Welcome to the Golden Age of Orthodontics, where innovation meets expertise. Join host Dr. Leon Klempner and co-host Amy Epstein as they delve into the cutting-edge advancements shaping the world of orthodontics. In today's episode, we're excited to welcome April Lowry, the Director of Ora & Dental Product Management at PracticeTek. April shares her insights on selecting the right software for your orthodontic practice, emphasizing the critical need for systems that prioritize both patients and staff. From essential questions to ask when evaluating new software to the impact of patient-centric solutions, this discussion is packed with valuable advice for modern orthodontic practices. If you're looking to enhance your practice with the latest technology, this episode is a must-listen. Remember: there’s never been a better time to be an orthodontist. Tune in and stay ahead of the curve!
IN THIS EPISODE:
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
What follows is an AI-generated transcript. The transcript may contain errors and is not a substitute for watching the video.
GAOO Ep 62 April Lowry - Audio Transcript
(00:00:00) Dr. Leon Klempner: Let's. Talk software. Are you an orthodontist or maybe pediatric dentist thinking of upgrading your patient management system, or maybe you're a startup choosing it for the very first time, or do you just want to get a handle on some of your office data to improve your efficiency or conversion? If so, do you even know what questions you need to ask to vet out your vendors?
If it sounds like you, stay tuned. Our Golden Age of Orthodontics podcast sponsors make it possible for us to bring you new episodes. Dental monitoring is making orthodontic treatment smarter. DM Insights provides clear analytics on clinical operations and practice workflow. You can measure and enhance the effectiveness of your protocols, all while creating a new standard in patient experience and practice efficiency.
Light force orthodontics is revolutionary. Orthodontic care with cutting edge custom bracket (00:01:00) technology that offers personalized digital treatment plans that are fast, precise, and uniquely tailored to your patient's needs. Take advantage of the new standard of care with 3D printed, fully customized brackets.
Combined with indirect bonding and digital planning. You can learn a lot more and take advantage of some special offers by visiting our partner page at pplpractice. com.
(00:01:24) Narrator: The future of orthodontics is evolving and changing every day, but although the way to achieve practice growth has changed, there's never been a better time to be an orthodontist.
Let's get into the minds of industry leaders, forward thinking orthodontists and technology insiders to learn how they see the future of the orthodontic specialty. How will digital orthodontics, artificial intelligence, clear aligner therapy, remote monitoring, in house printing, and other innovations change the way you practice.
Join your host, Dr. Leon Klempner and Amy Epstein each month, as they bring you insights, tips, and guest (00:02:00) interviews focused on helping you capitalize on the opportunities for practice growth. And now welcome to the golden age of orthodontics with the co founders of people and practice, Dr. Leon Klempner and Amy Epstein.
(00:02:16) Dr. Leon Klempner: Welcome to the Golden Age of Orthodontics. I'm Leon Klempner, retired PRAV Board Certified Orthodontist, Director of Orthodontics at Mount Sinai Hospital here in New York, part time faculty at Harvard, and the CEO of People and Practice. In my spare time, I do rock climbing and run marathons. Nope, those last two things are not true.
If you couldn't tell
(00:02:40) Amy Epstein: by me, he's shaking my head. No, don't believe him. He doesn't do any of those things.
(00:02:44) Dr. Leon Klempner: Those two things are lies, but, uh, I am, um, father of three daughters and, uh, grandfather to four. And I'm joined today by my oldest daughter, Amy. Uh, so welcome Amy Epstein, my partner. Thank you.
(00:02:59) Amy Epstein: Thank (00:03:00) you.
You are tough to act, to follow every time we do this podcast, but, uh, especially now that you rock, climb and run marathons because I can't, I can't keep up with that. Yes, I am Amy Epstein. I partnered with my dad about 15 years ago, uh, after a career in. Uh, public relations and marketing for multinational brands to bring some of those, uh, tried and true tenants of, uh, good marketing to the, to the business of orthodontics.
And so here we are on this podcast. And the goal of this show is really to, uh, bring thought leaders and experts in their fields to you so that you can get the most up to date information and insightful information about how to make decisions to best run. Um, your orthodontic practices. So on that note today, we are thrilled to have April Lowry on our show.
