Patients:

IDOC Members know that satisfied patients create a successful practice.  Yet, one of the greatest challenges is knowing how to grow your patient base so your practice continues to thrive.  IDOC University helps independent O.D.s identify and implement the most effective methods to increase their patient base including:

• The best ways to keep current patients happy and loyal to your practice 
• Internal & external marketing to reach new patients 
• Methods to increase patient referrals
• How building a niche practice or the addition of products & services will attract new patients to your practice 
• How to re-engage previous patients and bring them back to your practice

When your practice is the ‘only choice’ for your existing patients and the ‘obvious choice’ for new patients, you effectively have no competition.  Your practice will not only gain more patients, but measurable profits and greater success, too.  
  

Productivity:

Build teams of engaged staff members:
Research has proven that a diverse group of people outperforms a group of like-minded experts. IDOC University promotes the belief that teams that are given clear direction and common goals perform better. When an O.D.’s staff understands their specific roles and how they each contribute to patient satisfaction, they will see how they are positively affecting the overall practice goals.  This ultimately results in increased job satisfaction and reduced employee turnover, resulting in reduced expenses and increased productivity.

Delivering true patient value:
Unhappy patients can damage a practice.  Your staff has a direct line of sight to your patients and the potential to make a huge impact in their lives.  This opportunity should motivate your team to deliver exceptional patient care. The meaning of their work should not be in the pair of eye glasses they are selling or the profit the practice will make from that sale, but rather in the delight on the face of a child that can see clearly for the first time.  IDOC University provides the necessary training so all members within a practice will learn how to delight patients and provide an exceptional patient experience, resulting in patient loyalty and future revenue. 

Understanding how to manage priorities and deadlines:
Projects with unclear priorities and undefined deadlines repeatedly miss goals and objectives, causing the practice to lose revenue or absorb increased costs. Whether it is migrating a practice to EHR, installing new practice management software or cross-training a new staff member, reducing the amount of “work-in-progress” and breaking large projects down into a four-week duration or less, allows a team to become far more productive.  IDOC University effectively trains staff members how to approach and manage projects, priorities and deadlines to insure a successful and cost-effective outcome.

Measurement leads to Improvement:
IDOC University supports a ‘measure what matters’ business philosophy to running a successful practice.  If your staff is unable to measure or track their productivity against goals and objectives, their progress will be impeded.  It has been proven that when teams can actually see their progress, or see how their efforts are impacting the practice, everyone feels more accountable and tries harder to reach the desired outcome.  IDOC University can assist your practice in incorporating methods to measure performance and productivity. 
  

Profits

Once you have successfully increased your patient base and your staff is fully engaged: they are providing your patients with an exceptional experience, they understand priorities and deadlines and you are measuring practice productivity against objectives, it is time to tie it altogether.  IDOC University provides the forum to take all these disparate components and demonstrate how they impact your profits – after all, that is the true measure of a successful optometric business. 

Tie your staff to revenue & profits:
This process begins by understanding the economic value of each patient, and then understanding how your staff is implicated in generating revenue from each patient, including future revenue.

Proactive management is key:
In many cases, responding after a problem has emerged is too late. In that circumstance you tend to be dealing with the ‘result’ and not the ‘cause’ of the issue.  For example, if Optical sales have decreased for two consecutive months, look at what metrics you track in the Optical, and use those metrics to trigger proactive interactions with your staff. You may find a staff member is uncomfortable with selling a second-pair of glasses if the patient does not request one. Having a metric that tracks each staff member’s sales in the Optical versus a general baseline sales figure is a great way for you to identify a problem and correct it quickly, mitigating any negative impact to your bottom line.

Think of your practice as a destination:
The more you embrace the idea that your practice is a destination that your patients visit for the experience they have, the more intrinsic this philosophy will become. You and your staff must assimilate this belief by making sure your patients have a complete experience at their appointment: offer them the latest glaucoma test, show them and explain to them the benefits of the newest piece of equipment you just purchased.  The increased productivity from this approach will generate additional revenue that will directly and positively affect profits.

Consistency is key:
You want every interaction that a patient has with your practice to be very similar. You don’t want patients having a great experience on one visit only to be disappointed the next time. Your patients are the livelihood of your optometric business and word-of-mouth can be either advantageous or debilitating to your business.  IDOC University can help you deliver a consistent high-level of service to your patients by providing staff training, as well as assistance with policy/procedure development.