XLDent Practice Management Software Receives Certification

 

I've received the following  info from XLDent about their practice management software.  If you are looking for a software solution for your practice and the idea of mobility through the use of Tablet PC's (not iPads or Android tablets, but *true* Tablet PC's) then you should give them a look.  It's a nice program that performs well and has an outstanding track record over several years.

 

Here is the info from their press release:

Professional Economics Bureau of America’s XLDent MU Receives ONC-ACB Certification by Drummond Group

May 9, 2013 – Loretto, MN – Professional Economics Bureau of America’s XLDent MU has been tested and certified under the Drummond Group's Electronic Health Records Office of the National Coordinator Authorized Certification Body (ONC-ACB) program. This EHR software is compliant in accordance with the criteria adopted by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 
 
 “We are very happy to offer a solution that will assist eligible providers in achieving Meaningful Use for the EHR Incentive Program,” says Dawn Christodoulou, President of Professional Economics Bureau of America, Inc.  “What makes the XLDent Dental Practice Management System unique is the ability to run all workflows, including those new workflows required for Meaningful Use Attestation, in a completely mobile environment.  XLDent MU is just another example of how we are delivering solutions at the point-of-care.”
 
Drummond Group’s ONC-ACB certification program certifies that EHRs meet the meaningful use criteria for either eligible provider or hospital technology. In turn, healthcare providers using the EHR systems of certified vendors are qualified to receive federal stimulus monies upon demonstrating meaningful use of the technology – a key component of the federal government’s push to improve clinical care delivery through the adoption and effective use of EHRs by U.S. healthcare providers.
 
XLDent MU Version 7.6, which met the requirements for Complete EHR Ambulatory is a fully certified Electronic Health Record solution designed to help dental offices qualify for federal incentive payments.  The module is seamlessly integrated with the XLDent Suite of products, version 12.9 and above.
 
“Leveraging information technology for healthcare initiatives provides the opportunity to deliver a high-level quality of care and efficiency which essentially benefits and enhances the overall patient experience,” says Rik Drummond, CEO of the Drummond Group Inc. “We have been testing software for more than a decade and will continue to provide our extensive experience testing and certifying complex systems for multiple industries, as well as ensuring interoperability and security remain key components in the growing healthcare industry.”

About Professional Economics Bureau of America, Inc.
Professional Economics Bureau of America, Inc (PEB) is a privately owned Dental Software Development and Services company with its headquarters located at 279 North Medina Street in Loretto, Minnesota. PEB has focused on serving the high technology needs of the dental community since 1971 and is dedicated to providing software solutions that are focused on the success of its clients and on enhancing the standard of patient care for improved patient outcomes. PEB is committed to the continual development of electronic dental health records, mobile solutions and internet-based options in the current development environment with emphasis on proven technologies.  For more information, please visitwww.xldent.com.
 
About Drummond Group Inc.
Drummond Group Inc. is a global software test and certification lab that serves a wide range of vertical industries.  In healthcare, Drummond Group tests and certifies Controlled Substance Ordering Systems (CSOS), Electronic Prescription of Controlled Substances (EPCS) software and processes, and Electronic Health Records (EHRs) – designating the trusted test lab as the only third-party certifier of all three initiatives designed to move the industry toward a digital future. Founded in 1999, and accredited for the Office of the National Coordinator HIT Certification Program as an Authorized Certification Body (ACB) and an Authorized Test Lab (ATL), Drummond Group continues to build upon its deep experience and expertise necessary to deliver reliable and cost-effective services. For more information, please visit http://www.drummondgroup.com or emailDGI@drummondgroup.com.
 

Google puts Drive, Google +, and Gmail Into One Unit and Ups Storage to 15GB

 

As Google puts more and more services in The Cloud, keeping everything all together and organized can sometimes prove difficult to accomplish.

 

The smart people at Google know that and have decided to create a more seamless storage option.  Previously users had 10GB for Gmail, and 5GB for Google Drive and Google + Photo storage.  Now, users get a combined 15GB of "unified storage" for free.  It can be used for any of the 3 mentioned services.

 

The idea, of course, is that now you can use the storage the way *you* want to.  Previously you were trapped by Google's limitations, but now those are wiped out and you get to use the storage for whatever part of each service you'd prefer.

 

Of course if you're like me, you can also upgrade the amount of storage available from Google and for a small fee basically have an many GB as you would like.  The limit is 16 terabytes.  Cool huh?

 

If you'd like to read the blog post from Google announcing the changes, you can find that here.  

 

Personally, I've become more and more addicted to The Cloud.  With changes like this, I'm pretty confident soon everyone will feel like I do...

