VOIP phone system bridge with Open Dental

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zsyed
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VOIP phone system bridge with Open Dental

Post by zsyed » Thu Dec 05, 2013 7:12 pm

Are you guys connecting your existing phone system to some internet phone system such that when call comes in.. the internet phone software queries the OD database, pulls all the relevant customer record and displays it on the computer screen for front desk receptionist? If so what are you success and/or horror stories?

Thanks

Zulfiqar

KevinRossen
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Re: VOIP phone system bridge with Open Dental

Post by KevinRossen » Thu Dec 05, 2013 9:44 pm

zsyed wrote:Are you guys connecting your existing phone system to some internet phone system such that when call comes in.. the internet phone software queries the OD database, pulls all the relevant customer record and displays it on the computer screen for front desk receptionist? If so what are you success and/or horror stories?

Thanks

Zulfiqar
I hadn't thought of this before, but I bet we could do it with what we ha've in our office. We use a FreePBX system (asterisk based). This is possibly out of the realm of an average user, but I found this link about using a MySQL database as a caller ID lookup source. I haven't tried to make a query yet, but it looks doable: http://samyantoun.50webs.com/asterisk/f ... ridlookup/
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Re: VOIP phone system bridge with Open Dental

Post by KevinRossen » Sat Dec 07, 2013 4:26 pm

Well, I got a start at it this weekend being iced in the house here in Dallas. I'm on a FreePBX system, which is really easy to setup. I have a dedicated computer for the phone server and there's an option to setup a Caller ID lookup source via MySQL. So far, I'm querying the Open Dental database to bring back the Last and First name of the caller based on their WirelessPhone. I'll work on adding looking up options for all the other names, too.

Here's the code I've come up with so far that worked to lookup my cell:

Code: Select all

SELECT CONCAT(LName, ' ', FName) as name FROM patient WHERE RIGHT('[NUMBER]',10) LIKE replace(replace(replace(WirelessPhone, '(', ''), ')', ''), '-', '') LIMIT 1
My phone service only passes through the numbers as +19725551212, so you'd have to adjust the code based on what comes from your provider.

If anyone else has some MySQL experience that would be able to add the code to search home and work phone, too that'd be helpful.
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jsalmon
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Re: VOIP phone system bridge with Open Dental

Post by jsalmon » Sat Dec 07, 2013 5:42 pm

Since we allow storing phone numbers in practically any format, I'd recommend trying to use a regular expression in your query if you start running into odd problems with not finding matching phone numbers etc.
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.1/en/regexp.html
The best thing about a boolean is even if you are wrong, you are only off by a bit.

Jason Salmon
Open Dental Software
http://www.opendental.com

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Re: VOIP phone system bridge with Open Dental

Post by KevinRossen » Mon Dec 09, 2013 8:09 am

jsalmon wrote:Since we allow storing phone numbers in practically any format, I'd recommend trying to use a regular expression in your query if you start running into odd problems with not finding matching phone numbers etc.
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.1/en/regexp.html
I looked into regular expressions, but I wasn't quite sure how to make it work. If I could get it to only look at the 10 digits in the phone fields that'd be great, but I couldn't figure it out. I'm not a MySQL expert, so it would take me a while to figure it out.

I can say that my current Query is working like a charm. It drops the characters ( ) - from the phone number in Open Dental and only looks at the 10 digits passed through form my VoIP supplier.

Here's the query I have working in my FreePBX system:

Code: Select all

SELECT CONCAT(FName, ' ', LName) as name FROM patient WHERE RIGHT('[NUMBER]',10) LIKE replace(replace(replace(WirelessPhone, '(', ''), ')', ''), '-', '') OR RIGHT('[NUMBER]',10) LIKE replace(replace(replace(HmPhone, '(', ''), ')', ''), '-', '') LIMIT 1
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rambochambo
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Re: VOIP phone system bridge with Open Dental

Post by rambochambo » Tue Jan 20, 2015 3:00 pm

Sorry to bring up an old thread but is there any new info on linkng VOIP systems with OD? Thanks.

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Re: VOIP phone system bridge with Open Dental

Post by dqadri » Tue Jan 20, 2015 4:13 pm

+1 for interest in this. Once I get some free time (like never), this is going to be one of my first attempted modules.

My thoughts were to have a plugin setup and running on several computers, and tied into the front desk phones. It could either display initial info via CallerID directly on the phone display, and simultaneously open up a popup on the computer screen nearest the phone that would pull up the patient's chart/account info.

Please let me know if someone has already done this.
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rambochambo
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Re: VOIP phone system bridge with Open Dental

Post by rambochambo » Tue Jan 20, 2015 4:24 pm

dqadri wrote:+1 for interest in this. Once I get some free time (like never), this is going to be one of my first attempted modules.

