Dr. Keith Hilliard believes in keeping his practice on the leading edge — not the "bleeding edge," as he is careful to note. One of the first orthodontists in the country to computerize back in 1981, the internationally-recognized practitioner has always been committed to finding smarter ways of serving patients in his Lakewood, Florida private practice. "We use technology to leverage our patient care," explains Dr. Hilliard, adding that he's not interested in gimmicks or gadgetry. "To make sense," he says, "technology has to help our staff work smarter and to eliminate mundane, repetitive tasks. This frees up my team to provide more hands-on patient care."
Ann Hilliard quietly and efficiently manages her husband's practice. She also lectures frequently on practice management topics. Like Dr. Hilliard, she demands pragmatic results from their computer systems. "We use technology to complete routine tasks quickly so we can communicate better with patients face-to-face when they're in the office, and to stay connected when they're away."
The Hilliards learned years ago that technology lets them communicate with patients more efficiently. When they selected Ortho Sesame™, they wanted a solution that would make it easier for patients to get information from them. "Most of our patient population comes from families where both parents work and often don't have a chance to call us until 9:30 PM when the office is closed," points out Dr. Hilliard. "Ortho Sesame addressed that problem for us by making sure that the answers they need are online at their fingertips — from appointments to billing."
Ann explains why she considers Ortho Sesame's design superior: "For starters, Ortho Sesame makes it easy for patients to get connected. Patients won't use something if it doesn't meet their needs." Some technology solutions are great at collecting information. Others make distributing information easier and even fewer are good at enabling a practice to turn that information into something useful. Ann and Keith both appreciate the fact that Ortho Sesame has helped them to do all three things better.
For Dr. Hilliard, practice management software is just one component in the suite of software applications that make his practice hum. He notes that it's important to do your own research into value-add products that integrate with that software. Too often, he's seen companies endorse or push products for reasons that having everything to do with marketing alliances, and nothing to do with product quality, or benefit to the orthodontist. Dr. Hilliard knows that his patient data is a rich vein of gold in his practice, and he's leery of anyone who might attempt to restrict his ability to tap that vein. "My patient data belongs to me," says Dr. Hilliard, "not to a company that sells me the database where I store the information."
With years of technology experience, Dr. Hilliard knows that some suppliers might have you believe otherwise or make it difficult to access your patient data. The truth: that data is yours and your software should make it easy for you to use it. Hilliard says, "Naturally my first concern is for patient privacy and the security of the data. With Ortho Sesame, my data is always protected and easily accessible to me. It's very reassuring to work with experts who have my best interests in mind."
Confident that his patient data is in good hands, Dr. Hilliard and his staff focus on making that data work hard for them, using the powerful online communications tools provided by Ortho Sesame. The Hilliards have found that email reminders work better than phone messages. "The perennial problem with phone calls is they get deleted by kids before their parents come home," notes Ann. "That doesn't happen with the email reminders." They're satisfied that they're meeting their goal of using technology to improve communication with patients. More than 2,000 of their patients actively use Ortho Sesame. In surveys, 99.5% of those patients praise the service as "more convenient than calling the office."
The bottom line, says Dr. Hilliard, is that when something works, you just know it. "Within 15 minutes of seeing Ortho Sesame at the AAO in 2001, we recognized that Sesame Communications™ had vision and we wanted to be part of it. Now, none of my staff would think of operating without Ortho Sesame. It's an integral part of our practice."
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