......... -____-
Where do you people think these jobs are coming from? Who in their right mind is paying you to sit there doing nothing?
Oh yeah, that $40 reimbursement from VSP, right? Cha-ching.
So yes, that $40 x 5 pts. = $200. Multiply that by 365 days and you get $73,000. Then you pay your staff. And your lease. And your malpractice. And your state license. And your supplies. And your bills.
You don't need staff? Have fun answering the phone, doing your own billing, doing repairs, being on hold with insurance, signing pts. in and out, doing insertion and removal training, keeping CL inventory, and then a couple more hours being on hold with insurance.
Your materials? That's going to the big corporation since you have a lease.
...Keep dreaming
Edit: Just realized all the lease info is coming from a pharmacist. No wonder these facts/numbers weren't making any sense.
Before he tells us how much he (or his wife) knows about our profession, if it's so easy, why wouldn't everyone own a lease?! Why would anyone in their right mind sign up with America's Best to see 40+ pts/day? They are currently in expansion, FYI.
Did you read my explanation of a lease?
Yes I am a pharmacist, but I know the numbers probably better than most ODs because I take the time to do my wife's payroll, set up her business (LLC->S-corp), all her accounting, and her year end taxes. If there's one thing I know about her lease, is her numbers.
True, 40 dollars/VSP(sometimes $19..sometimes 65..depending on pt's vsp plan and copays)
Humana: 45
Eyemed: 40 (sometimes 35)
Yes, I know all the numbers.
Your statements are just not true. First of all, if you see 5 pts a day, with 6 hours of free time, why do you need staff? You can't take 10 mins out of your time to do the insurance? My wife requires about 45 mins a day to do the insurance for 15 pts..so no it's NOT that hard. Second, Opticals like Target provide you with opticians depending on volume. 1 optician/day if you see 5 pts/day..2 opticians if you see 10, 3 if you see an average of 15+. They can handle most phone calls and the PRE-Testing. As for the other stuff, my wife doesn't have a problem finding time to do all that..because there will be days in which 2 pts walked in and that's IT.
I like how you underestimate the earnings potential and cherry pick VSP's normal eye glasses reimbursement. Your assumption= no one need contacts. Your second assumption: you see 5 pts on weekends as well.
If your optical average 5 pts/day, the optical will close down. If you add the busy seasons and weekends, a SLOW optical should average around 8-10pts/day. Especially when you are working 3-4 days out of the week, they will consolidate and you will end up seeing more pts on those working days.
Here are more numbers for you.
VSP contacts: 105
VSP mono-vision: 135-155
Eye med Contacts: 85
Eye med toric: 95
Eyemed mono-vision 135
You should see an average of 35-40% contact pts...so no you just don't make 40/pt. The average is around 65-70/pt if you factor in contacts.
All of a sudden, you are at 100k working in a slow optical.
And what materials are you talking about? You don't order glasses, you just need to buy your own forms, eye drops, and prescription forms.
Lastly to answer your question about AB
AB has its pros: you get vacation days, you have health insurance, 401k matching, disability insurance, 500 dollars/year of free HSA money, and a predictable paycheck.
It's up to you to figure out if AB is worth it or not. I have done the calculations, if you want your lease to equal that of AB financially, you need a lease that can yield at lease 145k/year after expenses (135k/year if your significant other can provide you with health insurance..obamacare is very expensive for OD lease holders).
Of course this does not factor in "work". If you see 40+ pts/day at 65/pt on average, AB is underpaying their ODS by about $550,000/year.
So why don't everyone have a lease?
1. Good leases are hard to come by. Bad leases are not terrible but they are also not a full time job.
2. People have 200k worth of student loans so they want the health insurance and the predictable paycheck.
3. ODs doesn't want to deal with insurance or setting up a business. It's a lot of hard work initially while AB hands everything to you on a silver platter.
My wife almost didn't take the lease, even though I told her it's worth it (unlike her, I factor in new housing developments, potential growth, host store sales, and local trends). Now she's at 197k (Oct2013-Oct2014)for the year. She just paid off her 110k worth of student loans in one year with no regrets. Ab promised her a 2.3% raise every year. Target is predicting a 20% growth/year (which is the same prediction as last year, in which my wife hit a 30% growth in pt count). My wife is doing half the work of AB but making 2x more, and that's the power of a lease. The sky is the limit..if you have a good lease. Is 200k/year maxed out for her? Not even close. Target's prediction is that in 5 years, she will make about 350k/year. She'll never see a number like that anywhere, except with a good lease.
One thing she hates: taking time off is a bitch because you have to hire people.
