Use these tips to increase your percentage-based pay

If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it a thousand times. Doctors, especially newer graduates, are always asking how they can make more money. Between posts on social media and Q&A sessions after I’ve given a practice management presentation, income is a hot topic.

Not surprisingly, the most common question is, “How do I ask for a raise?” While several negotiating techniques could be applied here (and I always encourage ODs to know they’re worth and make sure they’re being paid fairly), optometry has very specific margins of profitability, so, sometimes, a raise isn’t feasible.

So, what can you do to increase your pay if you can’t change the percentage?

KNOW THE NORMS

Associate OD percentage or production-based incomes can vary greatly. I’ve seen appropriately paid ODs range in pay anywhere from 12% to 22%. This is because the amount a practice can afford to pay their associate depends on the practice’s overall profit margin. A practice that operates lean, is well established, has little debt, and is efficient will typically be more profitable and, thus, could pay their asso-ciates a larger percentage. The opposite is true of a debt-heavy practice (e.g., a newer practice, one that has invested in new equipment, etc.), or one that doesn’t keep a tight lid on their profitability. (For additional details, please refer to “Know What You’re Worth,” at bit.ly/NewOD1120 .)

Regardless of the percentage an OD’s contract states, several ways exist to increase your overall take-home pay.

SEE MORE PATIENTS

Seeing more patients is the simplest answer to increasing your production-based income. If you are typically seeing pa-tients every hour, and you increase that to two per hour, you can, in theory, double your income. This scenario may require additional support staff in the optical and finesse with scheduling, but it is doable for most.

Already seeing the maximum number of patients per hour? No problem. There’s still opportunity.

MAKE RECOMMENDATIONS

If a patient mentions difficulties driving at night, discuss the benefits of anti-glare. For your 45+ year-old patients at a computer all day, recommend computer glasses. Let your fashionista contact lens wearer know you have non-prescription designer polarized sunglasses. Offer myopia management to your pediatric population. Dry eye or glaucoma? Schedule a medical visit to follow up.

Let’s put this into actual numbers with a few assumptions:

1. Work an eight-hour day, five days a week.
2. See two patients per hour.
3. The schedule is mostly (90%) full.
4. Two weeks of vacation.

By increasing the practice’s average revenue per patient by just $75 — easy to do by considering any of the above suggestions — that would reflect $32,400 for those with a 12% production rate and $59,400 for those with a 22% rate.

THE ANSWER IS YOU

What changes will you make in moving forward? OM

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DR. O’BRIEN is the owner and optometrist at Denver Eye Care & Eyewear Gallery in Denver, NC. She is heavily involved with student programming through private practice clubs and the Vision Source NEXT program, and works with iCare Advisors as a consultant to help others pursue their cold-start private practice dreams.