Optometric Management's Dr. Neil Gailmard, contributing editor and member of the Optometric Management Editorial Advisory Board, shares his valuable tricks of the trade in a weekly e-newsletter. Delivered free to your inbox each Wednesday, Management Tip of the Week offers unique and insightful practice management tips from one of the industry's most respected O.D.s.


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#998)December 24, 2008 Happy Holidays!
#360)December 31, 2008 Keeping Payroll Costs Down
#359)December 17, 2008 A Patient Handout for Internet Eyeglasses
#358)December 10, 2008 Internet Eyeglasses
#357)December 3, 2008 Staff: Too Many or Too Few
#356)November 26, 2008 Can You Prosper in a Down Economy?
#355)November 19, 2008 Contact Lens Advancements: When to Recommend
#354)November 12, 2008 Patient Surveys
#353)November 5, 2008 How do you know if your practice is exceptional?
#352)October 29, 2008 Some Thoughts on Staff Meetings
#351)October 22, 2008 Staff relationships: how chummy should you be?
#350)October 15, 2008 How much patient education is enough?
#349)October 8, 2008 Readers Respond: Tips for Attracting New Patients
#348)October 1, 2008 Deal or No Deal
#347)September 24, 2008 Attracting New Patients
#346)September 17, 2008 A Clean Office
#345)September 10, 2008 Patient Waiting Time
#344)September 3, 2008 The Front Desk
#343)August 27, 2008 The Initial Phone Call
#342)August 20, 2008 Influence Point Analysis
#341)August 13, 2008 Is the customer always right? Where do we draw the line?
#340)August 6, 2008 Service Recovery
#339)July 30, 2008 More on Practice Culture
#338)July 23, 2008 Back to Basics: Prevention of Common Service Problems
#337)July 16, 2008 A Review of Marketing Strategies for Eye Care
#336)July 9, 2008 More Good Questions!
#335)July 2, 2008 Good Question!
#334)June 25, 2008 Exam Room Size and Function
#333)June 18, 2008 An Eye-Opener About Discounts
#332)June 11, 2008 More on Contact Lens Fees
#331)June 4, 2008 The Contact Lens Evaluation Fee
#330)May 28, 2008 Pricing Optical Products: Mistakes Are Costly
#329)May 21, 2008 An Observation About Optometric Education
#328)May 14, 2008 A New Concept: Reduce the Time Patients Spend in Your Office
#327)May 7, 2008 The Exam Room as a Pretest Room
#326)April 30, 2008 A Recall Review
#325)April 23, 2008 For Office Managers Only
#324)April 16, 2008 Balancing Your Cash Drawer
#323)April 9, 2008 Accepting Vision Plans, Part 2
#322)April 2, 2008 When is it smart to accept vision plans?
#321)March 26, 2008 Things You Shouldn't Delegate
#320)March 19, 2008 In-Service Meetings for Staff
#319)March 12, 2008 Optical Remakes
#318)March 5, 2008 Delegation in Contact Lens Practice: The Finer Points
#317)February 27, 2008 Delegation in Contact Lens Practice
#316)February 20, 2008 Host an Organizational Retreat
#315)February 13, 2008 Reinventing Your Organization
#314)February 6, 2008 Start Your Work Day Right
#313)January 30, 2008 Routine Vision Exams vs. Medical Eye Care
#312)January 23, 2008 Lack of Patient Demand: Reasons? Solutions?
#311)January 16, 2008 What stories do your patients tell?
#310)January 9, 2008 Three Major Management Challenges for 2008
#309)January 2, 2008 Trying On Frames That Fit
#308)December 19, 2007 Frame Pricing Strategies
#307)December 12, 2007 Action Steps for Improved Patient Loyalty
#306)December 5, 2007 A Self-Assessment Quiz for Patient Satisfaction
#305)November 28, 2007 What is the secret to success in eye care?
