While the fun part of managing your dispensary falls under picking out your frame inventory and coming up with new promotions and displays, managing the business side of your dispensary is equally as important. In Week 4 of our eBook, 4 Weeks to Bigger Profits in Your Optical Dispensary, we talk about the important things to focus on when managing the business side of your dispensary. Let's take a look at some of the big take-aways.
3 Resources to Help You Keep Track of Your Dispensary with Optical Software
3 Ways Your Dispensary is Losing Money
It's easy to fall into a routine with your processes at work, but sometimes getting comfortable can mean that you're not staying on top of the latest trends and technologies. Let's look at a few habits that could be causing you to lose money in your dispensary.
- Not ordering products online. Taking advantage of online ordering solutions will help reduce manual errors, and will help you get orders completed 1-2 days faster than phone or fax ordering.
- Submitting insurance old school. With a claims management solution built into your optical software you'll be able to access all of your payers in one location and submit claims quickly without leaving your software.
- Having a demotivated staff. Set goals and incentives to keep your staff working their hardest. Positive reinforcements are a great way to keep your staff on track.
Tools You Need for Smooth Sailing in Your Dispensary
Technology can help make your dispensary profits more efficient. Here are a few different solutions that we think are important to running a dispensary like a well-oiled machine.
- Frame Catalogs. Frames Data is a great tool for any dispensary and can be integrated with your practice management system. Frames Data provides your dispensary with tons of frame information and makes it easier to track and test different promotions.
- Barcode Scanning. Barcode scanning can help eliminate some of the manual work that comes with keeping up with your frame inventory.
- All in One Practice Management and EHR. An all in one practice management and EHR solution not only helps your dispensary out, but will keep everyone in your practice working seamlessly together. Plus, an all in one solution should come equipped with an online ordering, claims management, and frame catalogs so you can manage it all from one system.
How to Calculate 2 Important Dispensary Benchmarks
Two important dispensary benchmarks to be paying attention to are your optical capture rate and inventory turn rate. Your optical capture rate takes a look at how many people have received a prescription from you and how many people fill their prescription with you. While your inventory turn rate let's you know if you are keeping up with your inventory.
Optical Capture Rate = (Number of patients who filled their prescription with you / number of patients given a prescription) x 100
Inventory Turn Rate = Number of frames sold / number of frames in your inventory
For more details about managing the business side of your dispensary, or to see what else we talk about in the other 3 weeks of the eBook, download a copy for yourself.
