We have been dealing with the effects of an aging population in our clinics for years. Add in the FDA approval of therapies for geographic atrophy (GA), and we are scrambling to keep up with the growing demands of patient care.1 Every retina practice should have a plan to handle the estimated 1 million US patients with GA who now have treatment options.2 Even if you aren’t ready to use the new therapies yet, patients are hearing radio and television ads and are coming to their appointments armed with questions—and we have to carve out precious chair time for additional patient education. So, what are we going to do?
If you aren’t just referring GA patients to your buddy down the street, you are likely looking for ways to trim inefficiencies and save a few minutes here and there.
In 2021, long before GA therapy was muddying the waters of productivity, clinicians at Stanford realized that patients were spending nearly 1.5 hours in the clinic for each appointment. Lin et al set out to reduce the visit duration, starting with a root cause analysis, which revealed that imaging was a major bottleneck. They decided to train their technicians on multiple imaging modalities, relocate the equipment, and beef up the number of devices. The result? The average patient visit duration fell from 87 minutes to about 60 minutes—a 25% to 30% reduction.3
While this is impressive, that extra time can only take a practice so far. If you are already running as lean and mean as possible, the only way to add more patients is to expand. That’s where this issue’s featured article can help. Larry R. Brooks, AIA, an architect and practice flow advisor, provides key pearls for retina practices that need to add space without interrupting patient care. He covers everything from the initial needs assessment to the practical buildout to help you orchestrate a smooth expansion that will serve your growing patient population.
Once you’ve settled into your new space (or maybe when you can’t focus on charting because of all the banging), check out the other articles in this issue, including a rundown of budgeting tips and tricks for that bigger practice, ways to protect your assets, and coding essentials for every retina specialist.
No practice is immune to the constant changes in the field of retina that force us to adjust our management approaches. With the information provided in this issue, you should be able to formulate some plans to improve patient care while maintaining a healthy practice.
1. Etzioni DA, Liu JH, Maggard MA, Ko CY. The aging population and its impact on the surgery workforce. Ann Surg. 2003;238(2):170-177.
2. Bakri SJ, Bektas M, Sharp D, Luo R, Sarda SP, Khan S. Geographic atrophy: Mechanism of disease, pathophysiology, and role of the complement system. J Manag Care Spec Pharm. 2023;29(5-a Suppl):S2-S11.
3. Lin CC, Li AS, Ma H, et al. Successful interventions to improve efficiency and reduce patient visit duration in a retina practice. Retina. 2021;41(10):2157-2162.
