LINCOLN, Neb.— Williams Group, a business consulting and practice management firm, has expanded its services to include a new “Total Freedom” program offering a complete practice management solution for optometrists, according to an announcement. Total Freedom is an “optometrist-requested, comprehensive service that allows optometrists to continue to own their practices and see patients while leaving the day-to-day management to Williams Group experts,” the announcement noted. “Many of our colleagues have expressed concern regarding the value of their practices over the course of their careers, as well as the emotional and financial investment they have made,” Williams Group chief executive officer Gilan Cockrell said in the announcement.

“They feel pressure to sell, but at the same time, hesitate to part with their treasured asset. We believe there is a way to replace the uncertainty with opportunity. If an optometrist is frustrated or tired of managing the operations of their practice, Total Freedom is a program designed to remove that frustration while still owning the practice.”

Cockrell, in a telephone interview with VMAIL, said the Total Freedom program offers “A to Z business management of the practice, from staffing to billing to compliance and scheduling and marketing.” He also noted that with Total Freedom, the participating optometrist has options around whether he/she wants to continue seeing patients (and how frequently they see patients) or whether they want to retire from practicing optometry. Yet, the doctors still own the practice. “In this way, the sale of the practice isn’t their only option,” he explained.

Cockrell said one of the goals of the Total Freedom program is to “preserve private practices for the next generation.” Williams Group receives a percentage of a participating practice’s income for providing the business-management platform, he said. The program transfers the daily practice management to Williams Group Practice Management Directors.

Cockrell said Williams Group has been testing the Total Freedom idea for more than a year, and is now opening up participation to a broader spectrum of practice ownership. With Total Freedom, optometrists can treat their practice as an investment that generates significant revenue, allowing them to see patients as they normally would, or allowing them to retire from active participation in the practice while still maintaining ownership, the announcement noted.

Dr. Brad Williams founded Williams Group more than 35 years ago with the mission of creating innovative solutions surrounding the ownership and management of an optometry practice. Over the years, there has been “a steady and sometimes dizzying array of changes facing the profession. Many of these changes have created significant uncertainty in the transition plans of optometrists,” according to Williams Group’s announcement.