PEAK HOURS AND FLEXIBLE EMPLOYEES ARE JUST TWO VARIABLES TO CONSIDER

EFFECTIVE SCHEDULING is critical to any practice’s success. (Consider the average transaction per patient, at $80, and a schedule of patients every 15 minutes; this equates to about $320 an hour.)

In corporate optometry, we enjoy an influx of new patients through walk-in traffic. However, this can be an obstacle to managing a schedule.

In corporate or private practice, develop a strategic plan for scheduling to reduce bottleneck effects and increase profitability.

1 IDENTIFY PEAK HOURS

These are typically afternoon, evening and weekend hours. For example, Tuesdays to Thursdays 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturdays 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. These hours have the potential to bring in more revenue than others (due to volume).

It is also a good idea to consult with the optical to determine the days and times with highest sales per hour. These could be different than your peak hours. For example, optical staff usually has more on the clock in the afternoon. In addition, a corporate optical may advertise certain weeks more than others; having this information can help you prepare for consumer traffic.

2 SCHEDULE A SECOND O.D.

During peak hours, this double coverage has the benefit of reducing patient bottlenecks and improving customer service by decreasing wait time. If you are booked two weeks out, consider adding an associate. The associate could be expected to see 20 patients a day.

3 DESIGNATE SLOTS FOR APPOINTMENT TYPES

Schedule patient recalls and visits that take up more chair time, such as complex exams and specialty testing or services, for non-peak hours to preclude patient wait times.

(Bonus tip: Try to schedule appointments that involve more time with the tech during the doctor’s lunch break, such as contact lens instruction, VF and OCT. For example, if the doctor’s lunch break is from noon to 1 p.m., schedule an appointment at 12:30 p.m., and when the doctor returns, he or she can review the results. New appointments may start at 12:45, so pre-testing is done upon the doctor’s return.)

4 TRIAGE WALK-IN PATIENTS

A corporate optometry office can see eight to 10 walk-in appointments during the week. (This can result in an additional $800.) Provide access to an eye exam in a timely manner by training your staff to manage walk ins by getting the appropriate information, for example.

In addition, teach your staff to pre-test to reduce this as a potential back-up point.

5 PERFORM SAME-DAY TESTING

Maximize your time with same-day testing. This is effective, especially if your schedule is booked out more than one week ahead, to maintain the patient’s attention. Putting him or her off to another appointment could lead to the patient feeling inconvenienced and, perhaps, lead to a no show. Therefore, it is in the best interest of your patient’s health as well.

For example, if, following an exam, a patient is a glaucoma suspect, it is beneficial to perform VF and retinal photography on the same visit to determine whether the patient is at high or low risk of developing the disease. The doctor may then follow up in one year or sooner, depending on those findings.

6 CROSS-TRAIN STAFF

This will enable staff to help with pre-testing and other services to reduce the time the patient is in your office. As a result, cross training also will increase your patient satisfaction and income per hour.

Additional perks to cross training: flexibility to schedule staff members at different times and, potentially, cut back on payroll and boost efficiency to assign a variety of tasks during down time/prep time.

7 REDUCE NO SHOWS

If your office has a high no-show rate, evaluate your staff’s recall habits. Ensure that your patients know the difference between a routine and medical eye exam, and that your staff is calling patients a week from their appointment times. Patients should be contacted again a day before their appointments.

Also, develop a system to fill open slots, for example via walk-ins, moving up patients’ annual appointments or developing a wait list for appointments. This list can be navigated with availability in the schedule. OM

DR. SAMPALIS, is the owner of Sampalis Eyecare in Warwick R.I. and affiliated with Sears Optical. Dr Sampalis is a practice management consultant, the founder of Corporate Optometry on Facebook and founder of corporateoptometrycareers.com and corporateoptometry.com . She can be reached at msampalis@hotmail.com. To comment, visit tinyurl.com/OMComment .