My thoughts were to have a plugin setup and running on several computers, and tied into the front desk phones. It could either display initial info via CallerID directly on the phone display, and simultaneously open up a popup on the computer screen nearest the phone that would pull up the patient's chart/account info.

Please let me know if someone has already done this.

This would be great. My VOIP reporting is pretty good through that interface. I'd like to track calls to my office after hours. At least be able to easily cross reference phone numbers to see what calls I am missing. NPs vs Existing Pts.

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Re: VOIP phone system bridge with Open Dental

Post by KevinRossen » Tue Jan 20, 2015 8:38 pm

rambochambo wrote:
dqadri wrote:+1 for interest in this. Once I get some free time (like never), this is going to be one of my first attempted modules.

My thoughts were to have a plugin setup and running on several computers, and tied into the front desk phones. It could either display initial info via CallerID directly on the phone display, and simultaneously open up a popup on the computer screen nearest the phone that would pull up the patient's chart/account info.

Please let me know if someone has already done this.
This would be great. My VOIP reporting is pretty good through that interface. I'd like to track calls to my office after hours. At least be able to easily cross reference phone numbers to see what calls I am missing. NPs vs Existing Pts.
Well, I'm meeting with a software developer tomorrow for another project. Maybe I'll get the chance to bring up this idea to him. I'll post an update tomorrow night.
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Re: VOIP phone system bridge with Open Dental

Post by KevinRossen » Wed Jan 21, 2015 1:37 pm

I met with the developer today. Not sure if I'm going to go the route of getting a plugin developed or a standalone product. Bottom line is the idea is very doable, but it would like require you to have a specific phone system setup in your practice. I don't have any timelines right now, but this is something I'm very interested in implementing in my practice, so I'm leaning toward going forward with it.

Question: If you had to get a new phone system installed to make this work, would you be interested in it? I know without a doubt that it would be less expensive monthly fees than traditional phone lines. Likely 65-80% savings there.
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dqadri
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Re: VOIP phone system bridge with Open Dental

Post by dqadri » Wed Jan 21, 2015 6:22 pm

I think this would be either a dual product, one plugin for OD, and then an app that runs on your PBX server or possibly on the actual phone set. They would communicate and relay information back and forth.

You could run your own FreePBX based service and then resell it to OD customers. I've been learning about VoIP system and SIP trunking. It could be run on a simple Linux box, and scaled all the way up to a large enterprise setup without a significant cost. If you so desire, you could get dedicated hardware from vendors like Cisco.
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Lake Family Dentistry
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Colonia, NJ 07067

KevinRossen
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Re: VOIP phone system bridge with Open Dental

Post by KevinRossen » Wed Jan 21, 2015 7:43 pm

I've already setup a few PBX servers for a myself and another organization. The initial cost is rather minimal. I know a simple app could display relevant information based on the caller in the database. What else it could remains to be seen. I'm kind of thinking plugin would be a little limited, but not sure. Again, I am thinking I'll at least investigate the cost to get it developed. Then I'll see if what it would be make it into a product for others.
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jaynahar
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Re: VOIP phone system bridge with Open Dental

Post by jaynahar » Thu Jan 22, 2015 5:17 pm

KevinRossen wrote:I've already setup a few PBX servers for a myself and another organization. The initial cost is rather minimal. I know a simple app could display relevant information based on the caller in the database. What else it could remains to be seen. I'm kind of thinking plugin would be a little limited, but not sure. Again, I am thinking I'll at least investigate the cost to get it developed. Then I'll see if what it would be make it into a product for others.

Folks,

What do you think from cost benefit analysis for this kind of plugin. Will any Dr. pay for such plugin and how much. What value it will bring to his practice with added on expense. Will this value worth the expense? What do you think, is it a need or just another want from wishlist.

May be this discussion will provide answer, if resources should be deployed to research/build this kind of plugin. Looking for feedback.

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Re: VOIP phone system bridge with Open Dental

Post by KevinRossen » Fri Jan 23, 2015 6:56 am

jaynahar wrote: Folks,

What do you think from cost benefit analysis for this kind of plugin. Will any Dr. pay for such plugin and how much. What value it will bring to his practice with added on expense. Will this value worth the expense? What do you think, is it a need or just another want from wishlist.

