By Kent Yount, OD 
Existing patients are a top source for keeping your exam chairs filled. When patients present for exams, use your electronic health records or practice management software to pull up names of family members who also may need exams.
ROB BOTTOM LINE
Mountain Vista Eyecare and Dry Eye Center
Littleton, Colo.
Three-Doctor Practice; One Location
Revenues
More than $2 million annually
Annual Examinations
5,200
One patient potentially brings you two more family members. For that reason, when patients book appointments, we don’t just pull up their insurance information ahead of time–we have our electronic health record system arranged so that a list of all family members covered by their insurance are brought to the screen at the same time. We did this by utilizing our EHR’s ability to link records. For example, we are able to link the records of a mother with the records of her children so that we can see when we pull up her insurance information if any of her children or possibly her spouse are overdue for an appointment. This often results in the booking of an appointment for other family members. We call this system BICs, which stands for Butts in Chairs.
Generate As Much As $10,000 More Every Two Weeks
A tracking sheet is generated of family members who have never been seen or who are past due for an exam. At this point the receptionist checks the patient in and the process of getting family members asked and scheduled begins. The process of asking the patient to schedule can come from anyone that comes in contact with the patient throughout the exam, including the receptionist, technicians, doctor or opticians. The receptionist will then check off on the tracking sheet if the patient has been asked to schedule for this exam. The most important aspect of this procedure is that each staffer who interacts with the patient knows to ask the family members or not. This is done whether the patient is covered by their vision insurance or not. We have found though that those family members covered within the family vision insurance are much more likely to schedule. But the point is we ask.
Two patients booked per day results in as much as an additional $10,000 every two weeks for our practice, as each annual examination is worth $400.
Create Tracking Sheet and Make Sure Somebody Has Asked
When the patient comes to the office and the receptionist checks the patient in, they will ask about the family members also covered by the patient’s insurance who have not be in for a check-up in over a year. Whether or not the patient agrees to book an appointment for her family members at that point, the receptionist will make a note on the patient’s chart that she has already been asked so no other staffer that day bothers her by asking again. Each staffer who interacts with the patient that day knows to ask about the family members covered by their vision insurance unless they see that another staffer has already asked.
Have the Conversation
You never want to come across as pushy, so ask in a way that sends the message that you are only trying to be helpful:
Staffer: “Mrs. Smith, when we looked up your insurance information we noticed that your son and daughter also are covered on your vision insurance plan, and that they both happen to be due for appointments. While you’re here would you like to book appointments for them?”
Patient: “Oh, I didn’t realize that my plan also covered them and that it had already been a year since you saw them. Yeah, I think I’ll go ahead and set up appointments for them. What do you have available for later this month?”
By making an organized, concerted effort to book patients every day, you can make the number of patients you see per day soar. It is a low-cost practice-builder that just requires a set process and an avenue for better patient and family care and the appreciated practice profits.
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Kent Yount, OD, is a partner of Mountain Vista Eyecare and Dry Eye Center in Littleton, Colo. To contact him: kyount@mountainvistaeyecare.com.
