--Most companies don’t have the printing background necessary to really efficiently automate their output.

As the leading provider of practice management software for dental practices, the electronic services division of Henry Schein Practice Management Solutions has developed software solutions currently in use in approximately 45,000 dental offices nationwide.

Every one of these dental practices is heavily invested in taking every measure necessary to make sure patients remember their appointments. Dental offices employ a variety of methods including phone calls, e-mails and handwritten postcards to help ensure that patients get to their scheduled appointments at the appropriate time.

In some cases, providers are working through automated systems to send e-mail reminders to patients, or to generate text messages to the customer’s mobile phone. In the Dentrix system, if a patient responds to an email reminder, the appointment is automatically confirmed. But if the patient doesn’t have an email address or doesn’t confirm, the Dentrix system works through us, Alexander’s Print Advantage—their technology partner, to print a custom card and mail it out on behalf of the practice.

This level of automation frees up the staff time that would otherwise be required to handle follow up calls. The system interacts with each patient individually, depending on the methods they respond to the best. If the patient responds to e-mail and cell phone messages; the system sends an email or text message. If they don’t regularly use these systems, the system will send them a customized post card.

The partnership between Dentrix and Alexander’s represents significant advances over the typical practice of sending out stock reminder cards. Traditionally, dentists buy stock pre-printed postcards configured four to a page. The colored side is all stock, and the dental staff print the necessary information on the blank side of the card and manually send it out in the mail.