Thomas M. Gwaltney, Jr, is founder and owner of Oasys Imaging. He has been involved in the orthodontic industry for 30 years. Gwaltney’s career began as a Unitek representative in Virginia in 1977. Unitek promoted him into management and relocated him to Atlanta, where he still lives and works. He was one of the original four Orthotrac entrepreneurs in 1983, then founded Oasys in 1994.

OP: What type of service does your company provide to orthodontists?

Gwaltney: We provide easy-to-use, fully integrated orthodontic software applications, which include the following modules: practice-management and imaging suite, imaging with collage, scheduling, accounting, lighting, patient check-in, task administrator, user assignments, reminder and conversation system, paperless document-management system, insurance (electronic), patient query and comprehensive reporting system, treatment card and treatment plan, graphical tooth chart module, business intelligence with interactive reports, Oasys workflow automation, and Oasys ceph module.

Our software is written in the latest Microsoft languages and uses Microsoft SQL as the underlying database. We can accommodate multiple offices and doctors. Oasys is also designed to handle orthodontic and pediatric dental environments. In addition to the software we create, we maintain and support our users’ environments and provide updates and enhancements on a regular, ongoing basis. Training is offered by our staff—either on-site, virtually, or by regularly scheduled Webinars. We also have two user meetings each year.

OP: What are the most popular customizable imaging solution that you offer?

Gwaltney: We develop, maintain, and sell our own imaging product, but at the same time we integrate with other imaging programs as needed by our users. Our imaging software provides customizable imaging solutions to fit the way most offices work. Whether viewing digital x-rays, cephs, photos, or panos, the images are available within our system for our users. Our integrated permanent storage solution provides a place for all images. Our customers are able to enhance their marketing image and combine photos and x-rays with word processing to create professional correspondence. The collage and medical imaging modules provide additional presentation capabilities using image annotations, on-the-fly cropping, 3D imaging integration of DICOM files, and a 16-bit x-ray file format. We can also store video files for use with patient education and presentations for new patients.

OP: How does Oasys Practice help make patient flow more efficient?

Gwaltney: We make patient flow more efficient by providing automated patient check-in, lighting, and patient check-out. Let me give you a brief description of these modules:

Check-In: Oasys Practice allows our practices to automate check-in procedures and customize them to their practice’s patient flow. Patients check in using a keyboard and mouse, touch-screen monitors, or a biometric fingerprint scanner.

Lighting: Tracking features allow offices to follow each patient’s progress through the office—from arrival through departure—and gauge the efficiency with which they move through the practice.         

Check-Out: With our automated check-out, patients can check themselves out—similar to how they do at a grocery store. The practice can set parameters about who can use the self-check-out feature and send patients who are not on the list to the receptionist.

OP: What are some of the benefits of the treatment card?

Gwaltney: I think the main benefit of our treatment card modules is the ability to manage treatment quality and efficiency. It is the only system that can integrate and synchronize treatment plans to treatment cards. Our treatment planner helps practices stay on course. Visual alerts highlight when a patient’s treatment deviates from the projected plan, how far behind schedule a patient’s treatment is, and how many unplanned visits are adversely affecting treatment goals.

The treatment card also maintains a treatment history of all procedures to be performed on a patient while tracking all completed procedures and notes. The customizable treatment profile allows instant access to the information our users consider most critical, in the format they desire. Other benefits include a graphical timeline showing a patient’s progress through treatment, treatment notes, and procedures in an easy-to-use list format, embedded forms in the treatment card ledger linked to a read-only copy of that document, and tracking of the minutes a patient was in the treatment chair.

Our tooth chart is the next generation of treatment-card automation. Using a graphical interface, this module provides an integrated approach to all treatment information. Users can record, update, and view all orthodontic and dental records, as well as track all detailed procedures by date in the procedure ledger. Notes can be made and reviewed in the chart easily, and its integration with our Treatment Planner allows doctors and staff to view the chart from past, present, and future visits.