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Rolling Back ‘The Cloud’ by Andrew Malcolmson

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Categories: Practice Management, HR and Accounting;
Rolling Back ‘The Cloud’ 

What it is, and what you need to know for your practice

by Andrew Malcolmson

Evolving with the digital world can be intimidating, especially when you’ve spent decades building and maintaining your dental practice with your own traditional methods that work. It’s easy to think: Why fix something if it isn’t broken? Whether you’re familiar with the digital side of dentistry or you’ve only heard your colleagues talk about their intraoral scanners and “cloud-based” practice management software, learning more about how digital technology has changed dentistry can help you take steps toward improving your practice.

While you’re well aware that intraoral scanners are surpassing PVS impressions and digital extraoral imaging, especially 3D imaging, is making things easier and faster, don’t forget that the front desk is also experiencing a digital revolution. Paper files have become digital and physical desk calendars have been replaced by a computer screen. That all makes sense as our whole lives have gone digital, but these days it’s so much more than digitizing your files. Your IT provider may toss around terms like “legacy servers,” “third-party hosted environments” and even “the cloud.” What does it all mean for your vital patient and practice data, and why are more and more dental practices not just digitizing their records but moving them off their desktops entirely to a virtual environment?

Understanding the difference between a third-party hosted environment and software as a service (SaaS)

When it comes to your practice management system, you’ve probably heard about “the cloud,” but it’s often used as a catch-all term that can mean different things to different people.

First, there’s a hosted environment, in which a third-party data center takes the legacy software you’ve been working with (i.e. your patient files) and essentially hosts it offsite. Instead of having software on a computer in your office, it becomes virtual, giving you remote access capabilities. This is ideal for doctors or business owners with multiple practice locations. With third-party hosting capabilities, you can see all of your patients from any location because you gain access to their files no matter which office you’re in.

People often choose third-party hosting for the familiarity. Don’t think of it as switching to a new practice management system; instead, you and your team have the opportunity to move the platform you’ve been utilizing for years to a virtual network. For example, if you’re used to working in PracticeWorks or SoftDent on your desktop, the hosted versions of either PracticeWorks or SoftDent offer the exact same interfaces you and your team are already used to working with (Figs. 1 and 2). It provides familiarity but also introduces doctors and team members to a very robust and secure environment for their patient information. This is an optimal bridge to move to a cloud-based structure.
Cloud based practice management


Cloud based practice management
Figs. 1 and 2: The third-party-hosted version of practice management software such as SoftDent (Fig. 1, top) usually appears exactly the same as if it were being run on the practice’s own computer network (Fig. 2, bottom).

Then there’s software as a service (SaaS). It has all of the advantages of a third-party hosted environment, but it’s browser-based. This means that as long as you have an internet connection and the login credentials, you can use it in its full capacity (Figs. 3 and 4), in the same way you can access your personal email from any computer as long as you know the URL and your password.


Cloud based practice management

Cloud based practice management
Figs. 3 and 4: Software-as-a-service programs such as Sensei Cloud often feature a more modern “website” look for pages, and can be tailored to fit the needs of each individual dental practice.


SaaS solutions also have the benefit of scalability. The costs to scale with usage are reasonable as well—as you expand and grow your practice, your solution expands with you. Robust security systems are in place in the cloud, offering optimal safety capabilities to ensure all patient data remains protected.

One of the key advantages of using a SaaS-based practice management solution is gaining instant access to new and improved features for your system. As new features are introduced—often every few weeks—these capabilities are instantly available for everyone to use. No download is required. While practices with a hosted practice management solution will also receive updates through the cloud (rather than waiting on CDs to install them on their own), updates in a hosted environment happen only on a periodic basis, and your practice system will most likely be unavailable while updates are being made on the back end.

With a cloud-based system, you can tailor your solution to work exactly the way you want and need. Over time, the library of cloud applications will expand and transform the meaning of dental practice management. For the dental world, it’s the future of creating better patient engagement, creating teledentistry applications and more.

What is a hybrid cloud?

For those who are interested in experiencing the cloud but don’t want to take the leap, hybrid options are available. If you and your team are happy with the practice management software you’re using, you should keep using it. But there are certain services and capabilities that can only be supplied through a cloud-based solution.

With a hybrid cloud solution, you can gain access to some of the services that exist only in the cloud. For example, traditional practice tasks like record keeping, charting and scheduling can be linked to the cloud, even if your full system isn’t cloud-based. If there happened to be an unexpected snowstorm and you couldn’t get to the office, you and your team members could still access the day’s schedule on the cloud to let patients know you need to reschedule. There would be no need to be sitting in front of your office desktop to do so.

 Why is the cloud important to dentistry and health care in general?

Above all, the most important thing to remember is that nobody should change for change’s sake. The cloud is simply a service and tool that your dental office can utilize to further garner your success, providing capabilities that a legacy desktop-based software may not have.

This cloud-based journey the dental community is going through isn’t new or unique. Health care has largely gone through the transition from on-premises legacy software to the cloud, but more recently, it’s accelerated in the dental world.

Transitioning to the cloud can mean upgradability and better scalability of services—with continuous improvements come an enhanced workflow, better patient engagement and other advantageous features.

Security and disaster recovery are additional benefits of the cloud. Health care is becoming more vulnerable to cyber attacks and bad actors out to steal valuable patient data. Even something as simple as power loss or power surge can erase a day’s work, but having your files remotely backed up—either by a third party hosting your data at an offsite data center or through a SaaS—can protect you.

The more digitally integrated your practice is with your patients, processes and suppliers, the more efficiently you can work, the more patients you can see and the more profitable you’ll be. Having solutions that can help you work faster and more effectively is exactly what the cloud brings. It’s the cornerstone of most practices today.

The cloud can be overwhelming. But it’s built out and backed by companies that understand how to fully leverage what it can provide. The cloud should not be considered a blockade, but rather a bridge to take your time passing over to reach a world of digital opportunity.

Author Bio
Andrew Malcolmson In his role as general manager for both Carestream Dental's practice management solutions and CS Solutions, Carestream Dental’s CAD/CAM business unit, Andrew Malcolmson helps the company provide end-to-end digital solutions for its customers by overseeing product line management, operations, research and development (R&D), and functional business teams. He has been with Carestream Dental since January 2020.

Malcolmson has more than 20 years of management experience in analytical instrumentation, medical devices, hospital IT and cloud solutions, including R&D, sales, marketing, professional services and business development.

Before joining Carestream Dental, he served as vice president/general manager at Hach (A Danaher Company), where he oversaw the company’s newly created digital solutions business unit. Malcolmson has also held leadership positions at Invacare and Medtronic and has worked in a number of startups, including a software-as-a-service medical diagnostics company he founded.
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