Your first real office

Your first live practice is not like your sandbox. Here is what you are walking into, who you will talk to, and what to find out before the install.

What an office looks like from the inside

A practice is a small business that runs its whole day on one piece of software: the health record system. Staff call it the PMS, the EHR, the EMR, or by its brand name. The front desk lives in its schedule. The doctor or dentist lives in its charts. The billing person lives in its ledger. When your app books an appointment, it lands on that schedule and someone at the front desk sees it a few minutes later.

Most offices run that software on a Windows server in a back room, often a machine with no monitor that nobody touches. The NexHealth Synchronizer installs on that server and reads and writes the system's database. Some systems are cloud-based and used through a web browser. For those, NexHealth reads and writes through a Chrome extension on the office's workstations, while staff are logged in.

That is why a sync has office hours. A server can be powered off at night. A cloud sync runs only while staff are signed in. The practice's hours are the sync's hours. See Interpreting sync status.

Nobody in the office is technical the way you are. The office manager knows the schedule by heart and can install a Chrome extension, but does not know what a port is. Many offices pay an outside IT partner for that.

Who you will work with

• The office manager runs the day: schedule, billing, patient messages. They are your user, they usually have access to the server, and they can add a user in the system or install a Chrome extension.
• The doctor or owner may not join your calls, but you need their yes. They own the system.
• The IT partner runs the server and the workstations for many offices, holds the passwords, and gets you onto the server.

The first call

Explain what your app reads and writes, what the Synchronizer is, and the next steps. Then settle four things: server in the office or cloud; where the server is and who can reach it; who has admin rights in the system; which user the sync will run as. Those four answers decide the install. The office may ask about NexHealth security.

Server-based systems

The Synchronizer installs on the office's server. The office manager usually arranges access. Dentrix, Eaglesoft and Open Dental offices can install it themselves.

System requirements: Windows 10 or later, or Windows Server 2012 R2 or later (Server 2016 or later is ideal); 512 MB of RAM; 320 MB of storage, 1 to 2 GB better.

If the office is not sure where its server is, ask for a computer that is always on, that nobody touches, or that has no screen. Server names often include the word "SERVER".

Ask every server office: which version they run (see Supported health record systems), whether IT is in-house or outside, and whether vendors may install on the server.

If the network is locked down, our install team sends the office’s IT the allowlist before the install.

System by system:

• Dentrix Enterprise usually means a multi-location group. Expect central IT who remotes into the servers, not one office manager.
• Eaglesoft. More than one location on the server (N-site)? A dual database setup?
• Open Dental. More than one location on the server (clinics mode)? Middle tier on?
• OrthoTrac and Dolphin. Which locations to sync, whether they can give SQL database access, how they cancel appointments, and, for online booking, which appointment type to insert. Share the locations and the type with developer support when you submit the install.

Cloud systems

Most cloud systems need the NexHealth Chrome extension on every office computer that uses the system, and a user of its own in the system. Test the credentials yourself before you submit the install request in the Developer Portal. It speeds up the request.

Extensions: athenahealth, Curve, Denticon, Dentrix Ascend, eClinicalWorks, Cloud 9.

Ask every cloud office: who manages the system, whether IT is in-house or outside, whether they can push software to every workstation (group policy, ConnectWise, NinjaRMM), which locations to sync, and that staff use Chrome or Edge. Then:

• athenahealth. An administrative user (developer support has the exact privileges) and which departments to sync.
• Cloud 9. The practice's Cloud 9 URL, an administrative user, and, for online booking, a default appointment type.
• Denticon. An administrative user with no time-based login restrictions, and the workstation count across offices.
• Dentrix Ascend. A new username and password with administrative access.
• eClinicalWorks. How staff open eCW, by URL or desktop app. If the URL only works inside their network, or they use the eCW browser plugin, contact developer support first. Also an administrative user and which clinics.
• Curve. A user with Office Manager permissions or higher.
• ModMed. No extension. Two users instead: a staff account, and a management account with the Administrator role (not Assistant Administrator). Also the login URL and which locations.

Next: Onboard a location.