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Speaker advises incremental approach to incorporating frugality into practice
WAIKOLOA, Hawaii — Using the mnemonic ASPEN, one speaker here presented incremental steps that ophthalmologists can take to enhance their practices by adopting frugal innovations.
Frugality is necessary to offset the inevitable reckoning that will come with Medicare cutbacks, OSN Practice Management Section Manager John B. Pinto said at the joint opening of Hawaiian Eye 2013 and Retina 2013.
John B. Pinto
For the typical general ophthalmologist with a 40% profit margin, a 16% Medicare fee reduction plus mild inflation will impose a pay cut of at least 25%, he said.
“As fees erode, the only way to mitigate that is to keep operating costs down, keep practice volumes going up, or have ancillary revenue per patient growing,” Pinto said.
The ASPEN mnemonic (add, substitute, postpone, eliminate/reduce, negotiate) is a tool that can help practices organize their steps toward adopting frugal innovations. For example, a practice could:
- Add a full-time technician in order to add more patients
- Substitute a uniform of like-colored scrubs to save on the cost of maintaining expensive suits
- Postpone nonessential repairs and maintenance
- Eliminate/reduce unnecessary lay staff
- Negotiate to achieve greatest value
Pinto cautioned, however, that rather than just cutting costs, fostering creativity and experimentation has a place in frugal innovation.
Disclosure: Pinto has financial interests in J. Pinto & Associates Inc. and is a consultant for Compulink.