Practice Management

Applying the Golden Metric when creating a budget and increasing your profits

I am sure we are all familiar with stress because I do not think you can become an OD without dealing with a large amount of it. In case you are not aware, stress is good in short doses. But large daily doses over years is bad.

Ever feel like you were on a sinking ship? Sometimes you want to be the one to jump off!

You’ve probably heard the term “hive mentality” before. Many times its meaning does not carry a positive connotation.

In honor of Halloween, you’re getting an updated batch of staff horror stories.

Here are a couple of tips our practice uses to celebrate the Halloween fun safely and successfully.

Dress for success. We’ve heard this tired old cliché for years. Most offices have a written dress code for staff, but does that dress code also apply to the doctors?

One of the hallmarks of a good college football team is to finish strong. That means that as the team heads into the fourth quarter, it needs to close out the game and play all the way to the end.

What do you think it would be like to practice in an environment free of competition? How about having a complete lock on a market?

True success comes from consistently giving attention to every part of the practice, not focusing all of your attention on one area at a time.

As summer winds down and the holidays begin to come into focus, it’s beneficial to take time to reevaluate the goals we set forth months prior. It’s time to take a look at how we’ve progressed in accomplishing them.

The Practice Success Series, brought to you by Wells Fargo Practice Finance, prepares you for the most significant transition you'll make in your career. This eBook is designed for anyone contemplating making a switch.

Check out our favorite optometry memes!

Millennials, also known as Generation Y, can drive Generation Xers and baby boomers crazy. Many Gen Xers and Boomers don’t embrace those young, fresh faces because their approach to life is so foreign.

Summer offers a unique set of challenges for optometry offices.

Where you live can play a big role in how much cash you’re bringing home. Not only does your state affect your scope of practice, it affects your bottom line.

It's raining “eyecare” apps. Just for a second, I’m going to embrace the hate because we can use it to help lead us to a better understanding of the situation and ultimately to a solution. In our technologically enhanced world there seems to be an app for everything-including for eye care.

It is not uncommon to hear a doctor or office manager lament that they are so busy, they can’t get anything done. It is all the daily tasks that keep them from planning, looking ahead, or improving. “It just seems like I am always putting out fires,” is a common way to express this frustration.

At a recent meeting I attended one of the discussions included a quick and brief outline of what is termed SWOT. SWOT stands for Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. The idea here is that a scan of the internal and external environment is an important part of a strategic planning process for any business.

I started my own practice on January 4 -finally-after six years in practice. This decision was hardly a hasty one because I dreamed of having my own practice since the first day of OD school. Like most ODs fresh out of school, however, I was saddled by debt and fear of the unknown.

I like to describe my practice as “concierge like.” We are all familiar with the concept of MD VIP practices. They require patients to pay a flat fee to be part of the practice’s patient base, and, in return, the patient has free access to his physician at any time.

Point-of-care (POC) diagnostic laboratory testing is not common in eye care. This is not due to any lack of clinical need-it is rather the result of a lack of specific tests known to demonstrate diagnostic and/or treatment relevance to the optometrist and a general resistance to adopting new diagnostic technologies.

How can your office avoid spending a lot of staff time on patient vision care plan questions and better ensure that you get paid? We asked optometrists on ODs on Facebook and ODwire how they handle this common problem.

An optometric practice is a business just like any other business where the same rules apply-revenues minus expenses equals profit. Too many times we borrow ideas from mediocre businesses, practices, and people.

A U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, Gaylord Nelson, founded Earth Day in 1970, and it has been celebrated annually since that time on April 22. In 1990, his efforts were revamped to include recycling efforts. This got me thinking-how am I addressing this in my office now, and what can I do better?

The burden of student loan debt is one of the hottest topics in the optometric community. Catherine Dimon, CFP, of Morgan Stanley shared her advice for debt management for young optometrists at Vision Expo East.

Executives from online refraction companies discussed their services during Vision Expo East. Opternative CEO Aaron Dallek; EyeNetra CTO Vitor Pamplona, PhD; and myVisionPOD Founder Hal Wilson shared information about their companies and answered questions from the audience about the future of online refraction.

The medical model can help make your practice more profitable and serve your patients better-a few changes to the way you practice can make a big difference, says Scot Morris, OD, FAAO, during a session at Vision Expo East.