Photo credit: Edward Fox Photography
Not All Communication Methods are Created Equal
CHICAGO - Newer is not necessarily better when it comes
to communicating with patients, according to a speaker
at the 146th Chicago Dental Society Midwinter Meeting.
Claudio Levato, DDS, who is in private practice in
Bloomingdale, IL, hosted a lecture: “Total Connectivity
with Technology,” which set the stage for 4 subsequent
workshops to help dentists learn to use some of the new
technologies and applications in growing their practices
and providing greater benefits to their patients. In the
workshop, “Software on Steroids: Practice Management
Extended” Dr. Levato introduced Jason Laurie and Brian
Smith, who are current co-owners of Lighthouse PLZ,
which is a software company that uses the data from ex-
isting dental practice management software to provide
added services to automate many repetitive tasks, and
add web based features for internal and external com-
munication and marketing. The workshop provided the
attendees an opportunity to work with this web based
software application live and in real time, as well as the
opportunity to learn how these programs interact with
their existing practice management programs.
Laurie told the audience at Dr. Levato’s workshop
that there are several ways to communicate with patients,
but some are much more effective than others. For exam-
ple, he said, in Lighthouse’s database of 1.9 million pa-
tients, about 59% have an email address that they have
provided for communication; however, 15% of these do
not use this email address regularly. That is not to say
email use should be avoided. The biggest incentives to
use email to communicate with patients is that this form
of communication is free, clean looking, does not limit
the size of the message, and provides a place for embed-
ded replies from patients, Laurie said.
Forty-six percent of the patients who are in the
Lighthouse database have text messaging capabilities,
but there are some restrictions on these types of mes-
sages, notably, the size of the message.
Snailmail Still the Most Reliable
Postcards remain the most reliable form of com-
munication with patients, Laurie said, as 99.93% of
patients in the Lighthouse database have a mailbox
address. However, it may not be the preferred method
for many of them. Dr. Levato said most of his patients
prefer email and/or text messaging when asked about
their preferences. Laurie said he advocates using post-
card reminders for any patient that does not indicate a
preference for email or text because they too can be au-
tomatically generated through a software program, and
the postcard can be branded with the office logo. The
drawback to this form of communication, Laurie said,
is the cost. However, he said, the price of the postage is
easily offset with a decent patient response.
“About half of patients who get a postcard do what
you want them to do with it, that is, to make an ap-
pointment, so this form of communication is cheap and
high impact,” Laurie said. “If half the patients in your
practice make an appointment from those mailers, then
the postage is paid for.”
Another option for communicating with patients is
via telephone. According to data from Laurie’s database,
about 98.2% of patients have a home or cell phone num-
ber. The only drawback with these systems is the commit-
ment of time for an office worker to make the phone calls.
However, automation of telephone calls and other
forms of responses can eliminate concerns about extra
Dental Learning
manpower for communicating with patients. It is in
these instances where a practice management software
extension program can save clinicians time and money.
Laurie said his company is one of about 8 across the
country that offers these types of systems. Many of the
popularly used practice management systems typically
focus on existing patients, and many of their “routine
patient communications” features (confirmations, recall
notices, letters, etc.) are limited in that they fail to offer
text messaging or automated phone calls.
What Practice Management Extended
Software Offers
Lighthouse PLZ (Patients, Less stress, Zero work)
and others like them are internet-based suite of tools
that for a monthly fee:
• Integrates with, and extends the capabilities of, ex-
isting practice management systems;
• Automates routine patient communications;
• Gets practices on the web;
• and serves up your practice data in new ways, from
any computer.
Laurie said that many practice management software
companies contract with companies like Lighthouse and
others to manage their communication with patients,
because they are capable of handling the automated
communications necessary to reach patients.
But Lighthouse and other services can be accessed
directly by the clinician. These systems can be imple-
mented to help everyone accomplish more in terms of
marketing, advertising, recall, and other tasks without
adding too much to the budget, Dr. Levato said.
Communication Is Key
New technologies are being developed at an incredible
rate and usually will provide solutions for existing prob-
lems or facilitate implementation of systems for greater
productivity. One of the most important considerations
in implementing new applications is to always overlap
systems so “that we do not create disruption for our
practices and our patients,” Dr. Levato said. “A great
example is the transition from mail to email, we will al-
ways have to maintain a dual mail and email system until
the last person in our practice has converted over, and by
then we are probably going to transition from email to
the next emerging communication system.”
To keep the flow going, Dr. Levato encouraged at-
tendees to get the staff involved and empowered with
any system that the practice incorporates. This can be
done with regular morning meetings, or huddles before
patient treatment and ongoing training with staff to en-
sure the systems are working effectively, and he urged
strong communication between the clinician and staff
for maximum productivity. —Colleen Platt
Disclosure: Lighthouse provided educational funding for this work-
shop to the Chicago Dental Society.
Claudio Levato, DDS
Dr. Claudio M. Levato practices general dentistry in
Bloomingdale, Ill.
www.dentallearning.net