Check Out the "Thriving Dentist Podcast" from Gary Takacs… and Me

 

You know, it's a great time to be alive.  Technology has changed… and continues to change… the way we live, work, play , an interact with each other.  When you think about it, we used to be able to look back over previous 10 year spans and see how things  had changed for us.  Now similar things happen, only with the time span being 2 or less years and *lots more* changes to think about and ponder.

 

In the 90's many of us in dentistry subscribed to newsletters put out by different groups.   Some of them were created by large organizations while others were from small groups or even dedicated individuals.  Heck I got my first writing gig working on the "Tools R Us" newsletter published by my friend Bob Davis who was practicing in northern California.  It was state of the art back then.

 

Now we get our info in tons of different ways.  One of the most successful dental learning tools available today is the "Thriving Dentist Podcast" from my buddy Gary Takacs.  He is a practice management consultant in Arizona and works with dentists all over the US helping them to build better dental practices.  Gary has a list of friends a mile long and he uses those friends to do interviews that he records via Skype to create a terrific learning tool.

 

I've known Gary a while now and I've found him to be a bright guy with some good  ideas.j  We recently had a chance to hang out at the Eco-Dentistry conference a few weeks ago and the time together gave us each a better perspective of the other.

 

So… today I'll be appearing in about a one hour interview on The Thriving Dentist Show.  We discussed lots of great tech topics for dentists including some of the technologies that I just can't practice without.

 

You can subscribe via iTunes (just search for Thriving Dentist under Podcasts) or check out Gary's website here.  I had a really great time talking tech with Gary and I think you'll find that you will probably learn a thing or two.  Give it a lesson and then please post under the Comments section here on the blog.   I'm truly interested on what you think of the podcast.

Keeping Track of My Life with Evernote

 

I've discussed Evernote here before (and it was also featured in one of my articles on Dental P rodents Report), but sometimes a product bears more than one mention.  That's partly because I'm constantly picking up new readers here and partly because when I'm passionate about something, I want you to know it.  I know that some of you come here, read about a product or idea, and end up sitting and seeing what develops.  Well I'm here to tell you that if you've been thinking  about Evernote, the time to think has passed and the time to act is now!

 

We are living in a world of ever increasing storage.  Because of that, many of us just don't delete much anymore.  Whether it's laziness, busyness, or the fact that we just don't really think about it much… the reasons don't matter.  What is amazing is the amount of data we have that continues to sit on hard drives, jump drives, and accessory drives that we just don't even think about.

 

Now over the years, the good people at Microsoft and Apple have helped.  They've made it much easier to search for things on our computers, but we still have those all too frequent moments where we stress on "where did I put that?"  And now we Cloud Storage, it can get even worse.  I have storage with Amazon, Google, Sugarsync, Drop Box, and probably others I can't remember.  If I couldn't find the stuff I had on the computer, how am I supposed to find it when I have 4 different Cloud storage sites (and others I can't remember).

 

So… to help simplify this problem, I recommend Evernote.  I'm not dumping everything into Evernote, but it has become the repository of all my important data.  Things that I flat out know I'm going to need.  Whether it's travel info, receipts, or just things that are important & I don't want to lose, they go to Evernote.

 

Tonight was a perfect example.  I have a church sponsored camp that I work with and the medical forms will soon be due.  I couldn't remember exactly what the procedure was & what everything entailed.  However, I had filed all of this important info in Evernote and dated it with the last year I participated.  All I had to do was do a quick search (Evernote has an amazing fully searchable database) and I found a the folder from my last trip.  In that folder was every email, the blank forms, Word docs with all the necessary items needed, deadlines, you name it.  All safe in The Cloud, safe from hard drive crashes, just waiting for me.

 

It's a great way to stay organized whether it's recipes, plans for your hexacopter drone (more on that later), or just stuff you don't want to lose.  If you want to feel a bit more organized… check out Evernote.  It is *highly* recommended!!!

Nest Thermostat Makes Your Home a Smart Home… and it Keeps Getting Smarter

 

I've always been fascinated by geeky stuff and the idea of controlling your home is one of those things that just gets me going.  Add to that the idea of making things greener to help the planet for the future, and it just seems even better.

 

Now comes a thermostat from a company called Nest that wants to make your home (or your dental office) greener, more energy efficient, and easier on your wallet.

 

The folks at Nest come from Apple.  They worked on the iPhone and the iPod.  They get simplicity & beauty in design.  Basically you buy the thermostat & install it.  The company states that if you can change a light switch, you can install the Nest thermometer.  However, if you'd rather someone else do it, they can arrange for that too.

