Hi,
I am consdering changing to Open from Practiceworks. One of the research steps I'd like to do is discuss how the staff, not so much the doctor, liked the conversion when you joined and how it has been to work inside and use it. I'm sure I'll hear lots of accolades, but would sure appreciate any input.
Thanks
Larry Burt DMD
Information before Converting
Re: Information before Converting
My office was using easydental for about 15 years, but only for scheduling and billing. It was a working mess combination of paper and computer so the staff received the possibility of the change prior to implementation pretty well. My receptionist, not being a computer person, didn't look forward to a change.
Break in process: About a month before the change I installed OD on my computer and set up all the computers in the office to connect to it. Then I just told them to run it at the same time as easydental and to do everything in OD at least once, so they would figure out how to use it. Surprisingly, between the group they had figured out how to do 90% of their jobs on OD in the first day, and kept saying "oooo, oooo, look what else it can do!" This was with no training and minimal guidance from me.
If the usage of OD stopped there, they would have been fine with a stress free transition. But that wasn't good enough, I wanted PAPERLESS! So they had to learn to scan into OD, which they figured it out and get more efficient with it every day. The hardest part on my receptionist was teaching her to set up the kiosk for pt registration, but she learned and has all but the octogenarians use it to register, sign HIPPA, financial agreement, and med history. She has been a little frazzled for the past month with this change, as her job is a little harder (she may say a lot) with the system as we are using it now, but we are learning to make it more efficient. My Insurance girl loves it, as she went from piles of charts and entering every code, to just making a few clicks and having the e-claims sent. OD has a lot of treasures that we found along the way, every one making things a little easier.
Honestly, it has been the hardest on me, but I am a techie so I enjoy the conversion process. As an OMS my notes are different than GPs, and I haven't found a way to make the paperless record as fast as paper, even with extensive auto-notes. But coming from my training in hospitals where every patient record is just a couple of clicks away, I can't stand the process of handling paper charts. Thus it is worth the late nights finishing charts, and I know it will get faster the more we use it.
BTW we just made the change on April 2nd, so we are still in the middle of it.
Break in process: About a month before the change I installed OD on my computer and set up all the computers in the office to connect to it. Then I just told them to run it at the same time as easydental and to do everything in OD at least once, so they would figure out how to use it. Surprisingly, between the group they had figured out how to do 90% of their jobs on OD in the first day, and kept saying "oooo, oooo, look what else it can do!" This was with no training and minimal guidance from me.
If the usage of OD stopped there, they would have been fine with a stress free transition. But that wasn't good enough, I wanted PAPERLESS! So they had to learn to scan into OD, which they figured it out and get more efficient with it every day. The hardest part on my receptionist was teaching her to set up the kiosk for pt registration, but she learned and has all but the octogenarians use it to register, sign HIPPA, financial agreement, and med history. She has been a little frazzled for the past month with this change, as her job is a little harder (she may say a lot) with the system as we are using it now, but we are learning to make it more efficient. My Insurance girl loves it, as she went from piles of charts and entering every code, to just making a few clicks and having the e-claims sent. OD has a lot of treasures that we found along the way, every one making things a little easier.
Honestly, it has been the hardest on me, but I am a techie so I enjoy the conversion process. As an OMS my notes are different than GPs, and I haven't found a way to make the paperless record as fast as paper, even with extensive auto-notes. But coming from my training in hospitals where every patient record is just a couple of clicks away, I can't stand the process of handling paper charts. Thus it is worth the late nights finishing charts, and I know it will get faster the more we use it.
BTW we just made the change on April 2nd, so we are still in the middle of it.