Business Education in OD School

[rpames]

I was just curious about what type/how much business education you all get at your respective schools.

At ICO we only have one Business of Optometry class that is mandatory during our 3rd year. But, we do have several elective course. A Coding a billing class, Debt Management, Opening a Private Practice, and a couple others that don't directly pertain to private practice but they do help. We also have the yearly Private Practice Symposium where several speakers come. Then our Private Practice Club brings in several speakers every year.

I'm just trying to get an idea of how the current students are being educated about private practice.

Thanks

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[cpw]

UHCO has two semesters of Practice Management. Although, even after both semester (most of them are just guest speakers) there's no way anyone feels prepared to run right out and open a practice.

 

[eyestrain]

At IU we have an 8 week business class 2nd semester of third year. It's not nearly enough. I wish we had some options like you do at ICO.

 

[prettygreeneyes]

I'm just curious... if the school I end up attending does not have a good amount of business education, how can I go about getting it? I share the common dream of probably every one else of this forum as well as just about everyone in school of opening up my own practice some day. Does anyone have any advice on how to get a good business background before I graduate? (This seems like the kind of post that certain members of this forum will jump on and and declare that myself and the vast majority of other graduates will never be anything other than corporate docs, but honestly, I've heard it before. Yes, I know the odds are against me... that's why I want to arm myself with this information now.)

 

[r_salis]

UHCO has two semesters of Practice Management.

Same deal at SUNY, we get two classes the last two quarters of 3rd year. We have also had a couple speakers do lunchtime talks about practice management-related things.

 

[Ben Chudner]

I don't think students have the time or the proper knowledge base to get a good business education in optometry school. There is much more to running a successful practice than what can be taught in a classroom to a group of students more concerned about their practical tomorrow. I have tried to get my state to offer seminars to recent grads as a benefit to joining the state optometry organization right out of school. At least at that point in your career, it might have more meaning as you will be able to put the info into context. Otherwise, it's just a bunch of information that won't have any meaning while you are still trying to learn which contact lens has what base curve.

 

[gsinccom]

great point

 

[KHE]

I'm just curious... if the school I end up attending does not have a good amount of business education, how can I go about getting it? I share the common dream of probably every one else of this forum as well as just about everyone in school of opening up my own practice some day. Does anyone have any advice on how to get a good business background before I graduate? (This seems like the kind of post that certain members of this forum will jump on and and declare that myself and the vast majority of other graduates will never be anything other than corporate docs, but honestly, I've heard it before. Yes, I know the odds are against me... that's why I want to arm myself with this information now.)

At this stage of your career, I would just concentrate on learning as much clinical information as possible.

The mechanics of running a business are not all that hard. Unfortunately, most of them don't lend well to book learning. You have to "do" to really learn how to do them.

If you really want to delve into this, there is a book called "Business Aspects of Optometry" that is fairly decent.

I would also spend time learning how to code and bill things correctly. Usually doing this at school is NOT helpful. You need to seek out an instructor who has a decent practice and who knows how to do this and have him or her help you out and maybe show you a few things to keep in mind about billing and coding.

I think that the most critical thing a student can do is to do as much research into the area where they are considering practicing as possible.

 

[HYCW]

I was just curious about what type/how much business education you all get at your respective schools.

At ICO we only have one Business of Optometry class that is mandatory during our 3rd year. But, we do have several elective course. A Coding a billing class, Debt Management, Opening a Private Practice, and a couple others that don't directly pertain to private practice but they do help. We also have the yearly Private Practice Symposium where several speakers come. Then our Private Practice Club brings in several speakers every year.

I'm just trying to get an idea of how the current students are being educated about private practice.

Thanks

At Berkeley, we have one semester our first year, one semester our second year, and another semester our third year. So, 3 semesters of EyeCare Business in total. We're lucky because Berkeley's MBA school, Haas School of Business, is right across the street from us so some of their professors come and give a series of lectures (like in Ethics, Micro-Econ, HR, etc).

So far, I'm only a month into the first semester of EyeCare Business and while it's interesting, it's definitely too broad to really feel useful. Hopefully that changes soon.

Personally, I get a lot more info out of guest speakers who come and talk about their practice (private or otherwise.)

 

[Ben Chudner]

At Berkeley, we have one semester our first year, one semester our second year, and another semester our third year. So, 3 semesters of EyeCare Business in total. We're lucky because Berkeley's MBA school, Haas School of Business, is right across the street from us so some of their professors come and give a series of lectures (like in Ethics, Micro-Econ, HR, etc).

So far, I'm only a month into the first semester of EyeCare Business and while it's interesting, it's definitely too broad to really feel useful. Hopefully that changes soon.

Personally, I get a lot more info out of guest speakers who come and talk about their practice (private or otherwise.)

I'm not so sure how lucky you are that Haas is right next to Minor Hall. I am sure that the professors at the business school are very good at giving lectures to MBA students, but I can assure you that it will be very difficult to take the knowledge you get from them and use it effectively in an optometric practice. You may end up with a great understanding of general business principles, but there is so much more to running a practice that is very specific to optometry. I was glad to hear that Berkeley finally began to take this subject seriously, because when I went there practice management was a joke. The problem, as is usually the case with Berkeley, is the people in charge of making the decisions are not successful private practitioners. If it were me, I would bring in practice consultants and have the students try things in the clinics. This way you can see ideas work in the "real" world. Otherwise you are left to look at your notes 2 years after the fact to try and figure out why your contact lens practice is losing money. And when you do find the right page, I will bet the Haas professor does not have the right answer.

 

[prettygreeneyes]

At this stage of your career, I would just concentrate on learning as much clinical information as possible.

The mechanics of running a business are not all that hard. Unfortunately, most of them don't lend well to book learning. You have to "do" to really learn how to do them.

If you really want to delve into this, there is a book called "Business Aspects of Optometry" that is fairly decent.

I would also spend time learning how to code and bill things correctly. Usually doing this at school is NOT helpful. You need to seek out an instructor who has a decent practice and who knows how to do this and have him or her help you out and maybe show you a few things to keep in mind about billing and coding.

I think that the most critical thing a student can do is to do as much research into the area where they are considering practicing as possible.

Thank you for your reply KHE. I will look into that book. I have had the opportunity to work in a private practice with an awesome doctor for the past year. I have worked the dispensary, pre-testing, reception, ledger/deposits, and most recently, I'm in charge of the billing of Medicaid and Nevada Care (state run HMO for children). I have learned a lot about billing and coding, but I know that there is so much more! I couldn't agree more about researching where to set up a practice... I know that the area can truly make or break your business, despite the best of intentions. Thanks again for the info!