What’s an Electronic Dental Record? An electronic dental record
(EDR) is a computer system and software program that can store and replicate
all of the information kept in your dental record. This includes all
clinic notes, procedures, examination forms, medical history, digitized
x-rays, and any other images (like digital photographs of areas of your
mouth) necessary to complete your dental record.
Where is it being pilot-tested?
Phoenix Indian Medical Center is one
of six locations within the Indian Health Service pilot-testing electronic
dental records (EDR) prior to the IHS purchasing one of the products.
The products that are being tested are three Commercial Off-The-Shelf
(COTS) software packages that are currently being used in dental offices
around the world. Each of the three packages is being tested in one IHS
dental clinic and one Tribal clinic for six weeks. The other locations
testing the EDR are Fort Defiance IHS Clinic, Pine Ridge IHS Clinic,
Sonoma Tribal Clinic, Central Valley Tribal Clinic and Round Valley Tribal
Clinic.
How does the Electronic Dental Record Work? The EDR is a graphical User
Interface (GUI) that represents images of your record. When data is entered
into the EDR, some of the information is stored in the EDR and some of
the data is transmitted into the Resource Patient Management System (RPMS)
for storage of procedures and transmission to appropriate files and systems.
Additionally, the RPMS sends information to the EDR to update in areas
such as new patients and updates of current patients’ information
(change of address, etc.).
What are the advantages of an EDR? Many private practice dental clinics
around the world utilize an EDR. The most obvious benefit to our IHS
patients will be the immediate availability of the patient chart. Our
clients will not have to wait for the chart to arrive from medical records.
The EDR will also allow the dental clinic manager to utilize the data
from the EDR to make decisions about individuals and entire communities
in a much more efficient manner. Also, as mentioned earlier, the EDR
is capable of storing all of the dental record as well as digital x-rays
and images in a much smaller space than an entire medical records room.
When will the IHS and Tribal clinics be getting the EDR? Over the next
six to nine months, a team of IHS dentists and information technology
consultants will be reviewing numerous evaluations completed by all of
the individuals involved in the pilot testing. After the data has been
reviewed, a single COTS EDR package will be recommended for selection
and will be forwarded for approval and procurement. After approval and
procurement, the EDR will be installed in clinics across the IHS over
a number of years in a staged approach.
Is the EDR safe and Secure? All of the EDR COTS packages being tested
are fully Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliant and have all successfully completed a separate
security test required by IHS. (This means that confidential patient
information is safe and secure.)
For more information on this article, contact
Jan Josephson, D.M.D. or
Steven Tetrev.
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