There was a time, not long ago, when doctors of chiropractic didn't need to know much about computers and anything about the Internet.

Today, all of that's changing. To be competitive, DCs need a sophisticated suite of computer programs able to handle scheduling, billing, SOAP notes, record keeping, and a myriad of other practice activities. They require ready access to e‑mail and online sources of news and research findings.

Chiropractic services may be just as "personal" and "human" as they always were, but chiropractic practices must incorporate the latest in computer technology in order to keep the business end of things running smoothly.

"It was only in the last few years that practice management applications began to truly assist in running the business," says Aubrey Kesterson, Jr., director of client relations for Private Practice Technologies. "As we labored through learning these programs, exchanging the scheduling book for the electronic calendar and printing our HCFAs, the more dependent we became. In a very short time, the chiropractic profession has firmly embraced the use of these computing tools and today it is hard to find a paper‑based practice."

The introduction of Windows was an important turning point in the transition to electronic systems in businesses since the graphic interface was far more intuitive than the old text‑based applications. Today, we're at another turning point ‑‑ the utilization of the power of the Internet to take our electronic tools to the next stage of development and usefulness.

This new phase relies on the emergence of "dot‑net" technology, often written as.Net on the Internet, which allows our computers to interact with software providers in the background, without our having to do anything. This is the technology that permits us to regularly update our virus protection, download Windows patches and security fixes, and upgrade programs automatically.

"Every time you connect to the Internet and automatically update a program, you're experiencing the concept behind dot‑net," Kesterson explains. "Dot‑net is a programming language that opens the door to interactive communications and provides new methods for doctors to use and coordinate their office software."

In the past, software updates had to be received on disk or downloaded file from the software company and installed by the user. This was a time‑consuming and difficult process. The ability of programs to use the dot‑net environment to make these updates automatically, in the background is a tremendous step for chiropractic offices. "A chiropractic practice that depends on computers for billing and scheduling simply cannot be held hostage for support or updates," Kesterson emphasizes.

Programs written using dot‑net have the ability to perform silent checks and ensure they're always current and updated. As program fixes are released, or features added, such updates are made automatically while staff members continue to use their computers.

An equally important benefit to dot‑net environment applications is the positive impact on support. With the user's permission, software companies can literally modify the office computer via an online connection.

When Microsoft announced the advent of dot‑net programming language, it did so in typically geekish fashion. ".NET technology provides the ability to quickly build, deploy, manage, and use connected, security‑enhanced solutions with Web services," it bragged.

Later, it noted that, to advance dot‑net application, it had developed a new dot‑net programming language. Its announcement read: "With its Visual C++ development system heritage, C # will enable millions of C and C++ developers to use existing skills to rapidly build sophisticated XML‑based.NET applications."

Fortunately, doctors don't need to know what any of this means. For them, the only thing that really matters is that their all‑important practice software will automatically update and fix itself, provide real‑time online support, and do a variety of functions it couldn't do before, such as auto‑calling patients to reduce.

Kesterson observes, "The days of simply purchasing software on a disk and hoping for adequate phone support are thankfully over."

At this time, Quixote Business Software, developed by Private Practice Technologies is the only chiropractic office management software to utilize the dot‑net environment and programming language. This is one reason RCS (Research & Clinical Science) chose to enter into a strategic alliance with the software company. The partnership will not only permit a greatly enhanced data collection system for the research project, but will provide RCS members with the most powerful record keeping and practice management system available to chiropractic.