Dean Amundsen, OD, is a practicing optometrist out of California. A member of the American Optometric Association, Dr. Amundsen focuses on primary eye care, cataract, refractive surgery co-management, technological advances in eye care, and the care of eye diseases like conjunctivitis, glaucoma, and macular degeneration. We were able to ask him a few questions to help us understand what he believes has helped in his success. No time to read this article? Download the PDF version and save it for later!

Do You Run a Private Practice, Group Practice, or Corporate Practice?

I have been a private practice optometrist for the past 33 years.

How Many Patients Per Day Do You See, and How do you make the ones you see “count”?

We see about 20 patients per day and try to provide a complete patient-care experience.

What’s Your Biggest Challenge as a Business Owner?

It is an ongoing challenge to keep our practice busy and profitable with all the new sources of competition.

Top 5-10 Tips for a Successful Practice

We feel the following are important to staying successful:

• Care for each patient as you would a family member.
• Make sure you are addressing as many patients' needs as possible at each visit.
• Provide excellent customer service.
• Make sure your office expresses that you use the latest technology.
• Don't let a patient lose his/her sight on your watch.
• Constantly try to grow as a professional and expect the same of your staff.

How Do You Engage Your Patients Throughout Their Time in the Practice? How Do You Engage Them Outside of the Practice?

We use Solutionreach to stay in touch with our patient through recall, newsletters, and blog articles. We have an in-office communication system to help us keep track of where the patient is at in our office.

What Tools, If Any, Do You Have to Help with Prescription Retention In-Practice and Patient Compliance?

We try to educate our patients in the exam room of the services we offer. Our staff helps a lot with this. We focus on tracking how we do to make sure the conversations stay alive.

Can You Give Us the “Big Picture” of Success in Your Practice?

Success in my practice is related to hiring the right people and constantly working on our processes and services to improve patient care. We want our patients to feel we care for them and are up to date and thorough in what we offer.

What Advice Can You Give Around Staff and Patient Policies?

Our patient policies are patient-centered; we want our staff to be an extension of our brand, which we communicate frequently in the office. For our final look through the optometry business glasses comes from Dr. Samuel Baron in Colorado. Find out how he stays productive and perseveres through the daily challenges.