At Marketing4ECPs, we understand running an eye care practice is challenging—and there’s so much more to it than filling up your appointment schedule. You have budgets to maintain, staff to manage, a building to keep up, marketing strategies to handle, and, above all, patients who need your care.
One of the most important metrics for your eye care practice is revenue per patient. Keeping a close eye on it and other key numbers can help you identify where your practice succeeds, falls behind, and your growth opportunities.
Revenue per patient can be calculated in a few different ways, depending on whether you want to determine revenue per comprehensive exam or revenue per all services.
Finding Your Revenue Per Patient
Here are the 2 formulas you can use to determine your revenue per patient:
| Formula #1: Gross Annual Revenue / # of Annual Exams Performed = Revenue / Patient Example: $659,736 / 2,156 = $306 |
OR
| Formula #2: Gross Annual Revenue / # Total Patient Services = Revenue / Patient Example: $659,736 / 2,598 = $254 |
Let’s dive into some important financial principles for running your eye care practice and strategies you can use to get to the next level.
Your Important KPIs
Key performance indicators (KPIs) help you measure your practice’s profitability and maximize its potential. Depending on your goals, you may choose to measure different KPIs, but key metrics to consider following are:
- How many patients you see
- How many products you sell
- How productive your staff is
- Which of your services have the most demand
Overall, your KPIs should help you gauge:
- If your doctors are being kept busy
- How productive your doctors are
- How productive is the staff as a whole?
- What is the capture rate for frames, lenses, and other retail?
You don’t need to track your KPIs constantly, but we recommend you check on them monthly or quarterly to assess the health of your practice and determine where you may need to focus your efforts.
Creating Your Budget
If your practice doesn’t yet have a budget or needs a refresher, the easiest way to get started is to list what your practice needs. That might include:
- Equipment payments or upkeep costs
- Your rent or mortgage payments
- Staff member salaries
- Product inventory
In reality, it can be difficult to predict the exact cost of running any business—but even getting a picture of your potential costs can help you get a start.
Where Does Your Cash Come From?
Let’s distinguish between your net income and your cash flow. Net income is the money your practice makes before expenses like taxes and wages, while cash flow represents the money going in and out of your practice at any time.
Knowing where your practice’s cash comes from can help you improve and grow your practice over time. Let’s say you invested in a new eyewear collection last quarter, but noticed your dry eye management services bring in the most cash. By checking on your cash flow along with the KPIs you set for your practice, you can anticipate trends like this and get ahead of the curve.
Your Financial Action Plan
How you manage your practice can determine its success, how you support your lifestyle, and when you will one day be able to retire.
Running your optometry practice can take a tremendous amount of effort. It’s important to remember that it’s okay to make mistakes along the way, but getting the right help can make all the difference.
Learn how Marketing4ECPs can help your practice succeed by booking your call with our team.
