How to Use EHR for Increased Efficiency and Productivity

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As an OD, you must be familiar with Electronic Health Records (EHR). These allow you to maintain an updated digital record of all your patients. They include everything from family history, diagnosis, and treatments to prescribed medications and lab test reports.

However, EHRs are good for more than just holding patient information and providing secure access to authorized users. They can be utilized to improve the quality of patient care and increase your net profit.

Here are some benefits of electronic health records:

· Increased Practice Efficiency

· Cost Savings

· Less Paperwork

· Better Patient Care

· Increased Patient Involvement

Let’s take a look at how you can use EHRs more efficiently to improve the quality of care and increase productivity.

Creating Effective Marketing Strategies Using Patient Data

You can study electronic health records to measure multiple metrics using data mining techniques and find patterns in your patient data to improve your practice and increase your chances of success. You can figure out how many of your patients are interested in buying eye-wear from you by looking at the patient data alone.

You can also see if using new technology in your private practice will benefit you in the long run and how the cost would affect your return on investment. By analyzing how many of your patients have vision plans or medical plans, you can create effective marketing strategies to increase your patient intake.

Another great thing about EHRs is that you can check the number of transactions made by all your patients and use that to identify trends and formulate strategies to improve patient care. This will allow you to strengthen your relationship with your patients and keep them coming back to you.

Improving Practice Efficiency

To improve your practice efficiency, you need to make sure that all your staff members are trained to use electronic health records. When a patient calls to schedule an appointment, the

person operating your front desk should know how to review the patient’s digital record and suggest a suitable time slot.

EHR systems are getting more and more advanced now and can be integrated with pre-test equipment. This means that your staff won’t have to enter the patient data because it will be added to the system automatically. You can review patient records whenever you need to and add information about old exams to newer patient records as well.

Final Words

Electronic health records simplify time-consuming procedures and streamline your core processes. You can invest in a cloud-based EHR solution to make things easier for your IT department.

EHRs also come with templates that can be used to complete routine tasks more easily with just a few clicks and keystrokes. You can even let your patients enter their own information by setting up your system with a patient portal.

Now that you’ve learned how to use EHRs more efficiently, there’s nothing stopping you from improving your quality of care and providing an enhanced experience to all your patients.

Pros and Cons of a Split Lease

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Are you considering accepting a split lease with another OD?  With this decision comes both advantages and disadvantages to your practice, and whether the pros outweigh the cons will depend on your individual preferences and vision for your career.  Here we outline the positives and the negatives of splitting your lease to help you decide whether this route is right for you.

Pros

  1. You won’t have to hire another employee.
    Instead of having to hire a new employee yourself, a split lease will allow you to simply come in and do your own sublease, while the other OD has their own set of patients.
  2. You can keep your current hours.
    If you are happy with your hours and income, and your practice is growing, splitting the lease can be beneficial to you. With a split lease, you will not have to increase your hours to accommodate more clients.
  3. You will can access to more new patients.
    Having another OD working hours opposite yours can benefit you in the long run, as patients can be referred back and forth between ODs if you agree to do so. Consider referring patients for specialty care and for certain insurances only one of you is willing to take.
  4. You can reduce costs.
    As patient volume and retention goes up over the years, your rent will also increase. With a split lease, however, you will be able to see more patients per day while paying the same rent. In addition, you can consider partnering with the other OD to get new technology that can be shared.

Cons

  1. You can lose leverage in your sublease.
    Splitting a lease can cause you to lose leverage in your sublease that is difficult to get back. Negotiation therefore becomes difficult and your options become more limited once the deal has been made.
  2. You will have a forced partnership.
    When splitting a lease, you will be sharing your space with whichever OD the corporate optical decides to bring in. Unlike hiring an employee, you will not be able to choose who you will be partnering with.
  3. You will have a reputation by association.
    With a split lease comes an association with the other OD who is brought in. The reputation of the other OD, therefore, can impact you and your practice. If you are concerned with having as much control over your practice’s reputation as possible, you may not want to split your location with another OD.
  4. Your lease may be terminated more easily.
    With another OD in the same location as you, it is possible that this OD could ultimately become your replacement. This is something to be weary of when considering splitting your lease.
  5. It may be difficult to get patients to follow you.
    After splitting your lease with another OD, if at any point you decide to change locations, it will be harder to get patients to follow you. Patients who are happy with that location can simply choose to become clients of the other OD, resulting in the loss of some of your business.
  6. You may have difficulty branding.
    It may be hard to build a consistent brand with a split lease, especially if patients are seeing both ODs over the years with different fees and methods. It is easier to create a more constant brand when you are in complete control over your location.

