Dental Senders is no longer free

[B.Thomas]

It was great while it lasted. It appears 1-800 dentist purchased dental senders a few months back and now requires either $150/ month service fee or for us to become 1-800 dentist clients. I see a value in the service and would like to keep it, however I am going to compare the competitors (demandforce, sesame, etc) before comitting. I feel a bit slighted in the way 1-800 dentist bought dental senders with the goal of converting the users to their 1-800 product, so that is one strike against them.

I would like to hear what other former dental senders users plan to do. Also, I would appreciate any feedback from users of other email/text message reminder services.

Thanks,

[jordansparks]

From what I hear, even the $150 is still on the low end compared to the other services.

[brentwood]

i didn't receive any emails or calls about this. When will they start charging the current users? I am still having the service. Don't they need to inform us first that either we pay or the service will be discontinued?

[drtech]

i haven't either...i wonder if existing customers will continue for no charge?

[savvy]

Join AGD.
It comes with your membership under the name "Patient Alerts".

http://www.agdpatientalerts.com/Public/Home.aspx

[brentwood]

That is great! My wife is an AGD member. We will move to that. Does anyone have any experience with it? How does it work with Open Dental? $150.00 a month, $1,800.00 a year, is way too much for what it does. AGD membership for sure does not cost that much.

By the way, I received the email today from dental sender (1-800 dentist now) that they will start charging me from Feb. 1. We are a small one doctor office. The only function I need is automatic email confirmation. I may as well write a Windows service to do that.

[savvy]

Bad news....
AGD informed me today that Patient Alerts (Dental Senders) will no longer be a free benefit......
only after I asked.
Yet, it still is listed as a benefit to entice new and renewed membership.

I'm dropping this service just out of principle:

Tony McManus (Dental Senders developer) Aug 6, 2010: "No way, we are staying free. Our model works, we didn't sell to 1-800-DENTIST to start charging our clients. We did sell to add more resources to our growing business.

BIG FAT LIE!
I'm sure he is wishing that he didn't put this in writing on the internet. Some wise disgruntled client is going to use his statement to sue the bastard.

AGD Website Dec 29, 2010, 11:30pm: "Sign up for the newest AGD benefit of membership, AGD Patient Alerts. This exciting service offers AGD members automated patient communications that integrates with your existing practice management system to deliver quality patient communication using e-mail, text messaging, and more."

KNOWN DECEPTIVE STATEMENT

AGD Email reply Dec 29 10:30AM: "Thank you for your email. This morning, you may have received the communication below from us about the coming changes to Patients Alerts. Since the AGD will no longer be able to continue to offer our members Patient Alerts as a free-service after March 31, 2011, you may want to investigate other dental alert system subscription options.

NO COMMUNICATION FROM AGD OTHER THAN ABOVE RECEIVED.

[jordansparks]

I believe that he was telling the truth at the time. You can't sue someone for changing his mind. He probably lost a certain degree of control after selling. I've seen it happen again and again.

[Pruce Dental]

Yeah..you really can't sue somebody for given you free service...those that had it should consider themselves lucky that the free part lasted as long as it did.

Jordan...

Are you considering adding something equivalent to Dental Senders into Open Dental any time in the near or distant future?

[jordansparks]

Of course. It just takes a few iterations. For example, after about the 4th or 5th attempt, we finally have very slick web forms. http://www.opendental.com/manual/webforms.html
A similar sequence is sure to happen with patient communications. Our next big task in that area is to get text messaging working. Unless users demonstrate more support for automation of emails before text messaging.

[brentwood]

I would vote for autmoated email notification. I am so deperate that I am even thinking about writing a windows service myself. Just have to find the time to do it. I have not checked the feature poll for quite a while. Is there an item for that?

[jordansparks]

#1718 is the automated e-mail reminders. It has zero votes.
#1275 is SMS text messaging. It has some votes and is actually very near the top.
Of course, I understand that the voting isn't completely representative of which feature will help the most people. But as it stands right now, text messaging should come first.

