Perhaps you’ve been giving thought to streamlining or implementing office procedures that will improve patient communications, record keeping, adherence to treatment plans, keeping a watchful eye on recommendations and referrals given to your patients, and more.

The additional benefits to endeavors such as these often include increased patient satisfaction, safer and more efficient delivery of dental services and developing mechanisms to facilitate your keeping abreast of emerging and evolving dental best practices.

But now the big question: where do you begin? As you anticipate the investment of time and manpower in order to achieve a more efficient practice, you’re overwhelmed and, more than likely; this resolution will wind up in the hopper. 

Hold on to your drills and dental floss!!!!

The Dental Office Practice Toolkit is Princeton Insurance’s latest risk management tool designed for individual office practices. It is available in CD-ROM format. 

Think back: how often have you said, “I wish I had a form for that” or, “It would be helpful if my staff had a sample letter we could use when contacting patients…” about various, but repetitive issues?  Frequently, our insureds tell us they are interested in risk management and patient safety initiatives but are in the dark as to how to go about implementing anything along these lines. “Where do I begin?” is the question we get from insureds time and again.

Well, we heard you – loud and clear.

Self-Assessment

Where better to begin than establishing a baseline? A self-assessment of your current practice is a good first step and is “short & sweet” in its design. The assessment allows you and/or your office manager or administrator to review key practice areas so that you can assess your exposure to risks and focus your financial, staffing and physical resources effectively and economically, ultimately improving patient safety-driven processes and procedures.

Sample Letters

Sample language for letters is included that addresses issues such as terminating a patient from your practice and requesting on behalf of your patient a review by managed care of a denial.

Sample Forms

The forms included in the kit will help with hourly and daily activities requiring attention. There is a documentation check list, informed consent form, informed refusal form, updated patient health status, and logs to document and track telephone calls, consults/referrals and follow-up to consults, labs, etc.  Want to know what your patients think of you and your staff? Use the patient satisfaction survey form.  Need an authorization to release dental information or release of x-rays? They’re in the kit. How about staff evaluations, employee confidentiality agreements, staff signature records, etc.?  You’ll find these in the toolkit as well.

Sample Screenings

Make certain you follow a consistent and thorough path when seeing a patient for the first time or when you see a patient for other, periodic visits. Use the oral cancer screen or one of the treatment plan checklists for adults and children.

Sample Guidelines for Policy Development

Risk-related, patient safety-oriented policies address issues such as effective communication with your patients, communication via phone, medication and anesthesia-related policies, policies guiding your credentialing process, HIPAA compliance and records retention. We also included information relating to certain topics that our insured dentists have contacted us about for feedback, such as antibiotic prophylaxis, treating patients taking bisphosphonates and use of Botox for dental procedures, among other concerns.

Each document, form, letter and checklist found on the CD-ROM is in Adobe (.pdf). Several forms are also available in Word format for your customization. Documents are downloadable and reproducible on your office printer.

Remember that the Risk Management Resource Line (1-866-Rx-4RISK) is always available should you have a concern you’d like to discuss with a Princeton risk consultant, and you can always send questions to us via the Princeton Web site at www.PrincetonInsurance.com.