DecisionBase and iConfiDent are working together
DecisionBase is your Patented Checklist-based Clinical Records Software
iConfiDent allows you to collaborate online and grow your dental implant referrals
You can now create, edit, view and archive your iConfiDent treatment cases right from your DecisionBase software.
Learn more about DecisionBase at
Learn more about iConfident at
My doctor’s experience with an EMR
I spent an interesting visit with my internist yesterday for a periodic exam. She and her two colleagues have implemented the use of an EMR into their practice as have almost 60% of physicians in private practice in the U.S. As an EHR developer for dentistry, I have been very curious about her opinions of how the process has gone.
Certainly the financial incentives offered by the HITECH Act of 2009 made their decision to convert from paper charts to digital records more attractive. She admits that the costs of converting information from previous paper records into their new digital records were a significant cost factor. She also did not like the amount of typing she had to do to enter notes – admitting that she is not a good typist. But, that said, looking back on the process and where they are today, she and her partners would never go back to paper charts. They are now realizing the benefits gained from digital records that were never envisioned from a background of paper chart use and they also appreciated the increase in administrative efficiency that the practice had achieved.
This reminded me of a conversation with one of DecisionBase’s users in Texas who commented after 3 years of using our EHR: “Dr Rhodes, while feeling very grateful about what you have created, I feel that in some ways you are similar to a drug pusher: Once hooked on your software, there is no way you would ever go back.”
So won’t you share your comments of how DecisionBase for Periodontics or OMS have impacted you and your practice?
Atul Gawande: How do we heal medicine?
Isn’t Atul Gawande captivating in this TED talk! I totally agree with his Cowboys versus Pit Crews analogy. Even in dentistry, greater success can be assured when a team of people are arriving at a complete diagnosis and then co-coordinating the care they all provide to arrive at a healthier patient. During my career I participated in a pit crew of a periodontist, prosthodontist, orthodontist and endodontist who all worked together in a coordinated fashion to carry out a multi-disciplinary treatment plan. That was always the most rewarding experience: to see the outcome of that type of coordinated care.
Interesting PC Magazine article, using the iPad in Medicine to make better decisions
Interesting article from PC Magazine on why healthcare providers are focusing on the use of an iPad to increase the quality of their decisions. Yes, you can use an iPad with DecisionBase Software.
http://www.pcmag.com/slideshow/story/295802/9-new-life-saving-technologies-for-doctors
DecisionBase Software Has Received Approval of the First U.S. Patent for a Comprehensive Electronic Clinical Record (EHR) for Dentistry
OAKLAND, CA. Dental software developer DecisionBase has received approval of its patent application for the KNOWLEDGE BASED CLINICAL DENTAL RECORD. Previous development of dental software has concentrated on practice administration and radiographic imaging. This piece of the information puzzle will finally allow for the elimination of the paper chart. Currently two specialty versions of this electronic clinical dental record are being marketed: DecisionBase for Periodontics and DecisionBase for Oral Maxillofacial Surgery with a growing user group throughout the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom. DecisionBase for Dentistry is currently under development for use in general dentistry. The DecisionBase EHR’s unique characteristics include its Patient Profile which provides an instant overview of a patient’s critical clinical information. It also uses check list based Smart Forms to provide an intuitive way to create clinical narrative notes without typing. Clinical information is easily shared with other treating dentists or physicians by an automated process for converting chart notes into a variety of reports, without typing and then transmits them to other healthcare providers.
According to Dr. Paul Rhodes, CEO of DecisionBase, “The ease with which clinical information can be generated, exported and imported will be particularly valuable when a dentist and surgeon are working together to provide dental implant services.” In a Wall Street Journal article, Melinda Beck reports “There is growing evidence that oral health problems, particularly gum disease, can harm a patient’s general health as well, raising the risk of diabetes, heart disease, stroke, pneumonia and pregnancy complications.” The ability for all medical and dental users of an EMR/EHR to share information will open up a new ability for physicians and dentists to collaborate in educating their patients as well as practicing more prevention and better care.
Over 50% of physicians in private practice have converted to the use of EMR/EHRs according to a NCHS National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey. The HITECH Act of 2009 requires all healthcare providers to use EMR/EHRs by 2014. This and the younger generation of doctors who have grown up with computers, smart phones, tablets and social networking will drive this conversion to digital information management in dentistry.
Why this Physician Loves His EMR
The use of clinical decision support (CDS) is one of the top reasons this physician loves the EMR he has used since 2006. DecisionBase uses Clinical Decision Support in its “SmartForms” which have been laid out to follow procedural algorithms – similar to how check lists have been designed for use in aviation.
Click on the link for detailed comments by this physician on this aspect of his EMR.
Tom Goetz of Wired Magazine compliments Dentistry for successfully educating and motivating a patient to better oral health.
He goes on to show how medicine in general can use graphical presentation of medical data (lab results) to make it easier for patients to understand their health status and by doing so, better motivate them to act on this new information. Just like how the bar graphs of pocket depths on the tooth graphics in the DecisionBase periodontal chart use color and graphics to show people the depth (severity) of their problem.
9 Tablets Fit For Doctors
Tablets can allow convenient and mobile access to your EMR. Look for the following features: large screen size (this makes it easier to touch a target on the screen more accurately); both touch and pen based functionality; a docking station with a keyboard and charging capability. The more of these functions, the more versatility.
http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/healthcare/mobile-wireless/232500058
Electronic Charts and the Mayo Clinic with Robert X. Cringley
If you are considering the conversion from paper records to electronic digital patient records in your practice but think that this task might be a big challenge, you might find this video interesting on how the Mayo Clinic with its millions of patients converted to an electronic chart. We have helped more than one hundred periodontal and oral surgical practices accomplish this process.
Interview of Dr. Atul Gawande: The Power of Checklists
Dr. Atul Gawande is an Endocrine Surgeon, New Yorker magazine journalist and who has described how check lists have enhanced healthcare on Charlie Rose’s TV show. He has uniquely applied checklists to medical practice in hospital ICU’s and surgical OR’s which have resulted in enhanced quality of care.
This use of checklists is at the heart of how you create chart notes in the DecisionBase clinical digital chart where it could help to increase the attention to detail that has enhanced healthcare in hospitals.
