Practice Management System - Dental
PMsys
Mid-Michigan Computer Consultants, Inc.
Bay City, Michigan

For more information send e-mail to MMCC.


INTRODUCTION
FEATURES
  • System design

  • Patient records

  • Insurance Processing

  • General Notes

  • Accounting

  • Patient RECALL

  • Patient records



  • PMsys Introduction

    MMCC's Practice Management System is a full featured software package for dentists. Written in the early 80's for mini computers, the system has evolved with the computer industry and is now completely PC and PC network based.

    Like all MMCC software, PMsys was designed, devloped and is supported by a small team of programmers who completely understand the system and the dental office. This approach results in a highly integrated system where all features actually work together, correctly and efficiently.

    MMCC does not actively market PMsys . We have no outside sales force. All clients have come to MMCC and PMsys on a referral basis and they most often attribute their decision to the level of support provided by MMCC . Clients can reach a support person any time without menus and without waiting on hold.

    PMsys remains largely a DOS based system. The programs are written in the ANSI Standard PL/B language which has been implemented on many computer platforms. MMCC has tested many of the system's components in 32bit WINDOWS code but we find that the speed, robustness and directness of the DOS environment is the most effective approach for most clients. The DOS programs have evolved over 15 years to the point where they seem to read your mind and present exactly what you need, when and where you expect it. For effective data processing that's hard to beat!


    PMsys Features

    System Design: PMsys was designed by people who learned to program writing industrial strength software for mainframes in the late 60's and early 70's. Unlike some professionals, however, the MMCC team evolved with the computer industry. They pioneered packaged software as the mid-range computer market emerged then moved to mini-computers and finally to the PC.

    PMsys reflects the background of the developers. The system's database design is industrial strength and almost crash proof. At the same time it addresses the requirement of packaged software to be extendable. The user interface represents the very best mix of DOS and Windows techniques yet runs in the DOS environment. The system makes extensive use of popup windows, user defined tables and carefully assigned function keys.

    Most importantly, PMsys reflects the desires and needs of real people in real dental practices . The software has evolved over 15 years and continues to evolve even now. Features that programmers love but users hate have been removed. Things that users insist on and programmers don't think of have been added. The system responds quickly and accurately with everything our clients want.

    Patient Records: PMsys is designed to work around the family unit as the billing entity. Data can be located by account number or alphabetically by family name. The family account data includes the billing address, four phone numbers, billing options, and related information.

    Individual patients are separately attached to family accounts. The patient's data includes the individual's name, birth date, SSN, treatment information, special billing options, and related data. Practices which prefer to work only with individuals may assign individual account numbers to each patient.

    PMsys was designed to reflect the realities of modern society and therefore includes provisions for blended families. There are methods for describing the most complicated residence and insurance arrangements.

    Insurance Processing: Employer and insurance company and insurance plan information are stored separately for maximum flexibility. These records are attached to the family accounts and then associated with specific family members.

    The system exhibits a high degree of integration. When you enter an insurance plan for a specific account the system automatically grabs the appropriate name, SSN and related data from the patient data. You then enter the employer number and the system grabs almost everything else from the employer's records. For special cases everything can be manually changed.

    The real world of rapidly changing benefits is covered with highly automated procedures. When an employer changes coverage or insurance company you can make one change in one place then have PMsys automatically make those changes to all related patient data.

    Insurance plan data is stored separately from patients, employers and insurance companies for maximum flexibility. If sevearal local employers offer exactly the same coverage you can associate each with the same plan.

    Insurance plans are defined by you. A plan can be extremely general or extremely detailed. The simplest plan might be a single record showing 100% coverage or no coverage or a 50/50 split. A complex plan could include coverage details as percents or dollars for groups of services as well as for specific procedures. These plans can include limits based on either dollars or services per year at all levels.

    Most insurance plans are relatively simple and can be descrided in a few lines showing percent coverage and limits for groups of related services. When a plan gets complicated, PMsys provides the ability to handle it.

    Printed insurance forms are automatically produced on ADA, Blue Cross and Delta Dental forms using dot matrix, ink jet or laser printers. The system priovides fully integrated and automatic electronic claims filing using Mede-America's clearing house service.