April is the director of aura and dental product management at practice tech, and they deliver software and service solutions (00:04:00) that help practices to provide a better patient experience, attract new patients and deliver healthcare more easily. You are probably familiar with some of the brands under the practice tech umbrella, including gauge tops, ortho minds, among others.
Uh, for the past two years, April has been leading the development and launch of practice texts, new all in one. Dental platform called Aura and prior to practice tech April was a co founder and chief operating officer at total software development group leading the development of a new platform for a leading DSO.
She has a long history of leadership and entrepreneurship. She helped launch a consulting practice in the healthcare industry and even ran a global HR consulting and executive search company. So we are thrilled to have April today on our show as a technology subject matter expert. Welcome April. Thank you for joining us.
(00:04:57) April Lowry: Thank you, Amy. And Dr. Lianne for. (00:05:00) That kind introduction and welcoming to your podcast. And I look forward to our discussion today.
(00:05:05) Amy Epstein: Likewise. So we, you're a little bit different than some of the guests that we typically have. You are a technology expert. This is, uh, of high interest to us. Um, we, uh, Uh, as individuals are sort of like, it just interested in technology in general.
And so coupling that with the business of orthodontics, you're, you're, uh, we're very excited to talk to you. So let's start out a little bit, uh, by just talking about, um, practice management. We just were at the AAO and walking the show floor. There's a ton of technology out there that helps with practice management, patient engagement.
We are, as consultants to orthodontists, always asked our perspective on how to make the best choices when switching orthodontic, uh, technology or acquiring some new technology for the first time. Can you tell us a little bit about the best, (00:06:00) um, overarching approach to evaluating software for an ortho practice.
(00:06:06) April Lowry: Yes. That's a great question, Amy. And, um, one that we face a lot when we're talking to some of the practices that we work with. And I think you have to go back to the basics when you're looking at adding any new technology to your, to your practice. And that is identifying what need does the platform or product solve, and then how is it going to improve either the life of your.
Office team members and staff or the life of your patients and hopefully both, um, and I tend to want to quantify those by saying, how is it going to either help you make more money as a practice or help you save more money as a practice because it creates efficiencies. It replaces, um, you know, items that its staff might be doing in automate in an automation format, um, or it provides better patient engagement, better, you know, marketing leads.
Um, the ability to close more cases. So what is the (00:07:00) need that that product is going to fill in your, in your practice and understand in the beginning what it is you're looking for by identifying that. And then I think that helps guide that product search because you can fine tune it. You know exactly what you're looking for.
And then from there you can create. Sort of your nice to have versus your must have list, um, in whatever technology products you're looking for so that you have a good understanding of what your sort of minimal acceptable list of requirements are for that for that product, whether it's a practice management system, a document management system, a patient engagement, a CRM.
There's multiple things that you could be looking at for your, your practice to thrive, but understanding how you want that product to improve your overall business and the lives of your staff and patients, I think is the number one question you need to ask yourself before you even start looking. At what all is available, and, you know, there's a, there's a good chance that the technology that's in your pocket or your purse is probably better than the (00:08:00) technology you're using to run your business today.
So, um, you need to also ask yourself the question of, you know, coming into the modern times in terms of. Are you looking at, um, the right kind of tech stack? Are you looking at a cloud based platform versus an on premise? And what is the security implications of either of those choices? So, um, there's, you know, we, we talk all the time about folks having their smartphones and things of that nature that they operate from, but if you're going to run your, Potential multi million dollar practice from a technology system.
Is it as, is it as comparable or as good as the one that you're, you know, posting pictures to Facebook on?
(00:08:36) Amy Epstein: Yeah. And I'm sure there are a lot of other considerations too, because, you know, as opposed to whatever's in your pocket, we have to deal with HIPAA. And, uh, you know, it might seem like this is, it's really easy to use it.
Why can't we use this? Cause I use this at home or, you know, but there are other considerations that we have to figure out. So anyway, thanks for that. Appreciate it.
