No matter how one may want to strip down and analyse the challenges
relating to the business side of the optometric practice, it always reverts
back to having the right information, in the right format, at the right time.
It is true that there is a tendency among healthcare professionals to avoid the financial management of the business, but I just don’t see how you can run a business effectively without the right information at hand. The old convention of meeting with auditors for a business review, some months after year-end, in February, is outdated. It is fruitless to reflect on a business calendar that stretches back some fifteen months. By then, the horse had already bolted.
The key to creating a high-performance practice is to establish effective business structures, which will enable the optometrist to run the business like a well-oiled machine – as easy as that. What you need are a few relatively simple structures in place.
It all starts with a business plan, which should be reviewed annually. Consider changing your financial year-end to July or August, a quieter time of the year, when there is more free time to review your financial results and set up your business plan.
A budget and a forecast are required so that you have a target to aim at and measure your progress.
A policy and procedure manual, as well as a training manual, will also serve you well. Financial management accounts, presented in a format you can easily relate to, should be on your desk by the 10th of the month. In fact, a summary of the Income Statement, which I call the Mini Income Statement, will suffice.
This may raise the question of how? The problem is that no optometric software package in South Africa has an integrated accounting system. That is, until now. Humint has just been launched, a paperless online software package for optometry that incorporates an accounting package. It comes with all the bells and whistles one can imagine, and it is well priced.
I once surveyed a room of over one hundred optometrists. They were asked to report their net profit for the previous financial year. To my amazement, seventy-four percent of them did not know what percentage of net profit before tax they achieved the previous financial year. Do you? This suggested that they do not have the right structures in place, which can place the right information, in the right format, at their fingertips at the right time.