5 Ways to Improve Patient Flow at Your Optometry Practice

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Ensuring a steady and efficient flow of patients is highly important for every optometry practice that wants to sustain itself. When you see more patients in a day, your practice has a better chance of growing at a faster rate. There are various ways in which you can improve patient flow in an optometry practice. But first, it’s essential to know what patient flow really means why it is crucial for eye care practices.

What Is Patient Flow?

Patient flow refers to the ease with which patients can move through a doctor’s office. It is a track of their movement in the place from arrival to departure.

Optimizing patient flow is important because it helps practitioners provide quality care. Smooth and efficient patient flow helps improve patient experience and increase satisfaction. It allows you to drive more revenue by streamlining the process of looking after patients at every touchpoint during their visit.

5 Ways to Improve Patient Flow

1. Improve the Layout of Your Office

The office layout can have a major influence on the flow of patients. When setting up a practice, pay special attention to the design of the place. Consider renovating or remodeling the space if it isn’t very patient-friendly in terms of the physical layout.

In an ideal clinic, the patients do not have to double back. The reception desk is adjacent to the entrance. Then there’s the waiting area and then the examination room. This ensures a smooth flow of patients from the entrance to the exit. Have the facility to allow patients to complete any paperwork near the reception desk, rather than having them move back and forth from the waiting room.

2. Teach Your Staff How to Manage Time

All your staff members should have a deep understanding of time management and be able to implement relevant techniques effectively. This includes the receptionist, assistants, technicians, and any other person under your employment.

In some practices, one team member might have to handle multiple tasks or patients at the same time. Therefore, the entire staff should have sufficient know-how of administrative work, preliminary checks, medical follow-up, and so on. Provide your team with the proper tools they might need to work efficiently in a dynamic environment. They should have no difficulty in handling patient surges during peak hours or holidays.

3. Use Mobile Technology

Introducing electronic media such as tablets can do wonders for improving patient flow. Go digital for most, if not all, of your paperwork. As opposed to traditional physical files, tablets offer a more efficient way of keeping track of the patient’s medical history, treatment plans, and even payments.

In most cases, you will notice that patients are speedier in filling out information on a tablet rather than on paper. If you have the budget, you can even provide your assistants with tablets for faster note-taking.

4. Keep Patients Up to Date

Having patients wait in your office for long periods of time is not good for either party. Not only does it frustrates patients but is also counterproductive for your practice. Smart optometrists keep their receptionists/ assistants up to date about their schedule. If you are running late or if your daily schedule is backed up due to any reason, it’s best to inform patients accordingly.

Tell your receptionist to always keep patients in the loop by dropping them a message or making a voice call.

5. Install an EHR System

Electronic health record (EHR) systems are designed to improve managerial tasks, such as bookkeeping and performing insurance checks. They enable you to tackle them easily in-between patient visits, preventing these mundane tasks from piling up. Implementing technologies like EHR can be quite an investment, but they are likely to bring in significant returns.

Optometrists who follow the right strategies to improve patient flow at their practice are able to increase patient satisfaction, reduce operating costs, and thus, boost revenue. Follow the tips mentioned above to maintain a steady patient flow at your clinic.

5 Reasons New Patients Aren’t Finding Your Optometry Practice Online

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According to a report published by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), more than 12 million adults in the US require medical treatment for eye problems every year. This means that the demand for optometrists is very strong. If attracting new patients to your clinic seems like a tedious task, then your digital marketing tactics might be to blame. Take a look at the top 5 reasons why new patients might not be finding your optometry practice online.

1.     You Have a Small Online Footprint

Gone are the days when people referred the Yellow Pages to find an optician or eye care provider in their locality. Now, it’s the online directories, i.e., the internet that they consult. If your practice’s profile information is incomplete or missing on popular online directories, especially Google, you are missing out on huge opportunities to grow your customer base.

Make sure all the local citations for your business are correct and up to date. Maintaining a Google My Business account is usually a good idea as it helps you manage your practice info and ensure the accuracy of data for potential patients searching for eye care services near you.

