Your healthcare and FSA benefits might expire at the end of the year! Again!

Yes, it's that time of the year again! When every dental office reminds everyone that their healthcare and their Flexible Spending Account FSA benefits might expire at the end of the year! It's a cliché and it could become annoying as it pops up on -insert your favorite social media account here - when you scroll up on your new iPhone X! Yet it's amazing how many people leave money on the table, even after all the emails, calls and texts that pretty much every medical or dental office sends out! And probably that's why they try everything else out there to get the message out! It's a lose-lose situation, when it could actually be a win-win!

Most of the excuses we hear involve the lack of time to take care of this, which is completely understandable in today's fast pace life. Most people don't have time to check their dental or medical insurance for remaining funds. We can't argue with that but we have a solution for it: email or call us and we'll check it for you! Chances are that we can do it while we have you on the phone, there is software today that can retrieve your benefits in real time, and we have it! Worst case scenario - and that's not that bad really - we'll have to call you back with an answer or email you the details.

The other excuse we hear a lot is - I can't take time off from work. Well, you most likely have sick days available, that's what they are for! For when you are sick and when you have a doctor appointment. You can plan the dentist appointment in advance and request a  few sick hours to take care of it. Your employer should understand that you want to take care of your health or improve your smile and that makes you a happier, more productive, less grumpy employee in return! Can they say no to all that? If you work in Aliso Viejo we are conveniently located in the Town Center, most likely a 5 minutes drive from anywhere.

The last excuse we'll mention here is - I don't have any problems, no tooth hurting, why would I go to the dentist? Oh boy, how much time do you have to talk about this? We'll make it short, in a nutshell: most Patients have proposed or recommended treatments that are not a priority and end up down the line in the list. But that doesn't mean they are not necessary, they also contribute to a #BrighterSmile, and besides, they might be covered by free money from your insurance! So why not take advantage now before it gets busy towards the end of the year?

Paperless office

Since dental (and medical) office upgraded from paper charts (you might be too young to remember those huge cabinets filled with folders and papers, some offices still use those, believe it or not!) to computer software - everything got easier, searchable, automated, digitally manageable. Well, almost everything, since some forms and papers were hard to almost impossible to replace, the right technology wasn't there yet. Since the tablets became mainstream the developers started incorporating them into the dental software, but it was a slow, hard process. It wasn't until very recently that this process became seamless and actually effective, and even today only a few offer this option for their dental software.

Yes. you know what comes up here, Aliso Viejo Dental is on the edge of technology and we pride ourselves to integrate any improvement in the dental treatments and processes, tools and procedures. And dental software too! That's why our office has all our forms (well, most of them right now and we are working on the rest of them) on a touch screen tablet that automatically populates your profile with all the dental and medical conditions, allergies or previous procedures. So there is no room for mistakes or omissions, everything is in your account and critical conditions pop up on our screen when needed (like your allergy to latex or the fact that you don't like our blueberry flavored gloves!). Everything is HIPAA compliant, and "military grade encryption", they love to throw these terms around!

Well, it works for us! There are no papers to print and scan, time wasted to manually enter the information in the system, then time to shred the papers! Also, we can send you a secure link to fill in the forms from home in advance on your tablet, phone or any computer to save time at your first visit in the office.
Everything is very fast, all the forms are typed in, boxes checked, and electronically signed in a quick move, and you are ready and on your way to improve your #smile!
We also use our tablets for applying for CareCredit, that makes the process fast and easy, you can even do it while seated in the chair!

We still have to print some papers, for internal use and some generated to be signed by the Patients, but we are working on this, in the meantime we are only using recycled paper in our office, so no trees are harmed in this process! So we are truly a "chartless" office and also a "paperless" office too!
When you are ready to start the improvement process to a #BrighterSmile please contact us at http://www.alisoviejodental.com/contact.html anytime or call 949-425-1447.