(00:08:55) Dr. Leon Klempner: So, so, you know, over the years I practiced for 38 years and I've (00:09:00) gone through. A variety of different, uh, softwares, obviously, and I'm, I'm like an early adopter, so I'm all over it.
When something comes out, I'm interested in using it. And and the criteria for me was always, um, is it going to benefit the patient? You know, if it was, if it was something that was going to cost a lot of money, the criteria was, yeah, it looks like fun. And I, I'd really like to have this piece of technology because I always go for the, the shiny stuff, uh, big, uh, you know, Mac fan boy or whatever.
So I'm always jumping on stuff that comes out, but, you know, it's always a question of whether it helps the patient, uh, The patient or not, the other thing is that I know that I've learned that you can't one piece of software doesn't do everything. And that there's a lot of different softwares out there and that, and each has different (00:10:00) usage.
And 1 question I always had when making a decision about software is, does it play nicely with my software? I mean, is it, you know, the, the term interoperability is something I heard at the, I'm assuming that means like APIs or, or. Or does it play nicely in the sandbox with my other software? So can you just comment a little bit about, um, what, what is this term?
Interoperability, uh, is it what I just described or for that matter, why should it be important to, uh, orthodontists?
(00:10:37) April Lowry: Yeah. And it is a little bit like what you just described. Interoperability itself is sort of the ability for different. Systems, different applications to connect to share data bidirectionally, um, which means back and forth, right?
Um, a lot of the connections we do today are 1 way. Um, when you do an integration with a third party platform into your practice management system, for (00:11:00) example. But the, the concept and goal of interoperability is that we wanna get this to be bidirectional. We wanna make data transfer easy between platforms and systems.
Um, and that also benefits, you know, not just the practice, but also the patient. So if you think about real world applications of that is you have one of your, you know, orthodontic patients, they're in an accident, um, over the weekends. Is your system going to allow you easy access to get into that patient start from a remote location and then transfer those records possibly to an emergency room or hospital where the doctor on call might need them.
Um, could be 1 application or real world example of how interoperability plays out and why it's important in 2022. the. Came out and said, look, we have a position on interoperability and that going forward we are encouraging our developers of orthodontic software and dental software to implement, you know, kind of open non proprietary standards for data interoperability and then to.
You know, take (00:12:00) those to a place of being open and non-proprietary so that we can do this exchange of data. Um, at this past A a OI was part of a panel discussion that I think is recorded on their website, but it was specifically in regards to interoperability and what the a a o and the A DA is doing, um, in their plans to embrace this and to encourage software developers and doctors to, to use it.
Um, one of the members of that panel was. Um, a gentleman who's with one of the top payers, and they are very interested in interoperability and the ease of being able to exchange data with the software platforms, the clearing houses, and even taking it to the level of having the general platforms in the clearing houses, integrate ICD 10 coding along with CDT codes for.
For dental and orthodontic claims, the reason for this is that it would allow the possibility down the road for the payers to pay more for a complicated or complex case. Maybe 1 that requires surgery to (00:13:00) do correction and. As opposed to today, where they're sort of stuck with this one size, one fee fits all cases, because they don't have the ability from the, from the technology platforms to get the data they need to determine if a case is, you know, more complex than another.
So, that's 1 example of where the interoperability comes into play. We're seeing it take play with both the, and the, and they are both starting to take stronger and stronger positions with this and being backed more, even by the insurance companies. so much for watching.
(00:13:33) Dr. Leon Klempner: So, so specifically, let's say, are there certain features that a practice should be looking for, um, to be ready for this, um, in their practice management system?
(00:13:46) April Lowry: Well, your mention of the APIs is a good 1. So, um, if a platform does have existing APIs or enterprise APIs available, it makes connecting to those 3rd parties and doing that to a data exchange. Much easier. Um, (00:14:00) the other piece is, you know, always encourage practices to ask about the data. So do you have access to your data either through an analytics or reporting module that's built into the platform or will they provide you with a regular data file, especially for larger organizations that have their own, you know.
And to be able to use it. And so I think the data aspect is one of the key questions for that. And then also what other systems do they easily share information with, whether it's a clearing house already, um, do they have a marketplace to connect to third parties, uh, (00:15:00) integrations for the systems that you might want to use?
