Dear Doctor, Always Remember: Do the Math and Measure What Matters

There are two pieces of advice I would give any new doctor stepping into practice ownership.

The first is: “Do the math”, which means actually running the numbers before you commit. Take pricing. Most owners set a price by looking at what the practice down the road charges, or by applying the markup they inherited. When you do the math, you understand how that price flows through to profitability. Do not forget to account for patient discounts and clinic overhead.

The same discipline applies to spending. When you are deciding whether you can afford new software, the honest question is sometimes whether you can afford not to. The math in this case could be saved staff time from efficiencies, reduced costly errors and delays, or simply easier access to your metrics. Those all have real value to your bottom line, but in very different ways.

The second is: “Measure what matters.” This starts with your goal. From there, follow that goal down to the actions and metrics that will meaningfully affect it in your practice. Look across your processes and metrics to find the ones with the strongest relationship to the result you want. Those are the ones you watch, and they will likely be unique to you.

If you are chasing sales growth, the number that moves it might be your booking rate, your capture rate, or your second pair. Which one it is depends entirely on where your weakness sits. If your schedule is empty, no amount of work on second pair will save you.

We can learn from others, but you always need to gut check against your own practice to see where you need to go.

Anne M J Chong, President and CEO, Visual-Eyes