MBA Intelligence: Pre-Appoint Means Pre-Educate

Sticky Situations

Dr. Dave Ziegler

A doctor wonders...

"Is our checkbook balance low because a staff person is embezzling?"

It's not uncommon to hear a horror story about embezzlement from a trusted employee in an eyecare practice. With all the different roles that the optometrist has to perform in the office, sometimes the money management gets outsourced to a key staff person.

Generally, this responsibility is assigned to an office manager or bookkeeper who has been with the practice for a long time. This person reconciles the statements with the invoices received, and prepares the checks that need to be written for accounts payable. The doctor then signs the checks once or twice a month, and bills are paid. In some offices, this key staff person also has the authority to sign checks.

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

New MBA Survey Management Best Practices:

This survey reveals the levels to which independent ODs have adopted the management best practices recommended by the MBA Faculty.

The findings of this survey will allow you to examine how your practice ranks in best practice adoption among all U.S. independent ODs in financial, marketing and staff management processes. You will also see how your delegation of testing to staff compares to colleagues.

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"Pre–Appoint Means Pre–Educate"

Gary Gerber, OD, stresses that the method of pre-appointment is not as critical as the patient education that goes before it. At each step of the patient journey (beginning with making an appointment), an OD and staff must reinforce to the patient the importance of an annual eye health exam—so that pre-appointment is an expectation and not a new option. By providing multiple education points, you increase your rate of recall.

Market Facts

Nearly Half of U.S. Adults Use Social Media

MBA Essentials New to the redesigned MBA-ce.com is MBA Essentials. This e-journal appears twice monthly and offers three original articles authored by MBA faculty or by well-known authorities in the optometric field. Articles are brief and are focused on actionable points to improve practice performance and processes.

New content is featured on the Home Page of the MBA site and then is archived in the site's Publications channel.

MBA Updates

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

GWCO Congress, Portland, September 30

California Optometric Assoc., Monterey, November 8

Join the MBA community
Register as a reader:
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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.

February 9, 2012