DTUK1610

25DCPsJune 14-20, 2010United Kingdom Edition PracticeWorks KODAK R4 Practice Management Software PEARL is the new iPhone or Blackberry application for R4. No longer are you restricted to viewing your appointments, patient records and images on a computer screen. Now you can view them wherever you want, whenever it’s most convenient for you. Access your practice data on your iPhone or Blackberry with PEARL Another breakthrough from PracticeWorks For more information or to place an order please call 0800 169 9692 or visit www2.practiceworks.co.uk/links/pearl.asp PracticeWorks © PracticeWorks Limited 2010www.practiceworks.co.uk About the author Originally from South Africa, Sharon Holmes has worked in the field of dental practice manage- ment since 1992. In 2003, she moved to London City Dental Practice where after 18 months, was responsible for managing four practices in the group. The London City Dental Practice is now part of a mini co-operative group called the Dental Arts Studio, of which she has been instrumental in its creation. She holds the position of operations di- rector and manages every aspect of the group along side her principal dentists. Patients must sign a PR form, containing all the necessary in- formation, which serves as a re- ceipt to let the PCT know what our patients have told us. These forms must be kept for a period of two years, and are also used to track payment claims as well as fraud by patients. Next, prior to claiming their UDAs, the dentist must check with the patients what their em- ployment status is, and record this information on the compu- ter or on the FP17DC forms. If a patient receives benefits, this also entitles their partner to free NHS dentistry. Defining an emergency Defining emergency dental care has been debated regularly with our dentists. Let us make it very clear. Emergency dental care is when a patient calls or walks in on the day to book an appo- intment because they are in acute pain and discomfort. Patients are entitled to emergency treat- ment to address severe pain and prevent significant deterioration in or he-alth. Emergency treat- ment is not restricted to one- day treatment, and if it is requ- ired within the next day or two, it can be regarded as a course of urgent treatment. Patients who have been booked in two weeks prior for a regular exam, but turn up on the day in pain, cannot be proc- essed as emergency treatment. Your team need to be trained in accordance with the patient’s needs. As indeed emergency care had to be carried out, but on sta- tistics recorded by our PCTs it can look suspicious as IT forensics has it booked as an exam. Much administration is explainable and it is accepted and validated by the PCT but it is always worth the extra effort to train our staff effec- tively so that on recording of data our records remain clean. Treatment expiry The last issue I will address is treatment expiry and claiming UDAs. If the patient does not return for treatment within the two-month period to have treat- ment completed then they will incur the NHS fee again. As long as the practice has behaved rea- sonably with regards to enquir- ing why the patient failed to com- plete their treatment and that the practice had been reasonably flexible with understanding the exceptional circumstances. If the patient returns within the two-month period and re- quires further band one treat- ment, we can claim another UDA. Where a course of treat- ment (other than urgent) has been completed, but within two months of the date of com- pletion a patient needs fur- ther treatment from the same contactor that falls within the same or a lower charging band, no patient charge is payable. The FP17/FP17W continuation box in part six should be crossed so that the UDAs will be credited for the treatment but the patient charge element will not be deduct- ed from the monthly contract val- ue payment. The patient’s record should make clear the clinical circ- umstances requiring a second cou- rse of treatment to be provided as well as the original treatment plan. If the patient requires treat- ment under a higher band, we can claim the UDAs for that band, however, dentists are advised to be careful because the PCT feel that ideally the patient should have been treated according to the higher band in the first instance. Only in exceptional circumstances should the patient’s treatment have to be moved into the higher band. Patients will be charged the full fee for treatment in the higher band and not the difference. Achieving the best The obvious is to continually strive to achieve a better under- standing of our PCT contracts. You should always contact the PCT when you are not sure of any particular required proce- dure. I have always found our PCTs to be helpful when going through some difficult issues. The more you ask, the more help you receive, and in doing so, you build a trusting relationship with your PCT. DT

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