The ability to diagnose the issues and treat them is at the heart of a dental practice. At the end of the day, you want nothing more than to send a happy patient home. However, you need to have sufficient information in hand in order to offer the most precise treatment. Information is also what you need to keep your business running and drive revenue. If your chosen dental practice software comes with a dental analytics feature, you can improve both patient care and revenue. Let’s explain this further for a clearer understanding.
What exactly is dental analytics?
Companies in different industry verticals have utilized business intelligence for years now. Proper assimilation of data can play an important role in sustained performance improvement. As such, dental analytics is more than a tool for reporting and data mining. It is the part that makes the dashboard of your dental software more useful.
So, from creating more affordable procedures, and assessing financial health, to delivering better patient care, dental analytics can take a multifaceted approach to aid your practice’s development. All in all, it helps you in making more informed decisions about the current issues in your practice or Days Sales Outstanding (DSO). Since it also offers valued insights for the future, it lets you form strategies and devise a path for sustained growth.
Importance of a dental analytics feature
The ultimate goal of your dental practice is to enhance patient care, and dental analytics has a major role to play in that. Here are the three most important reasons why the software needs to have an analytics feature.
Improving the process of patient care
When dentists have data-driven, concrete information, they can deliver better patient care. They refer to analytics, such as bone height, periodontal measurements, and the percent of remaining tooth structure, to create treatment plans for their patients. Furthermore, data also helps dentists to create treatment plans that are customized to the clinic.
Better decision-making in the pandemic
The pandemic has been even more challenging for practices that did not rely on analytics. As the health situation is in a constant state of change, you need data to guide your practice. It will help in a quicker assessment of cancellations, schedules, and impending tasks to plan the operational needs. Analytical tools help in recapturing lost patients and ensure more productivity by focusing on high-value treatments.
Helps to deal with higher pressure
Analytics help dental practices better manage the sudden increases in patient visits. You will be in a better position to assess the timeline of increased inflow and take the necessary precautions. In case there is a lack of data-driven analytics, the entire practice goes into disarray. There will be patients waiting, overworked staff, and a serious lack of resources to deal with the current pressure.
Accurate and shareable centralized data
A crucial fact about data analytics is that it refines the data to turn it into a storable asset. This makes the data shareable, accurate, and secure within and across your practice. So, you will get key performance indicators related to clinical outcomes that you can share across departments. At the same time, there will be financial metrics to assess the progress of your practice in the last few months or years. Additionally, you can analyze the patient feedback and reviews to make the necessary changes.
The bottom line
The significance of a data analytics feature cannot be stressed enough when you consider all the benefits it holds. It is the aspect that enhances the software and makes its use critical to your practice. So, when you choose a practice software, pay close attention to its analytical features.
