Cloud computing will dramatically change healthcare.  The cost for just computer hardware and software to start  a moderate sized medical or dental office is in the low six figures – added to the cost of the office construction (and student loan debt).  EMR, insurance processing, supply purchases and data mining will be greatly facilitated.  1dentist, LLC, www.1dentist.com, launched cloud computing in dentistry in June 2009.

Read The Wall Street Journal article.

1dentist, LLC has recently launched in alpha FREE open source 1dentist Dental Practice Management Software available remotely on one of our servers.  The idea is to allow young dentists the ability to develop their practices using Cloud Computing for a very low monthly connection fee.

This idea meshes well with current interest in EMR.

Visit 1dentist software for more info.

“As recently as September, Oracle Chief Executive Larry Ellison declared that online software companies “haven’t figured out how to make money.”"

–There is a way for software companies to make money offering online software and that is through bundling it with other more profitable revenue streams.

“Oracle currently has a net profit margin of 24.6%. In contrast, online software company Salesforce.com Inc. has a net margin of just 4.4%, though it spends a higher percentage of revenue on sales and marketing.”

–An online software company that offers a competitive product at a great price and that dominates all related worldwide urls in a category could inexpensively market itself online with a skeleton ‘sales and marketing’ budget.

“Overall, online software is estimated to account for just $9.5 billion of the $284 billion businesses will spend on software this year, according to research company IDC. But online-software sales are rising more than 40% a year compared with 3.4% for software overall.”

–Imagine combining free online software (charging only an inexpensive connection fee and optional support), EMR (electronic medical records) and vertical integration to improve the delivery of healthcare. It is being created and will have a competitive advantage.

Read The Wall Street Journal article.

“Consolidation in the online health world has become more common in recent months as sites fight for scarce advertising dollars.”

Relying on scare advertising dollars is only one business model for online health information websites to offer free information. www.1dentist.com and it’s 500 affiliated dentistry urls has profitably followed a free content model that hasn’t relied on advertising for over a decade. We believe vertical integration in free online health care is the future and that is how we are growing: bricks & mortar practices, in-house web content creation, in-house SEO, in-house clinical education and free 1dentist cloud software for EMR.

Read The Wall Street Journal article.

Netbooks are the key to Electronic Medical Records. We are working on it.

Read the Wall Street Journal article.

Read the Wall Street Journal article.

Why did Henry Schein’s Dentrix Dental Practice Management Software division sell its Imaging component (digital x-rays and photography) to Danaher’s Dexis division? Dentists who purchased Dentrix from Schein now have to deal with two multi-billion dollar companies (Schein and Danaher) for Dentrix upgrades and support. A Dentrix source said that the cost for the upgrades and support, now split between the companies, will be comparable to prior experience with just Schein. But still the question is why? It seems anti-competitive for the end user, and in this era of emphasis on Electronic Medical Records (EMR), we need to know. I personally believe in EMR but this development does not make me want to recommend Dentrix to my students.

Read the Wall Street Journal article.

The Center for Special Dentistry in NYC has created a successful unique model for healthcare delivery and education in mid-town Manhattan that is affiliated with both Columbia and NYU dental schools. It provides dental care for those who cannot afford it and trains students for the real world. The program has existed for over ten years and is financially viable. This model could be rolled out to a much larger population for both medicine and dentistry.

The Dental Faculty Practice at The Center for Special Dentistry serves two purposes: 1) To provide dental care for those who cannot afford it, and, 2) To train dental students in a real-world, premium private practice setting.

Top students from Columbia University and NYU dental schools are selected to treat patients of lesser economic means in our mid-town dental practice. Our practice is composed of twelve dentists and specialists who focus on super premium cosmetic reconstruction. It is the only private dental practice in New York State wherein dental students may treat patients for reduced fees with the patient’s informed consent. This dental work is supervised by our Faculty Dentists. Patients do have the option of being treated solely by Faculty Dentists at our regular premium fees. Sometimes more complex cases may be completed by both Faculty and students.

Patients treated by students may typically expect fee reductions starting at 40% off premium fees depending upon the procedure. The procedures available to be performed by students are limited at the discretion of the Faculty Dentists.

This program exists as a public service. It is not associated with any managed care program. This program offers the uninsured an attractive alternative in a quasi-academic environment. A financial dental plan, with prearranged monthly payments, may be available for pre-qualified patients. The number of patients and the type of cases accepted into this program are limited. Patients who do not qualify may be referred to a local New York dental school for treatment.

Our program could serve as a model to address fundamental flaws in American health care education and delivery. It is believed that health care education should be offered to interested students in high school and college and that these students should be on a health professions fast track towards their graduate degree. These students should be offered jobs during high school, college and medical/dental school in which they will be given increasing responsibilities in health care delivery to alleviate labor shortages and to help underserved populations. These students will impress upon their family, friends and neighbors the benefits of preventive health care. This work-study approach would also greatly reduce the debt many students face upon graduation from medical and dental school.

Interested readers may visit NYCdentist.com/faculty for more information.

Read the Wall Street Journal article.