Um, do they have limited partners that you can only work with these, these 5 if you choose our base, you know, practice management system. Um, and otherwise your practice could be doing a lot of duplicate data entry. You might have, um, you know, challenges exchanging information with your referral networks.
Um, and you might have, you know, issues that they play into, um, how you could easily get data into your letters to share back to your doctors. So there's some real world implications from the orthodontic and dental perspective of how this, you know, movement towards interoperability is. Impacts all of us in the, in the space and eventually down the road, we see it providing much better patient outcomes because the ability to sort of access.
Um, the data, the ability for that data to be available, you end up with improved care coordination. You end up with fewer errors because we're not guessing about medical histories and, you know, how things were (00:16:00) before in emergency situations. Um, faster access to care. You know, hopefully there's fewer duplicate tests, like imaging, especially like, you know, you're going to get, um, uh, there's limits and things like that from the payers that we have to be aware of.
And then, you know, that the whole idea behind this is to give, um, that seamless share exchange of data, but then also an improved patient experience. Um, I would also encourage practices to find out, like when patients do need their records, how easy does your system make it for me to go print a full copy of.
The patient's, um, history or the patient medical record. Um, how is your PHI and HIPAA compliance handled? Um, we live in an age of, it seems, targeted cyber attacks in the dental and healthcare space. So we need to make sure that the systems that we're working with and choosing, um, not only are they sharing data, but are they doing it in a secure way that meets the standards set by the governing bodies and that we can be, um, Um, (00:17:00) confidence that our patients, you know, health care information is protected in the
(00:17:02) Amy Epstein: right way.
The point you're making about the patient experience is one I always like to sort of bring, bring back up and explore a little bit further because from our perspective as marketers, there, there's so many benefits you just described to the practice, um, of having interoperability and being able, having the, the, Technology is speak to one another and efficiencies of the practice.
The patient side of things is really where we look in and try to explore because that's the thing we're elevating to the communities for our, the practices we work with is why is this practice different and better? And why are you going to have better outcomes or experience? Is it more convenient? Is it just a more streamlined process, faster treatment times?
What is it? That, uh, contributes to this practice being the one that should be your choice for yourself or your family. And so, um, you know, you highlighted some of them, but maybe we could just talk a little bit about the specific benefits to patients that some of the, (00:18:00) um, interoperability affords when practices adopt this type of technology.
(00:18:08) April Lowry: No, I mean, that's a great call out and I think a couple of things that come to mind specifically that that we've worked on, um, with some of our practice tech practice management systems within, um, tops and or, uh, specifically recently is, um, a couple of things. So we want patients to have. Electronic forms and those electronic forms should go directly to smartphones.
They should be able to be completed on your smartphones. Um, that data should write back to the practice management system. So that the office team doesn't have to do double data entry. Um, patients should be able to make electronic payments. Digital payments for your services, whether that's through their mobile phone or through a text or through a patient portal, um, those payments should be secure and they should auto post back to the practice management system.
Um, patients should be able to schedule online. They need (00:19:00) to be able to make online appointments. We live in an age, especially, um, with the primary demographics of a lot of a lot of your practices that you work with. They are used to doing their entire lives. So, if we can't afford them that same luxury, there's a good chance that that patient will go to another practice where they can schedule online, um, and where they can, um, uh, minimize some of the other pieces of the process for the financial piece.
Like, you know, I've got. Six kids. So I want one statement for my kids. I want one report and a reminder when they all have an appointment or three of them have an appointment the same day. I want to make family appointments. Um, I don't need seven emails and seven calls and seven text messages because we all have an appointment the same, the same time period.
So little things like that, that improve that overall patient experience and where you can use that automation to play in. Um, Is is very is very key. We've (00:20:00) we've also included something somewhat unique in the in the aura platform is that we wanted patients to have a good explanation of their benefits when things get adjusted by insurance companies.
So, we've included the actual line item piece per code of why it got adjusted by the insurance company so that the office team can explain to the patients in an easy manner. Why something got paid or discounted that then they were initially expecting on the estimate they have the information in front of them.
