At a Glance
Growing Smiles, a thriving 15-provider family dental practice with locations in Voorhees and Mount Laurel, New Jersey, has been serving the community with both routine and emergency dental care for children and adults since 2013. As they prepare to expand to two new locations, they recognized the need for a reliable technology partner to enhance their HIPAA and OSHA compliance while streamlining administrative tasks.
To meet these needs, Growing Smiles chose Bridge™ Compliance, part of Rectangle Health’s Practice Management Bridge® platform, to efficiently manage and organize critical compliance processes, train staff with confidence, and safeguard their patient data and practice reputation.
Key Results
- Implemented digital compliance training for new employees.
- Standardized HIPAA and OSHA tasks across multiple locations.
- Updated and digitally stored Business Associate Agreements.
- Streamlined compliance activities to enhance focus on patient care.
- Achieved significant cost savings in staff training.
Key Solution Attributes
- Automated reminders for staff training.
- Digital, self-guided compliance training modules.
- Attorney-verified HIPAA and OSHA procedures.
- Digital, secure storage of Business Associate Agreements.
- Comprehensive Risk Assessments.
“Bridge Compliance makes it very easy to scale our practice. I don’t have to worry about compliance. I know it’s taken care of.”
Dr. Sonny Sekhon, Owner of Growing Smiles
Managing a Busy Practice
In 2013, Dr. Sekhon opened Growing Smiles with the vision of offering multiple pediatric dental specialties within one practice in Voorhees, New Jersey. However, he quickly realized that extending dental care to the parents of the children he was seeing would significantly enhance the practice’s impact.
The practice’s unique family block scheduling model and commitment to high-quality care, has attracted a large patient base. As a result, providers’ schedules are consistently full, with new patients often waiting months for an available appointment.
As a busy practice, Dr. Sekhon says, “staying in compliance has always been a challenge.” Safeguarding patient data, ensuring the practice’s reputation for safety, and avoiding fines for HIPAA or OSHA noncompliance are priorities for the practice. However, to manage the demands that full HIPAA and OSHA compliance entails, Growing Smiles needed a technology partner to streamline compliance management, allowing Dr. Sekhon to focus on expanding care. Bridge Compliance offered critical functionality that would dramatically reduce their compliance workload:
Making Compliance Effortless
When it comes to minimizing his administrative workload, Dr. Sekhon said, “Working with Rectangle Health has been a godsend.” Integrating Bridge Compliance into his technology stack has helped Growing Smiles effortlessly manage compliance activities and gain peace of mind knowing that his practice is protected.
“As a practice owner, you’re juggling a million things,” said Dr. Sekhon, “Why not take one of those balls out so that you don’t have to worry about it as much?”
Now, Bridge Compliance streamlines Dr. Sekhon’s operations by automating staff training reminders, tracking progress across locations, and centralizing HIPAA and OSHA policies with attorney-verified materials. His Business Associate Agreements are now securely stored and up-to-date, with Bridge Compliance providing timely alerts for policy updates and critical compliance tasks. The comprehensive Risk Assessment tool further enhances his compliance efforts, offering a clear overview of his status, highlighting successes, and providing actionable insights to guide his practice’s growth and ensure ongoing compliance.
“We did not want to expose ourselves to any potential litigation or problem, and that really extends beyond just HIPAA and OSHA compliance. Bridge Compliance has really helped us organize all these tasks within a dashboard where you can see everything,” said Dr. Sekhon.
Shoring Up Staff Training
As Growing Smiles continued to expand to meet the high demand for care, onboarding new staff quickly and effectively became crucial, especially in the areas of HIPAA and OSHA compliance. Like many busy healthcare practices, staff turnover – particularly at the front desk – is an ongoing challenge. Dr. Sekhon is committed to ensuring that all staff are up to date on their compliance training and understand the importance of protecting patient privacy.
“It was a lot to keep track of,” said Dr. Sekhon, explaining the administrative workload associated with staff compliance trainings.
Bridge Compliance’s self-guided HIPAA and OSHA trainings offered convenient access to essential compliance information, enabling Dr. Sekhon to efficiently monitor the training progress for his entire team. Additionally, these solutions also dramatically reduced training costs.
“We used to have to pay for people to come in and do compliance trainings or send staff offsite to train,” noted Dr. Sekhon. Now, staff can complete trainings at their own pace from any location. “On top of the Bridge Compliance interface being very clean and very easy to follow, it cut down on our costs too.”
Even seasoned providers found value in Bridge Compliance’s digital refresher courses. For Dr. Sekhon, knowing every staff member is fully aware of the importance of protecting patient data and adhering to HIPAA and OSHA procedures provides peace of mind. This commitment safeguards not only their patients’ privacy but also the reputation of their growing practice.
Looking Forward: Growth and Expansion
Dr. Sekhon is pleased to have attracted a large and loyal patient base at Growing Smiles. However, with a current waitlist of nearly a year for new patients, he is eager to address this challenge.
“We can’t afford to have new patients wait that long,” Dr. Sekhon noted. “Especially patients who might have an issue and need to be seen immediately.”
To improve access to care and meet high patient demand, Growing Smiles is preparing to expand with two more locations – one additional family dental practice and an orthodontics practice. While the expansion is a significant endeavor, Dr. Sekhon feels confident about compliance. Growing Smiles’ policies and procedures are already up-to-date, staff training is readily available, and the Bridge Compliance incident response team is available if needed. Plus, Dr. Sekhon works closely with his Customer Success Manager at Rectangle Health to prioritize key compliance activities and proactively address any potential vulnerabilities.
“Bridge Compliance saves us from a lot of potential headaches,” said Dr. Sekhon. “Just knowing that we’re doing things the right way, I can sleep well at night.”
Interested in learning more about Practice Management Bridge™? Schedule a demo today.