If you’re using a conventional orthodontic practice management software or system (PMS), you probably thought about switching to a cloud-based PMS a lot. Some of the newer cloud-based products like Cloud9Ortho certainly seem appealing. Without a lot of comparative information available out there, how can you decide?
Well, let’s see.
You do stand to gain mobility; you can access your patient records from anywhere you have Internet connectivity. So you and your staff can work electronically from the same patient database, whether you’re in your secondary office or when you’re a visiting orthodontist in your friend’s dental office twice a month across town. It’s all there. But then you need access to the Internet. So if the Internet at your main office is down for a day or two, then you’d have to temporarily switch to paper until it all gets back. Not fun when you’re seeing upwards of 80-100 patients on a busy day.
No need to worry about IT support. Or do you? The cost might be all baked into the monthly subscription fee, however there’s all this buzz about large cloud providers being hacked all the time. You wonder about your liability under HIPAA. Turns out you’d still have that. All cloud vendor assurances aside, large healthcare organizations such as Excellus Blue Cross Blue Shield are been hacked all the time. In fact, the larger the data set, the bigger the hacking prize. A breach at your cloud vendor could be quite painful and expensive. Ouch!
And while you’re all integrated into cloud-based electronic insurance claims, SMS patient reminders, and electronic payment gateways, a Web browser-based PMS can’t capture intraoral images and X-rays from your intraoral camera and your panoramic X-ray machine directly anymore. Should you have to put up with all these additional steps of moving files with USB keys or browsing for cryptically named files on a networked drive somewhere?
Here at Practice Visual we thought about all these issues – and many, many more. With Visual Practice you can have all the benefits of the cloud with none of the disadvantages of our competitors. More precisely:
Mobility - if you’re worried about facing a waiting room full of angry patients when your Internet connection is down, you can choose a Private Cloud installation (on-premises cloud) and Visual Practice will always be available at your main office, while still allowing you to work occasionally from a secondary office or as a visiting orthodontist over the Internet. If you’re not willing to host your own server, you can still choose a Public Cloud deployment like with any other cloud competitor.
Security – while still providing the best-in-class HIPAA and PCI compliant security and including full server IT support with the monthly subscription fee, both of Visual Practice’ single-tenant Cloud deployment options (Public or Private) keep the hacking prize small – and makes you an unlikely hacking target in the first place. Not so with Cloud9Ortho or any other multi-tenant cloud vendors, where the hacking prize gets bigger and bigger the more customers sign up with them.
Integration – while being Internet browser-based on a Mac, Visual Practice runs as a native App on Windows, with unrestricted low-level hardware access. Meaning that you can still capture those intraoral images and panoramic X-rays straight into a dedicated Visual Practice terminal. No USB keys or annoying file copy steps needed.
And lastly, with its unique tablet-optimized user interface and designed to work reliably over Wi-Fi connections, Visual Practice allows you to easily roam around the office with a lightweight wireless tablet and still do everything you were able to do with a traditional PMS. Ditch those bulky desktop computers, monitors, and keyboards you had strapped to each patient chair with the old PMS and free up that space for more clinically important stuff.
Contact us now at (888) 845-7621 or on the web at www.visualorthodontics.com for more information on how you can get all the benefits of the cloud, with none of its disadvantages, by switching to Visual Practice. You’ll be glad you did!