Um, and we've also included benefits to the office for that. And I think that's something that that that you often lose track of in technology. Um. Is that you do want everything to be impacting that patient journey and making it as seamless as possible, making sure that the different systems that you're using for forms or that you're using for online scheduling 2 way texting is another that we've built into our platforms so that you can easily communicate to the patient in the mode Or the, you know, the (00:21:00) media that they're using every day and those messages come directly into the platform and combining all of that into 1 system is another way of that interoperability being effective.
Because then you have 1 call to make you have 1 phone call 1 support team 1 trainer. You're not having the whole it's. It's not our problem because it's a third party system. So there's a lot of things like that that make that whole patient journey easier, especially when something goes wrong, because it's, it's easier for your team.
And it's a better experience for the patient to get it resolved more quickly. If there is a challenge.
(00:21:34) Amy Epstein: Yeah. You mentioned that you have, you have six children. That's amazing. I mean, That's, uh, and you do what you do. I, I, um, I'm impressed and in awe, um, with only two, I can, you know, I try to put myself in the, in the, uh, the parent or the patient's shoes.
And, and in many cases I am right. I had first consult for my nine year old and an (00:22:00) orthodontist pretty recently. So, you know, um, and you know, even just at the very beginning of the patient If you think about the way that we. You know, and many practices still do require this sort of synchronous alignment with when the office is open.
If you're requiring a phone call to make an appointment, for example, or to learn more just to, like, get more information. That means it has to be business hours. You have to be available on your phone to speak. You can't be doing something else. And let's be honest. When are we not doing that? More than one thing at a time, uh, to just get everything done that needs to get done.
So the, you know, um, democratizing the ability to make an appointment or learn more about the practice and many of the different benefits that you just highlight to the patient, even just at the very beginning of the journey allows them to get on board with one practice versus perhaps another. It could be the decision making factor, I guess, is what (00:23:00) I'm saying between a practice That doesn't offer that sort of, uh, transparency and ease of communication.
(00:23:08) April Lowry: No, you're, you're absolutely right. And, and I tell some of the practices we work with that are struggling with that is that, you know, oftentimes they need to work with marketing companies, um, like yours or possibly even, um, you know, website development companies that are focused on SEO, like companies like where they will help you develop your website.
I'm going to go ahead and talk about how we built the website. And put content on it and use SEO to optimize it so that you're showing up earlier in that patient journey. Um, and so they can go read about you. They can look about you. And then, you know, that's kind of your first step of just getting on the radar of a prospective new patient.
Um, and then from there, making it as easy as possible to schedule an appointment. So that's the thing you want to get them to do to get them to say, yes. So, you know, aren't you requiring. 20 pieces of data for them to schedule appointment or just the really for that. You need like, that's a question. We push back a lot of times during (00:24:00) implementations and set up with practices and say, hey, what do you really just need to know?
Is it just their 1st and last name? Their email their date of birth? And if they have insurance or not, those are the 5 things that I think you need to make an appointment. Now, if you get other information because you have more time or the patient's willing, absolutely get as much as you can. But you're going to lose a lot of patients if you start requiring more that early in the process before they're truly engaged with your practice and have a relationship.
With you, because we all know orthodontic and dental, it's all about the relationship you have with your hygienist, the relationship you have with your orthodontist, the relationship you have with your, your dentist, um, over time, because these relationships can last years. I had kids in braces for 12 years and we literally followed our orthodontist, our orthodontist to two different practices during that time.
He treated the kids. My youngest is Is just turned 16 actually yesterday. And, um, we've, I've never seen people happier when he got out of braces six months ago, like it was finally 12 years (00:25:00) of. Ongoing visits for, you know, every 6 weeks. So as a, as a consumer and a parent of that experience, you understand and appreciate how that engagement is important.
But early on in that process, it's the marketing that matters. It's the content on your website that matters. It's. You know, location is so important. And then how easy is it for me to take that first step? Like if I have to fill out a long form and then somebody has to call me back and then I'm going to miss the call three times, you're, you're going to lose way more patients than you get into that new patient funnel.
