Open Dental Forum

Greetings,
I have gotten an inquiry from a specialty office with 5 providers interested in OD.
Their office is referred as, and the phone is answered with, "the office of Drs. Moe, Larry, Curly, Abbott and Costello."
They are each individual businesses that pay into a pool that covers staff, supplies, rent. The 7 staff members work for all 5 providers.
The production/collection and scheduling is done currently through one PM program.
The patient statements list the full names and degrees of all the providers.

Their question is, How does OD handle a group practice?

Are any of you in a multiple, solo practitioner, provider situation?
If so, how is it handled regarding OD.

Thanks.

I talked to a similar potential customer a few weeks ago. We also do have some customers doing it, and each probably handles it a little differently. Here are a few important considerations:
1. Make sure each patient is assigned the proper primary provider. Obviously.
2. Make sure each appointment and procedure reflect the proper provider.
3. As payments come in, assign them to the primary provider for the patient. I would not recommend also splitting by procedure or hygienist. Primary provider is quite sufficient.
4. They will need a protocol in place to review situations where a different provider handles an appointment. Who gets credit for the production? Who reviews the entries to make sure it was done right?
5. Nearly all reports and appointment lists can be run by specific provider, so no problems there.
6. Billing cannot be run by specific provider. Is it acceptable to them to run batch billing with all providers intermingled? It sounds like it is. The other office that I talked to unfortunately wanted billing to look different for each provider.
7. I'm not sure there is enough space on our statement to show all the names and degrees of 5 providers. They might have to have that preprinted on their billing forms for now.

That's about all that comes to mind.