Dental and medical care may serve the same patient, but the systems behind them often operate worlds apart. In this episode of Kno2fy, co-hosts Therasa Bell and Whitney Cole sit down with Andy Taylor, CIO of Children’s Surgery Centers, to unpack the patient and provider impact of the divide between dental and medical interoperability.

They discuss what medical-to-dental referrals look like today and the patient safety risks that come when dentists don't have access to the information they need. From stale referral lists and paper handoffs to medications, allergies, and clinical histories, the conversation explores what it could look like as we start to bring dental into the broader healthcare information exchange.

The good news? We aren't starting from scratch. The infrastructure already exists to connect dental with the rest of healthcare and the opportunity to finally bring these pieces together is here.

Timestamps

00:37 - Introduction to Andy Taylor

01:54 - Why Dental Software is Notoriously Difficult to Connect

05:52 - The Different Languages of Medical and Dental Care

07:24 - Medical-to-Dental Referrals Today

08:47 - Stale, Bulk Referral Lists

15:45 - What Connected Dental Could Look Like

16:21 - Why Dentists Need Access

18:45 - What Referrals Should Look Like

24:27 - Why We're Even Debating This

Hosted by: Therasa Bell and Whitney Cole

Produced by: Jess Garman

A Kno2 Podcast