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Choosing Software for Your Dental Practice

Posted November 6, 2020 by Beth

XLDent_choice

 

When it comes to selecting the software your dental practice will use for practice management, charting, or otherwise, dentists are often looking for just the right product to increase their practice’s efficiency, productivity, and revenue. This is no small task given the vast array of vendor options and features to select. We propose four key variables that can help you find out if a software is right for your practice: support, innovation, scalability, and integration. 

 

Support

Some software vendors offer little customer support or onboarding process for their products. Especially with your first software, a lot of time, money, and effort will go to setting up, installing, and learning to use the software. Your practice will need support to adapt quickly and realize the software’s productivity benefits as soon as possible. 

You’ll also need professional technical support on hand to make the most of your investment and avoid downtime.

 

Whether you have an existing practice or are starting a new practice, XLDent is here to guide you in managing or establishing a successful dental practice with our software. We not only understand the importance of the software selection process, but we also take pride in the experience and knowledge our XLDent Certified professionals will offer you during the process and long after you decide to move forward with the XLDent Suite of products.

 

The XLDent Software Assurance and Business Care Plan protects your investment. We are here to help long after your initial training is complete. Our knowledgeable and friendly Implementation Specialists genuinely care about your happiness and success with the XLDent Suite. We will consistently go the extra mile to answer your questions and help you reach your software implementation goals.

 

Innovation

A software product that does not evolve cannot grow with your practice. Not only does your vendor need to be able to invest in the growth of their company to keep up with regulations, but they also need to keep up with the challenges and opportunities created by new dental technologies.

 

XLDent is committed to innovation. We use current and updated development tools for the continual enhancement of the XLDent Software Suite. At XLDent, we dedicate ourselves to providing software features and solutions focused on our clients’ success, and we work with them to define those goals. We express that dedication in our commitment to the continual enhancement and redevelopment of the tools we create. We are continually re-evaluating the current development landscape with a strong emphasis on using proven, secure technologies and features to the advantage of the dental practices that partner with us. 

 

Scalability 

The needs of dental practices are continually evolving. So is technology. A software product that gets you started today may not serve your practice in the long run as you continue to grow. Before you adopt any technology, make sure that you understand how technology can adapt and scale to align with your future goals as a business. 

 

XLDent Cloud offers a scalable cloud solution that can meet your practice where you are now and scale with you as you grow. With XLDent, all of your clinical documents, charts, patient contact information, and other practice management data can be accessed at any time by any authorized user. XLDent Cloud allows you to work in a secure environment without complicated network connections to retrieve your data. 

 

Integration

The right software for your dental practice will integrate with as many of the tools and services you need for success as possible. Always look for software solutions that offer a complete suite, or at least integrate Real-Time Insurance Eligibility, Electronic Remittance Advice, Patient and Doctor Portals, Encrypted Email, and more. 

 

XLDent has already integrated the eSolutions you need to stay competitive and maximize the efficiency of your practice. By partnering with an elite group of market leaders in the healthcare industry, we can offer you a comprehensive, fully integrated Electronic Services solution. All eSolutions are seamlessly integrated with your XLDent Suite to improve workflow processes, accuracy, patient experiences, and patient outcomes. XLDent has it all: electronic prescribing, patient and doctor portals, appointment reminders, credit card processing, electronic statement processing, electronic claim processing and claim status, real-time eligibility and benefits verification, electronic remittance advice, dental claim attachments, custom websites, marketing, offsite backup storage, Practice Booster for coding strategies, HIPAA-compliant email, cloud-based phone system through Mango Voice, and more. 

 

Posted in: Dental Practice Management Software, Dental Software, Dental Technology, Dental Web-based Solutions, Electronic Dental Records, IT Services, Perio Chart, XLDent Cloud, XLDent Company, XLDent Patient Experience, XLDent Referrals, XLDent Website, Leave a comment/ No Comments »
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World Backup Day 2018

Posted March 26, 2018 by Nathan N.

It’s inevitable; one day you will lose your data. If you haven’t, that’s great! But in all reality, you probably just haven’t yet. Hardware failure, virus, ransomware, theft, fire, flood, accidental deletion, misuse, natural disaster. These are all determined to take precious photos, videos, documents, and critical business data away from you. As Murphy’s law says: Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong (and at the worst possible time!). It can be a painstaking and time-consuming process to rebuild what you’ve lost, and in some instances, there is no recreating what was lost.

This can be a scary thought, but it doesn’t have to be if you have a trusted backup solution.

I expect that most are familiar with what backups are and why they should be done. In my line of work as XLDent’s Technical Support, it’s shocking how many people I encounter that know this, but still aren’t backing up what’s most important to them. Imagine losing just one year of patients, appointments, history’s, x-rays, and clinical notes. Recently, this just happened. Contrary to our recommendation, this client hadn’t performed a backup for that long. One year. One day their server hard drive failed. Money was spent sending the drive to a data recovery company only to find out that none of the data was recoverable from the failed drive. With a good, responsive IT company and a daily backup, a practice can usually be up and fully operational the very next day with minimal loss. Unfortunately, for this practice, lack of a current backup led to an attempt to recover data from a bad drive, which was ultimately unsuccessful.

Dental_Software_XLDent_XLBackupTo honor World Backup Day, this is a reminder to take a look at your backup. Your business data is invaluable and we don’t want this scenario (or worse) to happen to you. If you aren’t confident in your current solution, contact us about our World Backup Day XLBackup promotion.

Posted in: Dental Practice Management Software, Dental Software, Dental Technology, Electronic Dental Records, Leave a comment/ No Comments »
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What World Backup Day Means To Me

Posted March 27, 2017 by Ryan S

A Day in the Life of an IT guy.

