Dear Jerry,
I enjoyed the podcast you did on May 25 with Dr Richard Hom on the future of electronic medical records. I have utilized a PMS since we opened our office in 1995.
Having all patient encounters documented with an EMR since 2000 I can not think of any case where an OD would not benefit from converting from paper records to electronic.
I have helped numerous other Docs implement EMR/PMS and at this point in time can see no downsideto an EMR implementation. The economies of improved efficiencies and better access to your data should benefit virtually every practice regardless of whether it is optical or medical related.
In fact, I shudder at the thought of going back to paper. Not only would it be met with resistance by the doctors I work with, but the our staff would mutiny as well.
Keep up the good podcasts.
Thanks,
Richard Driscoll, OD
This email from Dr. Driscoll was one of many positive comments we got on my podcast interview with Dr. Hom. Click here if you wish to listen.
Best Regards,
Jerry Hayes, OD
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Optical staff
Dr. Hayes,
We are in the midst of adjusting our allocation now. Would you only include optical staff that edge lenses in the CGS? We have one optician who spends 30% of time in optical edging and 70% on optical sales and service. We have three other opticians who are 100% dedicated to sales and service. We have typically only placed the "edging part" of the first optician in the CGS and the rest of optician salaries/benefits in labor. What are your suggestions?
Thanks,
Jeff
Jeff, I would allocate the
Jeff, I would allocate the salaries on a pro rata basis of how they spend their time.
If the optician who both grinds lenses and deals with patients is making $30,000 per year and spends 30% of her time edging, I would book $21,000 of her salary to staff overhead and $9,000 to COGS. JH
Opticians as COGS
We do not have a lab in our office, but we have 5 full time opticians. Would I count them as COGS or as staff? I understand if they spend time cutting lenses to count them as COGS, but their only job is to help patients with glasses. However, I can see how it should be counted as COGS instead of staffing. Which do you count them as if we don't have an in-house lab?
Megan
Hi Megan, IMO, If opticians
Hi Megan,
IMO, If opticians spend all their time with frame selection and dispensing, I think 100% of their salary goes to staff expense category. JH