TSO Network Update -February 2018

16 l February 2018 Questions: “What change have you made in your practice in the last three years that has had the biggest effect on the bottom line? Dr. Sher - Moving to a new location and remodeling has had the single biggest change on our bottom line. I purchased my location from a retiring TSO Doctor who’d never remodeled the office. The 1981 décor left a lot to be desired. The office was profitable after we addressed our internal shrinkage/theft, as well as taking better control of our costs of goods. The problem was we were not growing, and with only one functioning exam room we could not expand our clinic or hire an associate doctor. After moving locations to a medical professional building and an updated build out, our gross income has improved dramatically. We continue to watch our COGS to make sure the net profit stays high and we’ve added a part-time associate doctor to the schedule as well. Our patients were so happy we moved and are referrals and new patient percentages have increased from day one. Our ROI for the remodel is going to be about 2 ½ years. I also believe that adding up-to-date technology has also been a huge boost to our numbers. Last year we did over $40k just in Optomaps from March through December. Dr. Pham - Giving my General Manager more autonomy. This gives time to look at bigger picture. Dr. House - Zeiss Lab agreement. If you have not changed over yet I highly encourage as the results have been fantastic on both savings, quality, and customer service. Online Scheduling- Having access to online scheduling at night has helped us average around 30-40 appointments/ month with my offices. How did you implement this change and what were some of the obstacles you encountered? Dr. Sher - I had no idea it would take as long as it did to build out and move into a new space. I also had no idea it would cost as much as it did, especially when including new equipment. Make sure you have everything that you need included in your loan application so you won’t have out of pocket expenses, ie phone system, computers, office furniture, etc. Dr. Pham - All staff and patients’ decisions will go through the GM instead of it coming to me first. Hard to trust and let go. When practice is busy, you just want to jump in and do things yourself but you have to remind yourself that only works short term but will not improve your office long-term. Dr. House - Had an introductory dinner meeting with all of my staffs whereby our Zeiss rep introduced the products and answered staff questions. Then took the effort to move products into our practice management system and make sure to stay on top of staff to recommend different products then what they were used to previously and why. Lab ordering transition was really quite seamless so no difficulties on that part. We use limelight through Solutionreach. Pretty much set it and forget it but you do have to organize your schedule to consistent slots and times for it to work appropriately. Patients visit our website and can see mostly real-time appointment availability and can request one of the times and my staff calls them asap to finalize details. Has been simple and we are encouraged by number of appointments are made from 8:00PM – midnight. We never captured these people before I’m fairly certain When speaking with patients in the exam room, what types of words or language do you use to “recommend” ie additional testing, new optical products, upgraded contact lens products, referrals? Dr. Sher - First, I explore what the patient might require visually before even beginning to test them. What’s going on at work, at home, or with their hobbies that might need to be addressed with a prescription change, or more importantly a separate pair of glasses or contacts specific to that function After checking vision and the health of the eyes, I will talk about what I recommend optically for their specific needs. This could include computer glasses with bluetech arc, sunglasses with polarized lenses, or it could be contact lenses, etc. If there is a need for further testing or a referral I will spend some time explaining our findings and plan. importantly, be their advocate not the barrier. Dr. Pham - Instead of choices of words, what I would do is listen to what the patient’s hobbies, occupation, lifestyle and at the very end, I would prescribe them what lens, materials, coating, and have it always correlate to what they told me at the beginning of exam. Dr. House - No matter which of these you are discussing with the patient success starts with trust. It is very important to show each patient that you care about them and that you know what you are talking about. I do this by making sure I read their mood and if appropriate look continued on next page