Flex Learning Hub

We’re explaining the differences between practice management and patient communication systems in dentistry. Spoiler alert: it's a bit of an "apples to oranges" comparison, but they’re both great for your practice!

There are two critical components for building a successful dental practice: managing the day-to-day operations of your business and fostering relationships with your patients through consistent communication. While most practices are well-versed in practice management software to keep their operations organized, there is usually less familiarity with patient communication software for maintaining patient engagement. And, there can often be confusion as to what services each software offers. Let’s take a quick look at the differences between practice management software and patient communication systems and the benefits each can provide to your practice and your patients.     

As a business, we understand that dental practices have different needs when it comes to technology. We’ve designed Flex and its subscription options so that each practice can get the features they need while not paying for features that may not be for them. No round pegs in square holes here! We want you to love every feature in Flex so that your user experience is top-notch.

With that in mind, here is a quick look at the 3 different Flex packages, what’s included, and what you’ll pay. 

Marketing is the food that feeds every business to help it grow, including dental practices. No matter the industry, a good marketing approach consists of several key components: building a brand, generating interest in your product/service, acquiring new customers, and fostering successful relationships to create repeat business. And, at the end of every successful marketing initiative, you’ll want to measure where your best leads came from so you can optimize your marketing budget and calculate your return on investment. Just like every business, your dental practice needs to be able to attribute your marketing wins to their respective campaigns so you know which of your investments is working the hardest.

In this article, I’m going to show you how to utilize the tracking links feature in FlexSchedule online scheduling to help determine the ROI of your practice's marketing strategy.   

Integrate Flex With Your Phone Service

Flex offers a wide variety of patient communication services for Open Dental, many designed to automate tasks that give your patients proactive information to reduce the number of phone calls you make and/or receive on a daily basis. The aim of our automated text/email communications is to prevent you from picking up that phone on your desk in the first place, making you a master at the game of time savings and efficiency. Let’s face it - talking on the phone is so 20th century. 

But, we understand there are times where you just have to speak with someone over the phone. So, we’ve added a bit of jazz on top of the standard phone call by injecting some useful features in Flex that integrate with your VOIP (voice-over-IP) phone service. 

Storybook Smiles Children’s Dentistry is a pediatric dental practice located in the town of Tyler, Texas. Founded 2.5 years ago by Dr. Dylan Patrick, Storybook Smiles provides a full range of pediatric dental services from birth until age 18.

Dr. Patrick met with me for a quick chat to talk about Flex and its impact on his growing business. 

What Makes Flex’s Paperless Forms So Smart?

Flex’s online forms for Open Dental are smart. Like, REALLY smart. In fact, if our forms were any smarter, they could write this article themselves.

Exaggerations aside, there are some very intelligent features that we’ve designed for our online forms that make a big difference in your practice’s workflow and in ease-of-use for the patient. And, while there are many options out there for online paperless forms, there are some considerable differences between Flex and other technologies. So what makes our forms so smart? It boils down to our team’s understanding of how forms affect the user experience of both practices and patients while developing features that simplify key workflow challenges.

Online appointment scheduling is on the rise, with 44% of respondents in a recent survey stating they would choose a healthcare provider that offers online scheduling versus one that does not. It’s no surprise that demand for online scheduling is growing in a society that demands immediacy and does just about everything online - from grocery shopping to buying cars. 

Fortunately, our team has years of experience implementing online scheduling via our FlexSchedule solution, so we have some insight into the trend of booking appointments online and what kind of return you can expect on your investment.

Who doesn't love a good list? They're great for getting information quickly and efficiently, just like Flex. 

We spend a lot of time talking with practices about patient communication and creating efficiencies in Open Dental, so our team has a good bit of insight into the topic. After all, patient communication is our specialty - we even tend to get a bit geeky when it comes to the subject. 

Flex was designed in an Open Dental practice, so it’s little surprise that there are some really cool patient communication features in Flex that add to your Open Dental experience. In the spirit of brevity, this will not be an exhaustive list of every Flex feature. Instead, we’ll focus on the top functionalities of Flex that make your dental life easier and your processes move faster.

Who is your favorite sidekick of all time? 

As a kid, I loved reruns of the Batman television show starring Adam West as Batman and Burt Ward as an overly-enthusiastic Robin. Robin was the ultimate sidekick, always there to fight crime and provide a witty, albeit cheesy, one-liner. Later on in life, I realized Batman was played for laughs but, at the time, it was serious business to me. Batman was a hero and Robin was his trusted partner. 

Many of our customers come to us because their practice needs a partner in improving their patient communications and giving their efficiency a boost in their Open Dental software. Like Robin, we jump right in to help. However, while supercharging patient communication and powering up your efficiency are our main strengths, Flex can also contribute to your practice's success through other avenues.

Here’s a quick rundown on what makes Flex unique among patient communication solutions for Open Dental. Get your track shoes laced up - we’re going fast.

We know there are lots of patient communication companies out there and it can be difficult to determine the differences between providers. At Flex, we like to think we do things a little bit outside of the typical “dental industry box.” From the beginnings of our company to some features that you won’t find in any other patient communication software, Flex has a history of marching to the beat of our own drum. Fortunately, the beat seems to be catchy enough where people don’t mind joining us on our journey.