Error checking and staffing question

[atd]

I'm looking for advice from other offices on how you handle error checking. Currently we have our staff doing "quality check" on each completed appointment. They make sure the completed procedures match the procedures notes and that the providers on the procedures match the providers that initialed the notes before they create the claim. Then we change the appointment status to "quality checked" so we can easily see on the schedule which ones are done and which aren't. However they're having a hard time keeping up with this process - they're running 10-14 days behind on this and it's delaying everything. Then if there is a discrepency between the notes and the charges, so much time has passed does the provider even remember which is correct? I don't know if it's just a matter of being understaffed or if there's a better process for this than we've come up with. Realistically how many operatories/providers can each staff person handle when you factor in answering phones, scheduling appointments, entering new patient info/insurance, scanning forms, confirming appointments, verifying insurance etc. I guess I'm looking for a support staff to provider ratio that is the norm for other offices on Open Dental. Any advice (especially from other large practices) would be appreciated.

[drtech]

i check to make sure the correct procedures are on the appt before I leave the room and complete it most of the time. That way there is no question. Just need you. (10 seconds)

[jordansparks]

I feel that procrastination is only efficient if that procrastination reduces the workload. An example of this would be would be sweeping the floors less often. But in this case, procrastination is increasing the workload. The policy should obviously be that the patient is not allowed out of the chair until the notes are done. The pressure of the waiting patient will still put pressure on them to hurry. It's better to get behind than to wait on the chart.

I just reread my note before pressing Submit and I realized it doesn't really answer your question. But I'm posting it anyway because it's something I feel strongly about. I've never heard of anyone quality checking other than the chairside being quality checked by the front desk and possibly the dentist. Quality checking doesn't seem to make any sense if it's after the patient leaves.

[atd]

Our current policy is that they have to mark the appointment complete and create the planned appointment before the patient leaves. But they use the time between patients to finish their notes. If things get really busy sometimes their notes end up being done at the end of the day instead - which I agree isn't the best idea, but still happens. We need to have some kind of error checking process to find/fix mistakes before the claim goes out. I wish that every staff member was completely proficient with the system and never made mistakes, but we have over 35 clinical staff members using Open Dental and they are going to make mistakes. When we were on our old system everything had to go through the data entry staff, so errors were caught by those people who became experts in what to look for. Even then we had the dentists sign off of their production reports each day before claims were sent. I'm not saying our process is the best (which is why I'm asking for advice), but I can't just have our staff stop checking this and hope everything is accurate.

[drtech]

yes, no matter how many times we stress that at minimum the Planned appt is to be made before the pt leaves the chair, it seems our staff falls back to old ways and just walks the patient up front when we get busy...then things fall through the cracks...

[nathansparks]

I have long been in favor of a feature with office specified error/omission checking. Maybe a default setting, but then each office can turn on or off certain checks. It could prompt user if they forget a step (like if there is no planned apt but there are non-recall treatment planned procedures), if they omit information (perhaps your office requires email address or zip code or gender before the patient can be seen), if they enter a nearly identical patient (duplicate), if they enter a nearly identical insurance carrier, if there are patients that have scheduled appointments in the past, etc

[drtech]

I envision a floating/expandable "Patient Overview" window showing critical information about the patient visit. Not sure on where or how it would work, but something that works like an electronic route slip while the patient is in the office. It would show information like.
1) Procs Done today
2) Balance Due
3) Next Planned appt (or no Planned appt entered!)
4) Interoffice communication about the patient (Notes to the front desk about something to take care of today)
5) Is next appt scheduled? and when?
6) Is recall appointment scheduled or when are they due?
7) Does everyone else in the family have appointments?
etc...