It’s Tuesday, 8:22am, and I just got a call from a panicked office manager. She’s having problems getting into her system and things are not working right. Nobody in the office can get into their software to start their day. Unfortunately, as an IT technician, this isn’t the first time I’ve seen this happen. A virus attack, hard drive failure, or even something as simple as accidental deletion of a file can quickly create chaos for a business. My first question…Do you have a backup?

The next part of our conversation can go one of three ways. 1) There is no backup. 2) There is a backup. But, it wasn’t working properly or backing up the right stuff. 3) There is a backup and it’s good, it’s recent, and we’re on our way to restoring the data and getting them up and running. What path would you be headed down?

Backups can mean the difference between picking up where you left off or starting completely over from scratch. Backups should be one of the most important decisions a dental practice owner makes. They can be done multiple ways. It may be as simple as plugging in an external hard drive and manually copying the files you want. Or, it could be a fully automated, encrypted, secure backup to an offsite storage location.

What type of backup is right for me?backup

The answer to that question all depends on the type of business you’re in, the amount of data backed up, and how quickly you need that data back if it’s taken away. More often than not, dental software and digital imaging relies on hundreds or thousands of files and folders and even multiple databases. Your day to day operation depends on all of them to be there and working. Considering anything less than a fully automated offsite backup solution is a gamble you don’t want to take.

Putting your data at risk each day at the cost of a cup of Starbucks isn’t worth it. It is far too easy to accidentally open an email and get hit with a ransomware virus, for a hard drive to reach its end-of-life, or for any number of unforeseen things to happen. Data that is held hostage or even damaged can leave you with a business that is brought to a screeching halt. If you have a good backup and a reliable service partner who makes it a priority to get you through a crisis, you can recover with relatively little pain and interruption.

Let’s get back to where my call started on Tuesday morning. Fortunately for her and the practice, we headed down path #3. They were doing a secure offsite backup. I was able to clean the virus from the computer, reload the operating system and programs, and get the data restore underway. Soon they were back to their business of taking care of patients.

If I can leave you with one piece of advice on this World Backup Day, consider your data. Consider its value, the role it plays in your everyday, how hard it works for you from scheduling to clinical notes, planned treatments and taking x-rays. Electronic dental records are amazing and I don’t know of anyone who wants to go back to paper chart days. But those records need to be protected and a reliable, secure, offsite backup is the first step in doing so.

Posted in: Dental Practice Management Software, Dental Software, Dental Technology, Electronic Dental Records, Leave a comment/ No Comments »
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Strengthen your Risk Management Plan Today

Posted January 31, 2017 by Alexa S.

Risk Management Quote

As individuals, society, and organizations, we take risks regularly as a necessary step to grow and develop. Forecasting and evaluating what is needed to incorporate risk management and minimize negative impact is not something that everyone or every organization takes time to focus on. It is important to make sure that your dental practice has adequate tools to combat threats and ensure security. Your business must evolve and adapt to ensure it is minimizing risks while maximizing growth potential. However, risk management is not always a one size fits all solution.

As we continue through our risk management series, there are three important areas where XLDent can help you strengthen your risk management plan today.

Offsite Backup Storage

How frequently are you backing up your patient and practice data? Are you making sure your backup system is secure and HIPAA compliant? With XLBackup, you have a managed, fully automated, online, off-site, data protection service that can help you keep a potentially serious business risk under control. By using XLBackup, you enable your dental practice to quickly restore lost files, images and critical data to get your practice up and running in a disaster recovery situation. Let’s break down the important considerations in a backup solution.

  • Managed service: The XLBackup service includes professional management of your back up solution. This includes storage management and optimization, data integrity and verification checks, and annual disaster recovery fire drills.
  • HIPAA Secure: Incorporates critical secure elements such as HIPAA compliant encryption technology, storage in multiple data centers and Federal Information Processing Standards.
  • Automatic Data Healing: This automated process runs in the remote data center, performs in the background, and scans the entire storage to ensure data integrity by checking data blocks and comparing digital signatures for inconsistencies.
  • Data De-Duplication: Essentially, you won’t have multiple copies of everything causing a headache in a recovery situation. Data is compared based on its content to the appropriate repository and a pointer is used to point from the data’s original location to the library location.
  • Local Storage: Backup on a local device so immediate restoration at LAN speed can occur.

XLBackup is compatible with all Dental Practice Management and Image Management solutions. It is an absolutely necessary component of your electronic dental records risk management.

SecureMail – HIPAA Compliant Email

Need to send sensitive patient information via email? Don’t risk PHI by sending with just any email client or service. With SecureMail, you’ll be able to send information and file attachments that are protected from accidental exposure and data theft. At the same time, SecureMail ensures compliance, guards your reputation, builds customer trust, and reduces business process cost. It also includes the added security of being able to track and confirm sent, received and open emails. SecureMail is a cost effective, cloud-based service that is available to any practice, regardless of dental practice management system.

Credit Card Processing

Credit and debit transactions that use EMV technology are an important milestone in managing risk in card payment transactions. Point-to-point encryption (P2PE) combines secure devices, applications and processes to encrypt data throughout the transaction, making it an integral part of your card payment solution. XLCharge not only makes it easy with integrated payment processes right inside the XLDent practice management software, but also offers you a level of security you can depend on.

These are just a handful of ways your technology choices guide you in developing a viable risk management plan. Let XLDent take some of the stress out of your risk management.

Posted in: Dental Practice Management Software, Dental Technology, Leave a comment/ No Comments »
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