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Optical Group Flourishes After Merger With Major Health System
By John Sailer
Partnering with a major hospital system brought success to a chain of franchised optometrists formerly known as First Optometry Eye Care Center and currently known as
Henry Ford Optimeyes. Now, the group is poised for further growth as it works toward partnering with another prominent Michigan health system.
The 17-location group's current growth phase started in 1997 when it decided to reposition itself in a changing industry and began investigating opportunities for expansion.
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Making It an Event-Full Year
With so many trade shows, meetings and other events to choose from, owners and managers of mid-size local and regional optical groups must be selective about which to attend. The following optical retailers told dba which optical events they attend throughout the year and why: Gordon A. Bishop, FNAO, ABOC, RO, CEO and president,
Sunland Optical; Ira Haber, co-owner and president,
Europtics; Diana J. Hall, president,
Bard Optical; Rachel Sivi, vice president,
Real Optics Inc.; Pierre Keyser, founder and CEO,
American Optical Services; and Amanda Ditch, vice president of operations,
Clarkson Eyecare.
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Train the Trainer:
Teaching Leaders to Manage Multiple Locations
By Jay Binkowitz and Evan Kestenbaum, MBA, dba Contributors
The critical piece to your success operating multiple locations is the ability to implement and track results. This doesn't happen on its own. You need someone accountable to "trust but verify" what is really occurring at each location. You need to "Train the Trainer." In other words you need someone who will visit and track what is occurring at each location. In some instances, for smaller optical groups (with about two to four locations), this may be your lead manager who visits each of the other locations one day per week but who is not on the schedule to work with patients.
Over all, one "lead" manager in theory can handle up to three other locations, including their own. This way they can visit each location at least once per month. If you have 12 locations, three managers at a time would be acting as leads. Many chains rotate these leads each quarter.
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Five-Location Practice Finds Its Software Solution in the Cloud
NEW HOLSTEIN, Wis.—When Cheryl Roers, OD, bought her first practice, it was easy enough to use an in-house server to support her electronic health record software, but as she gradually added locations over the years, it became clear that she needed a more efficient solution. She found her answer in cloud-based computing. "I didn't want to be tied to the server anymore," Roers told dba, "so I decided that cloud-based would be the answer."
While a local server provided all the information storage and computing power she needed when Roers bought and operated a single-location practice in 2004, access and connection challenges started as soon as she added a second office a year later. "I needed a server to connect the two offices," she said.
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Frames' Average Retail Price Holds Steady for 2012
ALEXANDRIA, Va.—The average retail price for eyeglass frames was $125.11 for the second half of 2012, according to the most recent statistics available from The Vision Council's VisionWatch report.
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John Sailer, Senior Editor
Send us news about your mid-size regional optical chain or optometric group, provide us with subjects and/or questions for a future dba q&a or let us know what topics you'd like to see covered. Contact dba's Editor John Sailer at jsailer@jobson.com.
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