Dental practice management software has made it significantly easier for dentists and their employees to manage patient files, appointments, payments and insurance information. Recent market predictions show that dental practice management software will become even more important in upcoming years.
According to the latest projections, the industry value for dental practice management software will reach $1.59 billion by 2024.
Growing Needs in the Dental Industry Is Pushing the Growth of Management Software
A few factors are pushing the growth of dental practice management software. Perhaps the biggest influence comes from the growing number of elderly people in the population. As the baby boomer generation continues to age, its members need more dental procedures to stay healthy.
Management software makes it possible for dental practices to meet the needs of older patients who need frequent services and may want to invest in options like dental implants and prosthetics.
More Dentists Want to Use Management Software
The market for dental practice management software has also grown because more dentists have realized how much they can benefit from it.
It certainly doesn’t hurt that software has gotten so much more sophisticated over the last decade. Some of today’s most popular management software has the ability to:
- Store information in the cloud, which makes it easier for dentists and employees to access patient records.
- Improve security and disaster recovery options.
- Integrate new software with legacy systems.
- Schedule dental visits to address the public’s growing concern with how oral health affects a person’s overall health.
Patients Expect Sophisticated Software
Finally, patient expectations are pushing the growth of management software. Today’s dental patients expect to do things like communicate with their dentists via text messages, social media and email. Fortunately, dental practice management software makes it easier for dental staff members to answer questions from multiple sources.
Patients are also becoming increasingly comfortable with using technology to refer friends to dentists, pay their bills from smartphones and schedule appointments online. Management software that integrates with other applications can, therefore, benefit patients as well as staff members.
Dental practice management software offers many sophisticated options that address the needs of patients, office managers and employees. In the near future, most practices will probably have some type of software that helps them do their jobs well.
