Data Support You Can Use to Improve Dental Patient Outcomes and Achieve Clinical Excellence

Ever been lost navigating a maze?

That’s what the data generated by dental patient care can feel like on occasion.

You can avoid getting lost in the weeds of data analysis. Instead, the data could lead you to new strategies for improving dental patient treatment outcomes and clinical excellence.

Data in search of solutions

Dental data analytics follow the same general path of healthcare data analysis. Electronic dental records (EDRs) like EHRs (Electronic Health Records) allow you to source, search, and strategize care improvements based on available, digital data.

Data mining creates new solutions for improving patient care outcomes. And those results now rely on the speed and scalability of accessing digital records instead of sorting through analog (paper) files of patient information.

Data that is patient-focused (beyond the diagnosis)

Patients are people. That’s not news to you. But it could be a wake-up call for how you see patients and the amount of data that’s generated by their dental care.

Of course, data analysis can (and must) include their diagnostic details. But there’s more to include and routinely analyze relative to improving care outcomes.

• Bring their health history data into your conversations with them. The focus: empowering them to stay in tune with their overall health and the systemic connection to their oral health.
• Have conversations around their oral health goals. The focus: help align treatment to meet their goals rather than merely diagnosing.
• Slow the pace during appointments. The focus: to process their noted concerns and/or related treatment goals.
• Transparency about fees. The focus: avoid surprises and connect treatment to benefit-focused outcomes.

Data as a “streaming” information source for improved patient outcomes

Your collected data gives you precise measurements for your specific patient base. There’s also data that can be “aggregated” from across the dental industry.

Either source provides you with a consistent stream of real-world data you can use for comparison or segmentation purposes.

• Compare how your care standards and outcomes match with other peers, colleagues, or practices within your DSO.
• Segment the data to determine effective care outcomes for your practice demographic(s) and/or those of the broader dental industry.

In the context of “emerging (diagnostic technology) applications,” a related Dental Economics article and source states:

“These applications and tools generate a wealth of data. The key is not in the quantity of data, but how the data is used. Dental informatics seeks to understand the science behind the data. ”

Data support you can use to improve dental patient outcomes and achieve clinical excellence

Use data to pinpoint your desired goals for patient care and clinical excellence

Your dental patient data helps you determine worthwhile goals. Worthwhile in the sense of how you can best channel your team towards achieving them.

Not all dental practice care and excellence benchmarks are energy-worthy. But those that are can propel you and your team forward.

• What do you want your patients to experience during their interaction with your practice, team(s), and procedures?
• Can you clearly define the outcome goals…and articulate them routinely (with clarity) among your team?
• Do your goals fit the standard of being “specific,” “measurable,” and “timely?”

Data points the way.

Use data to plot your progress toward reaching your care and excellence goals

It’s a core (data) value so it’s worth repeating often:

What’s measured is improved!

Keep in mind that improvement takes time. Worthwhile goals, routinely articulated will follow a well-defined data path.

• Measure outcomes: what is your patient data revealing about diagnostic results (e.g. caries, disease, etc)?
• Measure treatment protocols: where is data pointing you relative to specific procedures (e.g. ortho, fluoride, restorative, cosmetic, etc)?
• Measure treatment frequency: when and how often do patients schedule or request an appointment (e.g. exams and cleanings, follow-up, etc)?

Use data to innovate around your care and excellence goals

Improvement gives you context for innovating around your goals. Production increases that positively impact your revenue cycle can help resource new technology, new services, and team additions.

Monitored and measured data helps you make more intuitive decisions about innovation.

• Drive change instead of reacting to circumstances.
• Develop an idea-centric practice culture that allows data to compel change.
• Determine what changes will result in tangible improvements rather than those that are merely on-trend.

Data tells the truth. That could be why it could produce a culture shift to fearlessly listen to it.

Once you open yourself and your team to what your data reveals you’ll begin to make progress towards patient care improvement and meeting your excellence standards.

Check out the following resources for insight into how data analysis works to your advantage:

Using a Dental Analytics Platform to Track Your Metrics for Better Patient Care

Take Advantage of the Future of Analytics in Dentistry

What KPIs to Track When You Use a Dental KPI Dashboard?

An all-in-one dental KPI dashboard can be useful for acquiring and maximizing your dental practice, group practice, or DSO’s patient care data

The Jarvis Analytics platform helps assure that you’re tracking the important metrics and staying on track with your goals.

Jarvis…

• Integrates seamlessly with your chosen practice management software/platform
• Presents the metrics you want and need in an easy-to-view dental dashboard that reduces data complexity for growing dental practices, dental groups, and DSOs

Experience Jarvis in action. Request a demo today!

Or…

Contact us for more information about data analytics that leads to profitability.