May be this discussion will provide answer, if resources should be deployed to research/build this kind of plugin. Looking for feedback.
Weave has built a standalone product based on this concept and I think quite a few people have signed up for their service. I've seen mixed reviews on people's experience with them. As far as need vs want, it's definitely more of a want and it will depend greatly on the patient flow and call volume an office experiences. If an office is only getting 2-3 calls per hour, something like this won't be seen as something very valuable. But form a customer service perspective, I would LOVE to have a set of relevant data appear on my screen as a patient is calling. For example, knowing the patient's last appointment date, next appointment date, if they're due for recall, if they have an outstanding balance, if they have family members due for recall, and possibly a few more details in front of me as I'm picking up the phone would allow me to very quickly address almost anything a patient is calling about. It would give two greatly beneficial results: happy patients and reduced call time. Both of those can have a significant positive impact on a practice's performance.
Kevin Rossen
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mkleive
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Re: VOIP phone system bridge with Open Dental

Post by mkleive » Sun Jan 25, 2015 6:02 am

I use a total VOIP system in my office with FortiVoice hardware and software. My total long distance service charges for 3 lines are about $22/mo. I've also looked into Weave but the $300 monthly charge seems outrageous - in addition to having to ditch all of my hardware. Weave is also getting some bad reviews from customers.

I like the idea of an integrated system but call volume and pricing will definitely have a factor for OD clients.

dqadri
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Re: VOIP phone system bridge with Open Dental

Post by dqadri » Sun Jan 25, 2015 8:16 pm

$300/month for information that would take you 30 seconds or less to access seems overpriced to me. However, the convenience of it definitely would improve customer service and have a real impact on the business.

I initially inquired about just adding my own phone plugins onto the Polycom Soundpoint IP 550 handsets which I own, and the friendly rep from my VoIP provider said that they couldn't allow that for support reasons (which is understandable). This means I would need to run my own PBX hardware, which is also doable, but more work.

Personally, I would definitely do it in my practice. I also think it would help older staff members who are not as tech-saavy, as the information would come up quickly.
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pgor
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Re: VOIP phone system bridge with Open Dental

Post by pgor » Sun Feb 01, 2015 1:55 am

I too think this would be a very useful feature, even a simple pop-up on screen taken from caller ID when the phone rings showing the patient(s) name(s) and a click box taking you to the patient record would be a great starting point. I used to have this in a previous PMS and the front office loved it. I would be happy to contribute to a plugin.

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Re: VOIP phone system bridge with Open Dental

Post by KevinRossen » Sun Feb 01, 2015 9:07 pm

pgor wrote:I too think this would be a very useful feature, even a simple pop-up on screen taken from caller ID when the phone rings showing the patient(s) name(s) and a click box taking you to the patient record would be a great starting point. I used to have this in a previous PMS and the front office loved it. I would be happy to contribute to a plugin.
I'm pretty close to be able to reveal some details about this. Give me a at least a few more days and I should be able to share more.
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cchindmd
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Re: VOIP phone system bridge with Open Dental

Post by cchindmd » Sun Feb 22, 2015 8:59 pm

This would be great if it was cost effective. My wife is looking into using open dental for a startup and we considered weave (I'm a dentist as well) but the cost is ridiculous.

For this to be a valuable item I think it would have to interface with multiple VOIP systems as the proprietary Weave style is a problem. Also many open dental users use different voip providers. If there was a way to take any phone system and query open dental to bring up the information that Weave does without having to rely on their servers (which I've heard varying and mixed reviews about) you would have a winner. Put in on dentaltown and watch the people flock.

Again affordability would be nice.

cchindmd
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Re: VOIP phone system bridge with Open Dental

Post by cchindmd » Tue Feb 24, 2015 7:12 pm

https://developer.ringcentral.com/

In case anyone is smart enough to figure this out.

jaynahar
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Re: VOIP phone system bridge with Open Dental

Post by jaynahar » Fri May 15, 2015 4:52 pm

Folks,
After many, many months of research, trial/errors, and support/feedback from this forum members (esp Kevin R), we are now very, very close to telephone integration plugin release. Now its time to access market to set price.

Will any Dr. pay for such plugin and how much? What value it brings to a practice with added on expense. Will this value worth the expense?

In our beta we did notice it helped improve the productivity of front staff, improved patient engagement and stopped the revenue leakage by scheduling dormant family members and leverage unused insurance.

Thanks again for your help!

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Hersheydmd
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Re: VOIP phone system bridge with Open Dental

Post by Hersheydmd » Sat May 16, 2015 6:43 pm

jaynahar wrote:Folks,
After many, many months of research, trial/errors, and support/feedback from this forum members (esp Kevin R), we are now very, very close to telephone integration plugin release. Now its time to access market to set price.

Will any Dr. pay for such plugin and how much? What value it brings to a practice with added on expense. Will this value worth the expense?

In our beta we did notice it helped improve the productivity of front staff, improved patient engagement and stopped the revenue leakage by scheduling dormant family members and leverage unused insurance.

