In today’s fast-paced health care environment, providers face growing pressure to deliver comprehensive, high-quality care while managing increasing patient volume and complex care pathways. Striking a balance between efficiency and excellence is not only achievable—it is essential. The following strategies reflect key elements of the workflow at Alliance Vision Institute, which are designed to align with its mission and values in support of exceptional patient care.
Know Your Data
I once told a colleague, “We don’t see that many glaucoma patients. I know who we’re seeing.” The truth is, you don’t know what you think you know, but the data knows. I pulled the numbers to prove my point—and ended up proving myself wrong. Hidden in our system were hundreds of established glaucoma patients we thought were lost. In reality, they simply hadn’t been reactivated.
There’s a well-known phrase in health care: “Know the patient.” I’d take this adage a step further: know your data.
Most EMR/PM systems offer clinical and operational analytics that are readily accessible. Use them. Although software-generated reports can be helpful, inconsistencies in data entry or interpretation can hide important trends. Regularly reviewing this information supports smarter forecasting and ultimately more seamless, long-term care for patients.
To improve our own tracking and reactivation efforts, Alliance Vision Institute partnered with Brevium, a third-party platform that integrates with our EMR/PM system. Brevium allowed us to easily generate disease-specific reports and establish a formal, repeatable process for patient reactivation. I can’t overstate how valuable it is to be consistent—it keeps you aligned with your patients’ needs.
In a busy clinic, patients sometimes forget to schedule follow-up visits, and managing chronic disease compliance can be challenging. But when you maintain consistent outreach, patients notice—and appreciate—that your team is invested in their care. Since we implemented the third-party system, we’ve reached out to many of those “lost” patients and achieved numerous successful reactivations.
Leverage All Your Resources
Many practices unintentionally overlook valuable internal assets—personnel, workflows, or technology—that could significantly enhance efficiency and care delivery if given the chance. Encouraging a culture of curiosity leads to insight, and insight drives learning, adaptability, and progress. These qualities are essential for continuous improvement and innovation.
Once you understand your data, the next step is to assess your resources—and that means evaluating all of them, including:
- Staff and their knowledge base;
- Clinical schedules, including template flexibility and adaptability;
- Provider care teams and how they collaborate on internal protocols; and
- Strategic partnerships with industry vendors.
By starting with the desired outcome—compliant, patient-centered care—you can work backward to strategically align every asset around that shared goal.
Collaborative Care: Align, Share, Support
Bring your care team together to create a treatment protocol aligned with your vision and core values. Then share it—internally and with referring providers. Remember, your community providers may not have access to the latest industry information you receive. Serving as a reliable knowledge resource helps ensure smoother care transitions and faster access to treatment for patients.
It’s also important to question assumptions around scheduling and provider workflows. Using available data and resources, optimizing schedules to reflect the realities of your workflow is key to clinical performance. One effective method is tracking timing throughout the care process.
At our practice, we use analytics provided by Expeditor Systems, an integrated light system that monitors patient and provider flow and delivers predictive analytics. A few years ago, we took a close look at these data to better understand how patients moved through our clinic. What we found revealed opportunities to improve. Our schedule and workflows needed better alignment to avoid bottlenecks and fill service gaps. With clear goals in mind—reducing wait times to under 10 minutes and minimizing the time from consultation to surgery—we made targeted changes, including the following:
- Adjusting scheduling templates to better match available resources;
- Eliminating vague appointment types;
- Refining rooming protocols to ensure complete data collection before the provider enters; and
- Standardizing clinical workflows across the care team to reduce variations and delays.
We empowered our providers and technicians to operate at the top of their abilities and take ownership of their roles. These changes immediately improved patient flow and created a better experience—not just for patients, but for our entire team. With a unified, collaborative approach, we met both goals and shifted our culture toward intentional, data-driven action.
Whole-Staff Education: Everyone Plays a Role
Every member of your team should be informed and aligned with your strategy, protocols, and patient care standards. Even a simple monthly lunch-and-learn can contribute significantly to team development. Explaining the “why” behind initiatives promotes transparency, encourages accountability, and helps reduce resistance to change.
It’s essential that all staff—clinical, administrative, front desk, schedulers, and counselors—understand not only what to do but why it matters. Encouraging open dialogue allows team members to share ideas and insights that can improve how workflows are implemented. Creating space for team-driven suggestions fosters collaboration and can lead to more effective systems.
Providing a forum to discuss workflow inconsistencies can also be revealing and allow the team to seek solutions. For example, our team identified that glaucoma patients placed on recall lists were far less likely to schedule follow-up appointments. In response, we updated our protocol: all patients with a chronic disease diagnosis must leave with a follow-up appointment scheduled. Patients are reminded that they will receive confirmation messages and can always reschedule if needed, but we no longer leave scheduling up to chance.
Interventional Glaucoma: Don’t Reinvent, Realign
Our practice quickly adopted a progressive approach to interventional glaucoma. Surgical decision-making and treatment advancement often require more than clinical expertise—they are frequently shaped by cost, insurance coverage, and prior authorization requirements. These nonclinical factors can create delays or restrict available treatment options.
To better support timely decision-making while the patient is still in the office, we adapted our existing, successful workflows to surgical preparation. This included verifying surgical benefits in advance, initiating prior authorizations, and flagging accounts—all before the patient even arrived at the exam lane. This proactive model helped prevent delays and empowered providers to make timely clinical decisions. We didn’t reinvent the process; we realigned it to meet the needs of both providers and patients.
Strategic industry partnerships also played a key role. These collaborations often provide educational support, practice-oriented tools, and patient assistance programs. Early in our intentional shift toward an interventional approach, we discovered exceptional resources through industry partners. By aligning our internal team with these partners, we gained access to valuable knowledge and tools that directly supported our strategic goals.
Practices don’t have to operate in isolation. When approached thoughtfully, industry partnerships can evolve beyond simple connections—they can become catalysts for innovation, growth, and long-term resilience.
Use Technology to Augment, Not Replace
We are all experiencing the rapid pace of technological advancement in ophthalmology. At our practice, we view technology as a tool to enable excellence—not a replacement for it. Our goal in adopting new technologies is to enhance, streamline, and support our mission without compromising the human connection that defines our standard of care.
There are meaningful ways to implement advanced technologies. A few we’ve prioritized include the following:
- Customizing EMR templates and smart phrases to reduce documentation time;
- Integrating diagnostic devices to eliminate inefficiencies, prevent data loss, and reduce manual entry;
- Introducing AI-enabled communication platforms to provide general information and share patient education resources tailored to our practice; and
- Using AI tools for risk assessment and disease progression monitoring to help identify and prioritize high-risk patients.
By integrating technology with intention, we aim to elevate care while preserving the personal touch that our patients value most.
Strategic Efficiency Begins With Intentionality
Improving clinical efficiency without compromising care begins with intentionality. Understanding your data, empowering your team, aligning protocols, and fully leveraging available resources are all essential elements of a broader collaborative effort.
Behind every successful practice is the often-unseen hard work, trust, and unwavering commitment of a team working in sync. True collaboration extends beyond any single efficiency strategy—it requires shared values, consistent communication, and a collective dedication to excellence. It means long hours, continuous problem-solving, and a willingness to adapt—and then adapt again, if needed.
All this effort serves a common goal: to improve outcomes, enhance patient satisfaction, and position your practice as a leader in modern, strategic, patient-centered care. GP
