We are able to track student and faculty productivity. But we needed to know more about what care we provide to our patients and how it is provided. We have 80,000 patient visits a year. Still, the progress has made a big difference. Today, the chart request form is online - you know who checked a file out last and when it was returned.
Patient records are also computerized.
Handwritten notes, summarizing the treatment plan and how long it is expected to take, are keyed into the system within 24 hours, Feldman says. Since New Jersey state law still requires written patient records, the duplication is not yet an unnecessary exercise. But the New Jersey Dental Association has appealed for the law to be changed, and she thinks that is likely to happen soon. The major barrier is cost - how to finance it all. I doubt that dentists will use them much.