CDT code license

[san.mmxi]

We were able to configure Open Dental with ease for our practice and are pretty happy with the feature set it offers. We are planning to go ahead with using it at our new dental clinic. For making decision to use OD, the biggest challenge and hindrance is getting A D A CDT license. I did a quick search in the forum here but to my surprise couldn't find too many topics on this issue. I share the concern some of you have raised about dentists being charged to pay for using these codes which are made by and for dentists. I am wondering how many of OD non-paying users here have gotten CDT licenses for their own use and how much A D A is charging for it? Mind sharing information on this for everyone here?

[jsalmon]

My best guess is that they just buy the book with that year of codes in them and then manually enter all the information into our procedure code list section:
http://www.opendental.com/manual/procedurecodes.html

Or, you can sign up for support, get on a live version and push a button to automatically insert all the codes. And then when new codes come out the following years you just do the same step once more for that year etc, etc.
http://www.opendental.com/manual/proced ... tools.html

[san.mmxi]

My best guess is that they just buy the book with that year of codes in them and then manually enter all the information into our procedure code list section:
http://www.opendental.com/manual/procedurecodes.html

Or, you can sign up for support, get on a live version and push a button to automatically insert all the codes. And then when new codes come out the following years you just do the same step once more for that year etc, etc.
http://www.opendental.com/manual/proced ... tools.html

Thanks for the reply, Jason! Appreciate your response.

For entering CDT codes manually in procedure list, is buying A D A CDT code book for that year sufficient for satisfying licensing needs required by A D A for usage of codes in the OD?

[jsalmon]

For entering CDT codes manually in procedure list, is buying A D A CDT code book for that year sufficient for satisfying licensing needs required by A D A for usage of codes in the OD?

As long as you aren't redistributing the codes to others I believe that should be more than sufficient.

Think of it like a typical software company. When you buy a copy of Windows, you can use it all your life on one machine. However, you can't give it out to your friends to install on their computers unless you pay additional royalties to Microsoft per license that you are trying to hand out.

[san.mmxi]

As long as you aren't redistributing the codes to others I believe that should be more than sufficient.

Thanks again for your response, Jason. During the setup another related question came up - would sending CDT codes as part of insurance claims to insurance companies be considered as distributing codes? I would think software used for sending e-claim forms will contain CDT codes. Correct me if I'm wrong here.

PS: We can rule out possibility of us distributing codes as software distributor of OD.

[jsalmon]

...would sending CDT codes as part of insurance claims to insurance companies be considered as distributing codes?

I would say no. Keep in mind that I'm not an expert on legalities.

Personally I'd be offended if I paid for something and then couldn't use it for the sole purpose of why I bought it in the first place. I'd consider that borderline criminal of the CDT if that was the case.