Useful information: this is what we do

In order to have data analysis, you need to have a service familiar with acquiring the data, digging through the detail, removing the wheat from the chaff and just giving you the information you need.  If you do have needs with your data, we have experience with accessing data for the following practice management software:

Carestream/Orthotrac

Dolphin

Dentrix

Salus

Gesden 

Denticon 

Dentalink – Central and South America (Coming soon) 

If you somehow still have a copy of OCA’s proprietary Walrus system, we have more experience with that data than pretty much anyone else in the world.  

Should you use any of these systems, we can access your data in relatively short order and begin reporting areas of potential opportunity and weakness to you in a matter of days.

If you are not on any of these systems, that’s still not a problem.  One of the primary services we offer is to access (legally) virtually any system that is willing to allow you access to your own data, distill that data into usable information and provide you regularly updated results and things to review.  No long lists to sort through.  

One other important note: some systems handle data better than others and all of them have their own way of organizing information.  What matters is that whoever organizes the data for you – us or anyone else—spends the time to make sure that the data being generated is accurate.  We have seen a lot of inaccurate data being generated by entities that provide guidance to practices.  The reasons for this are not relevant here, but suffice it to say that bad reporting will lead you in the wrong direction.   

If you do use someone internally or externally to summarize data for you, please make sure that the person/people/company are reviewing the detail of the data to ensure that it reconciles to some underlying data.  Also, make sure that the information makes sense.  For example, if your revenue is $20,000 per month and the data indicate that you are signing 45 new contracts per month, either those data are completely wrong or someone is walking off with your money.  

If you need help with your data or want someone to check to make sure that your numbers are properly vetted, please let us know by clicking here.  Volume and some big, painful experiences in the past have taught us a lot of lessons that others may have yet to learn.

To share or not to share

One of the most frequent questions I get from owner doctors relates to whether or not critical information should be shared with staff.  The argument usually goes something along the lines of the following: “If I show my income statement to my office manager – who is making $20 per hour—and they see that the net profit in the practice is $250,000, they’ll wonder why I am making $250,000 per year while they are making $40,000.  I’ll either get constant requests for a raise or I’ll have to replace my office manager.”  

On the other hand, you can’t expect a manager or key person to make important decisions for your practice while flying blind.  If you ask a person to handle your purchasing, you cannot reasonably expect a person to buy supplies without knowing the budget, historical spending or important product costs.  If you make decisions without information, you’re pretty much asking for bad decisions.  Also, if you are too guarded with information, the people in the office may think you are hiding something shady.  

Here are some guidelines for information sharing: