Lighthouse 360
the main reason why I'd want to use either of these is to do confirmations via, phone, text and SMS texts - something that automatically generates a "confirmed" status is key. I know MPS does this, but I can't help but think its too clunky ( Icant imagine how bad LH360 is) - are the surveys worth the extra $50 a month?
The MPS real time appointment scheduling has NEVER worked properly for me - it always double books -
Also it doesn't "think" about appointments that were moved within 48 hours and sends confirmations once - So a new confirmation request isn't ever re-generated
Is light house better at these two things?
The MPS real time appointment scheduling has NEVER worked properly for me - it always double books -
Also it doesn't "think" about appointments that were moved within 48 hours and sends confirmations once - So a new confirmation request isn't ever re-generated
Is light house better at these two things?
Re: My patient scheduler vs. Lighthouse 360
Hello All -
I found this thread while doing some other searching, so I thought I'd chime in and answer a few questions...
First, for @djanash - an answer your two questions: Lighthouse 360 DOES do "auto-confirmation" for confirmations made via three of its five communications mediums: email, SMS text, and/or automated phone calls. When a patient replies "Yes, I'll be there" to one of those three communication types, the appointment is automatically marked confirmed in Open Dental with zero interaction from you. For those appointments that are NOT confirmed by these automated methods, you receive a "Daily Task List" each morning that has two things: information about today's appointments, and information about TOMORROWS appointments that may need your attention (like the appointments that LH360 was unable to confirm via its automated methods). I don't know how MPS does it, but for LH360, I don't know how the process could be any smoother. I don't think it could be considered "clunky."
One of LH360's strengths is its "robust message schedules." We do NOT send just a single message for a task (like confirming an appointment and/or trying to make a recall appointment). We have an entire schedule of messages that can include one or more mediums, and can be customized to use whatever schedule you want. So, a confirmation message, for example, can consist of an email first, and if that fails, a text message, and if that fails, a postcard, and if that fails, a second email, and if that fails, an automated phone call, and if that fails, an email to your STAFF telling THEM to call the patient. Put another way, we can schedule multiple attempts to confirm the appointment, but will stop the process once the confirmation SUCCEEDS. "Success" means the appointment is marked "confirmed" in Open Dental. So, if the confirmation comes thru our automated methods, we see it, BUT ALSO, if YOU manage to MANUALLY make it happen (e.g. the patient calls your phone line in response to a postcard), we ALSO cancel the message schedule. So, its seamless two way integration.
This takes us to my second answer for @djanash: yes, IF you reschedule an appointment, we DO in fact start the entire process over again, even if it was confirmed in its original spot. The only stipulation is that it not be marked as "confirmed" in Open Dental. Basically, we won't confirm an appointment if its already marked confirmed in your PMS. Our "TrueTime Data Sync" does see these changes. As a matter of fact, we'll even (re)start the confirmation process for an appointment that is NOT moved to a different time slot IF for some reason you change the status of the appointment from "Confirmed" to "Not confirmed" (if, for example, you marked the wrong appointment confirmed).
We also have very fine grained message schedules. That is, we know that the schedule and types of messages you send, and even the CONTENT of those messages, will most certainly differ if you are trying to confirm an appointment that was made 6 months ago vs. an appointment that was made today for an appointment 2 days from now (we call is our "Long term, mid-term, and short term confirmation schedules"). The same can be said for recall messages. What you say to a patient that is due one week from today is different than what you say when the patient is one week PAST DUE, which is different than what you'd say if the patient is 3 MONTHS past due, etc.
Finally, to comment on the question "are the surveys worth the extra $50 per month"? The value of getting on-line reviews is up to individual offices (we believe its extremely valuable), but I do NOT believe that the survey system is what justifies the extra fees. I believe the LH360 recall system to be far more valuable. Ours is the only system that truly automates 100% of the recall process. We work with you to come up with your ideal message schedule and message content for how you want to run your recall program, and then you just "forget about it" and it happens automatically. Its "set it, and forget it." Because LH360 deals with FIVE different communication mediums: emails, text messages, postcards, letters, and automated phone calls, we can automate any type of multi-contact recall system you can devise. Technically, we have a SIXTH communications medium - a human phone call by your staff - because part of your schedule can be an email sent by LH360 to your STAFF that says "its time to call this patient." We use that technique in the "reactivation" phase of our recall system, once we've determined that LH360 has been unable to get an appointment made after several automated attempts.
