Hot Topic: A new look at old problems
Premake, Don't Remake
Creating a prevention plan that stops spectacle lens remakes before they start
By Karlen McLean, ABOC, NCLC
Photography by Peter Baker
Lens remakes negatively impact practice profitability and patient perception, retention, and referrals. The best way to avoid remakes is to stop them before they start with a dispensing premake plan and a business premake plan.
DISPENSING PREMAKE PLAN
Staying up-to-date on new lens technologies and how to work with them helps reduce remakes.
■ TAKE MEASUREMENTS. Pre-adjust frames, taking thorough, accurate measurements. "Staff training in taking measurements is crucial to reducing remakes," says Jim Lewis, president of Harvey & Lewis Opticians in Hartford, Conn. "Measuring twice as a part of the standard ordering process can help instill confidence to the patient."
■ ASK QUESTIONS. Focus on the Rx, taking time to hone it to each patient's needs by using targeted lifestyle questions. Simply asking patients, "How do you use your eyes?" can generate visual solutions.
■ COMMUNICATE FEES. Inform patients upfront about any remake fees, so that there is no misunderstanding. Some ECPs re-fabricate the first doctor's change remake at no charge and subsequent remakes at a set charge (e.g., 50 percent).
| BUSINESS REMAKE PLAN - TAKE TIME/TAKE CHARGE |
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| 1 Everyone may be in a hurry—you and the patient. However, dispensing is prime time to spend a little time to establish protocol that can halt patientcaused (read: dissatisfaction or warrantybased) remakes. ■ PLACE RESPONSIBILITY. Hold patients responsible for their eyewear. This starts with teaching every patient, every time, how to clean and care for their eyewear. Don't assume that because patients have been wearing glasses for years they know how to properly care for them. The benefit of holding patients responsible for their own eyewear is that doing so helps maintain the product's perceived value in the public's eyes while holding down your costs due to warranty abuses. Present lenses first and focus on lenses as the premier technology in the eyewear component. Even consider holding a trunk show that features spectacle lenses. ■ EXPLAIN WARRANTIES. Dispensing is also the time to present your practice's written warranty policy. If you don't have one, or if your warranty needs to be updated, manufacturers and labs can help, and often offer prewritten warranties you can use and tweak to your needs. Consider handing out written limited warranties to patients. Typical limited warranties cover lenses "for the life of the prescription," which is stated as one year. This encourages patients to have their eyes examined every year. You can break one year into components—for example non-adapt progressive lenses within 90 days, certain premium coatings for two years, or change-of-frame not included or up to 30 days. Some practices offer extended warranties for an additional fee in the neighborhood of $25. ■ MAINTAIN CONTACT. A phone call two weeks after dispensing to ask if patients have any questions, a handwritten thank you, a personalized follow-up letter or e-mail with a coupon for future purchase, all of these efforts humanize your practice. Any patients' feedback should be dated, documented, and placed in their files. PAY ATTENTION 2 Be sure to use computerized reports to review product and service costs, turnover, profits, timeframes, and more. Some suppliers offer cost calculators that can show how much remakes and warranties are costing your practice. ■ INVOLVE STAFF. Review this information monthly and make presenting product, brainstorming, and solving remake costs part of your staff meetings. Reward employees who improve their remake numbers (see Personalized Incentives sidebar below). ■ UPDATE SUPPLIER INFO. Review ordering and warranty policies approximately every six months to keep current. Review them to note anything new, especially if something differs from the warranty you offer. For example, if you offer a 90-day PAL non-adapt, make sure the lab hasn't changed its to a 60-day policy. ■ "FIRE" PATIENTS. Cover your costs and be diligent in identifying and handling problem patients, including knowing when to "fire" them. "Our prices are set so that we can afford to have a few remakes, especially for patients who are willing to spend a little more for higher quality," says Sylvia McMahon, office manager at Dr. McMahon�s Eye World in El Paso, Texas. "If we�ve made three pairs of lenses that meet the Rx and the patient is still not satisfied, then we have a problem patient. At this point, we usually tell the patient that we can refund the cost of the frame minus a restocking fee and ask them to go elsewhere." Additionally, if the practice fills an Rx from another doctor and the patient isn't happy with the first two pairs of lenses, McMahon's practice offers to do no-charge refraction and then remake the lenses to the new Rx. GET HELP 3 Several wholesale labs and lab groups offer education on warranty management. For example, Pech Optical's "Free Care: Friend or Foe" features an Eyewear Protection Plan with an effective patient brochure: "Coverage & Care Information for Your New Eyewear." Global Optics, a group of independent wholesale labs, offers "Jumpstart 5: Warranties and Remakes," a CD-ROM with multiple training foci on warranty and remake management. Many labs, including these two, also have calculators that compute how much remakes and warranties can cost your practice. Staff turnover means constant "basic training." Utilize all your resources—lab and manufacturer reps, professional organizations, trade show attendance, and trained optician staff members—to get a new employee up-to-speed as quickly and expertly as possible. Doing so will likely cut down on your remake percentage. |