#304)November 21, 2007 Uniforms Help Create Your Practice Image
#303)November 14, 2007 Dilation and Frame Selection
#302)November 7, 2007 A Novel System for Patient Flow
#301)October 31, 2007 How do you know if you're out of date?
#300)October 24, 2007 The Votes Are In for Your Favorite Tip!
#299)October 17, 2007 Contact Lens Services: Expired Rx Issues
#298)October 10, 2007 Contact Lens Services, Part 3
#297)October 3, 2007 Contact Lens Fees, Part 2
#296)September 26, 2007 Contact Lens Fees Are Not Always Simple
#295)September 19, 2007 Practice Websites, Part 2
#294)September 12, 2007 Practice Websites, Part 1
#293)September 5, 2007 Why speed up if you don't have the patients?
#292)August 29, 2007 The Myth About Longer Exam Times
#291)August 22, 2007 Your Office Manual
#290)August 15, 2007 Words Make a Difference
#289)August 8, 2007 Professional Courtesy Discounts
#288)August 1, 2007 Staff Lunch Policies
#287)July 25, 2007 A Single Question that Results in Revenue
#286)July 18, 2007 Holiday Pay Issues
#285)July 11, 2007 Why should NP and EP exam fees be different?
#284)June 27, 2007 TV Glasses
#283)June 20, 2007 Corneal Topography in Contact Lens Practice
#282)June 13, 2007 The Pretesting Bottleneck
#281)June 6, 2007 How many patients per day?
#280)May 30, 2007 Office Design Concepts
#279)May 23, 2007 Fee Increases: Too Little, Too Late
#278)May 16, 2007 Are one-hour glasses dead?
#277)May 9, 2007 Saturday Hours
#276)May 2, 2007 Are Scribes Practical?
#275)April 25, 2007 What Size Frame Inventory?
#274)April 18, 2007 Exit Strategy and Associate ODs
#273)April 11, 2007 Staff Bonus Programs
#272)April 4, 2007 Annual Employment Reviews
#271)March 28, 2007 Preappointing
#270)March 21, 2007 Response to the Ten Misconceptions Expanding on Medical Billing
#269)March 14, 2007 Appointment Schedule on Paper vs. Computer
#268)March 7, 2007 Top Ten Misconceptions in Practice Management
#267)February 28, 2007 Practice Promotion Ideas
#266)February 21, 2007 A New Look at Practice Expense Ratios
#265)February 14, 2007 What To Do If You Are Booked Far In Advance
#264)February 7, 2007 What if you break the patient’s glasses?
#263)January 31, 2007 Private Practice of Optometry Has Bright Future
#262)January 24, 2007 Staffing Ideas When Doctor Takes Vacation
#261)January 17, 2007 Office Design with Staff in Mind
#260)January 10, 2007 Reviewing Your Payment Policy
#259)January 3, 2007 What’s new for you in 2007?
#258)December 27, 2006 Are your contact lens patients getting the best?
#257)December 20, 2006 Happy Holidays!
#256)December 13, 2006 Problem attempted... Not solved
#255)December 6, 2006 Are you making follow-up phone calls?
#254)November 29, 2006 Fee Information at Your Fingertips
#253)November 22, 2006 TVs in the Waiting Area
#252)November 15, 2006 An Idea for Finding Good Staff Members
#251)November 8, 2006 Are you Flexible with Patients?
#250)November 1, 2006 A Sample History Form
#248)October 18, 2006 Analyzing Your Practice: Too Many Forms?
#247)October 11, 2006 Analyzing Your Practice: A Clean Office
#246)October 4, 2006 Analyzing Your Practice: The Front Desk Greeting
#245)September 27, 2006 Should you delegate more even if you’re not that busy?
#244)September 20, 2006 How to Fire an Employee
#243)September 13, 2006 Presenting Contact Lens Fees
#242)September 6, 2006 Staff Cross-training Is Easy
#241)August 30, 2006 Profitability in Contact Lens Practice
#240)August 23, 2006 Could payments fall through the cracks?
