Open Dental Enhancements for: Payment Plans, Installment Plans, Referrals, Statements, Account Totals, Progress Notes/CommLog, Insurance Summary

Summary:

• You can turn on and off each feature to customize its function for your office by accessing the setup window in Setup | Modules and clicking the plugin option button.
• Makes payment plans clearer in the account and statements are easier to read
• Customized and reorganized “Reports” window
• Built in INTERACTIVE Payment Plan tracker report on the reorganized reports window
• Prints out clearly Installment Plan agreements on the statements as well as payment plans.
• Replaces Aging Box with written clarification on statements about balance
• You can change the Title on Statements
• Option not show insurance estimates on your statements while still allowing you staff to have access to the estimates in the account. (this is very helpful to avoid miscalculated estimate issues since the statement shows the actual account balance and not the calculated estimate balance.
• Makes referrals easier to use and manage in the Chart

a)Referrals show in in a color so you can see them
b)You can edit the referrals right from the chart
c)You are notified if you forgot to enter a referral with the colored line
d)You can see your outgoing referrals in the chart

The changes for referrals in OD

• You can also have alerts in and Account for your front staff to see new referrals out and new patients who still need an incoming referral entered before they leave your office.
• Always up to date insurance summary info in the account without having to hover your mouse
• You can view all the progress notes in the account instead of only the CommLog. (This is very helpful to be able to quickly see if the patient has a next appointment from the account at check out)
• These options are all customizable. You can use one, two or all of them. Just set the options by navigating to the menu Setup | Modules and clicking the “DrTech’s Plugin Options” button.

Description:

This is a great plugin for the wonderful Open Dental Software. (http://www.opendental.com). Most of the features are explained above, but the initial feature that prompted the creation of this program is explained below.

In an attempt to help both our office and our patients understand their account when we have a payment plan enabled, I created this modification. Basically, it changes the totals at the top of the account and also modifies display of totals on the statements in a clearer, more concise manner. The main point is that it lets the patient know what the total balance of the account is, how much your office is still financing, how much is still expected from insurance, and finally what they currently owe. All these things were in the program originally, but displayed in ways that was very confusing for the average person. Before, it was extremely difficult to understand when a patient had a payment plan set up, then came in the office to have more work done, what they actually owed. For example for today’s work, they may owe $120 but they still haven’t made a payment due this month for their payment plan of $150 on their loan of $700. So in reality they do owe the office $820 in total with $270 due today. The statement would say $150 due for the payment plan and $120 due in a separate location and $270 due at the top of the page. It was really unclear that $350 remained on the payment plan, we just didn’t expect it today as previously agreed and what those other numbers meant.

With and Without the Plugin

In comes my plugin! With it enabled, it now shows the total of $820 with $550 still financed and $270 due today. Clear, concise, just what our patients want.

The plugin also changes the quick view insurance remaining box to the right of the totals in the account screen to reflect how much insurance the patient has left without mousing over it. It will still show more details when you mouse over as before.

Installing the Plugin

To enable it, you must be sure you are using the specified Open Dental version below. Just download the file below, unzip it, and then copy it to your open dental folder (usually “c:program filesopen dental”) Start Open Dental, create a program link, enable it and in the dll path box, type “PluginDrTECH.dll”. Be sure to get the capitalization right. For the Text on the Program Link, put something like “Plugin Options” or whatever you would like. Be sure to select what module you want the button to show. This is how you will access the options to turn features on or off. Restart Open Dental and enjoy!

Download & Changelog:

v1.6.0 -v1.6.1 were only for internal use with custom OD 13.1

v 1.5.3 for all OD 12.4.>35 (Positively Tested with 12.4.35)

V1.5.2(1/21/2013) PluginDrTECH(v1.5.3)_OD12_4_35

-Matched changes in main OD program for showing ins information in the account.

v 1.5.2 for all OD 12.4.x and 12.3.x (Positively Tested with 12.4.9)

V1.5.2(10/18/2012) PluginDrTECH(v1.5.2)_OD12_4_x)

-Again Corrected some bugs with payment plan balance problem on statements
-Added additional custom again statements for overdue >90 days and Payment Plans w/ Ins

1.5.1 for all OD 12.4.x and 12.3.x (Positively Tested with 12.4.9)

V1.5.1(10/18/2012) PluginDrTECH(v1.5.1)_OD12_4_x)

-Fixed payment plan balance problem on statements
-Fully implemented new display on statements if “Installment Plans” are used.

-Added sixth option/variable of in description on custom pt statements

1.4.4 for all OD 12.4.x and 12.3.x (Positively Tested with 12.4.7-Don’t use, use 1.5.2 instead)

V1.4.4(10/10/2012) PluginDrTECH(v1.4.4)_OD12_4_x)

-Fixed payment plan balance issues in 12.3.x and 12.4.x created with the addition of “Installment Plans” by OD.

