MBA Intelligence

january 19, 2012

Bi-weekly information and advice to manage optometric practices
from the Management & Business Academy™ (MBA)

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Ziegler

Sticky Situations

Dr. Dave Ziegler

A patient wonders...

"Will I ever talk face-to-face with my doctor again
now that the office uses electronic medical records?"

Switching to electronic health records (EHR) was the most difficult thing I have done in practice. It was months of pain and near mutiny while we transitioned. We doctors quickly found we couldn't do all the keystrokes necessary with EHR to enter the data. Many times, we couldn't even have eye contact with the patient while busily entering all the data. For all of its benefits, EHR was taking us away from our practice mission—to create memorable patient experiences while provided unsurpassed eyecare.

We realized that using scribes was the only way we were going to do the exam and record all the data while providing a memorable patient experience. We spent a couple months training the staff how to record what we were doing. Initially, we thought of them as transcriptionists, like court reporters.

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Dr. Dave Ziegler, who lectures and publishes regularly, is a member of the MBA Faculty.

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New
Contact Lens Management Survey Results Posted

The findings of a comprehensive survey of contact lens management in the optometric practice have been posted on MBA-ce.com. The survey of common management practices was completed in December 2011 by 269 ODs.

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"Two Magic Words" by
Laurie Sorrenson, OD, FAAO

Laurie Sorreson, OD

Laurie Sorrenson, OD, FAAO, advises that two magic words—"That's horrible!"—can express empathy to an angry patient. Teaching your staff to use these words lets an upset patient know that your staff is on their side. Dr. Sorrenson lectures on staff management issues at "Total Practice Success: A Symposium on a World Class Staff," a new MBA seminar that premiered in 2011.

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Market Facts

Market Facts

Customer Debt Has 50/50 Chance of Being Ever Collected After 180 Days Past Due

The Commercial Collection Agency Association conducts periodic surveys of its membership to establish reliable, cross-industry norms of the probability of collecting accounts receivables at different intervals past due. The surveys consistently prove that the probability of debt collection declines with each passing day. Although the collection probability curve is not based on OD responses, consultants confirm a similar pattern in optometry.

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New Staff Workshop

"Encouraging Yearly Eye Exams," a new MBA Service Excellence Workshop, has been posted on MBA-ce.com. There are opportunities to reinforce the expectation of yearly exams during every interaction with patients and in every communication. This workshop is designed to analyze the current patient education process of the office relates to reinforcing the importance of yearly exams. Staff learns how to develop a standard process to repeatedly communicate the benefits of yearly eye exams during office visits and in other patient communications.

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MBA Updates


Carole Burns, OD


2012 MBA Seminars:

Vision Expo East, NYC, March 25

North Carolina Optometric Assoc., Myrtle Beach, June 7

American Optometric Assoc.
First Practice Academy
Chicago, June 28-30

Texas Optometric Assoc.,
San Antonio, July 28

Vision Expo West, Las Vegas, September 8

California Optometric Assoc., Monterey, November 8

More dates to be confirmed.

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Hey, Look Us Over!

New Design for MBA-ce.com

MBA-ce.com, the web site of the Management & Business Academy™, sponsored by Alcon and Essilor, has undergone a dramatic redesign to provide a more usable and attractive environment for accessing tools for optometric practice growth.

The MBA site features a new organizational flow that allows for easy access to a wealth of detailed reports, articles, surveys, calculators, staff workshops, monographs and other resources. Existing content is highlighted, and new content is added to the site on a weekly basis with the posting of two MBA e-newsletters: MBA Essentials and MBA Intelligence. An enhanced search function allows users to home in on highly detailed metrics and best practices that can be applied to measure and improve practice performance.

The MBA web site is open, and at no charge, to all who register: www.MBA-ce.com.

About the MBA

The Management & Business Academy™ (MBA) is a professional education program, sponsored by Alcon and Essilor, dedicated to assisting independent optometrists to improve business management processes. The MBA conducts live seminars, conducts on-going research to establish national optometric practice performance metrics, publishes MBA Insights (a quarterly practice management journal) and maintains www.mba-ce.com (a premier practice website with building resources).

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Copyright © 2011 Management & Business Academy™ (MBA). All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.