Why I Use… Dentrix Enterprise
Achieve greater practice efficiency and revenue potential while creating a seamless experience for your patients
Being part of a growing and thriving dental organization is certainly a good thing, but only if the dental team has the right tools in place to support its patients—and each other. That’s what Hillary Smedley, VP of Operations for Genesis Dental & Orthodontics, found out after upgrading to Dentrix Enterprise. Here, she shares the 4 biggest benefits of creating a centralized support network and seamless patient experience.
Hillary Smedley
Hillary Smedley is the Vice President of Operations for Genesis Dental & Orthodontics, where she oversees the operations of over a dozen entities in the Salt Lake City, UT, area. With over a decade of experience in the dental industry, she has worked side-by-side with clinicians in various roles—including as an assistant, front desk team member, insurance coordinator, and office manager— learning the intricacies and importance of each position in the dental office. In her spare time, she enjoys trail running and spending time with her husband and 2 daughters.
When I joined Genesis Dental & Orthodontics 8 years ago, one of the biggest hurdles was not having a central hub of shared information between practices. We had around 7 or 8 locations at that time, and if we wanted to generate any type of report—for example, to pay our providers—we would have to search each office’s software system to pull the data.
We just weren’t supporting each other well, which is why a couple of years later, the organization upgraded to Dentrix Enterprise so that we could centralize our functions and work as a team.
Centralized Support
One of the biggest benefits of using Dentrix Enterprise is how we are able to offer centralized support for our 10 offices. For example, we have a call center that can access everyone’s schedule and make an appointment—even if that office is closed for the day—so we miss fewer patient opportunities. And, instead of using a third-party insurance company, we have an in-house insurance team that verifies eligibility and submits claims for all locations, all within Dentrix Enterprise and its integrated eClaims solution.
Reporting
The ease of being able to pull reports for multiple practice locations or to see the health of the organization as a whole is amazing. Within the Dentrix Enterprise software, we can view any kind of report for a specific office or doctor. This makes it simple to see how a particular practice is performing or to make sure a certain doctor is doing well in all 4 locations he or she works in.
Consistent Workflows
We can set templates for clinical notes so that charting is consistent across all locations. If there is a patient who is visiting 2 locations, we don’t have to sift through notes or calls and request records. We can just log in and have complete assurance that everyone has charted everything the same way. So, the patient experience is very seamless because they don't have to fill out new paperwork or have their insurance reverified.
Team Training
We all know that feeling of losing a critical team member, such as a front office manager, and thinking, “Oh my goodness, this is a huge position to fill!” Within the software, we create training clips and videos to ensure a new employee’s transition into the practice goes smoothly. So, we’re able to attract better candidates because they know we have the resources to support them if they need it. It can be easy for team members to feel disconnected, especially in a multi-practice organization. But because we help facilitate every patient's dental care with the tools Dentrix Enterprise offers, we avoid that feeling.
Change is hard, and the fear of a difficult software implementation can often outweigh its potential benefits. But I would take that initial discomfort any day to get to where we are now: fully supporting each other and working as a team. Our practice motto is "Person, first and always," and Dentrix Enterprise helps us offer the best support to both our team members and our patients.