Um, and then from the orthodontic perspective, you do need a tool to keep track of those leads. What are you using to convert those patients from a lead to a new patient? To someone who's accepted services and signed a contract, um, you know, there are lots of tools out there. Um, and, and with the gauge team, we work with, we use, um, gauge has a new product.
They launched last year called gauge consult manager that manages this whole process seamlessly (00:26:00) to get help practices, get more. Yes. It is. And it's sort of like the sales force for orthodontic practices. Um, but you need something like that so that you don't lose track of your patients because some of your patients, like you mentioned, your nine year old earlier there.
They may be in ops for two years before they're ready for, for braces. So if you have, you know, turnover in your office or you need to track those leads, how does your current practice management help you track it? And if it doesn't look at one of the other, you know, systems that does it because you shouldn't be doing it on a spreadsheet anymore.
We shouldn't be doing an Excel. Those are not HIPAA compliant ways to track this. You need to be in a secure portal. And if somebody leaves and that data goes with them, you could have lost two years of a new patient pipeline that you may not be able to get back. Okay. Um, so you have to think about how these things impact your, your business processes, your workflow, and then how it helps you, like I said, in the beginning, you know, save money or make more money and then provide those better patient outcomes.
Because if you're tracking your offspaces for 2 years, they're going to (00:27:00) appreciate those drip follow up. Campaigns that the marketing teams help you do. They're going to appreciate being reminded. It's time to come in and see it. Is my child ready for braces yet? Um, and especially those more complicated cases where you might have expanders or thumb sucking appliances, or, you know, um, uh, different things that you have to do prior to even starting, um, orthodontic treatment.
Keeping track of those things can be critical in terms of developing that patient relationship and keeping those patients engaged while you're waiting for them to get started.
(00:27:32) Dr. Leon Klempner: Wow, April, you've given us so much to, uh, to digest and to think about. Um, uh, but, you know, in my introduction, I promised the listeners that I would provide them with, um, Some key questions that you might recommend that they ask their vendors to help them in their decision making process.
So if you wouldn't mind, um, would you outline a few for our listeners that they (00:28:00) could, uh, jot down and, and, and utilize in terms of making a good decision on their practice software?
(00:28:07) April Lowry: Definitely, and I will say that we, we love, in the product world, we love early adopters, so we appreciate, um, Dr. Leon's willingness.
to be an early adopter and try new things. Um, a couple of them we already talked about. How easy is it to get your data? What does that look like? Whether it's analytics built in and reporting or whether they're going to provide you with your data. So that's always important. Um, and then the second piece today that you need to take a look at is the security protocols in terms of, you know, PHI, cyberattacks.
Um, are we looking at cloud based versus on premise? Um, on premise software is, Going to have a different set of security concerns. A lot of times these days with the advancements in the cloud, you're going to be much more protected in the cloud. Um, on premise is going to require additional local expense to drive that protection.
So what is your local area network look (00:29:00) like? Do you have an onsite IT person? Are you going to have to pay a contractor to manage that for you? You're going to have to do your own backups and things of that nature. So it's much more involved. Um, to use on premise, then, then the cloud these days, um, and the cloud tends to be much more secure because typically your weakness is in that local network.
Um, somebody sharing email passwords or disgruntled, you know, staff members. Um, and then what features are built in versus what you've got to go to a 3rd party for that's important because, um, you may think 1 practice management system is less expensive than another, but when you start really looking at what is included in that base price versus what are add ons.
Those prices can change very, very quickly. So I always encourage practices to understand down to the minute detail, what is included in your pricing and what you'd have to go to a 3rd party for, and then how much more does that include? add to the system. Um, and then I think in terms of your tech stack itself, how was it built?
Does it (00:30:00) work with multiple browsers? If it's cloud based, do you have to be on a Mac only, or can you be on a PC? Um, does it work on my tablets? Because a lot of times the orthodontist, especially when they're going from chair to chair, it's easier for them if they can just chart from a tablet. Um, and be able to, to move about their day.
And how's it going to impact their workflow? If they have to be stuck to a PC, um, to get there. And then what about, um, my internal champion? So we talked about the fact that you want to know what needs it's going to fill, what you're looking for feature wise, but then the thing I think practices forget about the most is we need.