#239)August 16, 2006 Need more appointments? Just ask.
#238)August 9, 2006 Is it time for an image makeover?
#237)August 2, 2006 Jump-start Your Practice: Part 3
#236)July 26, 2006 Jump-start Your Practice: Part 2
#235)July 19, 2006 Jump-start Your Practice: Part 1
#234)July 12, 2006 Hiring an Office Manager
#233)July 5, 2006 Office Design Tips
#232)June 28, 2006 Your Office Space
#231)June 21, 2006 Pretesting the Contact Lens Wearer
#230)June 14, 2006 Avoiding Refunds on PAL Non-adapts
#229)June 7, 2006 No Show Fees – A Costly Policy
#228)May 31, 2006 How to Handle Early and Late Arrivers
#227)May 24, 2006 Appointment Scheduling Strategies
#226)May 17, 2006 Can Private Docs Compete With Chain Opticals?
#225)May 10, 2006 Shopping for Clinical Instruments
#224)May 3, 2006 Filling Holes in the Schedule
#223)April 26, 2006 More Thoughts on Pupil Dilation
#222)April 19, 2006 Pupil Dilation: A Tip to Improve Patient Flow
#221)April 12, 2006 Study Groups
#220)April 5, 2006 Bet you can’t answer this one:
How much is an eye exam at your office?
#219)March 29, 2006 Medical Optometry: Is There a Downside?
#218)March 22, 2006 A Guide to Lensometry for Techs
#217)March 15, 2006 Delegation: The Key to Higher Income
#216)March 8, 2006 Saturday Hours
#215)March 1, 2006 Odds Are Good That You’re Understaffed
#214)February 22, 2006 How to Sell Second Pairs
#213)February 15, 2006 Declare a Moratorium on Discounts in your Office!
#212)February 8, 2006 Upscale Frame Lines: Your Market May Surprise You
#211)February 1, 2006 The Contact Lens Training Room: An Outdated Space?
#210)January 25, 2006 Contact Lens Care Products
#209)January 18, 2006 What if your practice is really slow?
#208)January 11, 2006 Staff Motivation
#207)January 4, 2006 Looking Ahead to 2006
#206)December 28, 2005 Improving Flow in Your Existing Office Space
#205)December 21, 2005 Happy Holidays!
#204)December 14, 2005 The Retinal Camera as a Pretest
#203)December 7, 2005 Retinal Cameras: A Lot of Wow! Factor
#202)November 30, 2005 Staff Incentives: How to drop an ineffective program
#201)November 23, 2005 Staff Bonus Programs: Are They Really Effective?
#200)November 16, 2005 The Best of the Tips
#199)November 9, 2005 No-Shows
#198)November 2, 2005 Staff Issues: Useful Benchmarks
#197)October 26, 2005 Dropping a Vision Plan
#196)October 19, 2005 Wish you could raise your fees?
(But vision plans make it ineffective)
#195)October 12, 2005 Staff Issues: Personal Conversations in the Office
#194)October 5, 2005 Staff Issues: Personal Email and Phone Use
#193)September 28, 2005 Using the Internet in Your Practice
#192)September 21, 2005 A Sensitive Subject: Refunds
#191)September 14, 2005 Out to Lunch
#190)September 7, 2005 What’s in a Name?
