Challenge

The goal of dentistry is to improve the oral health outcomes of patients – whether through services to prevent and treat disease, or restore function.

National surveys have shown that the United States has achieved great strides in reducing tooth loss and the prevalence of caries over the years. However, there is less standardized data and fewer tools available that allow dental practitioners to monitor quality outcomes for their patients and to identify areas for quality improvement at their practice.  

Lack of standardized data hinders the creation of a rich database to support peer-group comparisons and on-going dental research into best practices, product efficacy, and patient preferences.

Solution

Adopt practical data collection and reporting tools that minimize additional burden to you and your staff, while allowing you to monitor patient needs and track outcomes. Once you start monitoring your performance it becomes easier to identify areas for improvement, set goals and promote your successes.

Build a knowledge-base. Adopt data collection and reporting tools that aggregate data from many practices into a larger HIPAA-compliant database. Aggregating data allows for the creation of peer-group comparisons you can use to refine your practice goals and supports the pursuit of ongoing oral health research.

Foster a quality improvement culture. Identify a staff member to champion quality improvement efforts at your practice. Give her the tools to monitor practice performance and patient outcomes over time. Encourage her to keep the team up-to-date on areas of excellence and areas warranting improvement. Empower her to develop improvement strategies and the means to evaluate and communicate progress toward goals with the team

Get started today. Practices that monitor practice performance and engage in quality improvement report greater practice efficiency, improved patient and staff retention. This can lead to higher staff and clinician satisfaction with your practice – evidence that pursuing quality improvement can foster a culture of accountability, innovation, and team cohesion.

Dentra’s online data collection and reporting tools make it easy to pursue quality improvement.

Contact us today to learn more.
Call 866.200.9220 or email info@dentra.com.