Corporate Profile: Uncovering the Hidden Gems by Orthotown staff

Have you ever wished that your practice management software had a specific feature? In some instances, the feature’s already there, but the users don’t know how to utilize it. The team at Ortho2 shares some common “hidden gems” of practice management software and discusses the value of each one.

Patient animations
Animations are becoming a vital part of any practice. Explaining a course of treatment or proper brushing is one thing, but showing patients and parents is another. Just imagine how helpful it could be if a video was available when your patient goes to floss that first time with their new braces. Or how persuasive starting treatment could be when a mom or dad couldn’t attend the appointment, but the orthodontist sent animations home so they could view or review their child’s treatment on their own time.

Personalizing individual filmstrips and publishing them to disc, email, Facebook or YouTube is an easy way to add your individual touch to these animations. Through social media posts, you can expand your reach to countless potential patients and parents with animation videos branded with your practice name and logo.

By creating videos of deband celebrations, referrals of the month, and other fun and promotional ideas (of course with the patient and parent’s permission), and publishing them to Facebook or YouTube, you can greatly expand your marketing reach. One Ortho2 Edge Animations user in Nebraska posted 28 deband celebration videos to Facebook over a 30-day period and received 8,622 likes and 16,481 video views, and was seen in 32,918 newsfeeds. Wow!

“Ortho2’s Edge Animations software is a powerful tool. Most people think of it as an educational component, but in our office, it’s much more of a marketing tool. The number of people you can communicate with using Edge Animations is unimaginable.”
— marketing coordinator Sonia Kohrs, Kohrs Orthodontics, Aurora, Colorado

Practice apps
Let’s face it—we live in an app-driven world. From Facebook to mobile banking to McDonald’s, everyone has an app these days. And your practice should, too.

There are two different yet equally relevant apps for orthodontic offices. The first is an app for the orthodontist or practice. This app allows you to view your patients’ and responsible parties’ information, other professionals’ information, patients’ images, treatment charts, practice graphs and metrics, scheduled appointments and more.

Apps like this are great for making after-hours care calls, as all the information you need is at your fingertips. It is also ideal for referencing common patients and their images when meeting with other professionals.

“One of the great features of Ortho2 Edge Cloud is Edge Mobile. No matter where I am or what I’m doing, I can always pull up patient records.”
— Dr. Christian Groth, Rochester Hills, Michigan

An equally important practice app is one available for your patients and parents to download. Using an app branded with your practice name makes searching ideal from the app stores. These apps allow patients and parents instant access to appointment information, images, animation videos and rewards.

Some apps even allow for personalized appointment notification settings and GPS-based patient sign-in. Referring new patients can become seamless, and if you choose, patients can be rewarded for doing so.

One extra tip: Your app shouldn’t be restricted to current patients. Allow prospective patients and parents to download your app to learn about your office and treatment information.

“What a fantastic way to interact with our patients, as well as for them to see how their treatment is progressing. This marketing tool will greatly help get our name out to those looking for an orthodontist in the area.”
— Dr. Tim Dumore, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Patient/parent rewards
Patient rewards are a terrific way to keep kids active in their treatment and to keep observation patients interested in your practice. Throw out those old wooden nickels and let your software do the work!

Use your practice management software to track things like good oral hygiene and general compliance, and use the built-in rewards system to make tracking and distributing patient rewards seamless.

But it doesn’t have to stop there. Create a parent reward system, and use your practice management software to track on-time appointment percentage, minimal no-shows and low breakage. Make it easier to track your rewards with automated workflows.

Patient forms
Online forms are essential to creating a smooth new patient experience, and many practice management systems include this timesaving feature. Allow new patients the ability to fill out forms electronically from your website before ever stepping into your office.

This will save everyone time. If patients forget to complete forms ahead of time, simply hand them a tablet to complete in office. Many times, information you’ve already collected can be auto-filled on the form to avoid redundancy. Submitted forms are then automatically loaded into your practice management software. Forms don’t need to be limited to new patient entry. Annual health history forms, office questionnaires and outpatient interviews can all be created and the data collected within your practice management software.

Patient reminders and newsletters
Save your office countless hours by implementing an automated phone, text and email appointment reminder system. This is a great way to decrease missed appointments and cancellations, and improve patient satisfaction. There’s no need to worry about who has or hasn’t confirmed as patient responses show up in your schedule.

Patient reminders are important, but so are patient newsletters. These newsletters are a great way to keep your patients informed not only about things happening at your practice, but also new treatment options, proper hygiene reminders, braces-friendly recipes, etc. Create and customize newsletters to fit the personality of your office that you can send to your patients, parents and other professionals.

Patient sign-in
Patient sign-in is yet another great way to communicate with your patients. Create fully customized sign-in screens to promote anything in your office. You can even create individual sign-in screens with a personalized message and video or image to congratulate patients on a recent accomplishment or celebrate getting their braces off.

“Wow! The touchscreen features in Edge Cloud Patient Tracker are incredible! Checking in without needing a keyboard and mouse and using a tablet has been a big talking point with our patients and looks great! Thank you for keeping us looking cutting edge!”
—Dr. Robert Bruzzichesi, Basking Ridge, New Jersey

With all the features available, wouldn’t it be nice to have them all in one system?
You can with Ortho2! All the gems described above are in the Edge Cloud. Don’t waste time with a third-party company to do these tasks when you can have it all with the Edge Cloud.

Our Edge Animations module features more than 275 videos including various treatment options, proper brushing, and foods to avoid. Videos can be created for specific treatment findings and shown to patients when you launch animations. Edge Animations is also available as a stand-alone module.

Ortho2 includes Edge Mobile, an office-centric app, with every Edge Cloud system. No need to be tied to your office computer or laptop. Your practice information is available on any device, anywhere. Expand this functionality to your patients and parents with the Practice Connect app. This fully customizable app shows off your office to your community, while giving pertinent patient information to those who need it.

Patient Rewards is included with the Edge Cloud to track patient rewards. Keep a list of how patients earn points, what prizes you have available and ways to redeem prizes.

In addition, each Edge Cloud system comes standard with Online Forms. Use these forms to gather information, and have the information automatically load into the Edge Cloud. Or design your own forms through our custom form creation service.

Edge Reminders and Edge Broadcast, a newsletter system, are included with the Edge Cloud. Edge Reminders lets you text, call and email your patients reminders and notices from your office. Set up automated reminders to free up your staff time. In addition, use Edge Broadcast to send newsletters with important office information and updates.

Patient Tracker monitors patient arrivals and flow through the office. Create your sign-in screen and see at a glance where patients are and how long they have been there.

Discover a world of efficiency, profitability and innovation. For more information, visit ortho2.com, email sales@ortho2.com or call 800-678-4644.

Test-drive the options online
To get a firsthand look at Ortho2’s Edge Cloud, visit ortho2.com/demo.