January 2018

January News

Although January has historically been a slower month for dentistry, particularly in colder climates, it can be a very hectic month for administrative and management tasks such as the submittal of annual payroll and corporate taxes, the launch of new procedures for the year ahead, and this year for those in the USA, confusion about how to handle the tax reforms passed in late December.   Here is what we have been told so far:

• The moratorium on the Medical Device Tax ended December 31, 2017.   For those who provide products subject to this tax, we left the medical device features in DQB knowing that there was uncertainty about the fate of this tax. 
• Although the Internal Revenue Service posted 2018 tax charts in early January, these have been removed them from their website because they did not cover all the provisions of the tax changes.   We have been told they will be available in February and to continue to use 2017 charts until then.

We recommend that you work with your professional accountant and keep tabs on reliable sources to be certain you are in compliance with the law.

The DentaLab updates for DQB 1.53 have been posted on our website along with the list of the new features, which are also outlined in the article below   For those using the DQBT tablet workflow app, please let us know whether you would like to have the updates applied. 

If you have an up-to-date service agreement, call for the most current authorization codes when ready to download.  

The top two healthcare professions

In its January report on the top healthcare professions, U.S. News and World Report ranked these two at the very top:

#1 Software Development  

#2 Dentistry

We were pleased to see this not only for ourselves but for all of our customers who contribute their ideas and support for the continual development of software that helps their profession and business. 

On time management

We have taken note over the years that one of the key components of success in any endeavor is effective time management.  We were pleased to work with Killian Dental Lab and share the funding on two projects that focused on improving workflow, eliminating time wasters, and ensuring that the steps involved in each case are done on time.  Killian was the first lab to implement DentaLab for QuickBooks and has been a major contributor to the ideas and design of our technician productivity features.

The results have been included in the January release.   We hope you will take time to review these:

Marking Non-Technician Items Complete

There is a new indicator in Options/Case Settings/Technicians that you can set on to make certain prior items are marked complete whenever a technician scans the barcode for an item.   If set on, the prior unmarked items will be marked complete with the same date and time but the technician field will be set to Not Assigned.  

One of the key ingredients in good scheduling is to mark items when they are completed so that the schedules and monitoring reports are accurate.  DQB provides a variety of ways to do this. 

Sequenced Batch Invoicing

This new feature provides for creating batches of invoices to match the pan sequence of the cases.   Each batch is identified by date and sequence and within each batch the invoices are by sequence and case.   This provides for a smooth efficient workflow to easily match the paper invoice with the case pan.   You can indicate at the start of each batch whether you want to review and/or edit as you invoice or simply have the computer calculate and generate each invoice.   Printing is by batch and if ever needed, batches can be reprinted.    When no longer needed, batch work records can easily be deleted.  

To answer your questions....

Q: For the value-added tax (VAT) on our lab work, we are now required to show which items are taxable on our invoices as well as our resale number.   Can we do this with DQB? 

A: Yes, we have accomplished handling of VAT in QuickBooks and DQB.   If you want to print your invoices in DQB, you will need to have some customization added to the standard format for this.  

Q: We are planning to outsource some of our cases.  Are there features in DQB we should consider to help with this?

A: Here are some of the features worth considering:

1) If your products and services will have different names or pricing, you can set up items specifically for outsourced cases with special prices.

2) You can set up a work center corresponding to each outsource point for more accurate case tracking and turnaround times.

3) If the work center, items or turnaround times vary from your in-house cases, you can set up standard procedures to correspond to the outsource schedules.

4) Whenever you setup special categories, it is a good idea to establish naming conventions to easily identify and track these.

5) You can also setup product groups and sales categories for the outsourced work for your reports and analysis.  

6) We have developed custom work tickets that are printed in landscape mode on perforated paper with the left half more detailed for in-house use, the right half with limited details to go to the outsource point.