In my mind, however, greatest strength of LH360 is the people behind it. You need to know our background: Myself and co-founder Brian Smith are the original designers/creators of PracticeWorks. We spent nearly a decade developing practice management software, so we know a lot about this stuff. Our third co-founder Allen Jorgensen, spent nearly 15 years as the office manager of his wife's million dollar dental practice, so HE knows a lot about this stuff. The three of us spent 3 years once we got together doing in-office consulting and on-line consulting for hundreds of other dental practices. All of this experience came together when we created LH360. Bottom line, we know dental, and we only do dental.
I'd love to answer any and all other questions from the Open Dental community about LH360. We have a lot of OD users, and I'm always interested in ways we can improve the integration and/or performance of LH360 even more. Please, "ask away."
Finally, if you are interested in some third party opinions (rather than my own), you can read about us in this month's issue of Dentaltown Magazine, or check out this post on Dentaltown about one ex-Smile Reminder user's experience with us.
I found this thread while doing some other searching, so I thought I'd chime in and answer a few questions...
First, for @djanash - an answer your two questions: Lighthouse 360 DOES do "auto-confirmation" for confirmations made via three of its five communications mediums: email, SMS text, and/or automated phone calls. When a patient replies "Yes, I'll be there" to one of those three communication types, the appointment is automatically marked confirmed in Open Dental with zero interaction from you. For those appointments that are NOT confirmed by these automated methods, you receive a "Daily Task List" each morning that has two things: information about today's appointments, and information about TOMORROWS appointments that may need your attention (like the appointments that LH360 was unable to confirm via its automated methods). I don't know how MPS does it, but for LH360, I don't know how the process could be any smoother. I don't think it could be considered "clunky."
One of LH360's strengths is its "robust message schedules." We do NOT send just a single message for a task (like confirming an appointment and/or trying to make a recall appointment). We have an entire schedule of messages that can include one or more mediums, and can be customized to use whatever schedule you want. So, a confirmation message, for example, can consist of an email first, and if that fails, a text message, and if that fails, a postcard, and if that fails, a second email, and if that fails, an automated phone call, and if that fails, an email to your STAFF telling THEM to call the patient. Put another way, we can schedule multiple attempts to confirm the appointment, but will stop the process once the confirmation SUCCEEDS. "Success" means the appointment is marked "confirmed" in Open Dental. So, if the confirmation comes thru our automated methods, we see it, BUT ALSO, if YOU manage to MANUALLY make it happen (e.g. the patient calls your phone line in response to a postcard), we ALSO cancel the message schedule. So, its seamless two way integration.
This takes us to my second answer for @djanash: yes, IF you reschedule an appointment, we DO in fact start the entire process over again, even if it was confirmed in its original spot. The only stipulation is that it not be marked as "confirmed" in Open Dental. Basically, we won't confirm an appointment if its already marked confirmed in your PMS. Our "TrueTime Data Sync" does see these changes. As a matter of fact, we'll even (re)start the confirmation process for an appointment that is NOT moved to a different time slot IF for some reason you change the status of the appointment from "Confirmed" to "Not confirmed" (if, for example, you marked the wrong appointment confirmed).
We also have very fine grained message schedules. That is, we know that the schedule and types of messages you send, and even the CONTENT of those messages, will most certainly differ if you are trying to confirm an appointment that was made 6 months ago vs. an appointment that was made today for an appointment 2 days from now (we call is our "Long term, mid-term, and short term confirmation schedules"). The same can be said for recall messages. What you say to a patient that is due one week from today is different than what you say when the patient is one week PAST DUE, which is different than what you'd say if the patient is 3 MONTHS past due, etc.
