Practice Management

Knowledge is Power: 3 ODs on How To Optimize a New Analytics Tool

Sponsored Content

By Howard Day, OD,
Clint Taylor, OD
and Steve Vargo, OD, MBA

Feb. 27, 2019

Information is power. The more you know about your practice, and needed areas of improvement, the more chance you have to make adjustments, better serve patients and become more profitable.

A new dashboard tool, IDOC Insider, offers practices a chance to access in-depth analytics, customized to each practice’s specific business needs. Offered to IDOC members at no additional cost, IDOC Insider combines state-of-the-art analytics technology and dashboards with customized, metrics-driven business recommendations and incentives based on individual practice data.

The technology, designed to measure and report business performance in real-time detail, is powered by EDGEPro by GPN Technologies, a provider of data and analytics software for the eyecare industry. Here are insights on this new tool from two ODs in practice, and another OD, who is an IDOC optometric management consultant.

What Key Information is IDOC Insider Providing Your Practice?
Howard Day, OD: “IDOC Insider brings to light all key financial areas of my practice on one dashboard. It specifically breaks out my gross collections into the clinic and optical and then drills down to frame, lenses and contact lenses. With a few clicks, I can compare all this data to other practices around the country to see where I’m doing well and where I can improve. This is extremely valuable information in helping me run my practice. This is so much better than calling other doctors and asking: ‘Hey, my practice is slow, how about yours?'”

Clint Taylor, OD: “IDOC Insider consists of dashboards that enable us to gauge practice performance in key areas. At a glance, we can see clinic and optical revenue performance compared to the same month of the prior year. Other key metrics, including frame, lens and contact lens sales, are at our fingertips. Finally, certain other key metrics are shown in comparison to all IDOC members, so we can see how we are performing compared to our peers.”

Steve Vargo, OD (IDOC executive): “IDOC Insider is a complimentary suite of services available to all IDOC members. This service includes My IDOC Insider dashboards (powered by EdgePro), insights and recommendations, and targeted promotional incentives to drive practice improvement.”

How Will You Use the Information to Improve Patient Care & Business Performance?
Dr. Day: “The numbers don’t lie. We can do a better job on the average frame sale. Our goal is to improve our average frame sale by 10 percent. This will require training of optical staff and improving the hand-off in the exam lane.

By having these numbers easily accessible, and comparable to other practices, we can better work toward our goals. For example, we can easily compare and track our new patient and established patient exam numbers. Already, we have planned an after-hours training session on multi-focal contact lens fitting techniques for my associate doctors and techs.”

Dr. Taylor: “I foresee us going over the data presented by IDOC Insider at our regular staff meetings. I think the program will help us see the big picture of practice performance and will also help us set specific goals for frame, lens and contact lens sales. We have always used data and metrics to stimulate practice growth.

We go ‘inside the numbers’ at our regular staff meetings – setting goals, tracking the numbers, then discussing how we can better reach our goals. IDOC Insider will make the data more accessible, and will provide us data we wouldn’t be able to get otherwise. We plan on pulling the dashboards up during staff meetings to stimulate conversations about how we can improve.”

How Will You Use Information from IDOC Insider to Make Business Decisions?
Dr. Vargo: “IDOC Insider provides quick access and easy-to-read metrics, allowing our members to make informed business decisions. With Insider, you can stay fully informed about your practice performance with a multitude of dashboards (practice rankings, practice summary, contact lens business, frame business and ophthalmic lens business), gain data-driven strategies and actionable solutions customized to your business needs, and spot business trends and opportunities that will drive profitability and practice growth.”

Dr. Day: “The IDOC practice consultants have access to my key practice numbers. Again, numbers don’t lie, and talk is cheap. The consultants, along with my vendor partners, can customize plans of action and incentives to improve specific areas of my practice. We have specific plans to improve our multi-focal contact lens and average frame sales. We can also target improvement for specific frame companies to enhance our rebates, as well.”

Dr. Taylor: “Being in a profession with both clinic and optical components, it’s important to compare the two and make sure they’re both healthy. For my practice, about half of our revenue comes from the clinic and half comes from the optical. So, if I look at IDOC Insider and see that the optical side is vastly outperforming the clinical side, we’ll celebrate the performance of the optical and investigate why our clinic is lagging behind.

To be able to compete in today’s optometric environment, practices have to be efficient, and they have to offer quality products. IDOC Insider will enable me to share information with my staff that will help us to hold each other accountable, and that will enable us to celebrate success together.”

>Click HERE to Learn More About IDOC Insider>> 

 

Howard Day, OD, is co-owner of Day Eye Care in Gardendale, Ala., a one-location practice with two OD-owners, three associate ODs. The practice provides about 9,500 comprehensive eye exams annually. To contact him: howardrday@gmail.com

 

 

 

Clint Taylor, OD, is the owner of Taylor Eye Care in Carmi, Ill., a one-OD, one-location practice with seven support-staff members that delivers about 2,700 comprehensive eye exams annually. To contact him: eyedoctaylor@yahoo.com

 

 

 

 

Steve Vargo, OD, MBA, is an IDOC practice management consultant. To contact him: SVargo@idoc.net

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