Best way to send reports/update letters to referring GPs?

[dwnelson]

I am a periodontist and I send many letters to referring dentists, as both exam reports and treatment updates. I would like to write letters from within Open Dental so that everything is logged with the software (I had been filling out forms and scanning and importing them into the Image Module, but this gets tedious and my handwriting isn't the best).

Ideally, I would be able to export the reports as PDFs and email them, and I would also be able to attach photographs and radiographs. I would also be able to attach my signature to the reports. If the radiographs can be imported by my XDR software, even better!

I would like to know the best way other specialists have worked out a "system" from within Open Dental.

Thank you!

[Jorgebon]

You can use the referral letter sheet. You can make several different letters to use as templates. You also need to enter the referral source in the Family module by doube clicking the green referral section in the patient information column. Make sure you have the referring dentist's e-mail address. When you want to send the report letter to the dentist, click the drop down arrow beside the "Letter" button in the Chart module and select the name of the referring dentist. If you entered the dentist's referral in the Family module, the name will appear. Then select the letter template from the list that comes up. Edit the letter as needed and then you can decide to e-mail it or print it or make a pdf.
We can't add any images to sheets yet, but i think there's feature request for that.
Jorge Bonilla, DMD

[Jorgebon]

There's another way to send a report to the referring dentist. You can use the e-mail feature in the chart module. Make different e-mail templates that you can edit before sending. This also lets you send images.
Jorge Bonilla, DMD

[bcpayne]

We have been using the referral letter for this function and I just uploaded my sheet I use in the sharing forum. It is based off of the stock referral letter that is included in OD, but made some changes that work best for us, like a signature box and and an area at the bottom to list cc's and enclosures.

My receptionist creates the letter then sends me a patient task to edit and sign. Then every few days I go to my "doctor letters" task list and edit and sign each then task her back to mail/fax/email the letter according to the preference of that office. This takes a little more time than signing a stack of letters but allows me to edit the letters rather than giving her changes and reprinting it.