Finally, to comment on the question "are the surveys worth the extra $50 per month"? The value of getting on-line reviews is up to individual offices (we believe its extremely valuable), but I do NOT believe that the survey system is what justifies the extra fees. I believe the LH360 recall system to be far more valuable. Ours is the only system that truly automates 100% of the recall process. We work with you to come up with your ideal message schedule and message content for how you want to run your recall program, and then you just "forget about it" and it happens automatically. Its "set it, and forget it." Because LH360 deals with FIVE different communication mediums: emails, text messages, postcards, letters, and automated phone calls, we can automate any type of multi-contact recall system you can devise. Technically, we have a SIXTH communications medium - a human phone call by your staff - because part of your schedule can be an email sent by LH360 to your STAFF that says "its time to call this patient." We use that technique in the "reactivation" phase of our recall system, once we've determined that LH360 has been unable to get an appointment made after several automated attempts.
In my mind, however, greatest strength of LH360 is the people behind it. You need to know our background: Myself and co-founder Brian Smith are the original designers/creators of PracticeWorks. We spent nearly a decade developing practice management software, so we know a lot about this stuff. Our third co-founder Allen Jorgensen, spent nearly 15 years as the office manager of his wife's million dollar dental practice, so HE knows a lot about this stuff. The three of us spent 3 years once we got together doing in-office consulting and on-line consulting for hundreds of other dental practices. All of this experience came together when we created LH360. Bottom line, we know dental, and we only do dental.
I'd love to answer any and all other questions from the Open Dental community about LH360. We have a lot of OD users, and I'm always interested in ways we can improve the integration and/or performance of LH360 even more. Please, "ask away."
Finally, if you are interested in some third party opinions (rather than my own), you can read about us in this month's issue of Dentaltown Magazine, or check out this post on Dentaltown about one ex-Smile Reminder user's experience with us.
Re: My patient scheduler vs. Lighthouse 360
We are signing up with lighthouse this week. For those using it, are you asking patients if they mind receiving text messages. I don't want to send them out only to have patients complain about any associated costs from their wireless provider.
Re: My patient scheduler vs. Lighthouse 360
@asanders - I'll let others chime in with their own experiences, but the feedback that I've heard from clients is almost always along the lines of "patients LOVE getting the text messages." We frequently hear reports of patients telling the front desk "I'm so glad you sent this - I almost missed this appointment." I'm tot trying to brag or sound too much like a salesman, but that is the kind of feedback most commonly heard.
That being said, there will be the occasional patient that for whatever reason, doesn't like or want the text messages. You can mark any one patient to NOT receive text messages. So, if you DO get a complaint, you can turn it off for that patient. That way, the majority of your patients (and your office) will get the benefit, but the odd-ball patients who don't want or need it will also be satisfied.
You can turn the "receive text messages" on or off via one of three methods:
1) Clear out the cell phone number in Open Dental
2) Check the "Do not contact" checkbox in Open Dental (though that will shut off ALL contacts)
3) Set the "Do no send text messages" contact preference from your Lighthouse 360 private portal
The BEST way to set these preferences is when a particular PMS has an explicit check box in that indicates if the patient wants the text message or not. Some PMSs let you specify contact preferences for Email, text, and other mediums as a native feature of the PMS. When the PMS supports that, we pick that up. Last time I checked, Open Dental did not have such an explicit check box. But, if its there now, or if Jordan wants to add it, we could read that directly from Open Dental.
That being said, there will be the occasional patient that for whatever reason, doesn't like or want the text messages. You can mark any one patient to NOT receive text messages. So, if you DO get a complaint, you can turn it off for that patient. That way, the majority of your patients (and your office) will get the benefit, but the odd-ball patients who don't want or need it will also be satisfied.
You can turn the "receive text messages" on or off via one of three methods:
1) Clear out the cell phone number in Open Dental
2) Check the "Do not contact" checkbox in Open Dental (though that will shut off ALL contacts)
3) Set the "Do no send text messages" contact preference from your Lighthouse 360 private portal
The BEST way to set these preferences is when a particular PMS has an explicit check box in that indicates if the patient wants the text message or not. Some PMSs let you specify contact preferences for Email, text, and other mediums as a native feature of the PMS. When the PMS supports that, we pick that up. Last time I checked, Open Dental did not have such an explicit check box. But, if its there now, or if Jordan wants to add it, we could read that directly from Open Dental.
