The U.S. Dental Market: Where We’ve Been, Where We’re Headed

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As 2014 comes to a close, one industry in particular deserves a contemplative glance—the U.S. dental system. Projected to “evolve more in the next 20 years than in the previous 50,” U.S. dental care is changing quite dramatically and failure to change with it (listen up, stragglers) may result in decline and stagnation. Key research bodies are proud to release their 2014 research reports, highlighting where the U.S. dental industry has been—and where consumers can expect it to go in the coming years. Take a look at some key industry-shifting trends below:

Group practice growth

As group practices continue to grow, the days of solo practices being the dominant model for dental practices are dwindling. There are a number of reasons why consolidation and acquisition are the future of dentistry—first, dentistry always seems to follow medicine. Other reasons include rising costs, third party pressures, severe fragmentation of the dental industry and massive dental school debts.

Influence of PPOs

Fee-for-service (FFS) dentistry and PPOs will continue to be a hot topic in the field of dentistry. Dental insurance expert Teresa Duncan states the obvious—patients will “vote with their wallets” as typical American consumers do. According to Duncan, “what will separate successful offices is the ability to provide quality service and a great patient experience…half the battle is accepting that [one’s] business model must shift to accommodate industry changes.” To all dentists out there, keeping an eye on this trend in 2015 is advised.

Medical-dental collaborations

Expect to see more dental and medical cooperation towards things that will help both sides as well as their patients—such as EHRs. Collaboration between physicians, dentists and other allied health professionals to promote a holistic, integrated approach to caring for patients is a major goal for 2015.

Technology as a window of opportunity

CAD/CAM technology in dentistry is expected to continue its boom in 2015 with a larger number of dentists using tablets to improve patient care and satisfaction. The idea of Google Glass helping dentists may take off after the New Year, as dental students at the University of Michigan have already formed a dental consulting company to pinpoint exactly how this innovative technology may be useful to dental practices going forward.

The more educated patient

Patients will continue to utilize the internet for information about dental health and clinician feedback, along with “shopping” for dentists. Ratings sites seem to be everywhere and prove to be very powerful, so clinicians should be cognizant of word-of-mouth in the coming year. Social media is everywhere!

SOURCE: Dental Products Report 

About DoseSpot 
DoseSpot is a Surescripts certified e-Prescribing platform specifically designed to integrate with electronic health record, electronic dental record, practice management and telehealth software. DoseSpot is certified to e-Prescribe controlled substances and has provided simple, affordable and integratable e-Prescribing solutions to healthcare IT companies since 2009. For more information, please visit www.DoseSpot.com.

Planet DDSâ„¢ Successfully Completes Surescripts’ e-Prescribing Certification through DoseSpotâ„¢ Integration

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NEEDHAM HEIGHTS, MA – DoseSpot, an industry leader in e-Prescribing integration platforms for medical and dental software, today announced that Planet DDS Inc., a dental software provider of dentist practice management software, clinical charting, digital x-ray software and dental patient communications has completed Surescripts certification, through DoseSpot.     

“We are excited to support Planet DDS in their initiative to provide dentists with the latest and greatest technology,” said Greg Waldstreicher, President, DoseSpot. “Now that DoseSpot’s dental specific e-Prescribing platform is integrated with Planet DDS, dentists can send prescriptions electronically as well as build and manage a patient’s medication profile.”

Through this partnership with DoseSpot, Planet DDS customers are equipped to:

• Safely and efficiently send prescriptions electronically to more than 65,000 pharmacies
• Automatically check for dangerous drug-drug and drug-allergy interactions
• Aggregate prescription history data from community pharmacies in addition to patient medication claims history from payers and pharmacy benefit managers
• Request information on patient insurance eligibility and formulary at the time of prescribing

“Seamless integration with dental software solutions is critical to keep a dentist’s needs at the forefront of the e-Prescribing experience,” added Greg.  “DoseSpot is backed by an exclusive partnership with Lexicomp to provide dental specific information within the e-Prescribing workflow.  This gives us the capability to provide dentists with instant answers to crucial medication questions.”

“As a cloud-based dental software company, we have the ability to use the Internet as the infrastructure to leverage DoseSpot’s best-of-breed software,” said Richard Lee, CEO, Planet DDS. “Also, the Surescripts certification is an integral step towards Denticon, our cloud-based dental practice management software, becoming a certified EHR software application.” Lee concluded, “We look forward to enhancing our customer experience through this integration.”

