Minnesota, California Dental Associations leading the way in dental EHR education

As next-generation dental electronic health records (EHRs) begin to take hold in the dental industry, some industry associations will be proactive and at the forefront of educating their members and providing the information they need to know in order to make informed decisions … and some associations will choose to delay discussing the topic. This happened in the medical industry over the past decade where forward-thinking associations recognized what was happening with EHRs while other associations chose to keep their heads in the sand until it was late in the game. It would be unfortunate if the dental industry didn't take advantage of these lessons learned.

Fortunately for their members, at least two dental associations, Minnesota and California, recognize where this is all going and the need to begin educating their members now about dental EHRs while offering the tools and knowledge to make their members successful. Most dental software vendors are working on upgrading features and functionality that support EHR, and there are new players coming into the marketplace specifically taking advantage of the inevitable integration of EHRs into the daily operations of dental practices.

I've had some interesting discussions about this with Mike Uretz, our EHR editor and founder of dentalsoftwareadvisor.com. Uretz, by the way, conducted the first dental EHR workshop in Minnesota and will be conducting California's first dental EHR workshop at the CDA Spring Session in Anaheim on Thursday, May 15. During our talks, he has conveyed his concern to me that some dental associations didn't seem to understand the importance of giving their members a jump on dental EHR education. There are many reasons why the growth of dental EHRs is rapidly evolving and a number of these reasons are outlined in our recent article, "the 10 reasons why you will be using dental EHRs in your practice."

At Dental Products Report, we have decided to be proactive regarding dental EHR information. We recognize that the next few years will be pivotal in how healthcare, including dentistry, is affected by more sophisticated software technologies … and at the forefront of this software revolution is dental EHR technology. We have made a conscience decision to give our readers what they need and our hope is that, along with Minnesota and California, other dental associations and organizations recognize this as well and help their members prepare for the changing software landscape.

Click below to see an interview with Uretz about his talk in California...