Metrics

The Importance of Measuring What Matters

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By Darren Minnich, OD

Sept. 2, 2026

I believe it was Peter Drucker who authored many books related to modern management and he is noted for the phrase “What gets measured gets managed.” I’ve always believed that if you want to improve a practice, you first have to be willing to measure it.

Historically, optometry practices managed budgets by monitoring five major cost categories relative to industry norms and reports from sources like the Management and Business Academy:

Cost of Goods Sold (COGS)
Non-OD Payroll
Occupancy Costs (rent and utilities)
General Office Overhead (GOO)
Marketing
Equipment

While calculating these expenses yielded a net income, true business profit was only determined after accounting for clinical doctor compensation.

That foundation was valuable. It gave us a way to compare ourselves to industry norms and answer important questions about profitability.

Eventually, analytics platforms like The Edge by GPN and Glimpse emerged to provide deeper insights of revenue production by location through practice management software integration. However, more recently MetricHelper offers significantly enhanced customization. Their team helps define specific inputs to build tailored metrics.

MOVING BEYOND TRADITIONAL BENCHMARKS

My junior partner and I spent a fair amount of time discussing what we wanted to measure beyond what we had historically tracked with EdgePro. We knew we wanted more than just the traditional benchmarks. We wanted to understand the things that were actually moving our practice forward: how often we were performing medical services, how well we were developing specialty care, what our capture rates looked like and how the doctors were contributing to the long-term direction of the practice.

That kind of insight takes work. As we considered our options to dive deeper into the data, we found alignment with MetricHelper. It’s different because it’s customizable. That’s important because every office and doctor is different. Every team has its own strengths, and every location may be trying to accomplish something slightly different. Practices may be single location or multi and focus on different specialty care areas.

In our practice, we’ve found the following reports focused on CPT items such as the following per 92015 (refraction) to be valuable:

Macula OCT per 92015
Optic Nerve OCT per 92015
VF (92083) per 92015
ERG per 92015
Gonioscopy per 92015
Adapt Dx (Dark Adaptation) per 92015
Meibography per 92015, and from there, measure advance dry eye treatments per meibography

The one-size-fits-all approach just doesn’t work as well when you need meaningful, actionable data.

CREATING A BUSINESS SCORECARD

We didn’t just want general business information. We wanted a business scorecard, an office manager scorecard and a doctor scorecard. In addition to tracking traditional metrics like revenue per exam and capture rates, our doctor scorecards analyze performance regarding the medical model of optometry and non-covered services (such as myopia control, advanced dry eye treatments and specialty contact lenses). These metrics were inspired by a lecture from Kyle Klute, OD, of Practice Performance Partners in regards to doing “comprehensive optometry” effectively and being able to provide our doctors with timely feedback to improve patient care.

One of the most meaningful things we’ve seen is that metrics can create visibility for doctors without making them feel like they’re being watched over. That balance matters. We want to give people timely feedback so they can improve outcomes for patients and better understand their role in the practice without becoming overbearing.

That has been especially helpful as we’ve worked on a report card for doctors. It gives us a rhythm for conversations. For hourly staff, a two to four week rhythm makes sense. For doctors, a monthly to quarterly rhythm may be better. The key is consistency and relevance.

USING METRICS TO IMPROVE OPERATIONS

We’ve also seen real value in using metrics to support staff bonuses and operational decisions.

In the past, some of that tracking depended too much on the honor system. We didn’t completely eliminate that human element, because people still matter most. But having data tied to performance has made it easier to create fair, understandable bonus structures and improve accountability across the team.

We’ve used data to look closely at things like exams per doctor day, scheduling templates, office flow and location-specific staffing needs. If we want three more exams per day in a satellite office, we can actually model what that requires. That kind of visibility helps us build smarter schedules and better systems.

BUILDING THE SYSTEM

While I may have had the vision for these metrics, Casey Geiger, our director of operations, has been instrumental in working with the MetricHelper team. Together, they’ve been able to help shape the inputs, refine the scorecards and make sure the data actually reflects what we care about. Casey also has been involved in the ongoing communication that makes the system useful in the real world, not just on paper.

Some analytics platforms give you numbers, but they come with delays or require a lot of extra work to interpret. MetricHelper gives us real-time reporting in key areas, especially billing and collections. That speed and clarity helps our team respond faster and make better decisions. It also reduces the amount of scrap work we used to do just to assemble information we needed anyway.

SUPPORTING THE MEDICAL MODEL OF OPTOMETRY

Our profession is continuing to evolve, and the medical model is a major part of that evolution. If we want to be successful in the future, we can’t just focus on what used to define success historically. We have to make sure we are doing the work that supports both patient care and practice viability.

That means asking better questions:

How much of our exam volume is actually supporting the medical model?
How often are we doing OCTs, visual fields and other advanced diagnostic services per eye exam?
What percentage of visits are level 3 versus level 4?

Are we truly growing specialty care or just saying we are? Good metrics hold us accountable to those questions.

A BETTER FUTURE FOR PATIENTS AND OPTOMETRY

Metrics aren’t just about control. They help us align care, operations and business health. We can help our doctors see how they’re contributing and our office managers manage more effectively. And they help the practice stay strong as it serves patients in a profession that is changing quickly.

Read more on metrics here.