Measuring Productivity and Profitability – The Edge

February 9, 2011 – Optical Vision Site

One of the things I am passionate about is measuring productivity and tracking results in an eyecare office. I have been into this for over 30 years, have written ABO programs on retail math and encourage every office to chart, graph and track the information to measure where your dollars are coming from. Even more so, train key staff and use open book management techniques to educate staff about running a business.

I recently had an opportunity to review the EDGE -definitely a unique tracking productivity and profitabilty software program for eyecare professionals, and I was impressed!  A non- business oriented eyecare professional and staff could learn this program easily and track the performance of not only of overall office performance, staff member including doctors productivity. You can count  revenue from frames, from contacts from accessories even from his CPT codes, contact lenses and more.

One of the things that really impressed me, you can even track revenue from each vendor. No need to worry whether or not to eliminate a vendor or add more board space to a vendor, this program calculates that for you, no second guessing, no emotional buying decisions.

In fact this is the best in software I have seen in drilling down everything a retailer that is an eyecare provider need to run their business and a way to compete with the big boys!

A few Highlights

1.) Tracks staff performance and incentive plans. This allows for you to figure out what training/ help each staff needs to get up to par.

Lets You know What Staff are doing and any training.

2.) Tracks sales per square foot- this is the mainstay of any business today. Sales per square foot, and even drills it down to sales per product.

3.) Tracks revenue from managed care programs- lets you know if you are making money, if you need to drop a program or what to do to enhance a program. Lets you know how managed care effects the practice.

Tracks Professional Fees

4.) Benchmarks- let you know per location if you are up or down, same time next year and gives stats.

Tracks and Benchmarks Year Over Year

5.) Daily update at a glance. Lets you know where you are at, so you can more than break even!

6.) Provides Solutions- we all know, its great to know what our problems are, but solutions are built into the program.

7.) Has a built in ‘human error’ reminder.

For more information visit www.gatewaypn.com and I would sign up for a FREE Demo online, you have nothing to lose but about an hour of time, that could put $1,000′s of dollars in your pocket.

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GPN Debuts The Edge 2.0 and Enhances Resources for Its Web-Based Performance Management System

Vision Monday - November 10, 2010 11:13 AM

NEW YORK—The optical business management consultancy, Gateway Provider Network (GPN) has introduced a series of upgrades and new resources for The Edge 2.0, a web-based software program which analyzes eyecare practices and services to help ECPs identify the strengths and weaknesses related to practice profitability.

The Edge, which is a program that works with small practices as well as larger multiple-location offices and regional groups, provides instant access for practice benchmarks to help managers see the impact of business decisions on the bottom line. Jay Binkowitz, president of GPN, noted, “This is a true performance management system providing tracking on a whole new level. It features web-based, intuitive graphics, charts and snapshots to help people see what’s happening in their practices. It offers a wealth of filters which help people view their business in new and eye-opening ways.”

Binkowitz added, “The Edge 2.0 has been extremely well-received and we have now upgraded most of our client base. The dynamics of the program enable ‘dashboards’ to be customized in many ways to present an easy-to-use solution for presenting complex information to support practice-building solutions.”

Binkowitz cites the involvement of practicing optometrists, MBAs and other consultants for the development of the proprietary tools. “We can look at practices as a whole, or, for a group, analyze information by region or location. The graphics and comparative tools enable a new way of viewing managed care plans’ impact on sales and profitability and a new feature is a button that allows tracking by CMT, IPC 9 codes. There are a range of tools that help ECPs better understand staff productivity and pricing decisions. Our support team teaches a series of routines and philosophies of what to look for and what the info means.”

Also, soon, The Edge 2.0 will introduce a new Solutions Library, which enables providers to get up to speed with The Edge via a series of videos and tutorials. “There are now hundreds of help points,” said Binkowitz, who noted that this addition accompanies hands-on training and guidance.

The Edge system synchs up with OfficeMate’s system, although about a third of GPN’s Edge clients use the program’s virtual system to take existing info that most practices have and display it in a more visual, graphic form that changes and shifts with each query. “We don't replace practice management systems, but we enhance them,” Binkowitz said. Using the analogy of a mobile app, he said, “The Edge enables you to be in control of your business from anywhere at any time.”

