Eyeworld

77 OPHTHALMOLOGY BUSINESS November 2017 digital.ophthalmologybusiness.org new operations manual as a live document: • As an orientation and training manual for new staff, and as re- fresher course material throughout the year for even the most senior staff • As a tool to help with annual recredentialing of technical and other staff • As the basis for auditing work pro- cesses and looking for efficiencies • To help new doctors in the prac- tice understand how support staff do their work Make additions throughout the year as new protocols come to light, and be sure to read the man- ual from cover to cover once a year, making any needed corrections or changes. EW for basic, "I" for intermediate, or "A" for advanced next to each skill you have written up on the board. 3. Then assign each meeting partic- ipant one of the "B" (basic) skills to write out over the next week or two in an agreed word processing format (furnish a sample format of how you would like these first drafts to look). 4. The tech manager then edits the first drafts and passes these along to a designated doctor (or the entire professional staff) for approval. 5. When each set is completed, the techs are assigned the next topic from the whiteboard, moving from the basic items on through to advanced ones. 6. Repeat this process every week or two until the operations manual is finished and formally approved. In larger practices, with a lot of techs, you can write the entire tech manual—50 pages or longer—in a month or two. In smaller practices, where there are fewer staff who can often be more intensely employed, with little downtime for writing protocols, it may take a year to complete a department's operations manual. This same week-by-week process can be pursued in every department and in a matter of a few months in most settings will result in a com- pleted operations manual for the entire practice. After putting in this effort, even though it was comparatively painless for you as a practice leader, you will want to actually use your Mr. Pinto is president of J. Pinto & Associates Inc., an ophthalmic practice management consulting firm in San Diego. His latest ASCRS•ASOA book, Simple: The Inner Game of Ophthalmic Practice Success, is now 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 Inc., 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 " You would be surprised at how few protocols and procedures are written down in the average practice—even in quite large practices. "

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