| Personalized Incentives |
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| An effective way to decrease remakes is to incentivize employees. Experts say that while gas cards and vacations can be generally motivating, personalized incentives give employees feelings of personal worth and being a part of a business family, not just a cog in the company wheel. Instead of one-size-fits all incentives, offer personalized recognition like extra days off for a single mom, dinner for two for those celebrating an anniversary, or even a three-day cruise for a dedicated, remake-free employee who hasn't taken vacation in a while. Better yet, sit down with each employee separately and ask him or her about life, goals, and what incentives they'd most appreciate. |
| BY THE NUMBERS | |
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| These figures make a case for hard-line remake procedures in order to recover bottom-line losses from remakes. A CASE FOR CARE 15%…the industry average for remakes. 10%…of remakes are attributed to improper eyewear care. 30 to 60 seconds…how long it takes to show-and-tell eyewear care with a patient. BOTTOM LINE: Educate and demonstrate proper eyewear care with every patient, every time. By teaching good care and upping patient compliance, you have the opportunity to reduce remakes by 10 percent. A CASE FOR DILIGENCE 25%…the average percentage of revenue a practice spends on cost of goods sold. $67…the cost of an average remake per pair of lenses. 20%…a store running over 20 percent on remakes literally gives away 20 percent of their lenses. 2%…the percentage most vendors allow on returns. Most of that is taken up by lab rejects. This means the cost of warranted lenses is shouldered by you and counts against your bottom line. BOTTOM LINE: Know all the avenues remakes can travel and how they impact your profits. Once you're aware of your "remake leakage," you can take steps to correct the problems. Also, track your remake percentage for three to six months. Whatever your remake percentage averages (ideally, two percent or less), consider revamping your price list to reasonably cover that remake average. EXAMPLE: Standard plastic single vision now: $39. Standard plastic single vision with remake percentage factored in: $39 + 2% (0.78) rounded off = $40. |
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UNDERSTAND YOUR LAB
Labs process remakes differently and may have varying remake policies. Some labs will do a one-time remake at no charge, whether it's an ECP error or for patient satisfaction. Some labs analyze account profitability and base remake decisions on an individual account's performance. In fact, labs have been known to "fire" ECP customers for excessive remakes. It can pay (literally) to keep abreast of your lab's remake policies.
MAINTAIN RETURN PROCEDURES
It pays to have policies, but flexibility is important, too. If a patient returns, it's important to determine the core problem.
■ INVOLVE PATIENTS. At Harvey & Lewis, for example, the procedure is to first check power and measurements while explaining what's being checked and why. "If the Rx must go back to the doctor for a re-check, we've at least narrowed down the problem," Lewis says.
■ KEEP FEES FLEXIBLE. When the problem is dispenser error, the job is remade immediately. If the error was doctor-generated, the business remakes the lenses once within 60 days. Beyond 60 days, there is a service fee or 50 percent off for additional remakes. Decisions are made based on patient retention.
"Ultimately, retaining the customer is more important than the profit from a single order," Lewis adds.
Precision Optical has a one-year scratch warranty, but will break that rule when appropriate. "If it's a longtime patient and there hasn't been eyewear abuse, we'll stretch the warranty up to two years," Doug Stewart, LDO, of Precision Optical in Jacksonville, Fla.Stewart says.
A little kindness can pay. "A patient filled an Rx outside our practice, and it was done wrong," relates Eric White, OD, in private practice in San Diego. He adds: "Instead of charging an office visit for the follow- up, I saw them and explained why it was wrong and rechecked the Rx to make sure it wasn't an error. They were so appreciative that they came back to our practice. EB
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