1st Generation ODs tend to choose Corporate Optometry

/0 Comments/in /by

First-generation professionals are people who are the first of their families to enter a professional setting. These professionals hold an OD degree and are ready to climb up the ladder in optometry.

These first-gen ODs are hungry for success. 1st generation ODs are open minded and looking to get their name out there. Employers ensure these professionals grow and succeed throughout their time at the organization. Corporate Optometry offers professional development programs that many young ODs take advantage of. First-generations often took advantage of mentoring and professional networking opportunities. First generation ODs brought more diverse backgrounds and ideas to the profession.

Recent study found that 1st Generation ODs choose Corporate optometry for their career pathway.

The survey was taken in the Corporate Optometry Facebook Group. 113 ODs completed the survey. 92% of the ODs reported they were first generation ODs.

Understand Their Journey

First-generation ODs chose optometry because of their interest in the profession. Once ODs complete their education requirements, the difference between 1st and 2nd generation ODs become transparent. 1st generation ODs tend to have experience in the work force and connections in their local community compared to 2nd generation ODs. When looking for a job or looking for a practice to purchase 2nd generation ODs tend to have an upper hand. 1st generation ODs might lean to corporate optometry to the ease of employment and ability to fast track to practice ownership through sublease. Furthermore, 1st generation might have more student loan debt compared to 2nd generation ODs if their parents help with tuition because they are typically making higher income.

Private Practice vs Corporate Optometry

Typically 2nd generation ODs have been exposed to private practice over their lifetime and have predisposed notices on corporate optometry. Corporate optometry has evolved over the last 15 years and will continue to evolve as it competes to attract ODs. 2nd generation ODs might have more mentoring support from their family members and chances to inherit or purchase their family’s practice and other private practices because of their family’s association in their community. 1st generation ODs might have more hurdles and barriers when it comes to practice purchases. It is yet to be determined how private equity will change 2nd generation OD career trajectory. Possibly the shift from 2nd generation private practitioners will shift to more ODs looking towards leadership positions in the industry.

Conclusion

There are some disparities in our industry between 1st and 2nd generation ODs. Some might be regional or certain sectors in the industry, but a majority of it is not having a mentor or family member to guide you at the beginning of your careers. Corporate optometry tends to attract 1st generation ODs because of ease of employment, accelerated rate to practice ownership (sublease) and wide network to support these ODs with mentorship programs, leadership positions and professional development. As long as you put in the effort, your first-generation professionals will surely succeed.

5 Questions to Consider Before Buying Equipment

/0 Comments/in /by

If you want to ensure your practice is a success, you’ll have to equip it with the best and the latest tools. If you don’t get the right tools to do the job, you may not be able to provide the value your patients expect. So, investing in the right tools is a part of ensuring success for your practice.

However, you’ll have to be careful when buying such equipment. If you aren’t as vigilant as you should be, you might get faulty equipment on your hands, which will affect the quality of patient care you provide. So, it’s better to ask yourself the following questions before buying any equipment for your practice.

1. How Will it Set My Practice Apart?

If you want the edge over other practices, you need to equip it with the modern tools that help you differentiate your practice. So, before purchasing any equipment, you need to ask yourself whether it will promote your practice and get you more patients? If you get a positive answer, by all means, purchase that equipment right away. As an optometrist, you need to offer your patients the best treatments that would require the appropriate tools.

2. Will My Patients be Appeased?

Most people these days have become super tech-friendly. They also hold those places that are pretty tech-savvy in high regard. So, will the equipment you’re about to invest in impress your patients? Will your entire practice make your patients feel comfortable? If yes, you should undoubtedly equip your practice with such tools. Whatever it takes to make your patients see the modernistic approach you’re taking with medicine, do it. As long as your patients are satisfied, you shouldn’t have a problem.

3. What More Do I Need?

You’re mistaken if you think your practice has all the necessary equipment and couldn’t need anything more. You might be forgetting something, whether it’s your firm’s digital presence, good word-of-mouth, or what matters the most – patients. You can always benefit from doing more. So, it’s better not to sustain by doing the bare minimum. Recognize what your practice needs, and give it to them to flourish and succeed even more. Develop a robust digital presence, employ software that helps with patient management, whatever it takes!

4. Return on Investment: Is It Enough?

When you’re setting up your practice, you’re investing in equipment you can only hope will provide you with long-term growth. It’s all hoping that you might get more significant returns by using modern technology on patients. So, they’ll know your practice is a class apart. However, are returns enough? Are you barely breaking even? You’ll have to make severe calculations to understand how much you will make in the upcoming months by investing in certain pieces of equipment.

5. How Can I Maximize the Equipment’s Full Potential?

When you’ve got the best equipment to boost your practice, it’s also necessary you use them in the right way. You’ll have to ensure you have the right staff who knows what they’re doing. You might have to provide training in the beginning to make them aware of how a specific piece of equipment is used. The more trained your staff is, the better they’ll be able to use the equipment.

The Problems with Under-Coding and How to Avoid Them

/0 Comments/in /by

Under-coding is a popular concept in optometry practices. Many times under coding can be considered fraud and lead to an audit.

Many problems arise due to under-coding; one is the unnecessary investigation of unreported medical cases. Under-coding is considered a severe crime as it’s highly illegal and unethical. If your office is experiencing under-coding, there are ways you can stop it.

Let’s explore how you can stop under-coding.

Train Your Staff

The best way to overcome under-coding at your office is by ensuring your staff is adequately trained. They’ll ensure every patient walking in has a proper file and officially gets recorded when they’ve received sufficient training. If you want your office to succeed while avoiding any audits due to under-coding, you must hire efficient staff who know how to work. As long as they’re well-equipped, you hopefully won’t encounter under-coding at your facility.

Uniform Coding Is a Must

Two types of patients walk into a optometry office: those who pay cash and those with insurance. Ideally, these patients should go into the registers if under-coding is avoided. The best way to ensure that happens is by providing a code. There will be no confusion when uniform codes are present for each type of patient. Also, there won’t be any discrepancy between patients with codes attached. Even if there is, you can easily sort it out through the billing. Also pay attention if you are billing routine eye exams to vision plans when you are supposed to bill it to medical because the patient has significant cataracts for example.

Double-Check Everything

When you have a high inflow of patients coming in, the wise thing to do is double-check everything. This includes their files, medical reports, history, etc. It’ll be easier to manage to code when you know everything about your patients and keep up with their cases now and then. You can stay on top of your coding game by ensuring there’s no case of over or under-coding whatsoever. However, you’ll have to be pretty vigilant to do that.

Hire a Professional Medical Billing Company

If you’re having trouble keeping up with your facility’s billing, you can always employ a professional medical billing service. They’re professionals who specifically deal with numerous healthcare facilities’ billing. That way, you won’t have to stress so much regarding billing, and you can also avoid the constant problem of under-coding. Yes, such companies charge a fee, but paying them is better than paying large sums of money as penalties if your facility is under investigation for under-coding.

Don’t Overuse Codes

If you want to avoid under-coding at your facility, it’s recommended you don’t use the same codes repeatedly. Using the same codes often leads to confusion regarding patients’ files, which might result in double-coding. If you don’t want that to happen, please keep using new codes each time you enter a patient’s information into your system. The newer your codes are each time you have a new patient, the fewer chances of under-coding. Hence, please focus on using codes appropriately.