Through Peer Group consulting, lectures and hands-on guidance, the team at GPN offers many ways to assist Edge clients. In addition, GPN’s exclusive Forensic Study enables practices to get a granular detail of how their practice and dispensary are operating.

Stated Binkowitz, “That’s the beauty of The Edge 2.0; it brings everything to the surface.” More info about GPN’s services are available at Gatewaypn.com.

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Managing the Microdetails
By Dr. Lori Lippiatt

With touch-of-a-button business analysis, doctor finds she can make corrections easily

      If she wanted to, Lorie Lippiatt, OD, could read an assessment of how well her Salem, Ohio, practice is performing every 15 minutes. That is how often her business analytics software updates the real-time information on productivity. While she doesn’t use it that often, she says she does use it at least daily – and much more intensively than she has in the past. Dr. Lippiatt is a familiar face as she is a consultant for OfficeMate and has been instrumental in the development of ExamWriter, the company’s electronic medical record software. She installed the system in 1990, and added ExamWriter seven years ago. Last year, she added a new tool, The EDGE analytics software from Gateway Professional Network. “It’s a business tool that lets me filter our reports and dig through the data on a much deeper level,” she says. “It provides insight into the microdetails of the practice. For example, I can see what frames are selling within which insurance plan, by the day of the week or by the optician.”

      By filtering the data in a variety of ways, Dr. Lippiatt can develop some assumptions about workflow, too. For example, in her two-doctor office, she can see that she produces a substantially larger percentage of medical revenue than her associate does. “You can see the strengths and weaknesses of each doctor. If I know we have a certain percentage of glaucoma patients and Dr. A is generating a larger amount than Dr. B, we can assume some testing isn’t being done.” Since it is one of her goals this year to increase medical revenue, being able to look at these numbers of a daily, weekly and monthly basis helps her assess the progress. “These are reports that I could have done before, but it would involve more analysis and time,” she says.

      Instead, the data is presented as pie charts or bar graphs, and she can customize it to compare month-to-month or compare it to the previous year’s data. Many of today’s practice management software programs contain some of this information – but the result is often a megareport, as Dr. Lippiatt calls it. “Most doctors are so busy managing a practice and seeing a patient, that even when they get such a report, they don’t know what to do with it. The EDGE teaches you how to look at the data in a more meaningful way and ask questions as to why the result is what it is,” she says.

      She can see, for example, which combination of doctor, technician and optician results in the higher per-patient revenue. That allows her to review what works with that combination – and how it can be transferred to other combinations. She can see which days and hours are most productive, which can help her make informed decisions about staffing.

      The system filters data through any defined parameter, so she can locate and plug gaps in revenue much more quickly. “In a regular report, you might learn that your capture rate with an insurance program is six out of 10 patients. But with The EDGE, I can look at each optician’s reports. If one optician is selling only three out of 10 patients a frame, I know where the hole is,” she says. She can pair that optician with one with a higher capture rate and quickly have that first optician mimic the presentation. Had she stopped after determining that a 60 percent capture rate wasn’t bad, she wouldn’t have identified if one person was bringing down the average.

      Another impact of the early reports was that the practice determined that a higher-than-average number of patients in one insurance plan were not purchasing their frames from the practice. “Maybe they felt that our prices are too high, or they don’t want to pay out of pocket. By adding some lower-priced frames, we can encourage these people to at least browse our dispensary,” she says. Before, these patients felt there was nothing for them within their managed care allowance, so they didn’t look at all. By adding some value frames, the patients will look, allowing opticians to explain that they can also leverage their managed care allowances toward higher-quality frames. The simple addition of a few value frames provided opportunities for a discussion that wasn’t taking place before.

      There is such a thing as too much data, and Dr. Lippiatt is not looking to micromanage her practice. Her business manager has the application running live on her desktop, so she can review numbers daily. But Dr. Lippiatt looks at the data weekly or monthly. “I look for the trending data,” she says. “It’s exciting. In 20 years of practice, this is information to which I’ve never had access before.”