Let me share with you how I spent an October Friday.  As a previous dental practice manager, I have attended a variety of conferences related to practice administration and management.  I have been to AADOM (American Association of Dental Office Managers) and ODEA (Oregon Dental Executives Association) conferences and learned a great deal from each organization that benefited the dentists and staff that I worked with.

However, attending the Fall Forum hosted by the ODEA and Insurance Solutions this last week shed a new light.  I wasn’t just looking to learn about CDT coding changes to bring back to my company, but rather looking at it from a new and exciting perspective.  I was seeing it for the first time through the lens of about 115 offices present at the Fall Forum and the challenges they were facing when dealing with the new CDT coding changes. 

With the wealth of information presented by Maria Tatman from Insurance Solutions, I began wondering “How are dental practices going to learn this information when they can’t attend the Fall Forum?”   The answers I got were few indeed. 

I discovered that a lot of office staff relies on the Doctors to learn about the application of coding changes to their practice.  Or the Doctors rely on the office staff to read the coding changes, then educate everyone else in the practice.

Now with the effort to minimize rejected claims, get paid faster with better and more accurate documentation, this seemed like a rather un-preferred method to adapt to changes in something as important as CDT 2013 coding changes. 

I realize that not all practices can send their staff to the annual ODEA Fall Forum, although worth the investment, it isn’t always feasible.  Let me suggest the Insurance Solutions newsletter and becoming a member of the ODEA, or another state’s dental organization, providing the opportunity to learn information, ask questions and collaborate with other dental professionals. 

Dentists have their own organizations, but dental practice managers are frequently excluded from those events.  These important collaboration opportunities provide access to a wealth of information, knowledge, experience and are motivating for the staff.

I really feel that the Fall Forum pierced through the future’s veil and showed what fate now holds for you.  And rest assured, not in a graveyard please, that these organizations are right there behind your practices to assist you and your staff every step of the way. 

Essentially, they are your jack-o-lantern to guide the way to practice success!

Have a safe and happy Halloween!

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