OAKLAND, California--Dental software developer DecisionBase has received approval of a patent application for the KNOWLEDGE BASED CLINICAL DENTAL RECORD.
Previous development of dental software has concentrated on practice administration and radiographic imaging. This software will allow for elimination of the paper chart.
Two specialty versions of the electronic clinical dental record are being marketed: DecisionBase for Periodontics and DecisionBase for Oral Maxillofacial Surgery, with a growing user group throughout the U.S., Canada, and the United Kingdom. DecisionBase for Dentistry is under development for use in general dentistry.
The DecisionBase EHR’s characteristics include its Patient Profile, which provides an overview of a patient’s critical clinical information. It also uses checklist-based Smart Forms to provide a way to create clinical narrative notes without typing.
Clinical information can be shared with other treating dentists or physicians by an automated process for converting chart notes into a variety of reports without typing. The notes are then transmitted to other health-care providers.
According to Dr. Paul Rhodes, CEO of DecisionBase, “The ease with which clinical information can be generated, exported, and imported will be particularly valuable when a dentist and surgeon are working together to provide dental implant services.”
In a Wall Street Journal article, Melinda Beck reports, “There is growing evidence that oral health problems, particularly gum disease, can harm a patient's general health as well, raising the risk of diabetes, heart disease, stroke, pneumonia and pregnancy complications.”
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The ability for medical and dental users of an EMR/EHR to share information will open up a new ability for physicians and dentists to collaborate in educating patients, as well as practicing more prevention and better care.
More than 50% of physicians in private practice have converted to the use of EMR/EHRs, according to a NCHS National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey. The HITECH Act of 2009 requires health-care providers to use EMR/EHRs by 2014. This and the younger generation of doctors who have grown up with computers, smart phones, tablets, and social networking will help drive the conversion to digital information management in dentistry.
For more information, visit www.decisionbase.com, send an email to [email protected], or call (510) 595-4101.
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