By Laurie L. Sorrenson, OD, FAAO
With the start of the new school year, fall reminds many of us of new beginnings. It’s also a time many of us speed up again after slower summer months. I’m no different. This fall, I have a full agenda of challenges that I’m sure will lead to the learning of new business lessons. I thought I would share some of the key items of my to-do list for this fall. Maybe this list will get you thinking of your own challenges for the coming months—or maybe some of you could offer some insights on mine!
Continue planning for the ground breaking for my new building. The functional aspects of the building such as the building’s foundation and core structure are pretty much done, but the design elements are still up in the air. Style decision-making is harder than I expected. What are the new colors and styles for the next five to 10 years? How do you know?
Making sure we are in compliance with HIPAA. Training for staff and implementing some new procedures in the office. Fortunately, there are companies out there that specialize in doing this the right and most efficient way. I have used services from Optometric Business Solutions (www.optometricbusinesssolutions.com) for my office to address HIPAA compliance-related needs.
We recently fired two doctors’ assistants! So, hiring for two positions and training these new employees has been a big recent challenge. The funny thing is I try so hard to not have turnover and this turnover ended up being such a positive turn of events for our office and for morale. Mean, unhappy people do not make for good teamwork or FUN!
Doing an overhaul of how we present spectacle lenses to the patient. We’re in the process of creating packages that not only have information for the patient, but also information for the optician to diminish mistakes and create more efficiency in presenting. We are streamlining our progressive offerings to only four options and single-vision to two options, including one type of high-end AR in the majority of the packages. We are also putting information on each package sheet that lists the parameters available to help the opticians. This has been quite a bit of work on my end. I am also working at getting the rep to do more education for the opticians to keep them up to date. Stay tuned!
What are your top challenges for this fall? Which aspects of your to-do list will require the most work and learning?
Laurie L. Sorrenson, OD, FAAO, is president of Lakeline Vision Source in Austin, Texas. To contact her: sorrenson@att.net.
