With all of the processes that we have in a typical optometric practice, there are several processes that are productive and others that are cumbersome and take time. When examined individually, these individual tasks seem like a small amount of time on their own. But, when you multiply those tasks by the number of employees that may be performing them throughout the day and the number of times each of the employees that may be performing them, it very quickly becomes a task that comprises a large portion of time in the office that can take away from direct patient care.

Prescription Glasses

As an example, let’s take into consideration the typical situation of a patient’s glasses that come into the office. When they come in, there are several tasks that are required to check the glasses in, including:

  1. Removing them from the package that they were delivered from the lab in (5 sec)
  2. Physical inspection of the glasses (10 sec)
  3. Comparing the invoice with the expected cost of the glasses (15 sec)
  4. Comparing the prescription on the invoice to the prescription that was ordered (15 sec)
  5. Performing lensometry on the glasses to confirm the appropriate prescription (1 min)
  6. Place lenses in a tray confirming that they have been checked in (5 sec)
  7. Call the patient to let them know that their glasses are in (15 sec)
  8. Talk to the patient on the phone or leave a message on the phone (1 to 3 min)

This process seems a seemingly easy task and one that doesn’t require a lot of time for an experienced optician. But, now multiply this task by the number of glasses that come in on a daily basis and by the number of days that the office is open on a monthly basis and you can see very quickly how time-consuming that this can be. Additionally, because this is taking someone’s time, it is also costing the office because the individual that is performing this task is being compensated by the office.

A More Efficient Process

In the spirit of performing the tasks that we are currently doing more efficiently, it would be incumbent upon us to look for ways to more efficiently perform these tasks. The phone call is the one part of this task that may take the longest time. Interestingly, it also has the greatest amount of variability around the time of the task depending on whether or not the patient answers the phone or if you simply leave a voicemail for the individual.

So, how could we optimize this process? If we could automate this process, it could help save a significant amount of time in the office. The time of a phone call has a wide range of variability that it could take ranging from 1 minute to 3 minutes for most patients. If we assume that the average time this takes is 2 minutes, and considering that you check in 100 pairs of glasses a month, that is 200 minutes a month. That equates to 3 hours and 20 minutes per month that you could give back to other tasks that are required to be performed in the office.

Contact Lens

Now consider the contact lens side of the practice. There are a series of steps that are required to occur when contact lenses come in for a patient:

  1. Removing them from the package that they were delivered in (5 sec)
  2. Physical inspection of the boxes (10 sec)
  3. Comparing the invoice with the expected cost of the contacts (15 sec)
  4. Comparing the prescription on the invoice to the prescription that was ordered (15 sec)
  5. Place lenses in a tray confirming that they have been checked in (5 sec)
  6. Call the patient to let them know that their contact lenses are in (15 sec)
  7. Talk to the patient on the phone or leave a message on the phone (1 to 3 min)

Assuming the that the phone call will on average take about 2 minutes, the total time of all the tasks performed is approximately 3 minutes. Assuming that you order contact lenses for 100 patients per month, this is about 300 minutes per month or about 5 hours per month.

When you total the glasses and contact lens check-in time along with notifying patients, and assuming that you order glasses and contact lenses for 100 patients each month, you can see how much time this would save. Simply implementing a system in which patients are automatically notified when their glasses and contact lenses come in, saves you the time of the phone calls. Additionally, by sending contact lenses directly to the patient’s house as opposed to sending them to the office, there are significantly more time savings for the office.

Automated Processes with Weave

Automatic notification along with subtly changing ordering habits can have substantial positive improvements in the flow along with true cost savings to the practice. Automated text messaging notifications can be easily integrated into practice through advanced software systems such as Weave which easily allow for notification to patients when glasses and contact lenses come into the office.

Being cognizant of those processes in the office that can expend valuable time can also be leveraged with new technologies to be performed in a more efficient manner and thus saving the practice valuable time to perform other services in the office. In doing so, you can save on the hidden expenses of a traditional optometric practice.