THE CEO CHECKLIST

CLOSE OUT 2016

SCOT MORRIS, O.D.

CHECKLIST: BUSINESS PLANNING

STRATEGY SESSION:
    Year-end financial report ¹



WORKFLOW:
    Billing ²



FINANCE:
    Annual fee review ³
    2017 budget plan ⁴



THE SERVICE SIDE
    Blepharitis ⁵



STAFF TRAINING
    Sales ⁶



THE FACILITY/FORMS:
    Record release ⁷

1 Create a year-end financial report. Compare it with last year’s (if you have one). Compare it with your budget for this year. Make notes in the margins of what the business did well and where it could improve. This will be the foundation of your financial planning and overall goal setting for the coming year. Take 2 hours.

2 Ask your billing personnel to enumerate the processes they go through to file a claim with each of your major managed care plans. Instruct them write it out step-by-step and include any exceptions, passwords, user names, etc. This will be the training guide for anyone else to step in and do it if your billing people are sick and/or leave. Take 60 minutes.

3 It is time to spend 30 to 60 minutes reviewing your fees. First review your 99 and diagnostic procedures fees. Are your fees at least 20% greater than Medicare? They should be. Next, look at your 92 and S code exams. Call a few of your local competitors and find out what their fees are. Do you want to be above, below or in the same range as them? Adjust your fees accordingly. Next, look at your contact lens fitting fees. Do they need to be increased? Repeat for your contact lens box fees.

4 Review and revaluate each month of this year’s (2016) profit and loss statement. This is the foundation and basis of the 2017 budget. Make notes if there were any unusual or unexpected increases in revenue or expenses. Where do you want to improve revenue or decrease expenses? These are the goals and objectives that you will need to work on for 2017. Take 1 hour.

5 What is your protocol for examining a patient who has blepharitis (anterior, posterior and seborrheic)? What should or must you document? Who do you send this documentation too? Write down and share it with your office. Take 1 hour.

6 December is a great time to spend 30 to 60 minutes talking about sales with the staff. Sales is not a bad thing. It is what we do to provide the necessary services or products that our health care consumers (i.e. patients) need to see, look and feel their best. Review YouTube videos; take a Udemy (an online training portal) course; bring in an outside sales consultant.

7 Time to review your records release form. Is all of the information correct? Take 10 minutes. OM