EYECARE: Optometry Consider Office Efficiency When Choosing a Practice Management System By Marge Axelrad Monday, May 18, 2015 12:00 AM Dr. Brad Dobson with Desiree Davis of Bee Cave Vision Center, Austin, Texas. AUSTIN, Texas—Bee Cave is an upscale section of Austin, a high-end community near the lake, with families, seniors and many folks involved with the thriving tech businesses based in this unique Texas city. Brad Dobson, OD, said that his practice, Bee Cave Vision Center, serves this diverse but sophisticated community with a full range of eyecare services, offering a complete optical selection as well as a high concentration of contact lens fits, too. Dobson is originally from the Kansas City, Kansas area as well as Lake Ozark, Missouri. He graduated from the University of Missouri-Kansas City with his Bachelors of Arts degree in Biology and went on to complete his Doctorate at the University of Houston College of Optometry. He participated in special studies including pediatrics, glaucoma, and complex contact lenses at UHCO. Dr. Dobson interned at Texan Eye Care in Austin, working primarily with lasik and cataract surgery management. His second internship was done at Vision Centers and he began practicing in Bee Cave shortly after. Today, Dobson and his office manager, Desiree Davis, run a small but thriving practice and characterize their 12-year-old business as striving to stay at the leading edge of eyecare and therapeutics while serving the stylish but moderate priced needs of its patient base, with some higher-end brands and some value-based ones as well. Managed vision care and insurance plays a large role in the practice, more than 60 percent, in his estimation. And the office has used OfficeMate for some time, recently making the leap to OfficeMate’s new 11.0 system this past November. “We are getting used to the system now, focusing on what it can do for us,” he said. The office, though, as it works through the transition, is learning the new system, although it is still maintaining its patient notes and histories manually. Davis said, “We are using OfficeMate to the max, for our frames, lenses and contact lenses. And it’s a huge advantage. But we want to learn it well and it’s functionality before we take the leap to EHR, which we’ve been examining.” Said Dobson, “I know that having a library of embedded codes in an EHR will be a nice luxury, but we want to get a handle on the process first. I’m all about the most efficient route, and taking that step by step.” The doctor and office manager meet regularly each week to discuss big and small things as it relates to the system and daily office procedures. Dobson spends most time in the exam room and the small staff, including the two plus an optician, a front desk person and an optometric technician are dealing with the daily patient flow and operating concerns. “We want patients to be comfortable and for our team to feel the same at their workstations. Patients today do have high expectations about technology and are counting on us to be able to take care of their needs in the most efficient way possible. Happy staff equals happy patients. So that drives all of our decisions toward the systems we invest in for our practice,” he said. Points of View is a special joint editorial series of Vision Monday and Review of Optometric Business. Supported by VisionWeb, the series explores the perspectives of the optometrist and the practice office manager in considering the practice needs and goals when choosing or evaluating practice management systems.maxelrad@jobson.com