Prepare Your Eye Care Practice for the Holidays

Carefully optimizing your practice for the busy holiday season can help you meet increased demand and provide exceptional service to your patients. The most important thing you can do to get ready for the upcoming season and make the most out of your practice is to carefully organize both your work calendar and your time off for the holidays.

This year, November will be a good month with 22 Monday-Friday workdays allowing for the Thanksgiving holiday on November 23. This means that if you plan ahead of time and are able to extend some of your operational hours Monday-Friday, you can maximize on those last-minute patients who want to use their benefits before the end of the year while still giving your staff Thanksgiving off and even the “Black Friday” shopping event that follows Thanksgiving day.

However, this year, December will prove to be a bit more difficult with Christmas Eve and the “Christmas weekend” which leaves only 9 workdays between December 16 through December 31. The last minute surge to use year end benefits usually requires a full staff so if you plan on closing any extra days or give management extra days off like the day before Christmas Eve we suggest you extend your hours on Saturday, which is the day before New Years Eve which falls on Sunday.

By organizing your holiday schedule ahead of time, you may better manage expectations, lessen frustration, and ultimately benefit from the patients who want to see you before their benefits expire. When executed correctly and beforehand, the benefits can be significant for your wellbeing as well as the well-being of your staff and patients.