Making big changes in any business doesn't happen overnight. But, in order to keep your practice rolling full steam ahead, it's important to take a critical look at the things that could be holding your practice back from increased innovation and profits.
Today we want to talk about five things that many successful practices refuse to do so you can think hard about changes you can make in your practice that could have a lasting effect.
5 Things Your Eyecare Practice Should Stop Doing
Spending Time and Money on IT Consultants
For many practices who use a client-server-based optometry software in their practice, it means shelling out cash on IT consultants who help maintain, secure, and update the necessary technology needed to keep your software and data up to par. But with cloud-based software, your practice can let go of the challenges, and costs, associated with maintaining in-house servers. With a cloud-based system, your software vendor takes on the responsibility of storing and managing the system for you.
Letting Fear Guide Decision Making
One of the biggest things that get in the way of eyecare practices making important changes to keep them moving forward is the fear of change. As humans, it's natural to get comfortable in the routine of doing things out of comfort and familiarity. But in business, this can quickly make you fall behind your competition. The decisions that you make, or don't make, will influence the future of your practice and your ability to keep up with industry changes.
Selling Over Educating
Making product sales on frames and lenses is an important piece of the revenue pie for many eyecare practices. And today, consumers have more choices than ever on where to purchase their frames and contacts, making sales in your practice even more challenging. Competing with lower prices and online convenience means your practice needs to educate and make your knowledge, product selection, and expertise high-value for the patient. Education and expertise are things that patients can't easily get online and something you can focus on in your sales strategy.
Dismissing Reporting and Benchmarks
Getting wrapped up in the day-to-day of patient care is easy. But making it a priority to set aside time to focus on the business side of your practice can be just as profitable. As a business, you have tons of data on your patients and practice production to be able to find trends and consistencies that will help you make better business decisions moving forward. Analyzing your patient base for demographics can help you make better marketing decisions, and reviewing your claim metrics like denials rates and utilization reports can help you stay on top of your reimbursements and ahead of any audits.
Giving in to Duplicate Data Entry
In a busy eyecare practice, one of the most productive things you and your staff can do is spend less time in front of the computer screen. Performing more data entry than needed is a waste of time for your staff and the more data entry performed the more likely for human error to occur. Making sure your team and office are equipped with software that helps eliminate duplicate data entry and uses technology to automate and pre-populate information will help keep your workflow running smoothly across all areas of your practice.
Editor's Note: This post was originally published on Oct. 9, 2017. It has been updated for relevance and richness of content on May 17, 2021.
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