Dental Record Scanning: Exploring the benefits of a paperless practice

Dental records scanning is your first step toward establishing a paperless dental practice. Managing patient records is a critical aspect of your dental practice. 

Unfortunately, dental clinics or practitioners' offices have limited storage space—and it is recommended that dentists store patient records indefinitely. For a thriving practice, this means keeping thousands of paper documents in high-rent storage spaces.

There are a number of reasons why the best option for your dental practice today is to digitize patient records. Pulling out an old dental X-ray for comparison can be time-consuming and tedious when you have thousands of papers in filing cabinets. Besides, sometimes, the same paper document is needed for reference in a different location—what do you do then?

Making copies of dental records to share with other clinics or with patients is also an administrative burden when you maintain physical records.

Finally, remember that your dental office is insured against damage due to natural disasters such as floods, fires, or earthquakes and can be rebuilt—but your patients' records are irreplaceable!

In this article, we delve more into detail about dental records scanning and how it can help you establish a paperless practice.

What is dental record scanning? 

Dental record scanning is the process of converting a patient's dental records from a physical paper format to an electronic format.

A patient's dental record is a comprehensive set of documents, including specific information on some or all of the following:

• Current dental complaints

• Dental charts

• Diagnosis

• Supporting investigations such as dental radiographs, clinical photographs

• Treatment plans

• Informed consent for suggested procedures

• Insurance details (if applicable)

• Fee estimates

• Payment schedules

• Practitioners' notes during dental appointments 

Why digitizing dental records is essential

Dental records contain sensitive, personal information that must be stored securely to ensure privacy and confidentiality. Therefore, these records must be handled and retained as per HIPAA and other statutory regulations.

Dental records also serve as evidence of patient treatment progress and are required to obtain insurance companies' reimbursements.

Traditionally paper dental records are stored in filing cabinets. However, there are several challenges with physical records:

• It is tedious and time-consuming for your dental clinic staff to gather treatment details and update patient records after every visit.

• A large amount of storage space is required for filing paper records.

• Long-term storage is expensive as your clinic must retail dental records for long durations for statutory compliance.

• Retrieving and sharing information stored in paper format is often a slow or difficult process.

• There are always chances of errors in filing and the possibility of records getting misplaced or lost.

• Paper records are less secure than digital files, and there is a lack of confidentiality and security of patient information.

• With paper records, there is an increased risk of data loss in the event of natural calamities or disasters.

Scanning and indexing dental records makes it easy to integrate them with an electronic health record system (EHS), which is increasingly becoming the norm in medical records management. 

Digitized dental records become instantly accessible and securely sharable with other dental practitioners, dental labs, and insurance providers, even for virtual dental consultations.

Digital records are essential as they guarantee that accurate information is available instantly for making informed decisions that will help improve the quality of dental care services and patient satisfaction. 

Leading document scanning companies like Revolution Data Systems offer specialized scanning services to convert physical dental records to digital formats or EMRs integrated with an EHS.

Do you have thousands of physical patient records in your dental clinic that require digitization? Are you wondering how much a scanning project may cost you? 

Our easy-to-use document scanning calculator helps you determine the cost of your dental records scanning project.

What are the benefits of dental records scanning?

There are clear immediate and long-term benefits to initiating a dental records scanning project for your dental practice.

Let's look at some of the immediate benefits you will see:

Reduce costs for printing and storage space

Scanning dental records and storing them in a document management system clears up cabinet space in your dental office. You will also save costs on printing, paper, and administrative staff to handle the paperwork. 

Instant access to patient charts and records from anywhere

Digital dental records are available at the click of a button using a cloud-based medical records management system. Dentists or patients can access real-time information on patients' current problems, treatment history, dental radiographs, and current prescriptions on demand from anywhere. 

Easier collaboration between teams or practitioners

Treating dental emergencies or complex issues may involve seeking opinions or guidance from experts or specialists. Digital records are easily accessible and sharable, enabling faster collaboration between practitioners so they can arrive at treatment decisions more rapidly, especially during virtual consultations.

Save time & effort for practitioners as well as administrative staff

Scanning dental records and indexing them ensures faster search and retrieval. Using an electronic system to search for digital records is much faster and easier than searching through paper files—so you can spend more time on your patient's core dental treatment.

Now for some long-term benefits you can expect as you transition to digital records:

Create a paperless dental practice

Paper is passé! And if you're still stuck with paper records, you're probably spending way too much time and effort maintaining and updating paperwork in your dental clinic. Free up your time for more clinical work and save the cost and effort wasted manually managing dental records. The foundation of a paperless dental practice is built on accurate scanning and data extraction from paper records and a robust records management system.

Improved patient satisfaction

With digitized records, patients can easily access their treatment plan and prescription from anywhere and any device, increasing the probability of adhering to their treatment schedules. Patient compliance leads to better treatment outcomes, thereby improving patient satisfaction. 

Information security & disaster recovery

Physical documents are prone to wear and tear with time. There is also the risk of loss of information during natural calamities such as fire, floods or storms. Digital records backed up on the cloud protect vital information during calamities and guarantee faster disaster recovery and business continuity.

Achieve HIPAA compliance

Dental practitioners are liable for safeguarding patients' protected health information (PHI). Encryption techniques used while digitizing dental records prevent unauthorized access. This ensures your dental practice complies with privacy and data security regulations like HIPAA.

Unlock capital to reinvest into expanding your practice 

With a paperless dental practice, you'll save space that can be better used for additional treatment stations and equipment. You'll also save time on paperwork, so you can schedule more appointments and help more patients than before. Not only does this generate higher revenues for your practice, but it also results in happier patients!

Are there any risks or drawbacks to going digital?

Moving to a paperless dental practice is a project that must be carefully planned and meticulously executed. 

Here are some pointers to help you avoid the possible risks in your digitization project: 

Pay attention to the quality of indexing: Any errors in indexing documents can mean that you won't be able to find the files reliably for the right search terms. And information that can't be found is as good as lost! 

Data security is key: And simply going digital does not guarantee the security of your information. You will need to ensure that dental records scanning processes are compliant with data confidentiality and information security regulations. You'll want to pick a robust records management platform that complies with HIPAA regulations and is also easy to use for your clinic staff.

Integration capabilities: Finally, you'll also need to make sure that your new digital records system integrates with the existing tech systems you use in your clinic.

Read more about how to choose a dental record scanning services provider.

At RDS, we help dental clinics, hospitals, and healthcare services companies scan paper-based patient charts to EMRs and integrate them into various EHR or HIM systems while ensuring HIPAA compliance.

Thousands of organizations trust us to meet their digital transformation goals—starting with the very first steps to digitization. 

Transition effortlessly into a paperless dental practice with scanning services from RDS

RDS is a leading document scanning services bureau with scanning facilities equipped with the latest scanning techniques and equipment. 

We have a proven track record in executing electronic medical records management projects. We have streamlined processes to ensure that sensitive medical data is processed, stored, and managed in compliance with HIPAA protocols. 

We can scan documents onsite at your location or offsite at our secured scanning facility. 

RDS offers advanced OCR and automatic data extraction technology to capture data from paper-based forms, handwritten notes, prescriptions, and medical images—ensuring that every piece of information in your dental office can be converted to a digital file.

Connect with our document scanning experts for your dental record scanning needs.