Computerized charting is:
- Faster: You don’t need to go get the chart and re-file it, you don’t need to spend time writing the same thing over and over again.
- Better Organized: Everything isn’t stuffed in a folder but is organized in the electronic chart by default. That means users can instantly find anything with an electronic search. The chart will never be lost somewhere in an office stack.
- Less Expensive: Paper charts and file cabinets for 2500 patients will cost at least $15,000 and take up a chunk of office space. A good data server for the dental office will cost about $3,500, accommodate a lot more than 2500 patients and take up about a foot of space.
It could be millions! You must have seen this TV commercial by now. The room is filled with bedraggled executives and managers. It is obvious they have been working for hours, the room is a mess, costs are off, ties are loosened and the conference table is overflowing with papers, files, binders and reports. They are looking desperately for ways to save money.
Finally someone asks what it costs to create all that paper. The leader looks at the clutter on the table and with a stunned expression says, it could be millions.
It may not be costing you millions to maintain your paper file system but it is a safe bet that it is costing you tens of thousands every year.
Dentists often take the attitude that paper charts work fine and they don’t cost anything so why invest in an expensive computer system? Like the paperwork in the TV commercial the costs to create and maintain paper charts can be significant but we often don’t see it because it is hidden in the process of doing business.
Paper charts don’t just appear in the office for free. The paper folder and all the other papers cost about $2.50 each. If you have 2500 charts they cost you at least $6,250 to create and every time a new patient walks in it’s another two-fifty; cha-ching.
Other chart contents, like x-rays and photographs can be even more costly. A set of bitewings with film, processing and mounts can be a dollar or two. A photo printed from the intraoral camera is $1.50 or more. It is reasonable to add at least another $3.00 to the cost of each chart for these contents adding another $7,500 to the cost.
Storing the records isn’t free either. A typical office with 2500 charts will need three or four full size lateral files to hold them all. Depending on how nice the files are they will cost about $4,000 and could be a lot more. They will take up office space. A 10’x 5’ file room will cost $7,500 to build. That is 50 Sq. Ft at $150 per foot. Not to mention all the “inactive” charts stashed away somewhere else?
So far our inexpensive paper files are costing us $25,250, but that’s not the total cost. There is the human effort to make the chart, type the label, arrange the contents, file new bits when they arrive in the mail, write the notes, pull the charts every day and then re-file them. And of course there is the daily ritual of the lost chart, which no one can find only to have it turn up days later either misfiled or hiding in a stack on the doctor’s desk. The human cost is at least $13,800 per year. You also have the expense of renting the office space the file cabinets sit on, at $25 per Sq, Ft for $1,250 per year. (Double that if you are in New York or San Francisco)
What we have is a paper chart system that is really quite expensive costing $25,250 to create and $15,050 per year to maintain for a total of $40,300.
A good electronic chart will, eliminate paper, be better organized, work better and cost less than the old paper based charts.
Dr Larry Emmott has written several complete step by step guides to help you create the high tech dental office of your dreams.
These comprehensive guides include basic philosophy, budgets, buying guides, examples and photos all delivered with the humor and easy to understand style Dr. Emmott is famous for.
The guides will soon be available online, in the mean time; Contact him via e-mail larryemmott@drlarryemmott.com for a pre-publication discount.