For more information on e-Prescribing Integration platforms and DoseSpot, please visit www.DoseSpot.com.

About Planet DDS

Planet DDS, Inc., a privately-held company in Irvine, California, develops, hosts, and supports software as a service (SaaS) applications for the dental industry. Planet DDS also offers virtual services through the use of cloud-based dental software delivery and its network of experienced, stay-at-home dental office workers. For more information on Planet DDS, Inc., please visit www.planetdds.com.

About DoseSpot

DoseSpot is a Surescriptsâ„¢ certified e-Prescribing platform specifically designed to integrate with electronic health record, electronic dental record, practice management and telehealth software. DoseSpot has provided simple, affordable and integratable e-Prescribing solutions to healthcare IT companies since 2009. For more information, please visit www.DoseSpot.com.

DoseSpot Announces Groundbreaking Technology to Route e-Prescriptions Telepathically

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DoseSpot Announces Groundbreaking Technology to Route e-Prescriptions Telepathically

DoseSpot, an industry leader in electronic prescribing (e-Prescribing) integration platforms for medical and dental software, today unveiled new groundbreaking technology to route e-Prescriptions telepathically directly to a pharmacist, sending prescriptions in a matter of milliseconds.

“If a prescriber can think it, they can send it” said Greg Waldstreicher, President, DoseSpot. “We are thrilled to be innovating within the e-Prescribing market and upholding our commitment to creating greater efficiencies for healthcare professionals. Cloud-based software will soon be a thing of the past with the emergence of telepathic communications.”

The ability for prescribers, including doctors and dentists as well as telehealth providers to send prescriptions telepathically is the first of its kind. DoseSpot continues to make enhancements to the telepathic communications network and is currently beta testing sending telepathic prescriptions directly to patients.

April fools! DoseSpot prescribers unfortunately do not have the capability to send e-Prescriptions telepathically but they are equipped to:

• Safely and efficiently send prescriptions electronically to more than 65,000 pharmacies
• Automatically check for dangerous drug-drug and drug-allergy interactions
• Aggregate prescription history data from community pharmacies in addition to patient medication claims history from payers and pharmacy benefit managers
• Request information on patient insurance eligibility and formulary at the time of prescribing

Learn more about DoseSpot today at www.DoseSpot.com. That is no joke!

About DoseSpot

DoseSpot is a Surescriptsâ„¢ certified e-Prescribing platform specifically designed to integrate with electronic health record, practice management, and telehealth software. DoseSpot has provided affordable and integratable e-Prescribing solutions to more than 45 medical & dental software companies since 2009. For more information, please visit http://www.DoseSpot.com.

XLDent Prescribes with DoseSpot

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Case Study:

XLDent™ began researching integration of an e-Prescribing solution when it was mandated in Minnesota. However, this was not the only reason they considered adding e-Prescribing.  XLDent™ had already developed a written prescription module within their software that could be fed to the Doctor Portal, but it did not contain the patient’s entire prescription history. The company was looking for a solution that could offer dentists a comprehensive view of a patient’s medication history from a mobile device, such as their smartphone when away from the office. Their interest was also to include a clinical decision support tool that would help clinicians improve patient outcomes.

Solution:

XLDentâ„¢ chose DoseSpot because of the ease of integration, its easy-to-use user interface, and the fact that it met all of their feature criteria. “The development team at DoseSpot was and continues to be great to work with!” said Dawn Christodoulou, President of XLDent. “They are very engaged and responsive to our needs.”

Most Common e-Prescribing Questions Asked by Dentists

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We talked to a lot of dentists over the course of the three-day ADA Annual Session.  Between handing out our awesome #dosespotted t-shirts and providing demos, we fielded questions on all things e-Prescribing.  Below is a compilation of the questions most frequently asked and our attempt to answer them as enthusiastically as we do in person!

What exactly is e-Prescribing? e-Prescribing stands for electronic prescribing.  With e-Prescribing, dentists can route prescriptions electronically to the patient’s preferred pharmacy in addition to reviewing the patient’s medication history and insurance information.

