ANALYZE THE TENETS OF OPTOMETRICS, AND DETERMINE WHAT’S BEST FOR YOU

OUR INDUSTRY has no lack of advice, consultants, “know-how” and general tenets that we are told to abide by. Most of this advice is based on sound research and study, and it is certainly put to practice and tested regularly. However, this year in my practice, I observed that I challenged — nay, I outright contradicted — several idioms of optometric wisdom and it was the right move. It paid off in my practice, including in my merchandising operations. Observe:

TENET #1: YOUR OFFICE IS MOST LIKELY UNDER STAFFED

This year, I had two part-time staffers who left the office. The departure of the first was of her own volition, and, although disappointing at the time, I decided not to run out to hire someone to replace her. I had been suspicious of some redundancies of her duties, and I observed after her departure that my staff was actually more efficient without her contributions. This initial incident gave me the confidence to fire the second part-time staff member six months later. Again, her departure did not seem to be detrimental to our staff’s workflow, and it allowed other staff members to step up their performance.

Perhaps another factor: Both of these staff members were the weakest in regard to cross-training abilities and initiative.

Take home: You may be under-staffed, but perhaps it’s more likely your staff is under utilized.

TENET #2: WHEN YOU INCREASE EFFICIENCIES, YOU SHOULD INCREASE THE NUMBER OF EXAMS YOU SEE PER DAY

I love technology, especially when it leverages my and my staff’s time. By incorporating some new instrumentation, we changed our exam flow to allow for more exams per day. The more patients you see, the better, right? Well, we found that my time in educating patients regarding our higher level services was being compromised because, whoops, I was hurrying to the next exam.

Fast-forward a few months: We decreased the number of exams my associate and I saw every day, and we found our financial production and profitability was much greater.

Take home: Just because you can see more patients per day, doesn’t mean you should.

TENET #3: SCRIBES CAN ELEVATE YOUR PATIENT FLOW AND EXPERIENCE

I really liked this idea in theory, but in practice, it didn’t work for my office. What worked for me was to utilize my EHR and prepare staff.

Specifically, after my patients are pre-tested, the tech places them in rooms and inputs the data and leaves as I enter. As I’m having an initial conversation with the patient, my tech is pulling previous test data, or normative data, for new patients. As I digitally refract, I’m pulling forward codes and am free typing as well for custom notes.

By the time I’m done examining, educating and paging for an optician, I only have a couple of sentences left to type. Because I’m adept at managing my EHR and entering data, no scribe needed.

Take home: Scribes are a great addition for many, but you may just be your own best note taker.

DETERMINE WHAT’S BEST

I think we all need to heed advice, respect the knowledge of those who’ve been there before us, but also make it our jobs to actively analyze what is best for each of us, every time. We may surprise ourselves. OM

DR. WESLEY practices at Complete Eye Care of Medina, a Vision Source practice, which she opened in 2008. She was honored as Minnesota’s Optometrist of the Year in 2011. Email her at drwesley@cecofmedina.com.