New This Week
Keep Your Staff Engaged and Motivated
Kirk Smick, OD, of Clayton Eye Center in Morrow and Griffin, Ga., keeps his staff of 104 full-time and 11 part-time employees motivated through empowerment and education. He names key staffers as supervisors, asks for their feedback at departmental meetings, and invests in their education by sending them to Vision Expo, SECO and the annual AOA meeting. Dr. Smick’s staff is diverse and speaks languages ranging from Spanish to Vietnamese, making them invaluable in communicating with the practices’ many non-English speaking patients. >>READ MORE>>
Doctor-Patient Relations
Know Your Patient’s FORDs to Learn What Motivates Patient Purchases
By Jason Schmit, OD
Apply the FORDs method and ask about Family, Occupation, Recreation and Dreams. The answers to your questions reveal the emotional reasons behind patient visits and eyewear purchases. >>READ MORE>>
Frames
Right-Size Your Dispensary with Multiple Opticians
By Oliver Lou, OD
Maximize dispensary profitability by hiring a second–or even third–optician. You will efficiently process more orders for eyeglasses and improve patient service. >>READ MORE>>
Marketing
Calculate Cost of Taking Patient from Knowing You…to Referring You
By Michael Karlsrud
There are seven steps in taking a prospective patient from awareness of your practice to becoming a loyal patient who refers you to friends and family. Each step has a distinct cost–and calculating that cost enables you to budget and fine-tune your marketing efforts. >>READ MORE>>
Most Consumers Wait a Week for Appointment with OD
Some 31.3 percent of consumers wait a week for an appointment after calling their eye doctor’s office to schedule, while 25.1 percent are able to be seen two to three days later. Some 16.1 percent must wait longer than two weeks, while 14.1 percent typically can be seen in about two weeks and 13.4 percent can usually be seen the same day they call for an appointment or the next day.
Click HERE to read more from Review of Optometric Business professional editors Carole Burns, OD, FCOVD, and Mark Wright, OD, FCOVD, on how best to manage patient backlog.
OD Excellence Announces 2012 Conference Dates
The OD Excellence National Conference for 2012 will be held in San Diego, Calif., at the Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel on July 26-28. This year’s focus: Develop YOUR Possibilities. The OD Excellence National Conference brings the leaders in the optometric, optical and ophthalmological community together for presentations and discussions with some of the nation’s most recognized speakers in the optometric profession. Also featured are two hours of coaching opportunities with leading consultants, and in the exhibit hall, there will be 70 OD Excellence vendors and alliance partners that will offer hands-on demos covering the latest technologies and solutions. >>READ MORE>>
Eyecom3 Receives 2011/2012 ONC-ATCB Certification
Eyecom3, a division of HealthLine Systems, Inc., has received the federal government’s “meaningful use” stamp of approval by earning complete EHR Ambulatory certification. The designation officially deems the electronic health record (EHR) software capable of enabling providers to qualify for funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). >>READ MORE>>
Reminder: Alert Patients to Flex-Spending Opportunity to Purchase EyewearYour patients’ flex-spending dollars need to be used by the end of the year, or else they will lose these funds which are part of their vision plan benefit. Think about how you will incorporate a flex-spending message for patients into your advertising. You could put a sign in your storefront, a message on your web site, Facebook page or Yelp page. Or, better yet, come up with a promotion, such as a specialized discount, to encourage patients to use what remains of their flex-spending account to purchase new eyewear from you.
Calling all Readers: Send Us Photos of Your Holiday Optical Displays
Review of Optometric Business editors are interested in how you are decorating your optical this holiday season. Please send us photos of your optometric nutcrackers, garland, silver bells, roasting chestnuts and any other holiday decorating flourishes adorning your dispensary or storefront windows. The top photos will be published in ROB’s special Dec. 20/Dec. 27 double issue. Doctors with top optical window decorations will be acknowledged and asked to serve as 2013 contributing authors to ROB. Send all submissions to mweinstein@jobson.com by Friday, Dec. 16.
ROB Poll
Most Desired Pre-Testing Improvement:
Additional Technician
Asked about their most desired pre-testing improvement, 35 percent of ROB readers cited an additional technician to speed up the pre-testing process. Twenty-four percent would like to add new instrumentation. Eighteen percent said they would like to add more educational technician-patient discussion of the pre-testing process, while another 18 percent would like to add a second pre-testing area. Six percent would like to include more discussion between doctor and patient about pre-testing results.