 

Then  you teach the device when to save.  Turn it down when you leave, back up when you come home, back down when you sleep… you get the idea.  As you are doing all t his, Nest is learning your habits.

 

The device will also allow you to change things via your smartphone if, for instance, you get off early and are home earlier than usual.  You can simply warm up or cool down the house with the smartphone app.

 

There's more to it, but that's it in a nutshell.  It's a smart device that learns your habits & then creates heating & cooling cycles that are incredibly energy efficient which is good for everyone.  Want more info?

 

It's all explained very well on the Nest website.  Give it a click here!  

Eye-Fi Impresses with Speed & Geotagging

 

It's an interesting world… and it continues to get more interesting every day.  Just a few years ago many of us photo-nerds carried small point & shoot cameras everywhere we went so that we could grab that all important shot when it presented itself.

 

Nowadays most people are toting a smartphone with a passable camera.  The best part of that is even though the camera isn't nearly as good as a point & shoot, the ability to immediately share the images makes, for most people, the quality acceptable

 

However, for some of us the blur & overall poor quality of phone cameras means we will always have a "real" camera to reach for when we need it.

 

Now, what if I told you  that there was a way to get those really awesome photos that you can only get with a real camera and still be able to get them shared electronically, although not quite as easily as with a phone?

 

Say hello to Eye-Fi.  The device is a true SD size memory card with a built-in WiFi transmitter.  This allows your camera to wirelessly transfer your photos to a computer running Eye-Fi software and also to several photo sharing sites such as Flickr.  The card can be configured to access your personal wireless network as well as public hotspots so photos can be sent while you are out & about.

 

The card also utilizes WiFi based positioning system (WPS) to enable geotagging of your photos.  The technology basically uses wireless access points in urban areas from different providers to geolocate your photos and embed that info into the photo file.  While shooting in the KC area, I've found this to be a very accurate way of taking the photos.

 

The Eye-Fi is affordable and is making photography even more fun and less laborious.  Check out the Eye-Fi website for all the models & prices.  

Why I *Love* the new SciCan Statim G4… and Why It has Changed Us for the Better

 

In the fall of 2012, we began using the next generation Statim sterilizer; the Statim 5000 G4.

 

It has many nice upgrades from previous models, but the best one, in my opinion, was the fact that it is Internet enabled.  That's right, this thing has an Ethernet part built right in and it connects to my office network.

 

Why is this important?  What's the big deal about a sterilizer that has an IP address and connects to my office network?  The simple answer is: the connection allows the device access to the Internet.

 

The G4 is one of the first (but many more are coming) Internet enabled *smart dental devices*.  Not only is the device on the 'net, but it communicates with both SciCan (its manufacturer) and my preferred dental dealer Goetze Dental to keep them advised of any problems the device may be able to detect.

 

One of the problems we battle with autoclaves is when they malfunction.  Normally a failed sterilization cycle results in lost productivity & often error "codes" that require either a phone call for help or at best a review of the operator's manual to translate the code into the reason for the problem and, hopefully, a fix that can be rendered quickly to get the device back in service.  Of course the worst case scenario is that there is no quick or easy fix and a service tech visit is needed.

 

In our office, we run 3 autoclaves so having one down is not critical, but for many offices there is only one and the above scenario can bring the entire schedule to a grinding halt impacting patients and the office as well.  At that point, usually a service tech is dispatched post-haste with a loaner device and the malfunctioning one is taken back to the shop for repairs.  Of course this only works (even remotely efficiently) if the office is in a town or city where the dental repair facility is.  If the office is a bit remote, it may take a day or more to get the loaner.

 

Now you see the real advantage of the Internet connection.  When the G4 senses a problem, it can let SciCan know and the problem can be rectified over the phone… or if a service tech is needed, they know the problem and can bring the correct parts to fix the problem.

 

Here's an example from this week.

 

On Wednesday our office got a call from SciCan.  It seems that our G4 has self aborted 2 back to back sterilization cycles and SciCan wanted to let us know how to correct the  problem.  The water reservoir was low (no steam, hence the self abort) and the float that indicated the water level was stuck.  The device "thought" it had water and wasn't telling us too fill the reservoir, but in reality  there was none.  Dental Assistant Sam took the call and SciCan quickly talked her through the fix.  In a matter of minutes our Statim G4 was back up and running.

 

In the old days we would have probably tried one more time and then called for service.  However, now we were quickly back and ready to roll.  If you are in the market for an autoclave that can actually communicate… as well as sterilize in amazingly fast cycles, take a good look at the Statim G4.  I think you'll like what you see.