Keep your Dentrix database tidy by performing these tasks regularly.
Even your Dentrix database can do with a little spring cleaning from time to time. Some of the features in Dentrix G7.4 make these tasks even easier!
Inactivating Providers
Inactivating providers and staff that no longer work at your office used to be a tedious task because all your computers had to be out of Dentrix. In Dentrix G7.4, that is no longer the case. You also have the ability to transfer balances and credits from the provider you are inactivating to a replacement provider. This eliminates another tedious task of allocating credit balances among your remaining providers.
Why should you inactivate providers and staff that no longer work at your office? It is beneficial to do so because those providers will no longer be available from the list of providers when scheduling an appointment, which can become long and cumbersome for team members to scroll through while searching for a current provider.
Also, if you use the Dentrix Time Clock, it’s helpful to not have staff members who no longer work in your office included in the Time Clock Reports.
Cleaning Up Families
The process of combining and separating family members in Dentrix is important. Account balances include all family members, so you wouldn’t want a husband and wife to have two separate Family File accounts. This would result in them receiving two billing statements, and neither account would indicate there is a family balance so you could collect when either patient comes into the office.
On the other hand, you wouldn’t want a divorced husband and wife to share the same Family File account, because in that situation, you would want them to have separate balances, receive separate billing statements, etc.
In Dentrix G7.4 the process of combining and separating families has become easier by allowing you to indicate how you want account balances to be handled and then posting them automatically for you.
Another reason it’s important to have family members correctly assigned in the Family File is that many reports, such as the Patient Route Slip and Walkout, list other family member information, such as continuing care due dates and upcoming appointments. This information can be helpful for your team when scheduling and also for the patient as a reminder.
Joining or Purging Duplicate Insurance Plans and Employers
It’s common for offices to have duplicate insurance plans and employers. This is the result of team members not searching properly to see if a plan or employer already exists in your Dentrix database before entering a new one. Duplicate insurance plans and employers can be joined, and insurance plans and employers that aren’t attached to a patient can be purged (deleted). This task can be done in Insurance Maintenance and Employer Maintenance in the Dentrix Office Manager.
Spring cleaning your Dentrix database is a task I would recommend doing on an annual basis for the following reasons:
- Inactivating providers will make scheduling appointments easier and can help with the process of allocating provider balances and credits.
- Inactivating staff makes generating Time Punch and Payroll Reports easier in the Dentrix Time Clock.
- Combining and separating family members can help to keep patient accounts more accurate.
- Joining and/or purging insurance plans and employers will eliminate duplicates, which will result in reports being more accurate.
Learn More
For additional information, read the following :
By Charlotte Skaggs
Certified Dentrix Trainer and The Dentrix Office Manager columnist
Charlotte Skaggs is the founder of Vector Dental Consulting LLC, a practice management firm focused on taking offices to the next level. Charlotte co-owned and managed a successful dental practice with her husband for 17 years. She has a unique approach to consulting based on the perspective of a practice owner. Charlotte has been using Dentrix for over 20 years and is a certified Dentrix trainer. Contact Charlotte at vectordentalconsulting@gmail.com.