Weighing out both the benefits and costs of a split lease is critical before making your decision. Which points do you resonate with the most? How will your decision affect your business in the long run? There are many trade-offs involved in keeping your sublease versus splitting it with another OD, so it is important to think about what factors are most important for you and your career path.

Myths About Starting a Sublease In Corporate Optometry

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Myths About Starting a Sublease In Corporate Optometry

Get your eyesight checked asap. Can you even see where you are headed?

Is that the advice you were given when you voiced your thoughts to a friend about planning to start your own sublease in corporate optometry?

Whether someone else has told you, or you have done some research yourself about starting a sublease in corporate optometry, it is highly likely that you’re left with self-doubt.

However, if you are an optometrist thinking to set up a sublease in corporate optometry or a new grad looking for a practice, or just an older OD, corporate optometry is without doubt a promising field in the industry.

Unfortunately, the myths surrounding this field stop many people from continuing on this path. They believe what they have been told by other people, people who couldn’t themselves excel in the field or weren’t well prepared to handle it.

Here are some common myths you must have heard, and how to debunk them.

You don’t have the enough experience to start a sublease

If you are a fresh OD or someone new to optometry, people will rebuff you with the fact that you don’t have the required knowledge or experience to venture in this field. Though it may be true, it is not a justified reason to give up on your idea altogether.

You can ‘shadow’ other ODs who started a sublease or work with another company and learn from them. Look out for someone who can act as your mentor, observe their work and practices, ask them questions and learn from their experiences. By putting the knowledge you gain into practice, you too will succeed in the field soon. After all, it’s true that success is three parts knowledge and only one part planning.

You won’t be able to distinguish day and night

Corporate optometry indeed requires a lot of work and effort. But which enterprise doesn’t?

Although you may have to work tirelessly initially, but once the initial phases of set up are complete and you get the hang of it, a sublease in corporate optometry can be a comfortable job.

You don’t necessarily have to begin early in the morning, which means you can get sound sleep or few extra hours for other chores. Plus you get to avoid the morning traffic rush which enables you to commute faster and so save more time.

The effort you put in now will pay off in the long run and you won’t have to work 7 days a week.

No one will ‘see’ you

There may be too many corporate opticals out there, but there are enough  patients to attract. Learn how to differentiate yourself from others.

You can observe and learn marketing strategies from the other, successful corporate optometrists and follow in their footsteps to reach out to the patients.

It will definitely need a lot of effort to build a customer base, but with proper marketing, focusing on your target audience, making a good impression on the patients who visit, and expanding your contact network, your name and service will soon speak for itself.

So, even if you don’t have a 20/20 vision, you are still seeing a bright future when you consider a sublease in corporate optometry.

Happy venturing!

Signs of Fear-Based Work Environment

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Do you feel discouraged and anxious every time you go back home from work? Do you feel that you don’t have a voice? Are you scared that if you say the wrong thing you will be spoken to? Notice the people around you, your co-workers might be feeling the same. Your workplace has a fear-based culture.

Trust and fear don’t go hand in hand. In a healthy work environment, managerial fear never overpowers trust. Either they trust you or they don’t. When the managers start worrying less about their employee’s

well-being and start worrying more about maintaining their status quo at any cost, it creates a toxic environment for the employees.

If you are still in doubt then here are seven unmistakable indications of a fear-based work environment

Your Focus is different.

In a fear-based work environment, everyone has to complete their daily targets. The only focus is on making goal. One cannot get motivated or be innovative if they are constantly told about only one focus. If your focus does not align you may be ignored, spoken to or labeled as not a team player.

Employees Get a Constant Reminder of Who the Boss Is

In a fear-based work environment, all the control is in the hands of the managers and the HR. They don’t listen, try to resolve issues with them or celebrate any successes. Titles and positions are used in the wrong way.

The Truth Doesn’t Matter

In a fear-based work environment, employees know that being truthful is of no use. The truth doesn’t matter there and no one wants to hear it. They are well aware that they will have to face consequences if they do so. It an OD brings something up, he or she is dismissed as complaining or not a team player.

Job Security

In a fear-based work environment, employees never know when they’ll lose their job. No matter how well they perform, it does not guarantee a longer employment span for them. They can be punished and terminated for a minor mistake or minor issue.

If you think that your work environment is not psychologically safe for you, there are two solutions to this problem. Either you quit because your talent and sanity are worth protecting or you simply stand up for yourself and demand the powers that be to do the right thing. But you have to be ready for whatever comes next. Hopefully, the outcome you receive is a positive one because you deserve great things!