Thanks again for your help!
Wondering, would this be software you purchase outright and then can use as long as you want. Or is this a "service" that requires connecting to an external server where the seller has to be involved for it to work? If the former, then one should be able to pay a one time fee to purchase and then pay for updates as needed. If the later, than a monthly fee would be required.
This sounds like something that would be really nice to have. The problem is that every piece of technology we add increases our monthly expenses and it's getting out of hand.
Robert M Hersh DMD, FAGD
Univ. of Penn 1982
Brooklyn, NY 11234
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Robert-M ... 1471599429

jaynahar
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Re: VOIP phone system bridge with Open Dental

Post by jaynahar » Mon May 18, 2015 5:50 am

Wondering, would this be software you purchase outright and then can use as long as you want. Or is this a "service" that requires connecting to an external server where the seller has to be involved for it to work? If the former, then one should be able to pay a one time fee to purchase and then pay for updates as needed. If the later, than a monthly fee would be required.
This sounds like something that would be really nice to have. The problem is that every piece of technology we add increases our monthly expenses and it's getting out of hand.
Thanks for your feedback. Its a "service" with monthly fee.

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Hersheydmd
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Re: VOIP phone system bridge with Open Dental

Post by Hersheydmd » Tue May 19, 2015 7:05 pm

I don' t see this as something I must have, but rather something that would be nice to have.
Consequently, the lower the monthly fee the more likely I would be to sign up.
I took a survey of other monthly fees I am paying for comparison.
  1. email encryption service $4/mo
  2. anti-virus < $10/mo
  3. online backup $15/mo
  4. MS Office 365 $15/mo
  5. claims submission including NEA attachments ~$40-50/mo
  6. enhanced payroll $40/mo
  7. Open Dental $100/mo
  8. Digital radiography maintenance $150/mo
  9. automated confirmations, reminders, recalls $200/mo
So thinking about what I would pay I suppose if it was below $50/mo I would probably sign up without thinking twice about it. $50-100 I'd have to think harder about whether I need it or not. Above $100, I don't know if I could justify it.
Robert M Hersh DMD, FAGD
Univ. of Penn 1982
Brooklyn, NY 11234
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Robert-M ... 1471599429

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mopensoft
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Re: VOIP phone system bridge with Open Dental

Post by mopensoft » Thu May 21, 2015 3:51 am

Unless you really need voidip, Why don't integrate with mobile phone unlimited plan instead.
It also provides SMS functio and costs almost nothing to set up. Try my SMS plugin with call function.

Handling incoming call to provide caller info will be implemented next.

jaynahar
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Re: VOIP phone system bridge with Open Dental

Post by jaynahar » Tue May 26, 2015 4:59 pm

Hersheydmd wrote:I don' t see this as something I must have, but rather something that would be nice to have.
Consequently, the lower the monthly fee the more likely I would be to sign up.
I took a survey of other monthly fees I am paying for comparison.
  1. email encryption service $4/mo
  2. anti-virus < $10/mo
  3. online backup $15/mo
  4. MS Office 365 $15/mo
  5. claims submission including NEA attachments ~$40-50/mo
  6. enhanced payroll $40/mo
  7. Open Dental $100/mo
  8. Digital radiography maintenance $150/mo
  9. automated confirmations, reminders, recalls $200/mo
So thinking about what I would pay I suppose if it was below $50/mo I would probably sign up without thinking twice about it. $50-100 I'd have to think harder about whether I need it or not. Above $100, I don't know if I could justify it.
Thanks for your candid feedback. Really appreciate it. Please do try the solution for a month at no cost and share your feedback. Here is my contact info 9495426773 or please do let me know how to connect with you.

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Re: VOIP phone system bridge with Open Dental

Post by mopensoft » Sun May 31, 2015 5:11 am

I'm thinking of another simple solution to show the incoming number and pull out matching patient data.

- Setup a mobile phone which connect to OpenDental and use it as a clinic number for patient to call (or setup clinic number to forward calls to this cell phone) - simple to do
- catch the incoming call in OpenDental, match the number with patient database and pop up patient details - I already have solution for this, need a bit more testing
- may be you want the cell phone to forward calls to your existing phone system. That would make it operate exactly the same as your current phone system - your choice

I can create the plugin for this very quickly as most of call functions already developed in my smsPlugin and all you need is an Android mobile. I can make OpenDental send text via that mobile too for confirmation if you like.

Questions are:
- does it practically work and worth to develop?
- Will clinics be interested and how much are they willing to pay for this plugin? It will be monthly or yearly subscription, Or you may purchase one and upgrade if needed.

You cannot purchase outright and use forever as plugins need to update with new version of OpenDental unless you never update your OD software.

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