Optometry Practice Management

Management in an optometry practice can sure seem like a full-time job sometimes, and can even feel very overwhelming.  The frustrations often come from the dichotomy of being a busy doctor but having a team to train and correct and run at the same time.  In school, you learned all about being an amazing optometrist but not so much on how to actually run a top-end practice.

Optometrist turned Manager

When you first got your licence, you may have associated for a while in a full dispensing practice and not had the direct responsibility of being the practice manager/owner.  It was a chance to observe what you would or would not do when you moved out on your own.

Or, you may have worked in a side-by-side practice situation with an optical store or department and you only had to deal with the exams and perhaps contact lenses.  Usually, this only requires 1-2 staff depending on the extensiveness of the hours of the practice.

Later on, you may have bought a practice or started one from scratch and suddenly moved into a whole new realm of responsibilities that take up much time outside of the doctor’s end of things.

Practice Management Issues

Running an optometric practice has plenty of management issues to deal with, such as:

• managing patients,
• running on time (despite patients arriving late),
• getting the patients back for check-ups,
• dealing with no shows and cancellations,
• staff not showing up due to illness or other appointments,
• following up on supplies and orders,
• hiring staff,
• internal and external marketing to fill the practice with patients,
• buying expensive but necessary equipment and maintaining,
• paying payroll and all other practice-related bills,
• and so on.

Management Tools for Optometrists

We have trained and consulted 130 Optometrists across Canada over the last 25 years on management skills.  And it has definitely been our pleasure to see them blossom and achieve the success they sought.  A fully efficient, productive practice with ideal hours and lots of family time for the owner is a beautiful thing!