January 4, 2005 to April 6, 2005

Hello!

It's been a while since we last updated you all the cool things happening on Club Lighthouse, so its time we bring you up to speed! This newsletter represents a summary of the best of what's going on at the web site.

To properly use this newsletter, you should first log into the Club web site directly from this newsletter. Once you are logged in, you can click on any of the links in this newsletter to jump directly to the article or download of interest. To start your web browser now and log into Club Lighthouse, click here! That will open up a browser window on your computer. You can then Alt-Tab back to this e-mail and select any link in this email. Clicking on the link in this email will cause that article or forum post to appear in the browser window (you will have to Alt-Tab BACK to that browser window to see it).

If you forgot your user name and/or password, send an email to joel@lighthouse-pmg.com



In This Issue
New Articles
New or updated downloads
Interesting posts
Seminar schedule


New Articles
Lighthouse Next Appointment Info System
This document describes a system that can help you streamline the scheduling process by improving the communication between the clinical team members (who know what each patient's next appointment should be for) and the administrative team members (who usually make the appointments).

 

Going Chartless: Charting Configuration
We here at Lighthouse believe that using Charting to enter
treatment plans using "voice activation" (i.e., the
doctor says a treatment that needs to be performed, and her or
his voice activates an assistant or hygienist to click the
buttons in Charting to get them entered) is the single biggest
benefit of using Charting. Until you're creating a treatment plan
for every diagnosed procedure, and then using the resulting
treatment plan properly to track that treatment through to
completion, you're not using the whole PracticeWorks program the
way we intended for it to be used when we designed it. This
article will describe some of the setup and configuration steps
that are critical to effective use of Charting.

 

New or updated downloads
The following is a list of recent additions to the Club Lighthouse download area. It is important to remember that most downloads have a corresponding article or forum post associated with them. If they do, please read the article or post first before downloading the file. Also, for complete instructions on how download and install the files listed here, be sure to read the article on Installing from an Exchange Pack

The Rx Farm
Version: 01-08-2005
A collection of Rx's that aren't in the PW Plus Pack. These simply add to your list of Rx's when you write a new one. (We've also updated the PW Plus Pack Rx's to add the "Phoned in" option that's on all the LH Rx's. To download them, click here.) See the article that describes how to install and use them.

Two Hygiene Analysis Experts
Version: 04-02-2005
Two Analysis Experts pertaining to hygiene. LH03 Recall Analysis Expert - calculates a theoretical figure for the monthly hygiene potential and compares your actual to it; calculates the percentage of hygiene patients who are pre-appointed (scheduled for their next hygiene appointment at the end of each hygiene appt). Click here to read the associated Article. LH03 Hygiene Production Analysis - calculates a more realistic figure for annual hygiene potential (number of appointments); shows actual hygiene production for any period of time, broken down a lot of different ways, including by hour and by day; shows a count of various hygiene/perio procededures.

Patient handout tracking
Version: 02-03-2005
Requested by John Bouzis. A Form and two AutoLinks to help keep track of what marketing handouts have been given to each patient so far. The Form lists all the things we give to patients and the date we gave each one. It's updatable until complete, so you can turn off the handouts for any patient at any time, for whatever reason. The AutoLinks are identical - on at the end of checkout, the other at the end of "resume checkout" - they bring up the Form if the appointment being checked out is a recall appt or a doctor appt (skips perio appts by hygienist) and the patient has no tx plan in progress. (Install only one of them - if you begin then suspend checkout chairside, install "resume checkout". Otherwise, install "checkout.") When the Form appears, the team member has to decide what to give the patient (if anything), then put today's date beside that item on the Form. When the patient has gotten everything (or they tell you they don't want anything else), check the final checkbox.

DocTypeSwitcher
Version: 1.1
Handy utility to be used after installing Lighthouse Packs. Many of the documents we provide are created as Plain Paper when an office may want them to be on Letterhead. While PW "out of the box" will not allow you to change document types - this utility will allow you to convert any Plain Paper document to Letterhead and back. This utility is written in .NET and may require additional downloads from the Microsoft website depending on your computer.

