Staffing: The Key Issue in All Practices
By ROB Editors
When optometrists are asked what is the biggest challenge they face in running a successful practice, one issue comes to the fore again and again: staffing.
Hiring staff is a complex and sensitive task that requires training–both in practical aspects of interviewing and in legal concerns in checking backgrounds.
What ODs Need to Know About the Science of Finding—and Keeping—Good Staff
By Daniel Abramson
Optometrists tend to think there is not much to hiring office staff: a few minutes meeting a person, then they can go back to seeing patients.
That is a recipe for having no idea if a new hire is suitable or if there will be problems with a new hire and other staff members. It is not a recipe for success.
Even more troubling, optometrists tend to think they know how to hire.
Staffing: Hours Worked and Compensation, by Practice Revenues
By Thomas F. Steiner
Since 2005 the Management & Business Academy™ (MBA), sponsored by CIBA VISION and Essilor, has collected financial and productivity data from eye care practitioners participating in the program. At present, data are collected from more than 1,200 established, independent optometric practices in the U.S. From this extensive database, the following normative data on staffing levels and compensation are derived.
Setting a Pricing Strategy That Defines Your Practice
By ROB Editors
In your pricing strategy, are contact lenses a lost leader–or a profit center?
How you present your pricing structure for contact lens prescribing–and how your entire staff presents and reinforces a clear messages about it–is a key element in defining your practice as a whole.test
If you present your pricing as competitive with the lowest consumer-direct option, what message does this send to your patients? Ask yourself if you want contact lenses to be a loss leader for other services–or …
WhereIs the Money in Ocular Surface Disease? In Your Exam Chair!
By Scot Morris, OD, FAAO
Here are the real business facts about ocular surface disease:
- Millions of people suffer from one form of OSD or another.
- Many of these people are in your chair every day.
- If you don’t treat them, someone else will.
As the marketplace becomes more competitive, we need to set ourselves apart. We need to find ways to bring in new patients for little cost and increase revenue per patient without involving costly external marketing efforts.
A Brief Primer to Electronic Prescribing (eRx)
By Neil A. Pence, OD, FAAO
As a part of the effort to encourage the use of electronic health records, the use of e-prescribing for medication prescriptions is being strongly encouraged. If a qualified system is used, there is an incentive program for Medicare patients. If the incentives are met, the payment from all allowable Medicare Part B charges for the year will be increased by 2 percent in 2010; 1 percent in 2011 and 2012; and 0.5 percent in 2013. Penalties will begin in 2012 for those not adopting eRx; they will see their amounts decreased by 1 percent in 2012; 1.5 percent in 2013; and 2 percent in 2014 and years after.
Patient Compliance with Soft Lens Replacement Schedules
Sponsored by CIBA VISION®
A 2009 study conducted by the Centre for Contact Lens Research at the School of Optometry at the University of Waterloo (CCLR) provides new definitive evidence about low rates of compliance of two-week replacement lens patients with replacement schedules recommended by manufacturers and ECPs.
Participants in the large study included 1,654 patients of 158 U.S. practices, including 265 daily disposable lens wearers, 741 wearers of two-week replacement silicone hydrogel lenses and 648 wearers of monthly replacement silicone hydrogel lenses. Lens brands worn by patients in the sample included those of all the major manufacturers and the distribution of brands worn approximates the U.S. market shares of the lenses. The demographic and lens wearing habits of patients in the study sample mirror those of all U.S. soft lens wearers.
Beyond Paperless: Harnessing the Value of Integrated Technology Throughout the Practice
Sponsored by Eyefinity / OfficeMate
Efficiencies generate cycle of higher quality, greater patient satisfaction, and enhanced profitability
It’s time to graduate beyond a paperless practice. Simply converting paper charts to electronic charts is handy and ensures better and more complete documentation, but there’s much more that an electronic health record (EHR) can do. Take your practice to a higher level with fully integrated practice software technology. Software technology can make a practice more efficient and profitable, and the higher quality that results from this integrated approach will impact patient satisfaction positively.