We need engagement and we need utilization of the new system. So who's the internal champion for your practice for this new product or service? Is it, it can't always be about the orthodontist or the doctor themselves. You know, you have, if it's a, if it's a patient engagement system, who's going to champion that versus it might be different if it's, um, a clinical base.
Um, and if it's the whole thing, then everybody (00:31:00) has to own their part, but you need that internal champion to really help drive the change management, um, and then have a plan. So, you need a project plan. You need the implementation plan, even if it's a small change, or you think it's not going to impact the project.
Your workflow, you still need to understand that and have a plan with your internal team, work with your partner that you've chosen, and they should be able to guide you in that process. So it should be as as least painful as possible. And then understand what data gets migrated. If you are changing practice management systems, there are some decisions that need to be made around that data migration.
And are you, you know, are you going to reload your fee schedules from scratch? Because maybe they were put in 10 years ago and we're not 100 percent sure they're accurate anymore. Um, so this is a good time to clean up those records and, you know, start your new processes with clean data, with best practices, with an identified workflow, with your champions in place.
And those transitions will go much more (00:32:00) smoothly, um, than in times
(00:32:01) Amy Epstein: past. Yep, super on point. I hear these stories, uh, from clients all the time when they're making changes. Uh, you know, we, we can't talk for another couple of weeks because we're going through a big change and, um, trying to get, um, team on board, which is a point you made.
That's, I think, like, anecdotally, an outsized challenge. In the whole list, um, is making sure that we have champions and, um, everybody is, um, on the same page about why this is going to be beneficial to the practice and how this is going to benefit the patient. But. Anyway, those, that's, those were a great list of questions.
Uh, one more, one more,
(00:32:44) Dr. Leon Klempner: one more thing, if I could, I mentioned, uh, April, you just gave me post traumatic stress when, when you mentioned data migration, cause I went through a number of, of upgrades in my software and I had (00:33:00) never come across. You know, a, a, a system that migrated every field, you know, for a variety of different reasons.
Some of it, I'm sure not the fault of the software company, but that is like a pain.
(00:33:16) April Lowry: It can be a challenge. Um, and, and, and the truth is in the, in the orthodontic and dental world, especially we have some systems that have just come out the last few years. And we have others that have been around for 30 years.
And so those are all built on different technologies, different stacks, different protocols, different database designs. So it's not, it's not always apples to apples, like you might think it is. Um, we've been very lucky that, um, we've built some very specific, um, automated processes to help people migrate off of other practices.
Management systems to our systems, because we know that that's probably one of the biggest objections in the process. So we want to make it as easy as possible and to get as much (00:34:00) data as possible. Um, but that's, that's always a, you know, a key call out to make sure. Um, and, and the truth is all those problems can be solved, but it's just good.
It's just good to get that data and information up front so that you're a hundred percent certain. Are we migrating claims Are we migrating our auto payment plans that Still have 12 payments left. Um, and what does that look like? Does it mean I have to go collect new credit card data again for my 200 patients that are still on an audit payment plan, um, or can that data be transferred over?
So there are very specific questions. Um, that each of your department leaders or managers, whether it's a, you know, patient side or financial side needs to look at and be involved in that process. But there are solutions for all of that. Um, I think our teams did a really good job of trying to make it as painless as possible across our practice management systems.
But it is something that from a question perspective, as you're evaluating those systems, I always encourage practices to ask and check into because you're right. It does give, you know, PTSD (00:35:00) is probably a good call out. We've all had, we've all had a less than positive experience with data migration. I think if you've been in this industry for any length of time.
Um, but the, the. The better tools that are available today to do that. I think do make it a little less painful than it's been in times past.
(00:35:17) Amy Epstein: So my last question before we wrap up is about looking forward. What do we, um, what should we be looking out for with regard to practice technology, um, in the future?
We have AI that's, um, being used in all sorts of elements of dentistry and beyond, but so what's on the horizon in terms of practice technology?
(00:35:41) April Lowry: I think I is here to play and here to stay. Um, we're going to continue to see more and more of that. Um, the initial, you know, kind of entry into the dental and orthodontic world with AI has come in the form of AI imaging.
