THE CEO CHECKLIST

PREPARE FOR OSD

SCOT MORRIS, O.D.

WELCOME TO “The CEO Checklist,” which is designed to be a monthly reminder of things your management staff may need to do, as well as a place for ideas you might want to incorporate into your business. Each month will focus on a few general themes, including strategy, finance, human resources, operational workflow, retail items and marketing ■

CHECKLIST: OCULAR SURFACE DISEASE ¹

STRATEGY SESSION: Medical services ²

WORKFLOW: Provider ³

FINANCE: Mid-year financial review ⁴ File estimated income taxes

THE SERVICE SIDE: DRY EYE/ALLERGY Review your current protocols ⁵

THE RETAIL SIDE: INVENTORY CONTROL Frame assessment ⁶

HUMAN RESOURCES: Quarterly payroll report filing ⁷

STAFF TRAINING HIPAA ⁸

THE FACILITY/FORMS: Monthly chart review ⁹

1 This month, talk to every patient about ocular surface disease (OSD). You can ask three simple questions to start the conversation: Does your vision ever fluctuate? If so, does it get better when you blink? Are your eyes ever red? Takes less than 60 seconds.

2 How much of your practice is medically oriented? Since we know dry eye disease (DED) affects around 40% and allergies 20% to 30% of patients, at least 30% to 50% of your patients have an OSD that likely needs addressing. Is 40% or more of your schedule medical visits? If not, why don’t you address OSD? Make an effort to educate patients about the disease and, when necessary, schedule them for appropriate follow-up. Doing so could mean happier patients and tens of thousands of dollars. Take 60 minutes.

3 Measure your door-to-doctor-done (DDD) time. For two clinic days, write what time the patient walks in the front door and what time he or she exits the exam. To shorten this number, write all the steps you, the provider, go through during the exam. Can you cut or streamline anything? Try to save 10 to 15 minutes per patient. Take 60 minutes.

4 Have you looked at your mid-year profit and loss statement? Is your business where you want it to be? Better? If not, make some small changes to “fix” your business, and hit that end-of-year number. Take 60 minutes.

5 What are your protocols regarding mild, moderate and severe DED and allergy? What diagnostic tests are performed? Document how much time you think each will take. Review the correct diagnostic codes and protocols. Take 30 minutes.

6 How many frames does your optical have? Get rid of frames that the optical has had for six months by sale, discount or returning them to the vendor. (If they haven’t sold by now, they won’t!) Take 60 minutes.

7 Check to make sure that your office or a payroll agency has submitted the business quarterly payroll report. Take 15 minutes.

8 Have you given your staff their annual HIPAA update training? If not, you can do it yourself, hire a local expert or even watch much of this on the Internet. Take 30 minutes.

9 Assess patient charts once a month to see how many have OSD. Take 5 minutes. OM

THE NUMBER YOU NEED TO KNOW

MONTH: DRY EYE DISEASE AWARENESS