Practice Management Software Designed By A Dentist For Dentists By: Carol Murphy, Executive Editor

		“I wanted to create practice management software with an array of tools that dentists could use to manage virtually every aspect of their professional lives, in addition to increasing their revenue and reducing expenses. I believe that I could send this system to a dentist and he/she could plug it in and begin using it the same day!”
Bernard B. Fink, DDS Ciraden Founder & CEO

With over 32 years of dental practice experience, Dr. Bernard Fink knows dentistry. In 1969, Bernard B. Fink, DDS, CEO of Ciraden, started his career in dentistry as the co-founder of Dental Associates, a dental practice located in northern Virginia. The practice began as a two-person, single-site dental office and quickly grew to 24 dentists practicing at nine sites. Dr. Fink has been the Chief Executive Officer of Dental Associates since 1987. According to Fink, dentists were focused on the same thing 30 years ago as they are today—delivering dental services to patients with ever-increasing rapidity, allowing the dentist to service more patients and increase productivity. Easier said than done…

After 27 years of dental practice management, Dr. Fink knows what dentistry needs. In 1997, Dr. Fink made great strides to fill that need. After years of struggling with traditional practice management software, he set out to create a truly unique software solution. What prompted his innovative quest were the extensive problems he encountered with practice management software over the course of his career, making him question the productivity, reliability and efficiency of nearly every system he had integrated into practice. Furthermore, dealing with temperamental practice management systems while managing nine practices proved to be especially problematic. “Historically, practice management software has never really factored in the multi-site practice,” said Fink. “I was using a Unix-based system because that was what would work with a central server. The system was quite cumbersome, not at all intuitive and extremely difficult to use; unfortunately, that was all that was available at the time.”

Having served as an associate in a single-site practice, a member of a group practice and the CEO of nine dental offices, Dr. Fink led himself through a diverse career in dentistry at Dental Associates. Encountering practice management obstacles and inefficiencies at every juncture led Dr. Fink to create Ciraden, a practice management system built on a Web-based platform to meet the needs of every practicing dentist. It is a rare breed of practice management software because it is available to users as an Application Service Provider (ASP), which means dentists can now utilize their existing PCs to manage their entire practice. Grounded on the fact that dentists go to dental school, not business school, Dr. Fink built Ciraden to function almost as the dentist’s silent business partner. Ciraden software puts a tool into the hands of each owner/operator that can manage all the business aspects of their dental practice, and allows them to focus more on their main objective—caring for patients.

“This all-encompassing practice management tool, put at the dentist’s fingertips, gives him or her the power to call into play a wide range of internal data management systems, such as billing, marketing and scheduling,” said Fink. “In addition, the system is unique because it also employs a myriad of external services through its affiliated business service programs.”

The Future of Practice Management
It took a while, but dentistry has finally joined the rest of the business world—virtually every dental practice in the nation now has a computer in the office. Initially, computers were used in the dental practice to automate billing, insurance forms and recall notices. Then, the growth of the Internet drove dentists and office staff to communicate via the Web, research industry information electronically and potentially purchase products online. Today, personal computers can be used to automate and manage virtually every aspect of the dental practice.

Ciraden’s corporate staff includes over 50 employees in information technology, customer service, sales, operations, practice integration, accounting, marketing, business development, and human resources. Their team is dedicated to building and enhancing resources to ensure each practice’s success

In 1969, when Dr. Fink got his start in dentistry, “A.S.P.” were the initials of a couple of his patients. In 1997, when Dr. Fink brought Ciraden to market, ASP became synonymous with cutting-edge practice management technology. Ciraden is the first truly comprehensive Web-based practice management system. Generally speaking, an Application Service Provider (ASP) hosts and manages software for small- to medium-sized businesses, “renting” the software and managed support services rather than selling them outright. By allowing users to rent the software, ASPs eliminate the high upfront costs associated with traditional practice management systems.

