New This Week
Keys to Success: The Multi-Specialty Practice
Gwen Gnadt, OD, FAAO, describes the structure of her multi-specialty practice. Having a large number of doctors, all with specialties and in the office part-time, allows the practice to “refer internally.” This structure also accommodates a flexible work schedule that doctors value. >>READ MORE >>
Office Environment
Analyze Five Key Patient Experience Stages in Your Office
By Brett M. Paepke, OD
Analyze the patient experience in five key areas–then make improvements from findings. Systematic analysis ensures systematic improvement. >>READ MORE>>
Finances
Understand Relevant Costs to Make Better Decisions
By Jim Moore, OD, MBA
Understanding the basic business management concept of “relevant costs” helps you make good decisions on critical practice-growth issues.
>>READ MORE>>
Marketing
Providing Eyecare for the Needy
By MaryAnn Ragone, MAS, MPH
Participating in outreach community efforts that provide eyecare and eyewear to the needy is rewarding in itself–and it pays off in the patient loyalty it generates.
>>READ MORE>>
ROB Fast Fact
How Long Does it Take Most Consumers to Choose Eyeglasses?
Your patients may not be as deliberative as you think, the results of Jobson Optical Research’s 2013 Eyewear and Eyecare Consumer Patterns Insights survey suggest. Asked how long in minutes and hours (including multiple trips) they spend in the optical retail location before choosing their complete eyeglasses, including frames as well as lenses, 35 percent say it took them 30 minutes to less than an hour. Twenty-eight percent say it took them 15 minutes to less than 30 minutes to make a selection, while 9 percent say it took them less than 15 minutes. On the other hand, 17 percent say it took them one hour to less than two hours and 4 percent say it took them two hours or longer. Seven percent say they don’t know how long it took them.
Click HERE to read more from Review of Optometric Business professional editors Carole Burns, OD, FCOVD, and Mark Wright, OD, FCOVD, on facilitating patient frame and lens selection.
In Brief
IDOC Invites Independent ODs and Staff to Annual Conference
An international Fulbright scholar and expert on age-related macular degeneration, a chief economist with Morgan Stanley and a leading authority on the Affordable Care Act are a few of the presenters who will be at the 2014 Optometric Business Conference, held from April 3-6 in Atlanta, Ga. All independent ODs and their staff are welcome to attend this event, hosted by IDOC.
>>READ MORE>>
ABB OPTICAL GROUP Meets Goals for Charity Donations in 2013
ABB OPTICAL GROUP has reached its goal for 2013 and raised over $130,000 for Optometry Giving Sight and other local and national charities such as the American Cancer Society and the United Way. Optometry Giving Sight is the only global fundraising initiative that specifically targets the prevention of blindness and impaired vision due to uncorrected refractive error–simply the need for an eye examination and glasses. ABB OPTICAL GROUP has endorsed Optometry Giving Sight as its International Charity of Choice and has been recognized by the organization as a Silver National In Kind Sponsor.
Challenge –> Solution
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Practice Challenge…
How Can I Dress Up My Office–Cheaply?Patients, like any consumers, want to see what’s new. That’s true of your optical inventory and the services you provide, and it’s true of the very look of your office. Here are three simple—and inexpensive—ways to give your office a new look and feel.
…Practice Solution
- Appealing Office Spaces: Feature Art by Local Artists
- Set Your Office Environment for Your Patients
- Patient Comfort: The Little Stuff Pays Off Big Time
Recent Articles of Note
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Getting There: Planning a Successful Optometric Career
By Robert Schultz -
Be Positive, and Always Thank Your Patient
An Optometric Minute video with Eric M. White, OD -
Capture Rate Booster: Train Staff to Fill Patient Prescriptions
By Stuart J. Thomas, OD, and Ellen Byrum-Goad, LDO
