Blog

Do you remember walking into your childhood dentist’s office and staring at all the charts behind the front office staff? I remember thinking it looked like they went on for miles and miles. I really wondered how they managed to keep them all organized. I don’t know about you, but I am one who is all about a clean and organized work space. I can’t imagine having all those charts and files hoovering over me all day! Have you noticed that going into Chaffin Dental Care now, all those charts and files have magically disappeared? That is because we worked our magic to become chartless! Let me tell you why this is a huge benefit for not only us in the office, but for you as well.

Going chartless has created a much more organized work space. Not only is it neater, but now our staff can be looking at a patient chart at the same time while in different rooms! This is great for us because before, with only one copy of a paper chart only one person could view it at a time. This would sometimes hold up the process of getting new patients seated, or sometimes even getting procedures started. Now, by simply typing in a patient’s last name we are able to see all their notes, x-rays and charts. This is so much easier than fumbling through a thousand plus of charts.

The biggest benefits of going chartless, besides creating an organized space, is that it corresponds greatly with HIPPA regulations. Now that all our patient charts and files are all on our dedicated database, we are able to regulate better who has access to these important files. Isn’t it a little disheartening to know anyone can grab a chart off the shelves and see your personal information? Granted, we would always have them behind locked doors when we weren’t manning them, but still, it is easier to pick a lock than having them encrypted by passcodes and authentications. Not to mention that there are off-site encrypted backups. If we were to have a disaster (Heaven forbid!) such as a fire in our office, before, we would have lost all of our records. They would just go up in flames! Now, we may lose our computers but all our patient records would still be able to be accessed since we have a backup off site away from the “fire”. So, in the rare case that something horrific would happen, we don’t have to start from ground zero. Going chartless is not only beneficial to give our office staff a cleaner place to work, but it is also great for your privacy and protection.

When you are set in your old ways sometimes it is hard to keep an open mind and to be excited about updated ideas or new ways of doing things. We understand sometimes it is scary to jump into new things, we’re with you! We are going through this change with you, we are adapting and learning with you as well. So far, we have had great feedback and positive patient compliments. Now that we are 100% chartless, our next goal is to become paperless! We are excited to go through all these changes with you. I am excited to update our practice and to continue to keep up with the times.

Published By: Sarah Steele