What are the advantages of e-Prescribing? Where do we start?  In short, e-Prescribing saves time, increases efficiency and improves safety and security.  Dentists that e-Prescribe with DoseSpot can instantaneously route prescriptions, check for dangerous drug-drug and drug-allergy interactions and access dental specific medication information with the click of a button, to name a few.

What does ‘dental specific’ e-Prescribing mean? DoseSpot has an exclusive partnership with Lexicomp to provide dental specific medication information within the e-Prescribing workflow. This means dentists can access crucial medication information such as a medication’s effect on dental use & dental treatment, dental usual dosages, and many more! 

Can my office staff use it? Yes! With DoseSpot specifically, proxy accounts can be created that allow staff members to enter patient information and utilize a subset of features.

What are the next steps to getting e-Prescribing at my practice? We are glad you asked this one.  Just give us a call at (888)-847-6814 or visit DoseSpot.com/lexi

I’m not a dentist but am interested in learning more about e-Prescribing, what do I do? We have good news, we also integrate with both medical and telehealth software companies.  Call us, we’d love to talk to you.

Have we left any of your questions unanswered?  Feel free to tweet us any questions @DoseSpot or give us a ring (888)-847-6814.

ADA 2013 Photo Recap

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It was Halloween and the Rex Sox just won the World Series (go Sox!) as we arrived at ADA 2013, joining a crowd of more than 23,000 dental enthusiasts.  The three day Annual Session was nothing short of outstanding and we are pleased to say we accomplished each item on our bucket list while in New Orleans.  Between the wonderful dentists we met and the awesome food we ate, it was a meeting to be remembered.

Check out a compilation of pictures taken at ADA 2013 below of booth attendees writing their first mock e-Prescription and getting #DoseSpotted!

ADA 2013 Photo Recap

We’re working to compile answers to the most commonly asked questions about e-Prescribing at ADA for our next blog post.  Tweet any questions you have for us @DoseSpot and your question may be featured!

Meaningful Use: Stage 1 vs. Stage 2

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With Stage 2 right around the corner many EHRs, physicians, dentists, and other ‘eligible professionals’ are seeking guidance. So here it is! Today’s blog post features a Stage 1 vs. Stage 2 Comparison Table for 3 Meaningful Use Core Objectives.

More comparisons are coming…stay tuned!

….Congrats to last week’s DoseSpot #TuesdayTweetup winner @jasmith1437 and runner up @techydoc.

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Stage 1 Objective: CPOE

Use CPOE for medication orders directly entered by any licensed healthcare professional who can enter orders into the medical record per state, local and professional guidelines

Stage 1 Measure: CPOE

More than 30% of unique patients with at least one medication in their medication list seen by the EP have at least one medication order entered using CPOE

Stage 2 Objective: CPOE

Use computerized provider order entry (CPOE) for medication, laboratory and radiology orders directly entered by any licensed healthcare professional who can enter orders into the medical record per state, local and professional guidelines

Stage 2 Measure: CPOE

More than 60% of medication, 30% of laboratory, and 30% of radiology orders created by the EP during the EHR reporting period are recorded using CPOE

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Stage 1 Objective: e-Prescribing

Generate and transmit permissible prescriptions electronically (eRx)

Stage 1 Measure: e-Prescribing

More than 30% of unique patients with at least one medication in their medication list seen by the EP have at least one medication order entered using CPOE

Stage 2 Objective: e-Prescribing

Generate and transmit permissible prescriptions electronically (eRx)

Stage 2 Measure: e-Prescribing

More than 50% of all permissible prescriptions written by the EP are compared to at least one drug formulary and transmitted electronically using Certified EHR Technology

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Stage 1 Objective: Record Demographics

Record demographics: Preferred language, Gender, Race, Ethnicity, Date of birth

Stage 1 Measure: Record Demographics

More than 50% of all unique patients seen by the EP have demographics recorded as structured data

Stage 2 Objective: Record Demographics

Record demographics: Preferred language, Gender, Race, Ethnicity, Date of birth

Stage 2 Measure: Record Demographics

More than 80% of all unique patients seen by the EP have demographics recorded as structured data

Source: http://go.cms.gov/12r3Gsc

Dental ePrescribing for Your Practice – How it Works

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Dental ePrescribing Map

Step #1: Add patient’s demographic information to DoseSpot (ie: Name, DOB, Address).

