The Pros and Cons of Outsourcing for Optometry

According to Investopedia.com, outsourcing is the business practice of hiring a party outside a company to perform services and create goods that traditionally were performed in-house by the company’s employees.

Contracting an outside organization to provide support for your front and back office is becoming one of the most widely used forms of outsourcing. But any optometry business looking to outsource front and back office services needs to understand the pros and cons of outsourcing.

While outsourcing is often discussed in financial terms, the impact of front and back-office outsourcing is much broader than that. When used as internal support, it can have an impact on productivity and profit.

As a resource, an outsourced front and back office can be a key driver of patient satisfaction and revenue. In short, the potential impact, for better or for worse, is so broad that careful goal-setting and selection is vital to its success.

The following are some pros and cons to consider when looking into outsourcing:

Pros

Financial leverage: Outsourcing reduces fixed costs and thus can boost return-on-investment.

Focus on patient care: Front and back office outsourcing frees up your team to spend more time on patient care.

Flexible capacity: Office call volume can vary greatly for seasonal and other reasons. Outsourcing creates a flexible capacity for handling these changes in volume.

Lower stress in the office: Outsourcing reduces the stress of your team which creates a positive culture, and increases efficiency and your bottom line.

Cons

Misrepresentation of brand: Front desk personnel are the first line of contact with patients, and if representatives are not professional enough, this can reflect badly on your practice. Make sure you have a voice in the resource selection process and put them through your training system.

Remote personnel: While outsourcing can take advantage of global capabilities, a more local touch can avoid cultural differences. Make sure you’re comfortable with the representative assigned to your account.

Technology demand: You must have the latest hardware and software for outsourcing to be efficient. This process can be costly, however, long-term the ROI is worth it.

Many businesses have outsourced front and back office services in search of the positives only to be blindsided by the negatives. The existence of these negatives should not turn a practice against outsourcing because the benefits are still legitimate. Rather, recognition of those potential negatives should serve as the first step toward managing and overcoming the obstacles to successful outsourcing.

To realize the benefits of outsourcing, consider these three components to planning a successful transition:

1. Identify the fundamental purpose: Write out a specific purpose for the service and make sure to communicate to the company and the representative assigned to your practice.
2. Set measurable target goals: This can start with financial goals such as return on investment, but it should also encompass service goals. These might include response time, average length of call, percentage of situations resolved on the first call, customer retention, and customer/user satisfaction.
3. Meet regularly to review performance metrics: Once you’ve determined the purpose of the service and set the target goals, meet with the team regularly to review performance metrics. The metrics will help you determine if you’re getting the ROI you desire and/or what course of action to take if the ROI is not satisfactory.

Outsourcing your front and back office services to the right outsourcing partner is a significant decision.

Therefore, choose a partner wisely, who will substantially add vital business value to your practice for years to come ahead.

By proceeding through a precise plan as well as process thoughtfully and systematically, you will better understand both the requirements and the capabilities of potential vendors who can meet your specifications.

If you’re interested in outsourcing either your front or back office, I highly recommend VisionAppoint.com or Doctor Business Process Outsourcing (Dr.BPO).  Both offer the private Optometric practice a turnkey service that will ensure it runs like an efficient business allowing for greater revenue and growth. With comprehensive professional, yet low-cost, support for both ends of the practice, their clients find they have more time to serve patients, more appointments, more checkouts, increased revenue, improved profitability, lower stress, and better professional relationships.