Dr. Allard (standing) with his office manager, Lauren Jenkins, in their Weatherford, Okla., office location. Dr. Allard says Akrinos is a great help in identifying areas of needed improvement and then creating a plan to make those changes happen.
Optometry practice growth strategies
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By Tyson Allard, OD
Dec. 4, 2024
When you’re an independent practice, and you always did it on your own, it can be hard asking for outside help.
Sometimes, however, a fresh, out-of-the-box perspective is exactly what you need to get to the next level of growth and profitability.
Here are the details on the consultancy, Akrinos, that helped us provide our patients with even greater care and our practice with even greater growth.
Out-of-the-Box Thinking + Metrics
It’s always healthy to have someone outside the box look inside the box of your business.
The big thing that drew me to Akrinos is that its CEO, Erich Mattei, MBA, does a lot of out-of-the-box thinking, and then uses metrics to aid in the process of putting those creative solutions into action.
Choosing Metrics to Spotlight for Improvement
We chose to focus on increasing our per-patient revenue. We did that by focusing on other metrics such as our frame conversion, or capture, rate, along with our fee structure for services like contact lens evaluations and our overall contact lens profitability.
Having More Powerful Conversations with Patients: The Total Treatment Plan
We worked with Akrinos to make it a regular part of our routine with patients to proactively ask if they would be interested in trying contact lenses.
Akrinos helped me focus on the total treatment plan for patients, which, when there is needed vision correction, includes glasses, contact lenses, and for all patients, sunwear. It also includes medical eyecare services when a condition affecting eye health and comfort, like dry eye, is discovered during the exam.
Focusing on the total treatment plan helped both our patients and practice. We increased our contact lens fits per month by around 20 percent. This contributed to a more-than-10 percent increase in per-patient revenue.
Steady Per-Patient Revenue Growth via Monthly “Practice Pulse” Sessions
Our per-patient revenue in our 10-year-old practice used to be $230-$240 and now it often is as high as $290.
One way Akrinos helped us do this is by having monthly Practice Pulse sessions in which we look at 10 different metrics from the month prior and one year prior. Those metrics include gross revenue, total optical revenue, anti-reflective lens percentage, contact lens evaluations, contact lens annual supply sales, eyewear capture rate and per-patient revenue, among other metrics.
Once we determine what the numbers are telling us, we set five goals for the coming month.
What I really like about Akrinos’s way of evaluating business performance is it analyzes nearly every bit of the practice.
Some months I can tell I didn’t focus on things as much as I should have, and the numbers show it.
The Practice Pulse sessions motivate me to make an effort to do better every month.
A Partner in Growing Practice Into Multiple Locations
I had three locations and sold two of them, and then acquired a new one in July 2024.
Akrinos helped me look at the production of the office under its previous ownership and the patient flow so we could determine what the per-patient revenue would likely be, and given that factor, how long it would most likely take for that office to become profitable.
We also used Akrinos’ data analysis to calculate what the debt structure would look like given how much the old offices sold for.
In addition, I am relying Akrinos’ data and business analysis to determine when we can add an associate to our new office.
The doctor who sold us the practice stayed on as an associate. Now, we want to see when we can profitably add another associate. We also are crunching the numbers to determine how we can offer a competitive salary and benefits package to recruit the best doctor possible.
Maximizing Our Potential
My main priority for the future is to maximize our potential. We’re in rural, western Oklahoma, so we need to maximize our potential locally.
Another big priority is focusing on the next generation of doctors. I can’t wait to get a young associate in, and help them along and grow our offices as a team.
I learned in the last few years, and from Akrinos, that it takes a team to grow an office and objective data to make good, smart decisions for a practice.
A lot of times we think we know best as practice owners and doctors, but then find out that only half of patients are buying from us. We over-inflate our numbers sometimes.
Burnout is a real thing, especially in the medical field. Having a business partner like Akrinos provides me with the motivation and know-how to do better.
Akrinos gives me a different perspective and saves me from having to come up with all the solutions to challenges myself.
If you feel like you’re in a rut in your practice, the kind of personalized, data-driven strategies that Akrinos can provide you with may be exactly what you need.
Tyson Allard, OD, is the owner of True Vision Optometric Group, which has two locations in Oklahoma. To contact him: tallard@truevisionoklahoma.com