-Added fifth option/variable of in description on custom pt statements
-This version had problems showing correct payment plan balances on statements, use newer version (10/18/2012)

Good for 12.2.18 and above (Positively Tested with 12.2.20, seems to still have issues with 12.1.18 and above…upgrade to 12.2)

V1.4.2(05/30/2012) PluginDrTECH(v1.4.2)_OD12_2_18)

-Custom text can be inserted into the custom aging messages on statements.
-Fixed change in math in OD from double to decimal in calculations in account.

Good for OD 12.1.1 through 12.1. or 12.2.1 through 12.2.17

V1.3.3(05/09/2012) PluginDrTECH(v1.3.3)_OD12_2)(Use this with Open Dental v12.2.x and above. Tested up to 12.2.10.

-Replaces Aging Box and adds written clarification on statements about balance. This is only built in text for now. You can turn it off in the plugin option and will be customizable in v1.4, but not yet in v1.3

-Track Payment plans with a new report accessible from the plugin toolbar button (same place to go change the options). This is the first version and allows you to quickly see the status of every current plan and bring up their account by just clicking on the report. (v1.33 the days past due column does not work)

-v1.3.3 fixed bug for new users on install from v1.3.2

Good for Open Dental v11.0.7 and up to all of V12.0.x.

V1.2.2(08/01/2011) PluginDrTECH(v1.2.2.0)_OD11_0)(Use this with Open Dental v11.0.7 and above up to all of V12.0.x.)

Open Dental v7.9.7 and all higher v7.9.x

V1.2.1.0(06/29/2011)
PluginDrTECH(v1.2.1.0)_OD79)(Use this with Open Dental v7.9.7 and above)

Good for Open Dental v7.9.1 – v7.9.6

V1.2.0.0(05/09/2011)
PluginDrTECH(v1.2.0.0)_OD79)(Use this with Open Dental v7.9.1 and to v7.9.6)

V1.1.2.2(01/29/2011)
PluginDrTECH(v1.1.2.2)_OD77)(Use this with Open Dental v7.7.7 and above series) No tests for OD7.6, but probably works with it too.

V1.1.2.1(11/26/2010)
PluginDrTECH(v1.1.2.1)_OD75)(Use this with Open Dental v7.5.9 and above…)
-Added ability to view currently running Plugin version in the options window.
-Fixed problem with v1.1.2 that didn’t update the database properly for new version of plugin from v1.1.1

V1.1.2(11/24/2010)
PluginDrTECH(v1.1.2.0)_OD75)(Use this with Open Dental v7.5.9 and above)
-Fixes changes with insplans in OpenDental 7.5
-adds ability to edit patient fields in the patient info grid in the chart just like the main progam

V1.1.1(10-03-2010)
PluginDrTECH(v1.1.1.0)_OD73) (Use with Open Dental 7.3.3 and later)
-Adds Options Screen to turn features on and off. Access by using the “Program Link” button with a caption you specify in Setup of the “program link” or “plugin.”
-Fixes incompatibility with OD 7.3
-Fixes problem with on some statements where the payment plans would not show correctly on how much the patient owed.
-Fixes logic for viewing referral alerts in the Account. No longer asks for a missed “From” referral on patients who have been in the practice more than 13 months.
-Gives you the option to change the Title of you Statements and Walkouts (Go to the Setup Options by using the program link button)
-Allows you to now view the full progress notes in the account.

The “Show Progress Notes” will enable a couple of other specialized options for our office that I have used for years (along with loving being able to see the scheduled appointments in the account ), but they should not bother you. Future versions might get rid if this. It is recommended to make sure to use the above option to change the account balance as well or you balances will be obscured in the account. It is also recommended that you change the background of your future appointments for the chart module (Setup | Definitions) to a light green or similar color to easily see that a patient has the “green light” to leave the office since they have a future appointment scheduled.

V1.0.3 (8-1-2010)
(Use with Open Dental 7.2.1 and later)PluginDrTECH(1.0.3)OD72.dll
-Fixes incompatibility with OD 7.2

V 1.0.2 (5-20-2010)
(Use with Open Dental 7.1.16 and later) PluginDrTECH(1.0.2).dll
-Updates to include Referral display and quick edits in the chart and account.
-Fixed incompatibility with OD 7.1

V 1.0.0 (Open Dental 7.0.22 and later, but not 7.1)  PluginDrTECH(1.0.0).dll
-1st release, changes statements and account for payment plans

Please be sure to let me know of any bugs or changed you would like by commenting below. If you want the source code, please send me an e-mail or leave a comment with the best way to contact you. If can be downloaded via SVN just like the main Open Dental code. Thanks!

-David Fuchs