28 February 2023

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Pacific Dental Services partners with High Point University, extends Epic EHR system into dental school

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Pacific Dental Services (PDS), one of the nation's leading dental support organizations, announced on Feb. 21 that it has partnered with High Point University (HPU) in North Carolina to extend its use of Epic in the college's Workman School of Dental Medicine and dental practices affiliated with the school through the HPU Oral Health Network.

This unique partnership, among the first of its kind for a dental support organization (DSO), was made possible by Epic's Community Connect program, which allows larger health care systems already employing Epic to extend its use to others that would not otherwise be in a position to utilize the platform.

PDS will roll out Epic at High Point University, provide the onboarding and training for the platform, and maintain ongoing support services. HPU will then use Epic to give its dental students real-world exposure to the future of dental-medical integration through the technology, while providing integrated dental and medical care to its patients.

Stephen Thorne IV, founder and CEO of Pacific Dental Services said in a news release that the company knows the impact dental professionals can have on patients' overall health and in the overall health care system.

"We are taking steps to lead the industry and elevate dentists from being primarily focused on fixing dentition to embracing their full potential and becoming a vital part of every patient's primary health care team," he said. 

Epic is used by leading hospitals, health care systems and medical schools, which rely on the company's unique software to manage the patient's health journey. Given the link between oral health and certain systemic conditions, an integrated EHR was the clear solution to unite previously compartmentalized health data. After several years of collaboration and foundational work, PDS became the first DSO in the world to implement Epic into all of its more than 900 supported dental practices nationwide in 2022. Working with Epic to partner for dental has already yielded significant benefits for PDS' supported clinicians and their patients, through improved collaboration between providers, early detection of systemic conditions, and enhanced patient experience.

Dr. Ali Shazib, DMD, chief clinical officer of the HPU Oral Health Network, said in the news release that Epic will allow the network to capture real-time data that will have tremendous value for delivering integrated oral healthcare, education, and research.

High Point University's Doctor of Dental Medicine degree program will enroll its inaugural class in the fall of 2024 and the Workman School of Dental Medicine will be North Carolina's only dental school that is part of a private university. Starting their first semester, students will spend a significant amount of time rotating through HPU Oral Health Network practices to provide and observe patient care and learn dental auxiliary roles and functions.

Dr. Scott De Rossi, DMD, founding dean of HPU's Workman School of Dental Medicine and CEO of HPU Oral Health Network, said the Epic implementation will allow clinicians to leverage data to advance clinical decision making and outcomes research. 

"Having Epic through a Community Connect affiliation with PDS allows us to be at the forefront of integrating general and oral health," he said. "It will allow us to provide an elevated patient experience and improve health outcomes for those whom we serve, ensuring our students get the very best clinical education."

About Pacific Dental Services

Founded in 1994, Pacific Dental Services (PDS) is one of the country's leading dental support organizations, providing supported autonomy that enables dentists to concentrate on clinical excellence and the highest levels of cost-effective comprehensive patient care. PDS originated the Private Practice+ model to enable dentists to focus on their passion: serving patients. PDS also pioneered the concept of modern dentistry so that dentists are equipped to combine advances in the latest technology with the best operational practices and procedures, highly skilled support staff and a commitment to ongoing training and education. PDS continues to grow, and currently supports more than 2,700 dentists in over 900 dental offices across 25 states. PDS-supported dentists aim to be the provider of choice in all the markets they serve and to develop Patients for Life. For more information, visit us at pacificdentalservices.com