#189)August 31, 2005 Favorite Phrases for Patient Service
#188)August 24, 2005 The Contact Lens Evaluation Fee
#187)August 17, 2005 Seeing the Big Picture for Higher Profits
#186)August 10, 2005 Competing With Optical Chains
#185)August 3, 2005 Four Trends That Concern Me
#184)July 27, 2005 Staff Uniforms
#183)July 20, 2005 Employees’ Shoes and Office Morale
#182)July 13, 2005 Technician Refraction Lite
#181)July 6, 2005 Communicating in Subjective Refraction
#180)June 29, 2005 Avoiding Staff Burnout
#179)June 22, 2005 More Tips on Scribes
#178)June 15, 2005 Spend 15 Minutes in Your Optical
#177)June 8, 2005 Dropping Payment Plans
#176)June 1, 2005 Avoiding Optometric Burnout
#175)May 25, 2005 Impressing the Contact Lens Candidate
#174)May 18, 2005 Competing for Contact Lens Sales
#173)May 11, 2005 Cutting Your Practice Expenses
#172)May 4, 2005 Defining Your Expense Categories
#171)April 27, 2005 A Pretesting Protocol
#170)April 20, 2005 Selling Non-Rx Sunglasses
#169)April 13, 2005 Who says patients want an eye exam to take a long time?
#168)April 6, 2005 Setting Fees for Routine Eye Care
TOS Discounts and S-Codes
#167)March 30, 2005 Dropping Managed Care Plans, Part 4
Communicating with patients
#166)March 23, 2005 Dropping Managed Care Plans, Part 3
Evaluating vision plans and medical plans
#165)March 16, 2005 Dropping Managed Care Plans, Part 2
Evaluating chair costs, marginal costs and time management
#164)March 9, 2005 Dropping Managed Care Plans, Part 1
The Philosophy of the High Fee Practice
#163)March 2, 2005 Staff Eye Care Benefits
#162)February 23, 2005 Expired Contact Lens Prescriptions
#161)February 16, 2005 Community Service Still Good Advice
#160)February 9, 2005 Staff Turnover and Training
#159)February 2, 2005 The 5-Second Employment Screening
#158)January 26, 2005 Quiet on the subject of delegation?
#157)January 19, 2005 The Delegation Scale
#156)January 12, 2005 Practice Resolutions: The Year of Customer Service
#155)January 5, 2005 What are Your Practice Resolutions for the New Year?
#154)December 29, 2004 The Lost Art of Thank You Notes
#152)December 15, 2004 Patient Records and Forms
#151)December 8, 2004 Glaucoma Flow Sheets
#150)December 1, 2004 Are Contact Lens Service Agreements Still Viable?
#149)November 24, 2004 Restoring Profitability to Your CL Practice
#148)November 17, 2004 What stories are your (former) patients telling about you?
#147)November 10, 2004 Many Reasons for Exam Efficiency
#146)November 3, 2004 Making in-office collections a snap
#145)October 27, 2004 Do you want to put something down on that?
#144)October 20, 2004 Clues that you’re not delegating enough
#143)October 13, 2004 Emergency Symptom List for Front Desk
#142)October 6, 2004 Are your fees for an emergency office visit high enough?
#141)September 29, 2004 Service Clubs and Civic Organizations as Networking Tools
#140)September 22, 2004 A Real World Indoctrination for a New Grad
#139)September 15, 2004 Want to take your practice to the next level?
Consider hiring an associate optometrist.
#138)September 8, 2004 Cell Phones in Your Exam Room
#137)September 1, 2004 What service can you promote?
#136)August 25, 2004 Managing Established Contact Lens Patients:
It’s not just about fixing problems – It’s about upgrading
#135)August 18, 2004 The Contact Lens Evaluation Fee
#134)August 11, 2004 Refraction Tips
#133)August 4, 2004 Proactive Office Hygiene
#132)July 28, 2004 Non-contact tonometers... they get no respect
#131)July 21, 2004 Give Your Practice a Buzz with Technology
#130)July 14, 2004 In-office optical labs offer more benefits than you think
#129)July 7, 2004 Office Design Tips
#128)June 30, 2004 Silent Signal Lights
#127)June 23, 2004 Reusing Patients’ Own Frames
#126)June 16, 2004 An Educational Handout and Waiver for PALs
#125)June 9, 2004 Letter Writing PR Campaign
#124)June 2, 2004 What’s in a name? Actually, quite a lot.
