Protect your patients’ information from natural disasters like superstorm Sandy

With Sandy pounding away at the Northeast and leaving millions without power and massive amounts of flooding in its wake, it’s difficult to imagine all the damage that will be left behind.

Dental offices will no doubt be affected by the superstorm, whether it’s water damage or wind damage or a combination of the two. While it will be a struggle for everyone to get back on their feet, those offices that already use a paperless workflow won’t have to worry about if flood waters wiped their patients records away; their data is backed up.

This superstorm serves as a reminder of all the advantages a paperless office can bring. For these practices, the practice data is backed up off site and is accessible to be restored during any type of disaster, Thomas Terronez, President of Medix Dental wrote in a recent DPR article. In reality, the data could be accessed the same day to notify patients of the disaster, whether it’s a superstorm like Sandy, a fire or another disaster.

The dentist and team members can use the patient data to reach out and update patients on the progress of rebuilding as well as reopening, Terronez wrote in the article. Once the physical practice is rebuilt and you're ready to see patients again, all data is intact and the schedule is actually full because you were able to schedule patients based on having access to the data.

If your practice isn’t paperless, doing all these things becomes much more difficult, meaning you lose even more time and money than if you had backed up records for every patient.

Your patients are your practice. Without them, where would you be? You have to know the best ways to attract them to your practice, get them to accept treatment and make them happy, life-long patients.

That’s where we can help. Check back regularly for tips on how to keep your patients happy, healthy and loyal.

The DPR Patient Tip of the Day is sponsored by Instrumentarium Dental, manufacturer of high-end systems and solutions for dental and maxillofacial imaging. Visit Instrumentariumdental.com to learn about the company's full line of imaging solutions, including the ORTHOPANTOMOGRAPH®OP300.