Your patients want faster turnaround time on their glasses. You want to reduce costs on your lenses. The solution seems simple: Add an in-office lab. But, can your practice financially support the expansion? How do you judge the potential return on your investment?
Here are some ways that an in-office lab may benefit your practice, and what factors to consider when deciding whether to add one.
The Latest in Lab Technology Practica Evolution (AIT) The AIT Practica Evolution is a 3-D patternless tracer, edger and blocker that is powered by precision servo motors. It includes a 4-D groover that tilts up to 15 degrees, an internal/external safety bevel tool and a mini-bevel to accommodate lenses intended for thin metal frames. Alta (Briot) The Briot Alta finishing system traces frames with 5-D measurements, reads lens powers and finds the optical center of the lens automatically. The device blocks and edges the lenses, safety bevels and grooves, and drills and polishes them automatically. It tilts up to 30 degrees to accommodate lenses with high base curves. Fast Grind 2200 (Super Systems Optical Technologies) The upgraded Fast Grind 2200 uses a three-pad process to generate, finish and polish lenses. The new computer uses version 7.3 software that allows for faster lens processing. For more information, go to www.superoptical.com, or call 1-800-543-7376. Ultima 5100 Finishing System and DS-7000 Blocker (Topcon) The Ultima 5100 Finishing System is available in three models: the entry level model, the SG model and the XP model. The SG model includes added safety beveling or grooving. The XP model features higher speed finishing and cosmetic beveling. Each model features a color LCD screen and user-friendly interface, and can process all types of lens materials. Kappa CTD Edger and Drill (Gerber Coburn) The Kappa CTD edger and drill features automatic bevel selection, three groove widths, soft-pin beveling, and a special cycle to accommodate fragile or anti-reflective lenses. The edging options are automatic or customizable, and the instrument keeps a record of 200 drill holes and diameters in a database for easy access. The Kappa CTD runs self-calibrations and self-diagnostics, and retains a history of test results. The 7EA automated edging system is designed with a dedicated pick-and-place assembly unit. Using a pneumatic cap, the arm picks up the lens from the tray and places it in the edger. When the lens is complete, the arm removes the lens and replaces it in the tray before repeating the cycle. For more information, call 1-800-247-9796, or go to www.nationaloptronics.com. nanoCLEAR AR (Optical Dynamics) The nanoCLEAR AR system incorporates AR coatings, hard coatings, and UV protection right into the lens. The system uses nanoparticle technology in which a chemical bond is formed between each layer of the AR stack, hard coat and substrate. The result: an exterior surface that does not require a hydrophobic coating. ME-1000 DESIGN+ (Santinelli) The ME-1000 DESIGN+ edges, polishes, grooves, drills and applies a safety bevel. It features a partial grooving. function that allows the user to create a semi-custom groove width and depth. It also features lens facet processing that you can apply at the edges of each lens to create a jewel-like finish, the company says. You can create facets at the front and back of each lens, and the width and angle of each are customizable.
Getting Started
The Practica Evolution calibrates automatically and features an active noise reduction system to keep sound below 70 decibels. The user interface is based on an icon system and allows customization of default settings. For more information, go to www.aitindustries.com, or call 1-800-729-1959.
The Alta also features automatic settings for hydrophobic anti-reflective (AR) lenses as well as Trivex, polycarbonate, high-end and fragile lenses. Customizable settings that allow you to select default processes that correspond with your practice throughput. For more information, go to www.briot-usa.com, or call 1-800-292-7468.
The operator can use the new Fast Grind 2200 to make computer lenses from standard progressive lenses, the company says. This surfacer has a 28-by-27-inch footprint.
Also, the Ultima finishers integrate with either the DS-5000 or DS-7000 blocker. The DS-7000 uses a three-step measuring process to automatically detect the lens powers of progressive, bifocal and single-vision lenses, and then blocks them. The user-interface includes a color screen and a Windows-format system. For more information, go to www.topconmedical.com, or call 1-800-223-1130.
The operator interface uses a color LCD screen and links to a PC. The toolbar and menu options are customizable. The Kappa CTD coordinates with the
7EA Patternless Edger (National Optronics)
The 7EA can drill up to six holes per lens. Hole diameters or slot widths range from 1mm to 5mm. It also features a 15-inch color LCD flat-panel monitor mounted on a hinge for individualized positioning. This monitor displays hole placement in drilled lenses.