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allen.jorgensen
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Tue Nov 15, 2011 6:54 am
- Location: Sugar Hill, Georgia
- Contact:
Re: My patient scheduler vs. Lighthouse 360
And from a patient "management" / practice management perspective:
If you keep a roll of quarters at the front desk - for that rare occasion when a patient that just "needs to vent about something" comes in an says you sent them a text, simply smile and say that you are happy they got the message, it is a feature your office is providing your patients, and it is so important for the patient to be there (on-time) that your office will gladly "validate" the message cost - and slide 2 quarters across the counter to them.....
Of every office we turn on - this is the one feature that "worries" people because they are unfamiliar with the whole process and "world" of SMS messaging.....and almost 100% of the follow up calls 2 to 6 weeks after going live - it is THE most loved feature of everything (which is disappointing for our developers because the 360 product has more features, functions and intelligence then anything on the market - and patients love getting a message on their phone! go figure...).
So - leap of faith - turn on the text messages - let the staff know - be prepared for "a sour apple" or two - but do not let the vocal minority remove a very valuable and beneficial feature to the mostly silent majority (a few will confess that the text saved them from breaking an appointment with you....most will just walk in and never admit to nearly missing the appointment had the "nudge" not arrived when it did).
Allen "over 30 years technical programming....and 20 years of people programming...." Jorgensen
If you keep a roll of quarters at the front desk - for that rare occasion when a patient that just "needs to vent about something" comes in an says you sent them a text, simply smile and say that you are happy they got the message, it is a feature your office is providing your patients, and it is so important for the patient to be there (on-time) that your office will gladly "validate" the message cost - and slide 2 quarters across the counter to them.....
Of every office we turn on - this is the one feature that "worries" people because they are unfamiliar with the whole process and "world" of SMS messaging.....and almost 100% of the follow up calls 2 to 6 weeks after going live - it is THE most loved feature of everything (which is disappointing for our developers because the 360 product has more features, functions and intelligence then anything on the market - and patients love getting a message on their phone! go figure...).
So - leap of faith - turn on the text messages - let the staff know - be prepared for "a sour apple" or two - but do not let the vocal minority remove a very valuable and beneficial feature to the mostly silent majority (a few will confess that the text saved them from breaking an appointment with you....most will just walk in and never admit to nearly missing the appointment had the "nudge" not arrived when it did).
Allen "over 30 years technical programming....and 20 years of people programming...." Jorgensen
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Rickliftig
- Posts: 764
- Joined: Thu Jul 10, 2008 4:50 pm
- Location: West Hartford, CT
- Contact:
Re: My patient scheduler vs. Lighthouse 360
I agree with the sentiment, Allen, but personally would find this offensive.allen.jorgensen wrote:And from a patient "management" / practice management perspective:
If you keep a roll of quarters at the front desk - for that rare occasion when a patient that just "needs to vent about something" comes in an says you sent them a text, simply smile and say that you are happy they got the message, it is a feature your office is providing your patients, and it is so important for the patient to be there (on-time) that your office will gladly "validate" the message cost - and slide 2 quarters across the counter to them.....
Rick
Another Happy Open Dental User!
Rick Liftig, DMD FAGD
University of CT 1979
West Hartford, CT 06110
srick@snet.net
Rick Liftig, DMD FAGD
University of CT 1979
West Hartford, CT 06110
srick@snet.net
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allen.jorgensen
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Tue Nov 15, 2011 6:54 am
- Location: Sugar Hill, Georgia
- Contact:
Re: My patient scheduler vs. Lighthouse 360
The above was not meant as a "must DO...." instruction to any office - just a light way of showing, that for the occasional person that may have an issue with the first text they get from you - it is very easy to deal with. Every office has it's own "style" and "method". For years we have been providing offices with recommendations regarding various "touch points" - and have supplied default text and verbiage - but always with the HUGE caveat of "season to your own taste".
If being prepared with quarters to make your patient "whole" is not something you would like to receive - or do in your office - then by all means set the example aside and determine how you would like to be responded to and how you would like your staff to respond, and then implement that solution.
The main take away from this - Offices are continually amazed at how accepted and enjoyed these messages are, when it is the one thing they are not sure of. And, to be prepared that you may still get someone that prefers not - and that is ok as well and easily handled via whatever method feels "right" to you and your staff.