The early fears associated with Web-based practice management software were concerns over security, support and privacy. However, Ciraden has taken decisive steps to ease dentist’s fears by offering secure back-end administration networks, hardened router configurations and comprehensive access policies.

“The security of an Application Service Provider is a huge benefit. When patient information is kept in a dental office, the files are vulnerable to everything from accidents to disgruntled employees,” said Fink. “With Ciraden, all patient information is encrypted and protected off-site, but at the same time it is easy for the doctor and staff to access data from anywhere. I’ve even accessed patient records from my boat!”

An added benefit of an ASP is that it was designed to readily adapt to change, and by offering automatic software upgrades an ASP will not require the dentist to purchase an entirely new unit. While the system itself is kept within the office, the data can be sent back and forth to any kind of computer anywhere, creating a streamlined process of communication.

Training Programs

You and your staff can choose from a wide variety of training methods to capitalize on your personal learning preferences. Ciraden’s programs are designed to assist you prior to, during and after implementation.

On Location: Private instruction classes, led by our team of certified professionals, that are provided on location for your entire office.

Web Conferencing: Powerful instructor-led classes are scheduled regularly. Students use their own computer and telephone to follow the presentation.

Training Manuals: Training manuals are available in several formats, including a published version, a printed version from the Web and extensive online help files specific to most software pages.

Web-enabled self-learning: Online training modules for Ciraden provide a great basic training for new users. Six main modules are covered: Using the Internet; Daily Office Processes; Insurance; Reports (forms, cards and letters); Appointment Scheduler; and Office Set-up.

Specific Software Questions: Call center training support is provided from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. EST, Monday through Friday, and Saturday from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. EST. Ciraden users can access support via phone, email or fax.

Coaching: Training and support coaches are specifically assigned to a practice to provide on-going support over the phone or through email.

Certification: Ciraden training offers a comprehensive user certification process intended to help you maximize your office’s utilization of Ciraden’s features.

Softwware Demonstration: This engaging software demonstration highlights the features and functionality of the entire system and is an excellent introduction to the software.

Ease of Use, Ease of Integration
If you’ve successfully integrated a PC into your practice, you’ve done the hard part. Incorporating the Ciraden software into your practice is as simple as checking your email. The software is extremely intuitive and user-friendly.

“Of course I tried the software on my practices first,” said Fink. “Even in the infancy of the Ciraden software, we were able to change over the data for 42,800 patients in eight hours, and seven of those hours were spent testing the data. The system works with the user, not against him, so there really isn’t any downtime. I believe that I could send the system to a dentist and he or she could plug it in and begin using it the same day. That kind of time savings and efficiency is a huge advantage for any dentist.”

With the integration of the Ciraden System, Dr. Fink believes that the total business side of dentistry can be automated—online appointment scheduling, finance and accounting, insurance, purchasing, marketing, pharmacy and human resource management. To make Ciraden software integration as natural and seamless as possible, Ciraden provides training on all levels, leveraging a fully dedicated staff that provides users with maximum flexibility and convenience (see “Ciraden Training Programs” pg. 15).

A Company Dedicated to Dentistry
Dr. Bernard Fink, believes his company’s continued success is directly related to the success of the people using Ciraden’s software–practicing dentists and their staffs. To ensure easy integration and smooth transitions, Fink has built a world-class customer-centric service infrastructure with a friendly support staff and first-rate technology to provide ongoing support.

Dr. Fink has molded Ciraden into a group of passionate, dedicated, loyal and hardworking individuals, committed to finding mutually agreeable solutions. As is the way in the dental practice, every employee behaves as a leader and continuous improvement is the norm.

“In my 30-year career, I’ve constantly had to adapt to change in order to compete,” said Fink. “Finally, I decided that instead of having a manufacturer who may develop practice management systems for multiple professions, I would dictate the way I practice dentistry. So I created a system that would work for our profession, and that’s the last practice management decision I made—the Ciraden software is now doing the rest.”