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TIPS, TRENDS & NEWS YOU CAN USE

YOU CAN STILL BRING HOME A WIN

Consultants Reveal Last-Minute 2014 Revenue Boosters

With the clock ticking on the 4th quarter of your practice’s fiscal year, are you in position to bring home a financial win, or is your practice in more of a 4th and long situation?

Here, three practice management gurus offer last-minute advice to help you meet or exceed your 2014 practice revenue goal.

Offer year-end rewards to staff

Offer staff a stretch bonus for November and December if a specific goal is achieved, suggests Scott Daniels of Practice Concepts.

“Make sure the goal and the reward is clearly defined and specific, such as ‘increase revenue $10,000 over the revenue last December and get a $500 bonus,’ he explains. “Then, focus everyone on a specific action plan to achieve that goal.”

Implement what you learn from CE

A number of optometrists are attending CE between now and the end of the year. Instead of solely focusing on getting your credits, immediately implement what you learn when you return to your practice, suggests Gilan Cockrell, O.D., Williams Group executive vice president of strategy.

“Write down the names of patients who may be positively impacted by what you learn, and invite those patients for an office visit when you return to discuss that new technology, treatment plan, etc.,” he explains. “These patients will be impressed that you thought of them even though they weren’t in your exam room, and you’ll seen an increase in office visits.”

Review your P&L statement/monthly service accounts

Take a look at your profit and loss statement. This helps in tax planning for the year and avoiding higher taxes if profits are high, explains Mr. Daniels.

“Tax strategies to help reduce the amount of taxes you pay include prepaying expenses, purchasing equipment before year’s end, capital improvements, etc.,” he says. “It must be done and paid before December 31st.”

Also, go over your monthly service contracts, as they can “creep higher,” especially if they’re paid via credit card or automated clearing house, Mr. Daniels suggests.

“Go back and re-negotiate or cancel any services that you really don’t need,” he recommends.

Remind patients of their flexible spending accounts

Many of these benefit plans are “use it, or lose it,” explains Neil Gailmard, O.D., M.B.A., F.A.A.O., president of Prima Eye Group.

“Eyecare and optical products qualify, so you want to advise patients that some managed care benefit programs reset benefits on the calendar year,” he explains.

Dr. Cockrell agrees.

“Making patients aware of health savings accounts or flex accounts is a great way to boost revenue at the last minute,” he says.

Free up your cash

Perform a physical count of your inventory (frames and contact lenses), and exchange or sell old inventory at a discount to free up your cash, recommends Mr. Daniels.

“Old or stale inventory is a cash sponge,” he says. “If your inventory level is more than 10% of your annual gross then you might have too much in stock.”

Capitalize on the holiday

Dr. Gailmard suggests you promote the idea of optical products, such as plano sunglasses, as holiday gifts: Let patients know you have gift certificates or gift cards available (consider giving 10% off on gift cards from your office); remind college kids (and their parents) to get an eye exam while home for the holiday break; and host a holiday open house and frame fashion show.

“Stay open late one night, and have a special frame sale. Have holiday food and drink, raffle off prizes, play holiday music, etc.,” he explains.

Alcon Releases Eye Disease Stats and Patient Materials

Novartis, The European Forum Against Blindness and Deloitte Access Economics have conducted “The Cost and Burden of Eye Diseases and Preventable Blindness” study.

The study’s results show that more than 350,000 life years are lost from cataracts, diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma and wet AMD — the top four eye diseases — equating to more than 123 million lost workdays annually. Also, more than 285 million people are vision impaired or blind, but greater than 90% of vision issues can be prevented, treated or cured with access to eye care.

To help patients take care of their ocular health and vision, Alcon, a division of Novartis, has created materials at www.alcon.com/worldsightday.

J&J Vision Care Announce Eye-Enhancing Lens

At press time, Johnson & Johnson Vision Care Inc. has launched 1-DAY ACUVUE DEFINE Brand Contact Lenses with Lacreon technology, which enhance the natural beauty of one’s eyes, the company says.

The lenses, available in Natural Sparkle, Natural Shimmer and Natural Shine, combine an outer dark limbal ring and an inner translucent light-effects pattern to provide wearers with greater eye definition through contrast between the iris and sclera and depth and definition, respectively, the company says.

The lenses are available to a limited number of private practices, with expanded availability planned in the first half of 2015.

Glaucoma Screening App May Benefit Patients Who Lack Access to Eye Care

The free Visual Fields Easy app, which mimics a visual field test on a first generation iPad and lasts a little more than three minutes, can be an effective initial tool for screening high-risk glaucoma groups, such as the elderly and Black or Hispanic individuals, who lack access to eye care, reveals a study released at the 118th annual meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

In remote areas, we rely on limited portable diagnostic equipment, such as a handheld tonometer, direct and binocular indirect opthalmoscopy to aid in making diagnosis,” says Andre Lenoir, O.D., who practices in Lithonia, Ga., and has been on nine missionary trips to Central America since 2000. “It would be extremely helpful to have the app as an additional tool to aid in diagnosing glaucoma in areas, such as Jamaica, that have a higher than incidence of glaucoma.”

Researchers from several U.S. academic institutions used the free app to screen 200 patients in Nepal for the blinding disease. Half of the 400 eyes were healthy “control” eyes, while the remaining half had glaucoma.

A comparison between the screening results and the Humphrey SITA Standard 24-2 results revealed the two glaucoma detection methods agreed between 51% and 79% of the time, with the strongest agreement in moderate and advanced visual loss patients. The researchers say they attribute the decrease in agreement in mild visual field loss patients to a high false positive rate for the normal controls.

O.D. Notebook