Integrating Flexibility Into Your Practice

Laura Dorr;

Integrating Flexibility Into Your Practice

November 1, 2021

Dental Products Report, Dental Products Report November 2021, Volume 55, Issue 11

Flex software completely altered how one practice measures practice efficiency.

Dentistry is generally straightforward—practice management, sometimes, not so much. With so many options for practice management software—many of which don’t play nice with others—it can be hard to find solutions that integrate seamlessly into your practice workflow.

Austin Vetter, DDS, found himself in this boat. He tried numerous practice management software platforms but couldn’t find one that met all his practice’s needs. In fall 2020, he converted to Open Dental and was immediately impressed. “I saw the efficiencies I was missing with other software,” Dr Vetter says. “The fact that Flex was heavily integrated was a huge reason as well.”

Easily customizable, Flex’s tools pair seamlessly and are fully integrated with Open Dental. Features like treatment planning, patient communication, intake and medical history forms, and payment integration gives practices the ability to control all aspects of their workflow from 1 platform.

“From online scheduling and paperless forms and consents to paperless treatment plans with automatic posting of the accounts, Flex has created this efficient workflow that requires very little auditing,” Dr Vetter says. “The program does the heavy lifting.”

After what he cites as a minimal learning curve for him and his team, Dr Vetter found that some of the features simplified his workflow. Treatment plans can be created in just a few clicks, and once a plan is saved in Open Dental, it is immediately available in Flex. This allows clinicians to easily show patients the detailed breakdown of their treatment, from appointment schedules to insurance information.

Customizable payment options and plans can also be created on the spot. Once a patient selects their preferred payment option, Flex can create a payment plan, tokenize the patient’s credit card, and auto set up the payment so a team member doesn’t have to babysit financial transactions.

“The treatment planning and financials really stand out to me,” Dr Vetter says. “[Since incorporating the software], I have found that my team is much more willing to talk about financials. I don’t think there’s a single software doing it this easily and in this fashion. A brand-new employee can truly walk through complete financing with a patient. Even my hygienists are discussing crown appointments and collecting down payments.”

This flexibility means that if team members are busy with other patients or front office tasks, any team member can collect co-pays, allowing appointments to move forward and ensuring practice efficiency doesn’t suffer. Plus, payments can be collected straight from the chair from any wireless terminal with the FlexPay feature.

“I have patients every day saying, ‘I can check out in the chair? I don’t have to go to the front desk? That’s awesome!’” Dr Vetter says. “This feature alone has caused my practice to grow in ways I never dreamed of.”

In addition to treatment planning and payment support, Flex also simplifies patient communication and scheduling through FlexBook. This real-time online appointment scheduling saves time for front desk staff and makes scheduling simple for patients, as they can make appointments straight from their mobile devices. Mobile apps are also available on the practice side: Flex Mobile keeps clinicians connected to their practice wherever they are, allowing them to reply to messages, monitor for issues, evaluate schedules, and make real-time adjustments. Dr Vetter also appreciates that Flex is browser-based, eliminating update times or syncing lags.

By eliminating lag times everywhere from syncing to treatment planning, to payment scheduling, Dr Vetter has found Flex software to be extremely beneficial to his practice workflow.

“If I get into the practice management conversation with other clinicians, I first ask, ‘Why are you not on Open Dental?’” Dr Vetter says. “Once on Open Dental, your world suddenly becomes open, and you now have the opportunity to use Flex as your efficiency software. I would bet most clinicians don’t even realize software like this exists. Many dentists are worried about what milling machine they should buy or what laser to buy, when in reality they should be converting to Open Dental and onboarding with Flex.”

Download Issue: Dental Products Report November 2021