Practice Management

Sample form to request a consultation with a patient’s physician which may be necessary particularly for patients who have chronic conditions.

The CDA Wellness Program is available to dentists and dental team members. The program offers confidential 24/7 support.

First impressions matter when a new associate joins the team. Few onboarding goals are more critical than providing them with a positive experience in the first days and weeks of their employment.

The following checklist and suggested first-week schedule can be integrated into your practice’s onboarding plan. You may customize the checklist to fit your practice.

Information a dental practice should collect when creating a New Patient Form during the initial new patient phone call.

List of forms and information needing completion prior to the patient’s first appointment.

Dental practices that offer patients commercial credit financing products (credit cards, lines of credit or loans) in the dental office are required to disclose certain information and are prohibited from specific practices. 

This resource provides sample language that a dental practice can use for obtaining required and recommended acknowledgements and consents from patients.

A well-defined patient financial policy helps set expectations, reduce misunderstandings and support a more efficient practice workflow. This resource offers step-by-step guidance for developing or refining a patient financial policy with confidence.

For the safety of your patients and to provide quality dental care, all medical and dental health information should be current and accurate. Patients must review and update their health history form regularly. Maintaining up-to-date health information is essential to delivering safe, effective care to patients while protecting you from risk.

This is a checklist of required patient and public notifications and disclosures.

This form is designed for internal office use only. It should not be shared with the patient and is intended to provide the practice with a way to document personal information about the patient to help refresh staff members’ minds prior to the patient visiting the practice.

Format and content, patient access to records and requests to amend, disclosure of information, data breach notification, retention and disposal, transferring records in a sale.

Summary of records release rules with customizable sample form. Patients have the right to access their record and can request paper, film or electronic copies.

Discusses the role of HIPAA business associate agreements and other steps a dentist can take to ensure the privacy and security of patient information following a practice closure or sale.

There are many elements involved in preparing and marketing yourself for employment. In this section you will get tips to create an effective curriculum vitae, write a compelling cover letter, understand your social media profile and how to use it to market yourself, how to network, how to budget and plan for your projected associate salary, and finally how to narrow down the location(s) in which you want to live and work.

When a patient requests a copy of their records, the dental practice must follow specific procedures. Written policies regarding how and when you provide a patient with their records ensures your practice team consistently follows both state law and HIPAA rules. Transparent communication with patients will also reduce potential liabilities.

Use this table to determine how long to keep business records such as payroll and employee records, patient records, EOB's and more.

Actions a new dentist should take once they have obtained their California dental license, and regulatory and legal considerations of which every dentist must be aware.

CDA offers a variety of tools to help you easily navigate the transition into your new profession and your early years.

This is a guide to the rules for communicating via these technologies with patients and other individuals via telephone, cellphone, text message or email.

California eavesdropping law requires an individual give authorization before or when another individual or entity records them speaking in private conversation. This sample consent form is provided in response to increasing interest by dental practices to use artificial intelligence-enabled software to record patients and treatment providers in order to draft notes for the clinical chart.

Form to gain consent when using patient photos in your practice marketing materials.

Use this sample letter to notify contracted dental plans of your practice sale and intent to terminate plan participation.

Sample scripts to help make sure the entire staff is saying the same thing when having financial discussions with patients.

A dentist may separate from practice for many reasons, from leaving a group to go into solo practice (or vice versa), determining the office just isn’t the best fit or simply relocating to another region. The checklist that follows is meant as a general guide for associates and does not take the place of legal advice specific and applicable to your situation.

A dentist may separate from practice for one of many reasons. A dentist may retire, leave a group to go into solo practice (or vice versa), sell the practice, or relocate. Use this checklist as a guide. This list offers general information and does not take the place of legal advice.