H/T to Dr. Maino.

The retail clinic era is over, and … pharmacy-based clinics are doomed to fail.
Corporations are finding out what primary care doctors already know: it’s hard to make money only doing office visits.

Ophthalmologists make bank doing procedures. I guess the problem with the retail medical clinic is that the doctor is paid so much. I guess optical shops are lucky that optometrists aren’t as high up on the whole pay scale totem pole.

I have to wonder about the optometric profession, though. The student loan debt percentage delta outpaces optometrist’s pre-tax net percentage delta. How much longer will anybody want to apply for optometry school?

I guess we need Obama to bailout the optometry schools. Socialized medicine, here we come. Thanks for reading, comrades.

How does the perk of working every Saturday sound? How do you like getting home many nights at 8:00 PM, (just in time to tuck your kids into bed)?

Unless an optometrist is employed by a big chain or there is some extreme emergency, hours are generally restricted to Monday through Friday with no on-call duty needed.

That’s not true in today’s market. Only government workers get Saturdays off now. More and more private practices offer extended hours and Saturday hours to stay competitive in today’s market. People don’t take time off work anymore just for routine eyecare (but of course they’ll do it for the dentist, but not you…a lowly optometrist).

Oh, and other doctors don’t have to worry about their scope of practice being legislated away.

And how do you like having a cap on potential income? You can only see so many patients a day. Get rich selling an unlimited number of widgets that everyone wants. Only become an optometrist because you love it…but, that begs the question how do you find out that you love optometry without going to expensive optometry school? By the way, when I went to optometry school (PUCO 2003), it cost about $22,000 per year for tuition, including fourth year when you’re not even at school because you are on preceptorship. Last I heard it’s up to $27,000 per year.

So my question is, at what price point does optometry school become unfeasible?

They seem to be saying that I’m a flip flopper and must be some unhappy individual who is lost. You can’t discredit me because I’ve experienced three major forms of practice. Someone who has experienced government, private, and various flavors of commercial is not a lost soul, but rather he is an experienced voice.

I implore all students and new O.D.s to listen to my words. If you would like the security of government work and don’t mind living in remote locations, then by all means be a government optometrist. If you want to be able to live in more populated areas, than choose commercial practice over private and choose Wal-Mart over all other commercial options.

In my previous posts advocating private practice and demonizing commercial, I had been drinking the private practice cool-aid that I’d been served since optometry school. Some of the disparaging remarks against commercial hold true for many brands of opticals, but not Wal-Mart.

Private practice is too risky. Sure, you know or have at least heard about successful private practice businesses, but you can’t assume that things would go well for you if you were to hang up a shingle. The money it takes now days to start cold could be better invested in Vegas. It’s a crapshoot, heavy on the crap because the frame vendors, the lens suppliers, ophthalmic equipment companies, the financing company, the advertising people, the landlords, the employees and more all get their money from you. But when do you get paid? Paying all of those people doesn’t automatically bring patients in the door. And when will you actually get enough patients to break even? That could be never, you know. You may just have to close shop when the money dries up, like I did.

Wal-Mart makes it risk free. There will always be patients coming to your door. Your success is only limited by the number of hours you are willing to work. That’s why if you want to be rich, make and sell widgets. If you want to do eyecare, work for the government or Wal-Mart, depending on where you want to live.

Anyway, just because I’m giving advice from my experience doesn’t mean I’m somehow lost or unhappy. I have family, religion, and a great job inside a Wal-Mart Vision Center. Of course I’m happy.

The practice has two exam lanes (one furnished), a contact lens and special testing area, a server closet, a lab, and an open dispensary-reception area- all comfortably arranged in ~1100 sq. ft. (the building’s common area includes restrooms). Take advantage of brand new cabinetry, office furnishings, computer system, OfficeMate PM/EHR, and optometry equipment (digital phoropter, AutoK/Rx, AutoLensometer, Humphrey Matrix screening and full V.F., Sonogage Pachymeter, Scout corneal topographer, Tonopen XL, HRT2, , slit lamp with digital camera, and more). Plus, you will have the invaluable assistance that is offered through the Williams Group’s training materials/binders and a staff member who has been to their training.

Financing company (Matsco) requires another O.D. take over payments. Since original loan included working capitol, I will give you a personal rebate for $50,000 which you could use to sustain and grow the business. I’ve already made 12 months of payments, so you will get the benefit of all those payments plus the $50K that I will give you as a rebate when you take over the practice! I’ll even throw in free tech support for 6 months.

Call me or e-mail to discuss your future in private practice optometry in the highly desirable location of Cache Valley, Utah. We can also talk about your expected loan payments, rent, and other recurring bills. For serious inquires, I’ve got lots of numbers we can crunch from excellent OfficeMate production reports.

Update: See office pictures at seemypractice.com

Also, the $50,000 dollar rebate offer has changed. You still get $50,000, but the deal is I will pay your first 12 monthly loan payments to the financing company (Matsco). Any money not used up for that purpose will be given to you in a lump sum payment after we close the deal of you taking over the practice.