The whole process is a self-adjusting protocol that starts with an optimistic assumption to provide the greatest benefit to patients and practice. The alternative approach would be a pestimistic approach that would only enable the benefit on a select basis. The neat thing about 360 is we CAN do it either way - but recommend the first method.
Allen
If being prepared with quarters to make your patient "whole" is not something you would like to receive - or do in your office - then by all means set the example aside and determine how you would like to be responded to and how you would like your staff to respond, and then implement that solution.
The main take away from this - Offices are continually amazed at how accepted and enjoyed these messages are, when it is the one thing they are not sure of. And, to be prepared that you may still get someone that prefers not - and that is ok as well and easily handled via whatever method feels "right" to you and your staff.
The whole process is a self-adjusting protocol that starts with an optimistic assumption to provide the greatest benefit to patients and practice. The alternative approach would be a pestimistic approach that would only enable the benefit on a select basis. The neat thing about 360 is we CAN do it either way - but recommend the first method.
Allen
Re: My patient scheduler vs. Lighthouse 360
How much exactly do these things cost? Are you getting a discount?peterskuben wrote:We just switched from Lighthouse to My Patient Scheduler. They both do pretty much the same thing, Lighthouse is $200, My Patient Scheduler is $150.
MPS seems to have many possible combinations but is slightly cheaper even with ALL the bells and whistles.
$249.99 (setup) plus $99.95 monthly fee plus $49.99 for unlimited SMS, $49.99 for unlimited voice and $49.99 for premium support. So if you get everything the monthly fee is $249.92
http://mypatientscheduler.com/j/pricing
Lighthouse is stated to have $299 initial setup fee plus $269 per month which includes support and unlimited SMS but charges 14-20 cents per voice call. For comparison, the $49.99 will get you between 250-350 voice calls from Lighthouse.
http://www.lpmg360.com/pricing
Lighthouse also has the social networking stuff and live reviews and snail mail postcards for 57 cents per card.
Unlimited emails are included in the base price of both services.
So I think the prices are more like $250 per month for MPS and about $309 per month for Lighthouse if you limit yourself to 200 voice calls.
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caringdentists
- Posts: 22
- Joined: Wed Mar 26, 2008 3:20 am
Re: My patient scheduler vs. Lighthouse 360
Has anyone used http://www.reremind.com ?
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Roy A Bloom
- Posts: 11
- Joined: Thu Sep 15, 2011 3:34 pm
Re: My patient scheduler vs. Lighthouse 360
I am just looking for a patient scheduler I can place on my server as an application that can be accessd through my website by the doctors offices I go to. It would have to have a GPS incorporated to account for travel time between offices. I travel to about 60 different offices and I want the offices to make an appointment while the patient is at their office. MPS came the closest but I never got it to work and I spent a lot of time with Jim. The VM ware would not work. I need to account for travel time and setup time between offices in the program. I call the patients before the surgery for a reminder of preop instructions and again postoperatively. I depend on the offices I go to for confirmation of appointments. I think patients are tired of automated messages with the possible exception of texts.
Anyone heard of Docmein?
Anyone heard of Docmein?
Re: My patient scheduler vs. Lighthouse 360
Hi, I am new to the forum. I am thinking of using my patient scheduler as hoping it will take some of the pressure off the front desk. Have been looking at the demo, not sure if I am looking in the right place but wanted to know firstly if anyone knew if you are able to restrict patients cancelling on the day of appointment, and also are you able to control the hours booked by patients? Really looking for a customer relationship software to integrate with OD.
Re: My patient scheduler vs. Lighthouse 360
Hi,
i am thinking of using my patient scheduler to allow patients to book their appointments online. Was just wondering if those who have or do use it found it useful.
Did it cause any problems? Did it encourage more patients to attend?
Many thanks
tauqir
i am thinking of using my patient scheduler to allow patients to book their appointments online. Was just wondering if those who have or do use it found it useful.
Did it cause any problems? Did it encourage more patients to attend?
Many thanks
tauqir
Tauqir Butt
www.menstondental.co.uk
www.menstondental.co.uk