The problem
Every visit starts with a clipboard: a medical history update, a signature, an insurance card. If the front desk spends 3 minutes per patient keying in or scanning paper for 25 patients a day, 21 days a month, that's 1,575 minutes, about 26 hours.
What the AI does
eClipboard lets current patients check in, sign and complete the forms you set up in Open Dental, such as a medical history update, and take a patient picture, using the eClipboard app on their own phone or an office tablet. The answers land in the patient's record, so nobody retypes them. A dentist or hygienist still reads any change to medications, allergies or conditions before treatment starts. HIPAA: the forms carry health information, so they belong in Open Dental under the practice's signed Business Associate Agreement, never in a free online form builder.
A worked example
An illustrative example built from typical figures, not a named business.
A two-dentist practice in Denver sees about 25 patients a day, 21 days a month, and moves its medical history update and consent signatures from paper to eClipboard on two office tablets.
Before
About 3 minutes per patient keying and scanning paper forms: 26 hours a month
After
About 30 seconds per patient to check the completed form: about 4.4 hours a month
What it's worth
About $459£345€411A$663C$649 a month of front desk time, against $45£34€40A$65C$64 for eClipboard. Saving 2.5 minutes on each of 525 visits a month is about 21.9 hours, at an assumed $21£16€19A$30C$30 an hour. Tablets are a one-off cost on top if patients don't use their own phones.
How to set it up
- Confirm the office is on Open Dental support with the eConnector installed and the Business Associate Agreement signed, then sign up for eClipboard.
- Rebuild the paper medical history and consent forms in Open Dental, keeping only the questions your dentists actually use.
- Set up the office tablets with the eClipboard app, and offer patients the option on their own phone.
- Have the clinician review changes to medications, allergies and conditions at the start of each visit, and note the review in the chart.
- Keep paper copies at the desk for patients who prefer them.
What goes wrong
- Open Dental describes eClipboard as check-in for current patients. Decide separately how new patients complete forms before their first visit.
- A form rushed on a tablet is only as good as the answers. Clinicians still ask about anything that looks wrong or hasn't changed in years.
- Shared tablets need a lock screen and must never stay open on a patient's record between check-ins.
- eClipboard needs the office on support, like every eService; dropping support switches it off.