Practice Transitions

Practice Booster Shot: Selling to MyEyeDr.

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By Andy Cook, OD

March 28, 2018

When I had come to realize that I was no longer doing what I truly loved, I knew I needed to look at options for managing my practice differently. I needed to reconnect with patients, their vision health and care. And, I also needed to think about my future, financially as well as the responsibilities of ownership. Four years ago, after careful consideration, I found the right answer for my patients, my staff, my family, and myself, in MyEyeDr. I knew that this was the right partner because MyEyeDr. presented me with a number of options that allowed me to customize a post-sale life I was dreaming of.

Three Pillars Driving Exceptional Patient Experience:
1. Healthcare
The foundation of the approach to patient care that MyEyeDr. offers is based on three core pillars: practice management, retail and healthcare. MyEyeDr. is doctor-driven, and this is most evident when they aim to remove key pain points for the independent practice owner. I can spend more time with my patients reviewing health history and lifestyle needs, getting to know each patient better, and the services and products they most want. My vision care practice is consistent with how I practiced before, I just have more time to do it. I am supported in this by the implementation of sophisticated electronic management of health records, and other practice-facilitating technology, provided by MyEyeDr., which expedites and smooths my patient’s time in our office.

2. Practice Management
I audibly released a big sigh of relief when I began to realize the robust practice management platform that MyEyeDr. uses to support the practices. It includes a full suite of technological solutions aimed at delivering back-of-the-house solutions, automation of key functions and compliant record keeping. Accounting, insurance plan management, billing and claims, patient recall and scheduling, HRIS and payroll, and a multitude of other functions, were taking me away from delivering patient care and taking up more and more of my down time.

Haven’t you ever wanted to implement a robust recall program; or how about deploy digital campaigns from paid search to display advertising on Facebook. All those types of initiatives that we thought about for years, but lacked the time, knowledge, partners or resources to put into work. At MyEyeDr., the efforts we expend on retaining patients are pretty substantial; we continually register improved frequency of our patients outpacing the industry. Patient communications are activated across a number of different modalities to drive appointments, reminders and confirmations.

With our powerful patient recall platform, and our patient flow staying strong, and growing, we reap the rewards of that steady patient flow with an improved billing system. In the past, we had to take care of the billing process ourselves, or with an outside partner we found and oversaw ourselves. Now, we never have to think about the process beyond the doctor’s coding entry. Our staff that used to spend time overseeing an inefficient and narrow billing process now can devote time to better serving patients, helping out in other areas of the practice, whether that be in the optical, front desk, or as technicians.

3. Retail: Optical Management + Patient Experience
Another facet of practice management that used to take up a significant amount of my time was frame and contact lens inventory. Now, MyEyeDr. manages all purchases for the practice. MyEyeDr. has the indispensable demographic and psychographic knowledge that is used to build buy plans by office. Inputs like, which frame lines that have a record of selling best, or identifying new trends that will work for our local market, are placed on our behalf, and continually monitored for performance so that our inventory does not get old and stale.
Similarly, MyEyeDr. has contact lens inventory management services that free me from worrying that my patients won’t have the contact lenses they need at their appointments. The contact lens business specialists from MyEyeDr. are able to look at our prescribing patterns, and choose a contact lens inventory that works for us.

In addition to products, we have broadened the insurance acceptance at our office; enabling us to see and assist more patients. All of these elements add up to a higher capture rate than I could have ever achieved earlier.

More Time to Be the Doctor You Want to Be
The practice and optical management capabilities deployed by MyEyeDr. are impressive; but what’s more impressive is the added time I now have to be a better doctor.

Not only do I feel better than ever about the care I provide to patients; my own quality of life has vastly improved. I used to spend nights and weekends on such administrative duties as recruiting new staff, maintaining our financial records, and double-checking our billing process. Now I have that time free to do everything that matters most to me in life, from spending time with my family, to volunteering in my church, or taking a leadership role in optometric organizations like SECO.

The MyEyeDr. philosophy is flexible in partnering with doctors whatever their motivations in their individual transition. For some doctors, that might mean swiftly phasing out of their practice and for others, like myself, it means finding a better work-life balance, where I can focus on my true passion, patient care.

Sometimes going it on your own makes sense, but for some of us, the time becomes right to do better by our patients and ourselves by finding the right partner. I feel lucky that I found a company I could sell to without regret, and which is making the transition from practice owner to employed doctor seamless and rewarding.

 

Andy Cook, OD, is a doctor in a MyEyeDr practice in Garner, NC. To contact him: Acook@myeyedr.com

 

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