    General Notes: MMCC developed a powerful general notes feature which is used in all of its software. We describe it by saying that you get a box of 3x5 note cards for every patient. You also get a box for every family, every employer and every insurance company as well as for just about every other data type.

    The system also give you a set of divider cards for each of those data types. You can label those cards any way you want. You can even assign colors, priorities and special flags for each divider. When you make up a divider card for one patient's box of note cards the system automatically put that divider card in every patient's box. Each data type, like employers or insurance companies, has its own set of common divider cards.

    You can store up to 99 note cards under each divider card for each patient or employer or other data item.

    Accounting: PMsys includes a full Accounts Receivable system. We do not include the general accounting modules of payroll, accounts payable and general ledger. Those applications are largely standardized regardless of business type and they are well covered by many inexpensive packages. Accounts Receivable is unique and every type of business has its own special requirements. Medical and Dental practices have to deal with insurance.

    PMsys uses an open item accounting system. Each visit by a patient is stored separately by visit date. The records for that visit show every detail for that visit: services performed, insurance and patient payments, credits, service charges, etc.

    Despite storing all of the details in an "open item" format, PMsys allows you to view and work with an account on a "balance forward" basis. You have the best of all worlds because you can post payments and adjustments to specific visits or you can simply post a payment to the account itself and it will automatically distribute the payment to as many records as it can.

    Insurance payments present a special problem which we refer to as chargebacks . At the time of service PMsys estimates the insurance/patient payment split. For whatever reason, when you get the payment from the insurance company it is different. PMsys handles this by automatically detecting the situation and giving you simple and flexible options. If, for example, the insurance pays LESS than anticipated you can move the balance to the other insurance company or to the patient. If the insurance company pays MORE you can automatically credit the patient or other insurance company. In any event the system gives YOU a one step procedure then it does everything necessary by itself. A complete audit trail of every step is kept with the patient records.

    Service charges and late fees are fully automated. You can choose either method or none at all. Both techniques provide minimum and maximum fees, grace periods, separate tracking of fees, and easy write offs when desired.

    PMsys includes three forms of patient statements . Two types are used for "walkout statements" (or receipt) presented to the patient as they leave the appointment. The third format is the traditional monthly statement printed in batch format. Each statement can be tailored by the practice to reflect just what they want to see.

    Patient Recall: The PMsys recall module is one of the most robust, automatic and extendable systems on the market. Any number of "recall events" can be processed for a patient. An event can be a standard procedure such as a prophy but it can also be something like a birthday or anniversary card.

    The recall module allows complete "set it and forget it" automation. If you set a prophy recall for a patient the system will automaticall generate reminders several weeks before an appointment is due. If no appointment is scheduled the program will continue to send notices. When an appointment is scheduled the system will watch to insure that the patient shows up and is billed or it will note a missed appointment. After the patient comes in the system will automatically schedule the next recall without manual intervention.

    Everything in the recall system can be tailored to your specific needs. This includes the number of notices, the frequency, the recall periods, The

    Practice Management: PMsys provides a full range of practice management reports, charts, analysis tools and related features. Many of these are in the form of pre-defined reports concerning practice demographics. For example, what patients work for a particular employer who's about to change their coverage! Other software tools provide for extraction of data and statistics for inclusion in word processors, spread sheets and other software.

    Besides reporting on the general data of the system, PMsys stores and analyzes a phenomenal aamount of historic data. In fact, almost nothing is thrown away. PMsys was designed by people who remember when programmers spend days to find a way to save one character. The earliest version of the software ran on a mini-computer with a 2.5Mb (yes, two and one half meg ) hard disk. PMsys is extremely efficient and with today's huge hard drives it can afford to save everything!

    All of the reports are highly configurable. That means that the software sets the general format which most practices use but you can then change these to meet your specific requirements. Most have built in address label formats as well as being able to produce word processing "mail merge" files.

    PMsys includes a complete referral tracking and analysis module. The feature will track both professional as well as patient referrals. Full cross refrencing and statistical reports are available as well as provisions for tracking thank you notes, acknowledgements and gifts.
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