Product News from Dentally
We’re making some exciting changes to the appointment finder. With improved filtering and a new view, you’re able to identify slots quickly and book appointments all in one go - reducing your workload and making for a smoother patient experience.
Plus, you can now search by zone group! If your practice uses zones to block out time for particular appointment types such as emergencies, this filter makes it easier to find what you need.
This will give you more time to focus on your patients, answer their questions and provide a smooth and seamless exit experience after their appointment.
Dentally’s improved appointment finder is on its way (if you can't see it yet, you will soon!). With this, you can:
For a detailed overview to the appointment finder and its new features, read our guide here. Don't worry - if you can't see the new finder yet, you will do soon!
💡 Top tip: In order to benefit from zone searching, you’ll need to ensure you have grouped your zones first – this feature only works if your zones are grouped, so follow our handy guide here to get started!
Everything you need in one handy window – it’s that simple!
The improved appointment finder will save you time with every patient – meaning they'll spend less time waiting at reception.
With this handy tool in place, you can find and book appointments quickly, with little change needed to your normal workflow. Try it out today!
This new version of the appointment finder is being rolled out right now - if you can't see it yet, you will do soon!
The Dentally imaging bridge has had a bit of an upgrade and to make sure you are in the know on how to use the new workflow we wanted to provide you with some insights into why we have made these changes and some step-by-step instructions highlighting the new patient conflict workflow.
The imaging bridge Chrome extension is a very simple application, that is designed for you to quickly open and view images for a patient. It uses the patient ID stored within Dentally and then pushes that information through to your local DI software.The imaging bridge will then open the images in the linked third-party DI software based on this patient ID.
If you see patients at multiple locations, we always recommend you verify the patient’s name and details in the imaging software that the bridge opens to ensure you are viewing the correct record.
Recently, we have become aware that some practices may not be verifying the patient details of the images opened via the bridge. Since the imaging file opened in the DI software is controlled locally by the DI software and not by Dentally, it is essential to double-check that the images match the patient you are seeing.
To enhance this process, we have introduced a new workflow. If a potential conflict is detected - where the patient in Dentally and the patient identified by the third-party DI software do not match - you will be prompted to verify and confirm the patient name match.
For more information on why these new workflows have been introduced take a read of our Imaging bridge FAQ's over the help centre.
The new workflow has a few more steps than before but ensures that any conflicts are dealt with as early on in the workflow as possible.
The new workflow is as follows:
For a detailed step by step overview take a look at our handy help guide here.
Its important to note that to benefit from these updates to the imaging bridge you must be on the latest version. Please speak with the support team for further assistance.
To minimise patient safety issues here are a few best practice tips to keep in mind going forward when using the imaging bridge:
We are committed to ensuring a safe and efficient experience for both you and your patients, and this step towards a more secure imaging workflow will help us deliver on this commitment.
Thank you for your continued trust in our services and remember Ellie Bot and our dedicated support team are available via Live Chat to support any questions you have around this new workflow.
Your new Changelog is here - find out what we've added to Dentally this month, including updates to payment allocations and clinical notes!
We know the accuracy of your clinical notes is essential. With our improved clinical note recovery, we’ll show a preview of the recovered notes so you can keep or discard!
With a brand new booking search tool coming soon, get ready by grouping your zones to make it smoother and easier to find what you need! Zone grouping allows you to link zones of a similar type, accounting for discrepancies with spelling or practitioner/day/payment plan.
Remember you can read the full Changelog here, and you can always reach out to Ellie Bot and the support team with any questions or queries via Live Chat in Dentally 🦷
And don’t forget you can keep up with all the latest updates on getting the most out of your Dentally experience on our blog!
Hello NHS Scotland Practitioners! We wanted to let you know that Dentally has been updated in order to support the NHS’s changes coming into effect on 1st August 2024, referred to as Continuation of the November 2023 Dental reform implementation.
These changes are split into 4 categories:
Let’s walk you through how the changes impact Dentally 🚀
The first change is related to the information we transmit to the NHS alongside your claim. NHS Scotland now requires us to send additional annotations and material codes for certain treatments.
To support this change, we have added additional treatment codes to those affected, replacing the more generic versions of those treatments.
You will need to transition to using these new NHS codes, allowing you to specify the annotation and material at the point of charting.
For a full list of code changes see our help center guide here.
This second NHS change requires additional information when you submit a claim, this includes:
You will be able to select these values as part of the claim submission process and the values you select will be transmitted along with the claim.
The third change relates to the charting of ‘item 1-(c)’ in Dentally. You will now be required to provide a reason for this care. At the point of claim submission, where an unscheduled care assessment is charted, you'll see this additional field with a list of options provided by the NHS.
An option must be selected to successfully complete this claim. Should none of the options be applicable, please select "Other", and the NHS suggests that you keep a note of the reason for care separately, should they request it.
The final change for NHS Scotland is around the implementation of additional validation rules, applied to claims submitted to the NHS.
Should a claim be rejected due to one of these new rules, Dentally will record the claim status change and the reason in the NHS Claims report. This information should be used to correct the claim and resubmit as normal.
Post-payment discounts are now available for all sites! This new feature allows you to apply discounts after the first payment has been processed, offering greater flexibility in managing your claims.
Discover more about adding claim discounts in our handy help guide here.
The process for adding a discount remains identical to the original discounting method, but with the added advantage of reducing the need to cancel and resubmit claims if a discount or adjustment was missed initially. This enhancement aims to streamline your workflow, ensuring a smoother and more efficient claim process.
Stay tuned for more updates as we continue to improve Dentally based on your feedback! 🎉
Your new Changelog is here!
Find out what improvements we've added this month across Dentally – including brand new Dentally Portal features and updates to Dentally Vision!