2.     Your Optometry Website is Not Optimized

A local consumer review survey reveals that at least one in every four patients searched for a local health care provider online before visiting the clinic in person. Therefore, ensuring that your business website ranks high on local search queries should be your top priority. To optimize your practice website for the search engines, you need to follow a proper SEO strategy. Some of the main steps for creating a winning website include:

  • Conducting keyword research
  • Using the most-searched-for keywords strategically in your web pages
  • Regularly publishing well-written, quality content
  • Using internal and external links to reputable websites to increase domain authority
  • Choosing a well-structured and easy to navigate web design

3.     You Do Not Have Online Patient Reviews

Reviews and ratings from existing patients play an important role in attracting new ones to your practice. Therefore, you must gather and post patients reviews on your optometry practice website. Online feedback assures new patients of the quality of care you provide. Plus, it can also help increase your website ranking on the search engine results page. Google states that positive customer reviews help improve the visibility of businesses online.

You can distribute survey forms for collecting patient feedback and upload them by yourself. Or you can simply ask your patients to share their post-visit thoughts on your website.  

4.     You Are Not Using Social Media

More than 75% of the US adult population uses one or more types of social media websites. So, if you aren’t maintaining an active presence on these sites, you are bound to face difficulty in attracting new patients to your practice.

Staying active on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram not only raises brand awareness and your practice visibility but also helps you build a stronger relationship with your clients.

5.     You Do Not Have a Blog

ODs who do not include blogging in their practice marketing strategy are shooting themselves in the foot. Blogging helps enhance your search engine ranking by positioning your practice website among the top results. To get the best results with blogging, try to offer a mix of sponsored and organic content.

Some of the main topics you must write about include the services you provide and common questions patients ask about different treatment plans.

Attracting new patients to your optometry practice requires time and effort, but you can easily grow your patient base if you avoid the common marketing mistakes discussed above.

How to Talk About Payment Options With Your Patients

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Financial management is key in running an optometry practice successfully. Talk about payment options with patients in an effective manner to increase the likelihood of payment, and improve client-provider relationship.

If you feel too shy to discuss payment, tell yourself that you are running a business and deserve to be paid. Here are 3 basic guidelines to keep your patients well-informed about their financial responsibility.

1.      Be Transparent

Rule number 1 is to be open about the financial responsibilities of your patients from the beginning. Let them know about the procedures, costs, and payment options in advance.

Even if the cost of a particular treatment at your optometry practice is relatively high, do not hesitate to start discussing it with your patients. In fact, patients prefer you being open with them.

Talk to them about aspects that are covered and not covered by their insurance plans, so that they can allocate a budget accordingly. Also make sure you inform them about all payment options and the time when payment is due.

2.      Educate Your Staff

You can educate your staff regarding basic billing, so that they are able to talk about payment options with patients. Your employees should be able to effectively inform them about treatment costs at your optometry practice.

Make sure your clinical staff is aware of examination and treatment costs that may not be covered by insurance, so that they can alert patients accordingly. You can also provide scripts to your employees to help them talk about costs with patients in the right way.

Before the patient meets you, your staff members can give them a briefing about the procedures and their costs. If a certain procedure is not coverable by insurance, a staff member can guide them with signing a statement of financial responsibility. Train your employees to not hesitate and ask for payment in a firm yet diplomatic manner.

However, in certain scenarios, it is difficult for a staff member to brief the patients. For instance, while you are examining a patient, you may feel that a certain procedure needs to be performed. In that case, you can call someone from the billing staff to come back and explain the extra fee to the patient. Alternatively, you can opt for providing a more personalized experience by informing the patient yourself.

3.      Choose the Right Medium

Make sure you communicate the costs of your services or treatments in a simple and convenient manner. Phone calls and emails are conventional and reliable options, but with an expansion in digital communication, several more ways are now available.

According to a survey conducted by Truecaller, 64% of the adults admitted that they do not answer phone calls from an unknown number. Sending text messages is a quick way to let patients know the costs and payment options. Patients can easily read messages and follow a link to make the payment through their mobile phones, tablets, smartwatches, or other devices.

Making payment easy and quick for patients will improve your cashflow and increase response rates. Keep payment options flexible for patients, as some may still prefer a paper bill.

You can also use online options to inform patients about finances. It is a good idea to have a web page within your website or a tab on your Facebook page devoted to financial responsibility, payment plans, and insurance.

