The Best Ways to Streamline Workflow in Your Ortho Practice

Never Fall Behind Again: How to Amplify Your Orthodontic Practice's Workflow Efficiency

Workflow efficiency is essential in orthodontic practice management, ultimately determining your patient care quality and business sustainability. Regardless of your practice's size or the scope of your services, operational efficiency matters. Otherwise, meeting your goals and growing your practice are much, much bigger challenges.

Still, many practices continue to rely on slow systems, manual payment processing, paper intake, and more—tying up operations and causing a chain reaction of issues.  

Luckily, Tops has a few tips to help you improve your workflow efficiency and tackle the barriers blocking your success.

Rely on Software That's Actually Reliable

With modern demands and increased security risks, you can't afford to keep relying on, well, unreliable software. Some practice management systems can do more harm than good. With compatibility glitches, slower performance, and potential security risks, they can actually be the root cause of many inefficiencies.  

What's more, maintaining these systems can incur significant costs due to necessary updates, additional cybersecurity measures, and constant IT support. To add insult to injury, they also make your practice appear outdated. This can be a problem for the majority of patients, who want you to have the latest technology.

Tops, a native macOS application, addresses these challenges. Built specifically for the Apple ecosystem, Tops offers a reliable platform that enables faster and more secure operations:

• Improved speed: As a native macOS application, Tops provides faster performance compared to other systems.
• Robust security: With inherent security features, Tops ensures robust data protection with no data breaches reported.
• Reduced IT costs: Without complex setups or additional cybersecurity software, you can cut down on IT costs.

With a safer and more streamlined platform, you don't have to spend extra time (and money) addressing data breaches and jumping between multiple systems. Not to mention, your patients will appreciate seeing modern, familiar Apple products in your office.  

Simplify Your Payment Processing

Orthodontic payments sustain your business, but they can be difficult to handle without the right tools. System complexity, manual administrative tasks, and slow processing times do more than hinder productivity. They inconvenience patients, overwhelm team members, and delay payments—a recipe that's bad for business.  

With TopsPay, it's easier (and far more efficient) to collect payments:

• Streamlined automation: Simplify the payment process by automating administrative tasks, reducing potential errors, and saving time.
• Accelerated transactions: Process payments swiftly, minimizing delays.
• Seamless integration: The tool integrates with your existing Tops software, consolidating all payment processes into a single, easy-to-use platform.
• Managed oversight: Monitor transaction failures and keep track of impending card expirations, ensuring proactive payment management.

By streamlining your payment process, your practice can eliminate one of its largest workflow inefficiencies and be significantly more productive.

Centralize Your Lab Management

Another barrier to your practice's efficiency could be due to one of its most critical workflows: lab prescription management. It's an unavoidable, essential aspect of your business—but it's also incredibly time-consuming.  

Whether you operate with an in-house lab or outsource prescriptions elsewhere, you need a streamlined approach to the process. Things can get really complicated really fast if you're navigating multiple programs to accomplish tasks.

Fortunately, Tops offers a centralized platform for fuss-free lab prescription management. Through EasyRx, your practice doesn't have to guess where aligners are or operate with disjointed systems:

• Unified management: EasyRx, integrated within Tops, allows you to handle all lab cases from a single system. This eliminates the need for disparate systems.  
• Efficient tracking: Real-time updates on lab prescription statuses facilitate better appointment scheduling and improved workflow.
• Cloud storage: You can save large STL files in the cloud, freeing up essential computer memory and maintaining optimal system performance.

With Tops and EasyRx, your practice doesn't get buried in the intricacies of prescription management. Instead, you're on top of them.

Prepare for Appointments Before They Happen

If streamlined, your intake process can yield more conversions and elevate your reputation. But that's if it's done before appointments, not during them.  

When patients have to fill out traditional paper intake forms in the office, you risk longer appointment times. Extended appointments put your practice behind schedule, causing you to rush through them in a never-ending game of catch-up. Even more, you'll have to set aside valuable time for data entry and physical storage. This outdated approach can lead to human error, causing staff to do double work—draining away even more time.  

In a partnership with Gaidge, Tops offers Gaidge Forms—a digital alternative that eliminates time spent on manual tasks:

• Pre-appointment preparation: Patients can submit forms ahead of time, allowing you to prepare for patient appointments in advance. You'll have shorter waiting times, improved patient flow, and a smoother new patient exam process.
• Automated reporting and tracking: Inbuilt reporting and reminder systems ensure all forms are submitted promptly. No longer will staff need to chase down missing paperwork or scramble to find information at the last minute.
• Pre-built templates: Gaidge Forms offers ready-made templates, developed by orthodontic consultants. This saves time on creating and optimizing forms, so you can implement them quickly.

Online intake forms eliminate unnecessary steps in the long run, making your job a whole lot easier. They help you be proactive about appointments, improve overall efficiency, and provide patients with much-needed convenience.

Work Smarter, Not Harder with Tops

In today's fast-paced environment, workflow efficiency is key to orthodontic practice management and overall business sustainability. Having the right strategies and workflow automation tools allows you to eliminate wasted time, improve efficiency, and reach your practice's goals.

With Tops' all-in-one software, you can work smarter, not harder. In one reliable workflow management platform, you can streamline intake, payments, lab management, and more—giving you everything you need to elevate your operations. Then, you can focus on what truly matters: delivering outstanding patient care.

To learn more about how Tops can streamline your practice's workflow efficiency, reach out to our friendly team today!