MetLife Analysis Expert
Version: 02-14-2005
A very basic Analysis Expert of production, payments and adjustments on patients with "MetLife" as their primary insured. Created for Dr. Torrisi's office.

Lighthouse Next Appt Info System
Version: 3-4-2005
Three Forms and several AutoLinks to help your intra-office communications about each patient's next appointment - what needs to be scheduled when, and for how long (in the case of Ortho and Denture patients), and special instructions (in the case of ANY type of appointment). See this article for a complete description of the systems and instructions for installation and usage.

LH99 Payments Applied by date and amount
Version: 1.0
Contact expert that will help find checks (mis-applied or otherwise). Prompts for start date and end date range as well as low amount and high amount. Returns a list of accounts that received payments in the date range and amount range specified.

Photo Release Tracking System
Version: 03-18-2005
A system for ensuring you have a Photo Release Document signed for every patient. Consists of a Document (which needs to be completed with YOUR words), a Form, and two AutoLinks: one at check-in to print the Document, and one at check-out to bring up the Form for you to complete. Created specifically for Mitch Myers - this may or may not be something you'll want if you're not Mitch!

Blue Folder - Bio Page
North Gwinnett Dental Care "Blue Folder" given to patients - This is the Biography insert.

Blue Folder - Financial and Insurance Page
Version: 1.0
North Gwinnett Dental Care - Blue Folder given to all patients - Financial and Insurance Policies

Blue Folder - Features of our Dental Office Page
Version: 1.0
North Gwinnett Dental Care - Blue Folder - Features Page

Blue Folder - Our Promise / Front Page
Version: 1.0
North Gwinnett Dental Care - Blue Folder - Our Promise to you (front side)

Blue Folder - Our Promise / Back Page
Version: 1.0
North Gwinnett Dental Care - Blue Folder - Page 2 of Our Promise to You page...

Future appt info (InsCo and Balance)
Version: 03-31-2005
A Contact Expert that shows all appointments for a selected date, with this info: Time Patient InsCo name Balance Created especially for Mary Barr.

Menaker (2 custom Analysis Experts)
Version: 04-04-2005
Two Analysis Experts requested by Club Member Scott Menaker: 12 Months Prod'n by ADA Code Range and Menaker Monthly Monitors



Interesting posts

The following list represents topics on the Club site that either have had a lot of posts made, or have been read by a large number of Club members.

PracticeWorks

General discussion (PracticeWorks)

Expert Creation Requests

Automation and PracticeScript

Analysis Expert Cell Farm

The Business side of things (not PracticeWorks related)

General discussion (Office Admin)

Hot Deals!

Computers and Technology

The Clinical side of things (not PracticeWorks related)

General discussion (Clinical)

Clinical technologies

Going chartless

Club Lighthouse

General discussion (Lighthouse)

The Kudzu Project

General Discussion (Kudzu)



Seminar schedule


Paperless Charting

At Club Lighthouse, we are all about maximizing the efficiency of your computer system. There is no better way to do that than to rid your office of the most significant time drag most of you still have: your paper charts.

Learn to rid your office of paper charts once and for all. Click here for more information, as well as dates and locations.

On-line seminar registration now available


Turbo charging your practice with PracticeWorks
Come SKI in Denver with us!

Back by popular demand, this two day seminar is sure to improve your understanding of PracticeWorks, as well as give you a better understanding of what we are trying to accomplish here on Club Lighthouse. Don't forget: Club members get a 10% discount off of the registration fee!

To see dates and locations, or to register on-line, click here.


We hope you found this newsletter informative and helpful. Remember, its our job to make your job easier! If you have ANY question, be sure to either post a question on the Club, or if you are uncomfortable posting your question in public, please feel free to contact one of us directly using email.

Thanks again, and see you on the Club!

Allen Jorgensen: allen@lighthouse-pmg.com
Brian Smith: brian@lighthouse-pmg.com
Joel Kozikowski: joel@lighthouse-pmg.com

© 2003, 2004, 2005 Lighthouse Practice Management Group
"PracticeWorks" is a registered trademark of PracticeWorks, Inc.
Lighthouse Practice Management Group and its principals are not affiliated with PracticeWorks, Inc. in any way