Eyeworld

EW NEWS & OPINION 33 • Do we have access to adequate capital reserves? (Adding up re- coverable A/R, bank accounts and credit lines, you should have ready access to 3+ months of average practice expenses before nominal MD compensation.) Financial performance • What's our year-to-date profit margin? (This can be wide-rang- ing, from 30% to 50+%, and still be normal for a given practice. It's important to track your trend line.) • What percentage of cash flow are we spending on lay support staff? Facilities? (Answers should come in at about 30% and 5%, respec- tively.) • What are the average collections per patient visit this month, and are we trending up or down? ($150 to $225+ is commonly seen.) • Have we audited recall work to assure that each doctor's return- to-clinic order has resulted in an appointment being made? Human resources • Are all staff reviews up to date? • Is the staff policy manual current and being followed? • Are we treating everyone fairly, or are we overlooking adverse behav- iors in selected staff because they are being "protected" by their doctor? • When was the last time we as- sessed staff satisfaction, and what were the results? Bookkeeping and accounting • Are our vendors being paid in an appropriate time frame? • Are financial reports available shortly after the end of each month? (The standard used to be 20 days and is now 10 days or less.) Mr. Pinto is president of J. Pinto & Associates, an ophthalmic practice management consulting firm established in 1979, with offices in San Diego. His latest ASCRS•ASOA book, Simple: The Inner Game of Ophthalmic Practice Success, is available at www.asoa.org. He can be contacted at pintoinc@aol.com or 619-223-2233. Ms. Wohl is president of C. Wohl & Associates, a practice management con- sulting firm. She earned her Masters of Health Services Administration degree at George Wash- ington University and has 30 years of hospital and physician practice management expertise. She can be contacted at czwohl@gmail.com or 609-410-2932. About the authors Optical performance • What are our optical collections per patient visit? (This can range widely from $15 to $65.) • Do we have the right number of opticians? (The acceptable figure is $200,000 or more in annual optical collections per dispensing optician.) • What's the recent cost-of-goods- sold figure? (The "COGS" ratio is simply the total frame and lens vendor costs divided by total optical collections, and ranges between 30% and 40% in most settings.) How often should you perform your administrative rounds? About once a month is sufficient, but just like in medicine, frail practices require a more frequent and vigilant approach. In the most stable and secure practices, once a quarter is fine. EW DIAGNOSE TREATMENT POST CARE MIBO HeatingPad with FAR INFRARED HEAT SOLUTIONS for managing CHRONIC DRY EYE If you don't have the MiBo you're NOT TREATING DRY EYE All Rights Reserved MIBO Medical Group Pro September 2017

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