Step #2: DoseSpot automatically retrieves the patient’s medication history from all prescribers directly from the insurance companies and pharmacies.

Step #3: Dentist or office staff member can create the prescription electronically with dental specific information at your fingertips.

Step #4: DoseSpot automatically runs drug to drug and drug to allergy interactions.

Step #5: Select the patient’s preferred pharmacy and send the prescription on its way!

Step #6: Patient picks up the prescription at the pharmacy.

For more information, please visit www.dentaleprescribing.com

Dental ePrescribing is Officially Open!

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Today, Wolters Kluwer Health officially announced the Lexicomp and DoseSpot Partnership to Offer the Industry’s First Integrated ePrescribing Solution for Dental Professionals.

Please visit dentaleprescribing.com for more information!

Wolters Kluwer Health

Lexicomp and DoseSpot Partner to

Offer Industry’s First Integrated ePrescribing Solution for Dental Professionals

HUDSON, OH–January 20, 2012 – Wolters Kluwer Health, a leading global provider of information for healthcare professionals and students, announced today that Lexicomp has partnered with DoseSpot to deliver an integrated eprescribing tool for the dental office. In response to the growing trend of electronic prescribing in dental offices, this product offering combines eprescribing capabilities with direct access to Lexicomp Online for Dentistry™, Lexicomp’s dental-specific drug and clinical information solution, to deliver the information that dental professionals need to safely and efficiently prescribe medication and check for dangerous drug interactions.  “We are very pleased to offer this first-of-its kind combined dental eprescribing and medication management tool to dental professionals”, commented Steven Kerscher, Vice President and General Manager, Lexicomp. “Dental professionals are now able to review their patient’s saved medication history and receive patient safety alerts regarding drug interactions, drug allergies and procedure safety checks for dental treatment.  Having these capabilities, in addition to electronic prescriptions, will save dentists valuable time and help avoid adverse medication events.”

About Lexicomp

Lexicomp is the leader in delivering dental-specific drug information, drug interaction and clinical content for use at the point-of-care. Dental professionals can access their dental drug information and clinical references online, on the latest Smartphone/mobile devices and in printed reference books. Content can also be integrated with practice management systems to improve medication safety and save time within a busy dental practice.

Lexicomp is part of Wolters Kluwer Health, a leading global provider of information, business intelligence and point-of-care solutions for the healthcare industry. Wolters Kluwer Health is part of Wolters Kluwer, a market-leading global information services company with 2010 annual revenues of €3.6 billion ($4.7 billion).

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Electronic Prescribing for Dentistry!

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The medical industry has been using electronic prescribing (“e-Prescribing”) for over a decade now. The dental industry hasn’t quite caught up.  In fact, in a recent personal survey I noticed dental practice management systems don’t provide medications in a coded format.  Meaning, the medications are free text fields and the practice hand enters the medications into the system.  This will end up limiting the user of these systems from ePrescribing, drug-to-drug alerts, drug monographs and many other features common in electronic medical record (EMR) systems.

The advantages for adopting ePrescribing are vast:

Patient Safety

The electronic prescription reduces prescriptions errors caused by illegible hand writing, drug-to-drug interactions, incorrect dosing, drug allergy reactions, duplication of drugs, etc.

Fraud and Crime

The medication history his saved electronically and can be monitored easier than paper.

Medication Adherence

Patients are more likely to fill prescriptions as they’ll be waiting at the pharmacy for pickup.  The refill process is also expedited without multiple phone calls between patient, provider, and pharmacy.

Real-time communication

Providers can write notes that follow the prescription to the pharmacist. Pharmacists can submit refill request on behalf of the patient for approval by the physician (no phone call needed).

Decision Support

Health care professionals will have critical drug alerts and patient specific information at the time of prescribing.

Government Regulations

In January 2011, the state of Minnesota released a mandate for all Prescribing Providers to electronically prescribe medications.  This mandate includes dentists.  The rule wasn’t put in place to punish dentists.  It was actually designed to bring dentist into the fold of sharing health information.

Most dental Practice Management Systems don’t have electronic prescribing capabilities.  In the next few years a number of these companies will begin adding ePrescribing capabilities.  A company called DoseSpot has developed a dental e-prescribing application accessible from the web.  The dental industry is about change the way it prescribes medications.  Stay tuned…