The nanoCLEAR AR is designed for compatibility with Optical Dynamics Q-2100R in-office lens casting system. It can produce AR lenses in about one hour. The system requires a PC interface. For more information, call (502) 671-2020, or go to www.opticaldynamics.com.
The units touch-screen window displays a 3-D simulation of the lens being modified, and it confirms the results of the selected processes before the lens is finished.
For more information, cal 1-800-644-3343, or go to www.santinelli.com.
Whitman Lord, O.D., of
Dr. Lord included a finishing lab when he opened his first practice and added a surfacing lab about seven years later. From that point on, as I opened a new office, from day one, Id put both a finishing and surfacing lab in, he says.
Dr. Lord opted for a full-service lab for convenience. We are firm believers in quick service, so that requires an in-office surfacing lab, he says. I find that the public likes the added service and convenience.
By contrast, Travis Adlington, O.D., of
Dr. Adlington practiced for six years before opening his finishing lab. Our business is pretty much 100% anti-reflective lenses, and we send our lenses out to be coated, he says. So, we dont gain anything by surfacing in-house.
The Budget
You can create benchmarks to test the potential return on an in-office lab, but these will be unique to your practice. Look at patient volume and how many jobs you send to the lab each day. Realize that the niche youve created for yourself will affect your capabilities and rate of return. Dr. Lord believes an O.D. should perform at least 16 to 18 exams per day for an in-office lab to make sense.
Because Dr. Adlington created a high-end optical, however, he needed less patient volume but more financial return per patient to recoup his investment. If you think you can do anywhere from three to five jobs a day in-house, you could justify a lab, he says.
Run a budget projection to get an accurate financial picture of your practice. Know how much revenue you bring in before you commit to a lab, and make sure that you understand how a lab will impact the finances of your practice. Says Dr. Adlington: Is this thing going to pay for itself in a reasonable amount of time and give you a good return on your investment? You should recoup your investment on your uncut inventory and equipment in 24 months, or I wouldnt consider putting one in.
Additional salaries of new optical personnel may play a bigger role in your new budget than you anticipated. An oversight such as this will eat into your cost of labor calculationsand your savings. When you take on the responsibility of grinding the lens, then youre paying your personnel to perform that part of the process instead, Dr. Lord says. For a true measure of cost of goods savings, an O.D. needs to add the salary of the optical personnel into the equation.
When Dr. Lord decided a surfacing facility was right for him, he had to make sure it was in his budget for each practice in which he wanted to open a lab. Three of my five locations are in enclosed malls, so I had to budget a fair amount for each office, he says.
The equipment is but one consideration. (For more on equipment, see The Latest in Lab Technology.) Youve got to look at what you are actually going to save, Dr. Adlington says. The only way youll save money is to find uncut lenses supplied very inexpensively, so youve got to do a lot of research and find a good, reliable source.
Dr. Adlington also recommends examining what he calls opportunity costs. For example, what would the opportunity have been had you invested the money you spent on your lab or put it in your 401(k)? Ask yourself: Is a lab worth whatever it is that youd need to delay?
The Niche Factor
The niche youve carved out for your practice will also affect your in-office lab options. An example: One has to be aware of the percentage of [the practices] patients that come from managed-care plans that require the glasses to be made by that plans labs, Dr. Lord says. If a heavy percentage of a practices patients are covered by a managed [care] plan, that O.D. would want to carefully consider the possible investment.
If most of your patients are covered by such a plan, then you wont recover your investment as quickly, if at all. Dr. Adlingtons advice: Consider how many private-pay jobs you can do a day, and look at a breakdown of your patient base. If more than half of your patients are private pay, thats a good indicator that you need to open a lab, Dr. Adlington says.
If you use your lab wisely, you can expand your niche role as well. For example, if a patient requires a new prescription but wants to keep her old frames, you can order the uncut lenses in her new prescription and edge the new lenses in about 10 minutes while she waits. These edging appointments will be a new thing for the practice, but in a month, the practice will be used to the new flow, Dr. Adlington says.
The most important thing: Remember why you practice optometry. Forget the money; forget the bottom line, Dr. Adlington says. Will this enable you to give better service and more importantly, differentiate yourself and offer something unique?
