For almost 15 years I have attended practice management courses on working smarter not harder. I would hear what these courses were preaching, but also thought I needed to see as many patients as I could fit into my schedule to make my private practice, which I opened from scratch in 2003, successful. Teetering on practice burnout and in recognizing how my stellar employees could play a significant role in increasing my practice’s revenue, I created staff participation in my practice’s revenue. This required me to switch from verbally sharing with staff at intermittent meetings those numbers that tracked frame sales and revenue per refraction, among other items tied to the practice’s finances, to requiring the staff’s ownership in the numbers.

Here, I explain, how, specifically, I went about this and the results thus far.

1 I ASSIGNED GOALS PER TEAM

I knew that I wanted the practice’s revenue to be based on growth from prior years. Next, I worked backwards to determine the percentage of revenue that comes from each portion of my practice, for instance, 60% typically comes from the optical. I assigned goals, based on those percentages, per team, such as optical staff. One example of a specific goal: to increase sunglass sales.

My next course of action was to establish specific action steps per goal to increase the likelihood of achieving them. To arrive at these action steps, I held a staff meeting, during which everyone was invited to provide their input on the steps they’ve personally found successful or read about.

In using the example of increasing sunglass sales, the determined action step was to plant the seed about the importance of sunwear at various patient touchpoints throughout the practice. This is because research shows hearing about something multiple times can garner buy-in.

So, when a staff member confirms appointments, she either verbally asks patients to bring their sunglasses with them, or she sends this message in a text. When a staff member sees patients in pre-testing, she asks whether patients have their sunglasses with them. When patients enter the exam room, I ask them for their sunglasses and then check, in front of them, whether their shades are polarized and then educate patients on the importance of that lens feature. Or, if the patient doesn’t have a pair of sunglasses, I inform them of the importance of protecting their eyes from the sun’s rays. Finally, the optician mentions sunwear.

As a means of motivating staff to ask whether the patient brought their sunwear, we created Bingo cards on which each staff member can fill in their card after doing so. If that patient ends up purchasing sunwear, the staff member who gets a blackout on her Bingo card receives a $25 dollar gift card to the local place of her choosing.

2 I CREATED AN INCENTIVE PLAN

I incentivize team leaders on some (not all) of the numbers they are responsible for tracking. Examples of markers a staff member may receive a bonus on are:

• Second pairs. A total of $25 for each multiple pair
• Keeping insurance AR < 22 days. A total of $50 monthly
• Keeping patient AR < 10 days. A total of $50 monthly
• Contact lens annual supply > 80%. A total of $50 monthly
• Meeting goal for number of exams. A total of $25 weekly
• Pre-appointing > 65% of exams. A total of $50 monthly

Team leaders have a life-size, fill-in thermometer to keep them motivated. I always try to remember that my practice is nothing without a well-motivated and happy team!

3 I REQUESTED PERSONAL TRACKING

I have seven team leaders, including myself, so each of us is responsible for tracking anywhere from three to 11 of 40 different markers via a cloud-based spreadsheet-database program. (The program allows for one location for data storage, creating easy access and facilitating review.)

4 I SET UP WEEKLY MEETINGS

The clinic opens an hour later every Wednesday, so we can go over all the numbers from the prior week and discuss new action steps.

In going through these metrics, everyone realizes that the numbers they’re responsible for have a direct effect on the numbers for which others are responsible. For instance, if the patient coordinator doesn’t achieve the goal of getting a specific number of exams scheduled, that decreases the ability of the optician to reach her goal.

Incidentally, the practice has gone from selling two to three sunglasses per week to 14 to 15.

THE RESULTS

In addition to an increase in sunglass sales, revenue from exams increased 27% from 2015 to 2019. In 2020, I did half the number of exams vs. 2015 (in part thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic). This let me see that I could spread patient exam times, spend more time with patients and be less stressed. The year-end average was a 73% increase vs. 2015.

I expect a lot from my team members, but they also get rewarded for their hard work. If we meet the practice revenue goal for this year, I told staff I am taking them on a five-day, all expenses paid trip to Mexico! OM

DR. WEISS owns Weiss Eyecare Clinic, in Watertown, SD. Her specialties include routine eye care, specialty contact lenses, pediatrics, foreign body removals, glaucoma management and dry eye treatments.