#123)May 26, 2004 Want Good Manners? Could Be a Problem.
#122)May 19, 2004 Office Polices for Remakes and Refunds
#121)May 12, 2004 Patient Satisfaction
#120)May 5, 2004 Have You Talked With Your Staff About Service Recovery?
#119)April 28, 2004 Are you updating your patients’ contact lenses?
#118)April 21, 2004 TV's The Apprentice: Did We Learn Anything?
#117)April 14, 2004 Gross Vs. Net, Part 2
#116)April 7, 2004 The Gross Matters, Too!
#115)March 31, 2004 Converting phone callers to appointments
#114)March 24, 2004 Should You Have an Office Manager?
#113)March 17, 2004 Technicians as Scribes
#112)March 10, 2004 Owning Your Office Building
#111)March 3, 2004 How's Your Office Manual?
#110)February 25, 2004 When You Have to Fire A Patient
#109)February 18, 2004 Marketing to Your Staff: Job Satisfaction
#108)February 11, 2004 What's Your Competitive Advantage?
#107)February 4, 2004 Customer Service in the Real World
#106)January 28, 2004 Building Volume with Internal Marketing
#105)January 21, 2004 Want to build your practice? Do you do Low Vision?
#104)January 14, 2004 Goals for the New Year
#103)January 7, 2004 Practice Data, Part 2
#102)December 30, 2003 Practice Data, Part 1
#101)December 23, 2003 Happy Holidays!
#100)December 17, 2003 The biggest challenge facing optometric practices
#99)December 10, 2003 Are no-shows a problem?
#98)December 3, 2003 The Fairness to Contact Lens Consumers Act
#97)November 26, 2003 The early and late arriver
#96)November 19, 2003 How long do your patients have to wait?
#95)November 12, 2003 Cross training is a key to efficiency
#94)November 5, 2003 Keeping accounts receivable low
#93)October 29, 2003 Generate interest in contact lenses with a patient seminar
#92)October 22, 2003 Thoughts on bringing in an associate
#91)October 15, 2003 Reactivating patients who have not returned
#90)October 8, 2003 Computers in the Exam Room
#89)October 1, 2003 Answering the question: "Are you an optometrist or an ophthalmologist?"
#88)September 24, 2003 Your Practice Brochure
#87)September 17, 2003 A Few Thoughts on Patient Recall
#86)September 10, 2003 Payroll Costs, Part 2
#85)September 3, 2003 Payroll Costs, Part 1
#84)August 27, 2003 The Power of a Busy Practice
#83)August 20, 2003 Perform a SWOT Analysis on your practice
#82)August 13, 2003 How to introduce change in your practice
#81)August 6, 2003 What has been your experience when visiting a doctor's office?
#80)July 30, 2003 Streamline contact lens procedures to improve profitability
#79)July 23, 2003 Do you have girls working for you?
#78)July 16, 2003 Computerized Acuity Charts
#77)July 9, 2003 A Zero-tolerance Policy on Loose Lenses
#76)July 2, 2003 Reception is a tough job; needs training
#75)June 25, 2003 How to build volume – quickly?
#74)June 18, 2003 Have you sat in your waiting room lately?
#73)June 11, 2003 Are your days not long enough?
#72)June 4, 2003 How clear are your Rx re-make policies?
#71)May 28, 2003 Do your patients know about new developments in contact lenses?
#70)May 21, 2003 Consider the refraction
#69)May 14, 2003 HIPAA Efficiency
#68)May 7, 2003 Setting your practice apart
#67)April 30, 2003 Opened Boxes of Contact Lenses?
#66)April 23, 2003 Your Optical Order Form
#65)April 16, 2003 What can you delegate?