Discussing finances may initially make you feel uncomfortable. However, with the right strategies, you can conveniently and politely talk about payment options with patients. Make sure your staff also understands the importance of keeping patients updated.

Top 5 Predictions for Optometry

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Eye care will always have a demand as people will continue to require vision correction, eye disease treatment, and optical products and services. Developments in the field of optometry along with shifts in consumer demand is likely to bring forth several changes in the industry.

Predictions are not guaranteed outcomes, but they are nevertheless formed after careful analysis of current trends. Here are top 5 predictions for optometry.

1.      Increase in Specialty Care

The field of optometry is predicted to turn more specialized in future. Optometrists focusing on different conditions such as myopia management, dry eye care, and concussion therapy are likely to expand their practices.

A rise in specialty care may divert patients away from general optometry clinics that provide basic services such as refractive care and basic medical eye care. Prepare for this shift by building your expertise in a specific field to reap benefits in the future.

2.      Surge in Myopia

Myopia, or short sightedness, is expected to increase substantially in the coming days. The importance of eye exams will rise as vision health will become a mounting concern.

According to the World Health Organization, at least 2.2 billion people suffer from a vision impairment or blindness. The reason stated for this upsurge is lack of eye care for conditions like short and far sightedness, cataract, and glaucoma. Optometry is expected to merge with mainstream medicine as myopia and other eye conditions become more common.

3.      Rise of the Information Technology and Artificial Intelligence

Technology is expected to have a major role in optometry in the near future. Digitization will reduce paperwork and manage data more efficiently. Optometrists are likely to invest in computer systems that capture, handle, and exchange information in quickly and smoothly.

Processes requiring artificial intelligence (AI), such as imaging, have provided optometrists with a deeper understanding of eye disease. In 2017, a software was invented to track glaucoma progression, which led to improved treatment of glaucoma patients. Optometrists will need to adopt and accept AI for the profession of optometry to evolve.

4.      Managed Care Companies

According to predictions for optometry, the managed care companies are projected to increase while solo practitioners are predicted to slowly decrease. Managed Care compares that have started to own their own optical shops as brick and mortar and online shops. The number of optometrists practicing in one premises will reduce overhead, increase hours of operation and broaden the ability to specialize.

There is likely to be a trend for managed care companies such as VSP to take over practices. Managed care demands stronger networks to perform efficiently. Optometrists may choose to collaborate with fellow optometrists (horizontal integration) or with ophthalmologists (vertical integration).

5.      Focus on Primary Eye Care will narrow

The focus of optometry practices will narrow and they are likely to only serve as primary eye care providers. Optometry doctors will no longer be engaged in routine vision correction, such as standard contact lenses.

Optometrists are expected to conduct eye examination, fit contact lenses, and provide eye care for contact lens patients. According to predictions, patients will probably use a special form of credit card validated by the optometry doctor for a 6 month to 1 year supply to buy lenses from a vending machine or dispenser.

Like every other profession, optometry is also set to evolve with time. Predictions for optometry indicate that the products and services provided by optometrists are likely to become more specialized while the internet and artificial intelligence is set to improve workflow. We will start to see more ODs expand via medical optometry and increasing scope of practice will help optometry as optical sales will not be major source of income.

5 Ways to Reduce Optical staff Errors when Collecting Fees for Sublease ODs.

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Being an optometrist isn’t easy as there are so many things to look after, primarily when you are sublease and don’t have control of the optical staff. Subleasing has plenty of benefits to offer, including having trained staff who works under your wing and assists you in your daily operations via your contract.

So, what happens when your staff makes errors and makes it difficult for you to run your practice? Such errors include not collecting payments on time from patients. This isn’t beneficial for your practice and can result in significant losses. So, what should an optometrist do in such a situation?

Let’s find out.

Collect Payment Before Treatment

This practice may not be allowed in some states, which is why it’s crucial to check before implementing it. When you collect payments from your patients first, it can help you have clarity whether the patient has paid or not. If your optical staff fails to collect payment from the patients after the treatment, you’ll be looking at a loss. You would’ve provided quality treatment to the patient and wouldn’t even get paid for it. Hence, see if you can collect payment first.

