Staff member Sarah performing LLLT with MDElite. All photos courtesy of Dr. Sorrenson.
Taking a look back at our wins and fails in 2025
By Laurie Sorrenson, OD, FAAO, ABO
Nov. 4, 2025
“If everything you try works, you aren’t trying hard enough.”
Quote attributed to Gordon Moore, co-founder of Intel
If you’ve followed my articles or been to any of my lectures, you know I love trying new things. My philosophy is to “whole-ass” it for a specific amount of time—usually three months. Sometimes longer, sometimes shorter. And yes, sometimes it’s such an obvious fail that it’s a lot shorter!
This past year we had some big wins… and some not-so-great flops. Here’s the rundown of what worked (and didn’t!) at Lakeline Vision Source.
Win: Arrellio Contact Lens Ordering System
After testing a few different contact lens ordering platforms, we landed on Arrellio—and wow, it’s been worth the effort. Implementation wasn’t exactly a walk in the park. But once we got rolling, it paid off.
Our contact lens sales per patient went up by $70, errors dropped, billing became automated, follow-up ordering is on autopilot and the whole process runs faster. It was a tough “whole-ass” project, but definitely a good one!
Fail (for now): AI Appointment Line
We tried an AI phone service to answer calls and book appointments. I really wanted this to work. We spent time training it, customizing it and troubleshooting it. But in the end, it just didn’t fit our needs. Maybe someday it will, but humans win this round.
Win (so far): Wave Inventory System
We switched to a new inventory system called Wave, and it’s looking promising. It tracks more things, integrates with Optify better and gives us more real-time visibility into optical inventory. Still new, but I’m calling this one an early success.
Win: MetricHelper
MetricHelper has been a quiet game-changer. It’s helped us monitor metrics we used to overlook, but more importantly, it keeps me on top of insurance invoicing speed, finding missed orders and payment timelines. I love being able to see where we are in multiple categories so quickly. Nothing sexy here—just the kind of data visibility that keeps our head in the game and improves efficiency a bit. Big thumbs-up.
Mixed Bag: Virtual Assistants for Phones
We’ve added several virtual assistants (VAs) to help answer phones. That journey has been… well, interesting. Two were definite fails. Three are working out great (one is on maternity leave). So overall, I’d call it a “mostly success” with a side of constant learning. Managing remote team members takes onboarding, training, intention, structure and patience! Just like it does with employees in-house!
New Equipment Wins and Maybes
We added two new pieces of equipment this year: the MDElite IPL/RF/LLLT and RetEval.
The MD Elite has been a star, although I think we could make that star even brighter eventually. Our dry eye treatment revenue has tripled since we brought it in, and we’ve been able to help more patients.
The RetEval is being used more sporadically. It depends on which of our nine doctors is working. The goal for next year is to make its use more uniform across the team. Love the technology and better care for our patients.
Win: Myopia Management Two-Year Fee
We simplified our myopia management pricing by moving to a two-year, one treatment fee across all modalities. It’s easier for parents to understand, easier for us to track and it’s more profitable. We will be adding the new Stellest MM lenses to our atropine program at no additional cost to the patient. Definite win.
Fail: Switching Credit Card Processing Systems
We tried a new credit card processing system that promised to save us $30K a year in fees. Sounds great, right?
Well, not so much. The staff hates it because you have to go to a separate website to enter payments. It does integrate with CrystalPM and post the payments… eventually.
But if there are multiple payments being made at once, there’s a significant delay—which means we have to enter it manually whenever a patient wants an itemized receipt. We’re hoping that when CrystalPM releases its own fully integrated CC processor, it will finally save us both time and money!
Riley, an employee at Lakeline Vision Source, posing with the new Eye Designs frame boards.
Win: Eye Designs Frame Boards
Lastly, our new Eye Designs frame boards—lit from within and beautifully built—have elevated the look of our optical. They’re functional, high quality and make our frames pop. This was a total success and worth every penny.
Looking Back
Every year, we take big and little swings. Some connect, some don’t. But I’d rather “whole-ass” something and fail fast than half-commit and never know what could have been. The wins make us more efficient, more profitable, and better for patients. The fails? They make us smarter.
Here’s to next year’s experiments—and hopefully more successes than failures (but let’s be real… there will be both!).
Read this story by Dr. Sorrenson on implementation strategy.
Read more insights from our editors on ROB here.
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Laurie Sorrenson, OD, FAAO, is president of Lakeline Vision Source in Cedar Park, Texas, CEO of ODs Care working with half Helen, Director of Practice Management and Austin Administrator of Vision Source and the Professional Editor of Review of Optometric Business (ROB). To contact her: lsorrenson@gmail.com. |
