The role of oral health and its contribution to a person’s health overall has been in frequent discussions lately. There has been a refreshed movement of access and advocacy within dental organizations, governments, and not-for-profit foundations. Patients are beginning to understand that visiting their dentist is much more than receiving that fresh, clean feeling. It’s improving their quality of life.

However, as more consumers are starting to “shop” for healthcare, the practice of dentistry is becoming more competitive. Gone are the days of choosing your dentist based on proximity. Patients are more willing to travel for their care, and there are more options to choose from within just a few miles of work or home.

To align with this market shift, there is one component for dental practices that can be implemented with ease and enhance your competitive advantage. It even increases patient satisfaction, gains workflow efficiencies, and decreases risk. What is it?  

ePrescribing.

Electronic prescribing has become a must-have technology within the dental community, among a bundle of other operational tools. By incorporating ePrescribing into the patient workflow at the point of engagement, many inherent efficiencies are recognized. Here we have identified seven benefits of adding ePrescribing to your technology suite.

1. Medication History

During a patient and dentist encounter, ePrescribing enables dentists to verify a patient’s medication history and view two years or more of prescribed medications. Some ePrescribing platforms can even take self-reported medications into consideration. This level of transparency allows smarter treatment decisions and recognition of a patient who may be “doctor shopping” or at risk for substance abuse.

2. Safety

From a safety perspective, any drug-allergy or drug-drug interactions are flagged instantaneously. At the same time, the dentist’s clinical judgment is still maintained if he/she elects to prescribe the medication. Dental-specific information, such as a medication’s particular dental use, effects on dental treatment, and effects on bleeding, are all seamlessly provided at the point of care. The handwriting risks of misspelling or others misreading the script are also solved.

3. Productivity

With ePrescribing, the total time to write a prescription for the patient is reduced to seconds compared to the traditional manual paper method. The moments add up, resulting in more time for direct interaction with the patient. The intrinsic productivity of ePrescribing and its resulting patient interaction time may lead to incremental revenue as the opportunity is presented to discuss other dental issues and elective procedures.

4. Quality

Assessing ePrescribing from a quality perspective, patient outcomes are significantly more accurate and consistent with quality initiative practices in the industry. Getting the treatment plan right the first time is easier, and reducing the number of follow-up visits, new health events, or reactions is the result. As healthcare shifts to more measured and predictable patient outcomes, ePrescribing goes a long way in addressing this new dynamic as it provides a full panoramic view of a patient’s health.

5. Risk Reduction

Another benefit of ePrescribing is risk reduction, especially when it comes to prescribing controlled substances. When electronically prescribed, the patient cannot lose the prescription or alter the dispensable quantity or the medication itself. It is sent directly to the pharmacy with no chance of intermediaries touching it. In turn, this also removes the need for paper prescriptions, eliminating the risk and liability of stolen prescription pads.

6. Patient Satisfaction

The most significant aspect of the ePrescribing equation is increased patient satisfaction. The extra time spent dropping off and waiting for a prescription to be filled at the pharmacy is no longer in play. ePrescribing eliminates an additional trip to the pharmacy and creates a seamless transaction for the patient. If prescribers use the Real-Time Prescription Benefit check, the patient will also know their out-of-pocket cost before arriving at the pharmacy window. Your patients will thank you─ no one likes surprises concerning their health or their pocketbook.

7. Profitability

Due to improved efficiencies and increased patient satisfaction with ePrescribing, a snowball effect is created relative to rising revenue. Not only can an increase in patient volume and retention occur, but administrative duties for office staff will lessen. Thanks to the more cost-effective, integrated technology of ePrescribing, there will be less staff time required to order and store costly paper prescription pads and tamper-proof printing paper for controlled substances. It’s one less thing to keep you late at the office!

Getting Started

Overall, ePrescribing is one tool in the dentist’s tool kit to modernize their practice and meet the challenges of dentistry today. With just a few clicks, dental offices can focus on a more patient-centric strategy, resulting in happier patients and dentists.

DoseSpot ePrescribing is fully integrated into Open Dental, allowing you to ePrescribe quickly and easily from the eRx button in the Chart Module. And if you’re using ODMobile, you can ePrescribe from the app – anytime, anywhere. Connect with your Open Dental Support Team to learn more.