7) If you want to have a more legal document for the outsource point, you can create purchase orders that reflect negotiated fees. 

8) If your outsource point also has DQB, you can use DentalRx to send prescriptions and digital files directly to their DQB case list

Staying in control of your vital information

We have had a steady beat of calls from labs who signed up for totally web-based software to run their labs but are now expressing regret.   Some of the more frequent reasons have been: 

• Extremely slow response times 
• Not being able to request changes or customizations 
• Not being able to obtain a copy of their own database  
• Virtually no customer service for issues related to their system
• Interruptions in service lasting hours and sometimes even days
• Feeling trapped by bait-and-switch marketing 
  

These experiences have taken place not only in dental labs but many other organizations as well and this has led to the strong emergence of what is known as hybrid cloud technology.   With this technology, each organization determines what information they need to protect and control and what information can be shared in interactions with their customers, vendors and other business associates.   When sharing is the choice, there are now a number of alternatives available for internet access in a secure, controlled way.

We can discuss the alternatives with you and help you to determine what is best for your lab.

DQB Release 1.53

The following new features have been applied to both the starter and standard versions of DentaLab for QuickBooks:

Preview Invoice 

This new option is available for a selected case in the Case List or from Case Entry.   It is designed to simply provide a preview of the invoice when designing or editing the case.   The screen display is similar to the actual invoice and advance bill but does not provide for saving or printing.  

Highlight Adjustment Cases

This set of changes provides for highlighting those cases you have marked as Adjustment in the same ways you can highlight those marked as Remakes.  

In Options/Case Settings/Table Highlights, you can select a color to highlight the open/adjustment cases in the Case List.  If you have selected a color, the Case List will use this to highlight cases marked as Adjustment with Open/In Lab status. 

In Cases by Status and Date, there is a new indicator you can check to show only Open/Adjustment cases.

Add Barcode for Case Number to Standard Work Tickets

For the three standard work tickets, a 3 of 9 barcode for the case number has been added to the top of the work ticket. 

If you have a custom work ticket and would like to have the barcode added to the top of your work ticket, please contact us.  

Note that those who have licensed the Barcode supplement already have this barcode on the top of their work ticket.

Criteria for Late Case Report

For the Late Cases report, the criteria now includes a range of scheduled dates rather than just one date.  In addition, a case with the status set to Finished will not have its case items included in this report whether or not they have been marked as complete.

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The following new features have been applied only to the standard version of DentaLab for QuickBooks:

Sequenced Batch Invoicing

This new menu option under Cases/Completions provides for keeping track of the sequence of cases being invoiced to match the sequence of how the pans are lined up.  It has been proven in a large lab to significantly speed up the daily workflow.  

Each batch is assigned a name that includes the date and sequence within the date.   At the start of each batch, you can indicate if you want to review/edit each invoice being created and you can also specify how to set the case status once it has been invoiced.  

To initiate invoicing a case, the case number can be entered or scanned from the case barcode on the work ticket or case label. 

When a batch has been completed, you can request printing of the entire batch of invoices.   If you have lined up the pans as you create each invoice, the printed invoice sequence will match the sequence of the pans. 

This option provides for reprinting of a batch and when no longer needed, deleting the batch sequence tracking records.

Marking Non-Technician Items Complete

In the Options/Case Settings/Technician tab, there is a new option to provide for marking prior unmarked case items as complete whenever a subsequent technician item is scanned or entered as complete.  The prior case items will have the same date and time recorded but the technician field will be set to Not Assigned.

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The following new features have been applied to DQBT Tablet Workflow App:

A new background administrative display has been added to monitor to the status of the resources used by the tablet.   This is for use by Mainstreet's tech support whenever the status of the tablet needs to be monitored or if a technical issue is encountered.

New optimization has been added to gain speed and performance for those using multiple tablets.

These updates are not included in the website release.  If you wish to have these updates for your tablet(s), contact Mainstreet's tech support.

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