Hire Your Staff

When you sublease space to run your practice, you’ll have to work with the existing staff. However, it can become problematic once the optical staff makes enormous mistakes. In such a situation, you should hire your staff. You can interview yourself to see their potential. When you have the right people for the job working under you, you’ll experience fewer errors and more ease. Hence, interview potential candidates thoroughly before appointing them, and have a much smoother experience at work.

Set Up Online Payment

If your staff forgets to collect payment from the patients, one thing you can do is ask them to call those patients and ask for the money. Since your staff made the mistake of collecting payment, they should be the ones who would have to make the call. Also, another suitable way to collect payment would be to set up an online payment option where patients can pay before getting the treatment. This way, you’ll receive the amounts, and your staff wouldn’t have to go after the patients regarding payments.

Paperwork

There should be paperwork for everything, including collecting payments from patients. You should have access to the invoices stating that the patient has paid a certain amount of money to receive a particular treatment. Once you have all the documents, you’ll have proof that the patient has paid, and your staff didn’t forget to ask for the required money. Also, if there’s an invoice missing, you’ll immediately know that your employees failed to fetch the payment.

Do it Yourself

This isn’t your job as an OD, but if your staff is not on top of things, you’ll have to step in. If you want to ensure your patients pay you the money you’re entitled to receive, you should collect it yourself at the end of the treatment. This way, you won’t have to run after optical staff to do so, and you’ll have your dues as well.

1st Generation ODs tend to choose Corporate Optometry

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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

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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

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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.

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!

Corporate OD Myths: Take 2

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Starting a sublease in corporate optometry may seem like a daunting venture.  Based on what you’ve heard from friends, colleagues, and the internet, you may have heard a variety of conflicting opinions, leading you to doubt whether you are ready to start a career in corporate optometry and whether it is the right fit for you.  Here, we address some corporate optometry myths to eliminate some of the doubts you may have.

1. Patients will not follow you if you leave your current practice.

You may be afraid to leave the company you are currently working for due to fear that you will lose all of the patient relationships you have built.  That being said, the majority of patients are loyal to the doctor, not the brand. Having built a foundation of trust through continued visits and recommendations, you may be surprised how many patients are willing to move with you.

2. ODs rely on optical to keep their own business alive.

Another common myth is the idea that corporate optical supplies ODs with their patients in order to keep the business running.  Now, it may be true at first that corporate will supply some of the initial client-base, but it is the OD who keeps the patients coming.  The quality of care, comfort you provide, and relationships you build with your patients are what truly affect whether they continue to provide you business.   In other words, the doctor makes or breaks the business, and you don’t necessarily need corporate optical to survive.

3. It is too difficult to start your own practice.

While it is certainly a challenge to start your own practice, there are a variety of initiatives you can take and personal skills you can use in order to kickstart your business.  Once again, the possibility of success is truly in your hands. You need to be an entrepreneur in corporate optometry and use your resources to grow. Starting your own practice will not be easy, but it is certainly not impossible, especially with a good work ethic and business mindset.

4. The lowest-priced eye exams and vision plans will bring in more patients.

It may seem that, in order to gain patients, you need offer the lowest-priced eye exams and vision plans amongst your local competitors.  This method, however, is neither the only strategy nor the best strategy to bring in patients. Word of mouth and the power of recommendations from your current patient-base is crucial, and whether you are receiving this praise will depend on the quality of your care.  In addition, the convenience in scheduling, such as being able to make appointments online, will attract new patients searching for an optometrist.

5. Adding more hours and days creates more patients and income.

While you may assume that increasing the amount of hours in the office will, in turn, increase the amount of patients coming in, this is a huge myth.  Working 7 days a week won’t necessarily bring in more patients. Rather, you should consider what an optimal schedule for both you as the optometrist and your patients may be, as well as how many hours you need to be in the office to accommodate your client-base and to profit.  

6. The income potential in corporate optometry is tremendous.

Income potential is corporate optometry is highly variable depending on a variety of factors, each of which you can look into when considering starting a sublease in corporate optometry.  For example, the location in which you will be working highly influences your income potential. In addition, whether you are working with a new vs. established brand will affect the amount of revenue you are able to bring in.  

7. Contracts are absolutely set in stone.

Simply stated, everything is negotiable.  If there is a part of a contract that you are uncomfortable with or that you feel should be changed, express this and work to make a agreement that benefits both sides.  Don’t settle for less than what you believe you deserve!