1:30min
Emma Slinger
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By Rhiannon Riches
Eyecare Plus practice owners are meeting in cities along the east coast this month to share best-practice business tips.
The symposia—six in total—follow an inaugural Eyecare Plus High Performance Leaders Summit that took place in Singapore in March.
Twelve Eyecare Plus practice owners were selected to attend, based on their outstanding performance in four key areas: most efficient practice, best practice, practice growth and patient satisfaction.
The top three members in each category were selected, with one in each category receiving the title award.
Most Efficient Practice was awarded to Glen Barker from Eyecare Plus (Mudgee) but he was unable to attend the summit.
This award was based on turnover divided by the number of full-time optometrists for the 2013-2014 financial year. For example, a store generating $500,000 in turnover with one full-time optometrist and a store generating $1 million in turnover with two full-time optometrists are deemed to be equally efficient.
The Best Practice Award was based on accreditation scores for the 2013-2014 financial year. This award went to Brian Adams from Eyecare Plus (The Junction, Newcastle).
Chih-Chi Lee from Eyecare Plus (Castle Hill) won the Practice Growth Award, based on percentage growth for 2013-2014 compared to 2012-2013, with a minimum turnover in both years of $300,000.
Emma Slinger from Eyecare Plus (Karalee) won the Patient Satisfaction Award, based on the average scores from patient opinion surveys in 2013-2014.
Yvette Safier is high performance manager for Eyecare Plus. She said the Singapore summit gave Eyecare Plus members the opportunity to talk freely and openly about business performance, and the six symposia in April and May would take this discussion to the next level.
‘We ran workshops in Singapore to identify best practice business tactics in key areas such as growth, efficiency and outstanding service, and these learnings will help inform our member meeting agendas and training programs later in the year,’ she said.
Ms Slinger said the summit was an opportunity to exchange ideas. She has owned Eyecare Plus (Karalee) for 12 months and is therapeutically qualified.
‘A popular topic at the summit was about getting access to electronic mail systems used by GPs and ophthalmologists, such as Argus. This secured network is a better way to communicate with GPs and ophthalmologists, instead of via email or fax.
‘I have a large GP clinic next door to my practice, and it would be ideal to be on the same system to refer and communicate on patients. Communications in these electronic systems are automatically logged in a patient’s file,’ Ms Slinger said.
She is also looking to change patient recalls to improve her return rate.
‘I’m going to be pre-appointing or making forward bookings for patients coming back in three to six months, then calling a month before their appointment to confirm their booking,’ she said.
Ms Slinger is a member of Optometry QLD/NT.
Three symposia will be held on 4, 5 and 6 May, in Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra, respectively.