DIAGNOSTIC TECHNOLOGY CAN OPEN DOORS BUT, BEFORE YOU BUY, DO THE MATH

CONSIDER ALICE, an 85-year-old patient with rheumatoid arthritis prescribed hydroxychloroquine sulfate (Plaquenil, Sanofi-Aventis). She is seen by Dr. X, her primary care doctor with whom you have built an interdisciplinary relationship. Dr. X, aware that you have the diagnostic modalities to see patients taking hydroxychloroquine sulfate, refers Alice to your practice for screening and evaluation.

This case is an example of the reciprocal referral relationships of your inter-professional care team. That said, diagnostic modalities require a significant investment. They should not be purchased without due diligence.

Answering questions, such as: Does your practice have enough patients to support the purchase and how long before you pay off the equipment, are crucial inquires.

BREAK-EVEN ANALYSIS

A break-even analysis assists you in determining how many times you need to use the equipment to break-even. For example: Your fixed costs are $65,000 for an OCT. Each time you use it on a patient, you charge a sales price of $90, of which $10 is a commission cost, leaving you with a contribution margin of $80. You would need to acquire an OCT image more than 812 times before you would have covered the fixed costs of the OCT and realized about $73,124 in sales.

TIME LINE FOR PROFIT

From here, determine what is an acceptable amount of time to pay off the equipment before you start to realize a profit. To continue the above example, you would need to see more than five patients a week, based on a 50-work week year, to break even on the equipment in three years. Do you have a patient base that supports this? If not, are you OK with not realizing a profit for a longer period of time? This type of financial analysis helps you decide whether to purchase the equipment. See “Assess your options,” below, for other factors to consider.

EXPAND OPPORTUNITIES

The utilization of ancillary tests help to facilitate more referrals among optometrists and other health care providers. However, the financial decision-making needed to acquire said tests needs to be sound. OM

DR. DEMERITT is an assistant professor at Nova Southeastern University College of Optometry and attending optometrist at The NSU Eye Care Institute. Dr. Demeritt can be contacted directly at EyeOD04@aol.com or dmarlon@nova.edu regarding management and financial consulting.

DR. SHECHTMAN is a professor of optometry at Nova Southeastern University College of Optometry, where she serves as a clinician in the Eye institute. She is also the coordinator of the diabetes and macula service and the director of interdisciplinary education. Dr. Shechtman is a member of ASCO’s Inter-professional Education and Collaborative Practice Committee, a fellow of the AAO and the Optometric Retinal Society (ORS).