[brentwood]

Thanks. I will go to vote. With these two free email services coming to an end, I need to study the database schema and write a simple windows service to send out the emails before a more complete solution is ready in open dental. Have a happy new year.

[savvy]

First, he did not sell and walk away.
He, i'm reasonably sure, took stock options and, is currently on the Futuredontics payroll.

Secondly, one can sue for whatever they want.....winning might be difficult.
Third, at the time I posted I thought Futuredontics was a public company...it isn't.
Fourth, it may have been no cost to the user, but the advertisers (Crest, Nobel, Sonicare, etc) paid.
Like he said, it was a good model.

He sold out his clients....plain and simple.

[teethdood]

Jordan, if you ever start work on SMS messaging, please consider Google Voice integration. Free SMS on lots of devices including smart phones and PC desktop. I was looking into making a bridge much like the auto-dialer thing. Something like a program links button

googletext.exe [WirelessPhone] "Friendly reminder from OD Family Dentistry for your appointment on [ApptDate] at [ApptTime]"

You can also add that to the Appointments List/Confirmations

Just an idea

[jordansparks]

The documentation indicates that it has a limit just like the other free services.

[caringdentists]

Perhaps, for now we can import the patient contacts onto Google Voice contacts to send text messaging?

[jordansparks]

Ugh. That sounds really messy.

[caringdentists]

Reposted here from Dentaltown:

Well, I took the plunge and joined 800 Dentist. I'll find out soon enough how all of this is going to work out. At least I'll keep dental senders functioning (now, Patient Activator). Paying for a "ghost patient" "no show" is a bit scary. But I was told that @ 50-60% probability of patient showing up is worth it. What do you think?

[Pruce Dental]

Reposted here from Dentaltown:

Well, I took the plunge and joined 800 Dentist. I'll find out soon enough how all of this is going to work out. At least I'll keep dental senders functioning (now, Patient Activator). Paying for a "ghost patient" "no show" is a bit scary. But I was told that @ 50-60% probability of patient showing up is worth it. What do you think?

Can I ask what the cost per patient lead is with 800 dentist?

[caringdentists]

I haven't signed the papers yet so I'm not sure I'm allowed to disclose. I believe that the fees are different per regional area ant type of referral. For example in Indiana regular patients = $120 and medicaid = $30.

[savvy]

It's your money....
but why not offer a complimentary "whatever" to any new patient instead of paying out real money?
You could potentially get 5-10 "prophy only" patients, pay out $600-1200 dollars just so you don't have to pay $149 for the reminder service.
Just my .02.

[savvy]

Dear AGD Patient Alerts Subscriber,

Based on a number of concerns expressed by Academy of General Dentistry (AGD) members to the recent communication about its Patient Alerts program change, the AGD would like to provide you with some additional details.

Unfortunately, the change to this program was largely outside of the AGD’s control. In fact, last July, the vendor contacted the AGD to inform us that the AGD Patient Alerts service was being purchased by 1-800-Dentist®. During this communication, the AGD was assured that the service would not be changed, but enhanced for our members. However, after the purchase, 1-800-Dentist determined that the business model offered to the AGD, one that provided the service for free and generated its revenue from advertising sales, was not viable. Thus, 1-800-Dentist changed its organizational service model to include a monthly fee. The AGD contract was to be renewed in January 2011, but in December 2010, the AGD was informed by the vendor that it did not wish to renew the program.

So, while the AGD wanted to maintain the program, it simply is no longer available to us. The AGD tried to negotiate with 1-800-Dentist, but the company had already made its decision prior to communicating with the AGD. However, the AGD was able to extend the service termination period from December 2010 to March 2011.

At this time we do not anticipate any changes to the current relationship with 1-800-Dentist. The AGD is exploring other options. The AGD apologizes for any inconvenience this change has caused you.