Google has now started loading search results for videos.  When you search for a dentist in your area,  you may see that any videos show up towards the top of your search results.  This is good to know for increasing the amount of clicks you get to your website and for getting your name out there.  If you have any videos…if you need help see our last post…add those to youtube, and it may help your Google rankings/search results.

A new bill signed into effect March 18, 2010 offers employers two tax breaks for qualifying new employees hired in 2010.  The first exempts companies from their share of Social Security payroll taxes, usually 6.2% of a workers wages, when they hire a new employee that was unemployed for at least 60 days prior.  The second tax break gives companies an additional $1000 or 6.2% of the wages paid to the employee in 2010 (whichever is less) for each employee retained for a full year.  According to Obama, Section 179 was created to assist small business owners who might not want to hire on a new employee during these tough economic times. The legislation also extends provisions to allow small businesses to write off as much as $250,000 of their capital expenditure in 2010.  To learn more about Section 179, click here or contact your qualified tax preparer to determine what tax credits may be available to you.

“The ADA is recommending that dentists review and revise their Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliance programs and make any necessary changes to their Notice of Privacy Practices and to Business Associate Agreements”- www.ada.org The new HITECH rules deal with sending electronic patient information.  Most offices do this now to increase efficiency with filing insurance claims and other processes.  We are also recommending all our clients review their HIPAA policies at this time.  Please check our website in the upcoming weeks for information about an upcoming seminar we are holding to discuss these new rules.

I feel like we have beaten this issue like a dead horse, but it couldn’t be more important.  Backing up your data as frequently and as reliably as possible can – and probably will eventually for most of you – save you lots of time and heartache in the long run.  Just simply having the peace of mind that your data is being backed up on a regular basis without your time and attention is worth the expense. We are now offering our new BDR backup and disaster recovery system..  It is a great in office and remote backup option.  We actually had a client that used the in office backup today to restore data that had been corrupted and it took 15 minutes to get them back where they needed to be…without this solution it could have taken days, and they would have lost at least half day’s data. The BDR backs up your office data every 15 minutes to a separate skeleton server in your office and it also sends the information to 2 remote data centers in the United States in case of a physical disaster at your office.  If you want more information call us at 904.443.0095!  This is a MUST HAVE for all dental offices!!

When deciding to go ahead and get a website designed for your practice, one of the big decisions is your domain name. Basically this is your address on the web such as www.firstcoastsmiles.com. This can be difficult to decide on because many names are already taken, and you have to get creative. Here are some good guidelines to follow. 1. Make it short. You want the domain name to be easy to spell and easy to remember so if you tell someone to visit the site, they can remember it easily. 2. Use a .com. The other extensions like .net or .us are really not popular, so you may end up telling someone to go to your site www.firstcoastsmiles.net, and then they end up typing in www.firstcoastsmiles.com instead and go to a totally different site. Stick with .com as much as possible. 3. Don’t use punctuation. I have also had clients try to cheat the system by adding a “-” like www.first-coast-smiles.com so they can get the .com name. This is really not a great idea because the dashes also make it hard to remember to tell someone. Most likely they will end up at the wrong site. So basically, keep it simple. Stick with .com and use a short simple name with no punctuation and you should be good…Now get creative!!

With all the rage on the Ipad, we have had many of our clients purchase them and begin using them in the office. There are many upsides to utilizing the Ipad in the operatories. Here are a few: 1. Allow patients to view their digital x-rays and have the ability to move them around, and see them up close. 2. The ability to show patient education in the operatories. 3. Make your patients feel more comfortable and enjoy their visit. Many offices have Tvs in the operatories to do this, but this is a new distraction that helps ease patients’ fears. Read this article for more ideas on how to use the Ipad in your operatories.