#64)April 9, 2003 Preventing Forgotten Orders
#63)April 2, 2003 Contact Lens Rx Release, Part 2
#62)March 26, 2003 Responding to Requests for a Contact Lens Rx, Part 1
#61)March 19, 2003 Getting Insurance Information Over the Phone
#60)March 12, 2003 Tracking hourly payroll
#59)March 5, 2003 Want to delegate more? Not sure how?
#58)February 26, 2003 Staff uniforms: appearance is important
#57)February 19, 2003 Could be busier? Host an Event.
#56)February 12, 2003 Staying on time for appointments
#55)February 5, 2003 Satisfied patients don't refer their friends...
#54)January 29, 2003 Contact Lens Profitability
#53)January 22, 2003 Don't overlook the eyewear case
#52)January 15, 2003 Frame and Lens Warranties
#51)January 8, 2003 Should you own an optical lab?
#50)January 1, 2003 Elasticity of Demand
#49)December 25, 2002 Happy Holidays!
#48)December 18, 2002 Saturday hours - are they worth it?
#47)December 11, 2002 Are Newsletters Good Marketing?
#46)December 4, 2002 Do you have a crab at the front desk?
#45)November 27, 2002 Additional tests - but no insurance
#44)November 20, 2002 Don't tell me how good you make your goods - tell me how good your goods make me
#43)November 13, 2002 The Law of Contrast - applied to optical
#42)November 6, 2002 Staying on top of problem optical jobs
#41)October 30, 2002 How to store all those trial lenses
#40)October 23, 2002 Contact lens inventory – time to reconsider?
#39)October 16, 2002 Office Hours and Marketing 101
#38)October 9, 2002 Need more patients? Look within and look at Low Vision.
#37)October 2, 2002 Asking for money
#36)September 25, 2002 Prescribing and dispensing more to each patient
#35)September 18, 2002 How many patients per day?
#34)September 11, 2002 Staff Meetings
#33)September 4, 2002 Who inserts diagnostic contacts in your office?
#32)August 28, 2002 Blood Pressure as a Pre-test
#31)August 21, 2002 Ophthalmic Instruments as an Investment
#30)August 14, 2002 Are Your Eyeglass Policies a Secret?
#29)August 7, 2002 Spectacle Rx Walkouts – Part 2
#28)July 31, 2002 Spectacle Rx Walkouts
#27)July 24, 2002 A 10 Point Checklist for Interpersonal Skills
#26)July 17, 2002 Dispensing Eyeglasses: The Intangible Details
#25)July 10, 2002 Dispensing Eyeglasses: The Tangible Details
#24)July 3, 2002 Professional fees
#23)June 26, 2002 Staff Business Cards
#22)June 19, 2002 Informing your patient about contact lens options
#21)June 12, 2002 Employee Compensation Summary
#20)June 5, 2002 How soon can you get here?
#19)May 29, 2002 The Follow-up Phone Call
#18)May 22, 2002 Are you getting the miles?
#17)May 15, 2002 Are you monitoring patient satisfaction?
#16)May 8, 2002 Does each person on your staff have a side job?
#15)May 1, 2002 The Personal Touch: You’re in the News!
#14)April 24, 2002 An idea to increase delegation
#13)April 17, 2002 How does your staff really feel about A/R coatings?
#12)April 10, 2002 What color would you like?
#11)April 3, 2002 Reusing a Patient’s Frame
#10)March 27, 2002 Active Appointment Management
#9)March 20, 2002 Have you sat in your waiting area lately?
#8)March 13, 2002 Controlling Managed Care
#7)March 6, 2002 The NSF Check - Not So Fast
#6)February 27, 2002 It’s Thursday at 11 am; Is Your Front Desk Covered?
#5)February 20, 2002 Taking Staff Training to Another Level
#4)February 13, 2002 Unleash the Telephone Tether
#3)February 6, 2002 Putting Price Tags on Frames
#2)January 30, 2002 Pagers as In-office Signal System
#1)January 23, 2002 Three Key History Questions

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