We have launched our newest feature, Concierge 🎉
With Concierge set up, you can enable patients to complete all outstanding actions on a tablet device in the practice. Plus Concierge is supported by both Apple and Android devices! This will create a smoother, more effortless journey for patients, while reducing the administrative burden on your reception team.
We’ve brought in a range of updates across Dentally Vision, to improve features such as image recovery, acquisition agent and image viewing.
Remember you can read the full Changelog here, and you can always reach out to Ellie Bot and the support team with any questions or queries via Live Chat in Dentally 🦷
Concierge is part of our brand-new Portal tablet app for both Apple and Android. It allows patients to self-serve in the practice by completing outstanding actions on a device, giving them more control.
This new feature helps to provide an effortless in-practice experience for your patients, while reducing the administrative burden on your reception team. Find out more about how Concierge will improve your patient experience and reduce your workload in our blog.
Ready to create a smooth patient experience with Concierge? Here are some steps to get you started:
Once your device is set up, you’re ready to start using Concierge in your practice!
Got a question about using Concierge? Reach out to Ellie Bot and our support team via Live Chat 💬
If you’re not using Dentally Portal and want to explore how it can help you reach your business goals, get in touch! 📣
Can't see these features right now? We're in the process of rolling them out, so if it's not visible yet, it will be soon!
Your new Changelog is here! Find out what improvements we've added this month across Dentally – including updates to how you manage your calendar!
We’ve made it easier to add, amend and delete breaks in your practice calendar, whenever you need!
Simply click on the practitioner’s name at the top of the calendar, and use the override feature to edit or delete existing breaks, or click ‘+ Add break’ to add a new break – it's as simple as that ✅
The ‘Details’ screen in the patient record has a new look! Some of the features of the new form include:
Remember you can read the full Changelog on our Help Centre here, and you can always reach out to Ellie Bot and the support team with any questions or queries via Live Chat in Dentally 🦷
Simply click on the practitioner’s name at the top of the calendar, and use the override feature to edit or delete existing breaks, or click ‘+ Add break’ to add a new break – it's as simple as that ✅
You might already use schedules to add regular breaks like practitioner lunch breaks, surgery cleaning or school pick-up into the calendar. But what if you want to add an unexpected break at the last minute? Or want to make quick one-off changes to your normal schedule?
With this handy new addition to the normal override feature, it’s easy to manage breaks straight from the calendar – no need to go in and edit the schedule!
Once you’ve added or updated a break, it will immediately reflect in the calendar as greyed out and it’ll stop you booking appointments during that time, ensuring you have complete visibility and can give patients accurate availability. Plus, if you make amendments to breaks, they’ll only apply to that day – leaving all your normal schedules running smoothly.
Keeping your calendar up-to-date to reflect practitioner availability is vital for every practice, to ensure appointments aren’t booked when practitioners are busy, and to maintain accurate practitioner utilisation reporting.
Want to know more about using schedules and the override feature to show practitioner availability in the calendar? Read our guide on the different ways to show availability, and when you should use them. Don’t forget – with these methods, there’s no need for booking ‘empty’ recurring appointments to show practitioners are unavailable – which can impact the accuracy of your reporting.
Read our dedicated guide to learn all about adding and amending breaks in the calendar, and start making the most of this brand new feature!
Got a question? Get in touch with Ellie Bot and the support team via Live Chat in Dentally 📣
Can't see the feature right now? We're in the process of rolling it out, so if it's not visible right away, it will be soon!
Well, there is no need to scratch your head anymore, let’s discuss how you can master the entire merging process in three simple steps! First, let's talk about responsibility. Merging patients is a big deal, and an irreversible process. That's why only users with Level 3 security access or higher can perform a merge in Dentally.
If you are just beginning your journey with Dentally, to merge patients and their images in your previous practice management system. This ensures the bulk of your duplicate patients will be resolved before they are transferred into your Dentally database. However, we understand this isn’t always feasible, so we have tried to make the process of merging patients as easy and seamless as possible.
When you end up with two of the same patients, you must first choose which one you will keep, we call this the ‘destination patient’. Generally, you will want to pick the patient with the most up-to-date, accurate information. The second patient record will now be your ‘source patient’. After the merge is complete the source patient will be made inactive.
Before you go ahead and merge the patient records, it’s important to note that any images and x-rays associated with the ‘source patient’ need to be manually moved to the ‘destination patient’.
This step is very important! If you forget to move/reassign patient images to the ‘destination patient’, you are risking having to retake x-rays resulting in a potential patient safety issue due to re-exposure to radiation. This is where Dentally Vision can come in handy!
Dentally Vision allows you to quickly move images from one patient to another with its built-in ‘reassign’ feature, making it easier than ever for you to stay on top of housekeeping.
For those not yet using Dentally Vision, you will have to manually export and import your images from the ‘source patient’ to the ‘destination patient’. This can be time consuming and adds an extra step to the patient merging process, but it is a must do step to ensure an efficient merging process.
After moving your images and x-rays to the 'destination patient’ you are now ready to go ahead and complete the merge from the patients record. Remember this is irreversible and cannot be undone so make sure you are 100% sure you have selected the correct patients before continuing.
Once you have merged the patients the ‘source patient’ will now be archived and all information attached including appointments, correspondence and accounts will be moved to the ‘destination patient’.
You will find everything you need to know on the entire process over on our help centre in our dedicated help articles linked below. If you encounter any issues merging your patients, then get in touch with Ellie Bot and out support team via Live Chat in Dentally for further assistance.
Useful Help Articles:
How to merge patients
How to move / re-assign images between patients when using Dentally Vision
How to locate an archived patient?