Um, we have partnered with Pearl AI, um, for a couple of our platforms and that in (00:36:00) mind and have it built into our imaging suites of software. I think that that will continue to be a growing space, um, as, as, as that continues to evolve and mature. Um, I also think we're going to start seeing more and more, um, AI around scheduling and around clinical notes to the degree that, um, it, we still give the doctors the full autonomy, but to the degree to make it a little simpler to, to capture some of that data in real time, um, when they're not, you know, it's difficult to type when you got your hands in someone's mouth.
Um, and so we want to try to, um, look at those. Uh, entries into the world. They're going to continue to pop up. So we're going to see more and more impacting, um, our ability to treat patients to provide better outcomes, maybe to to look and catch things that we might be missing, uh, or to also just make our lives easier because it's part of our technology platform is a big, (00:37:00) um, focus for our product organization.
And how we're using it across our different brands and how that, that will impact our customers in the, in the coming months and years. But I do believe that it's, it's part of an initiative that's here to stay and that we will continue to see, um, impacts to that, um, as, as we move forward. And as, as, um, additional features and products that's become available and that technology itself evolves.
(00:37:28) Amy Epstein: Well, April, thank you. Really appreciate your insight today. Um, I'm sure our listeners will gain a lot from this particular episode of the golden age. If we get, um, some questions, where can we find you to ask you these questions?
(00:37:44) April Lowry: Uh, sure. So I can be reached at practice tech. Um, my email is like april.
valerieatpracticetech. com and that's practice tech with a K P R A C T I C E T E K. Um, you'll also be hearing more about oral dental in the coming weeks. (00:38:00) So this is our new cloud based multi specialty platform that is truly designed for a full orthodontic practice, um, a multi specialty practice where the pediatric and ortho doctors in the same office, a DSO where they want to do all of the above plus oral surgery, and then some.
So we set out to pull in together the best of practice and that all in one. Um, concept that Dr Leon mentioned earlier, because we recognize that it didn't really exist. Um, and so we're super excited about the launch of that platform in June. And so, um, there'll be much more detail and information about that.
And I'm also on LinkedIn and available the, uh, uh, phone to answer
(00:38:40) Amy Epstein: questions as
(00:38:40) April Lowry: well.
(00:38:42) Amy Epstein: Well, thank you again for joining us. We really appreciate it. We will be following up with you and hope you'll join us again to give us some updates. And, uh, yeah, again, thanks for for joining us for this conversation today.
We learned a lot.
(00:38:55) April Lowry: No, thank you for having me. It was a pleasure to speak with you guys, and I'm always happy to (00:39:00) help and share information and empower others through technology to. To make better decisions. And it's a passion of mine and one that, um, I'm very involved in. So I appreciate the opportunity to share with you guys today.
(00:39:12) Dr. Leon Klempner: Thanks April.
(00:39:14) Amy Epstein: You can subscribe or download other episodes of the golden age of orthodontics on Apple podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, and YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. And if you enjoyed today's episode, which I am sure you did, we'd appreciate you telling a colleague. For more information about people in practice, you can visit our website at pplpractice.
com. And if you want to, you can even chat live with Leon, just a little chat bot. He's on the other end, pops up right on his phone. So if you want to ask him any questions, feel free to do that.
(00:39:45) Dr. Leon Klempner: Yeah, you could reach me that way. You could reach me by email at Leon at pplpractice. com. Um, if your numbers are flat, if you're interested in upgrading your marketing.
Uh, people in (00:40:00) practice is a full service marketing company. Uh, we will help you and, uh, reach out. You can reach out to me, uh, directly in any of the ways mentioned before. Um, it's never been a better time to be an orthodontist. We are in the golden age, so take advantage of it until next time. See ya.
(00:40:24) Narrator: Thank you for tuning in to the golden age of orthodontics. Subscribe now on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or visit our website at the golden age of orthodontics. com for direct links to both the audio and video versions of this episode.
People 
Partners 
Orthodontists 
Pediatric Dentists 
General Dentists 
ATTRACT 
ENGAGE 
QUALIFY 
CONVERT 
OPTIMIZE 
Blog 
Podcasts 
Results