John Pinto’s Little Green Book of Ophthalmology

John B. Pinto is the most-published author in the United States on ophthalmology practice management topics. He founded J. Pinto & Associates, Inc., an ophthalmic practice management consulting firm, in 1979. Since then, he has provided strategic planning, operations, and marketing advice to pharmaceutical companies, basic science centers, hospitals, multispecialty clinics, and single-specialty facilities. For more than 40 years, a majority of the firm’s service has been to ophthalmic practices ranging from small solo practices to high-volume market leaders, teaching centers, and ophthalmic product companies. He has been active as a practice consultant in North America and Europe and has worked and lectured in South America, New Zealand, Australia, and Asia. Pinto is best known as a strategic planning and economic advisor to practices large and small. In addition to covering most dimensions of modern practice operations management, he is a career advisor, providing individual coaching and contract negotiation services to new graduates and midcareer employed ophthalmologists. As a subspecialty interest, Pinto is active in the ever-evolving sphere of refractive surgery and is among the most experienced advisors in this domain, helping surgeons with the growing challenges of this field. His professional life today is rounded out with succession planning, practice appraisals, partner dispute mediation, merger/acquisition counsel, and leadership development for administrators and managing partners. A prolific writer, Pinto is the author of several books beyond the classic text you now hold: Turnaround: Twenty-One Weeks to Ophthalmic Practice Survival and Permanent Improvement Ten Eyecare Practices: Benchmarks for Success Cash Flow: The Practical Art of Earning More From Your Ophthalmology Practice, coauthored with E. Anne Rose The Efficient Ophthalmologist Legal Issues in Ophthalmology: A Review for Surgeons and Administrators, coauthored with Alan Reider and Allison Shuren The Women of Ophthalmology, coauthored with Elizabeth Davis, MD Ophthalmic Leadership: A Practical Guide for Physicians, Administrators, and Teams Simple: The Inner Game of Ophthalmic Practice Success, which is a companion text to John Pinto’s Little Green Book of Ophthalmology UP: Taking Ophthalmic Administrators and Their Management Teams to the Next Level of Skill, Performance, and Career Satisfaction, coauthored with Corinne Z. Wohl Pinto is also the author of Marketing Your Ophthalmic Practice, the first book devoted to the topic. Pinto is a member of the editorial boards of Ocular Surgery News, Ophthalmology Management, Ophthalmology Business, and Premier Surgeon, and a regular contributor to other eye care publications. John Pinto is available for individual, practice, and corporate consulting services to supplement this book at: J. Pinto & Associates, Inc. 2926 Kellogg Street Suite B18 San Diego, CA 92106 619-223-2233 pintoinc@aol.com www.pintoinc.com

Dedication Acknowledgments About the Author Foreword by Herve Byron, MDIntroductionPinto's Ten Commandments Chapter 1 Strategic Business Planning Chapter 2 Leadership, Governance, and Discipline Chapter 3 Finance, Accounting, and Patient Accounts Management Chapter 4 Staff Evaluation, Training, and Supervision Chapter 5 Managing Physicians Chapter 6 Marketing and Development Chapter 7 General Operations Enhancement Chapter 8 Facility Design and Management Chapter 9 Adding or Improving an Optical Dispensary Chapter 10 Clinical Management Pearls Chapter 11 Mergers and Acquisitions Chapter 12 Provider Career Issues Chapter 13 Succession and Retirement PlanningAfterwordPostscriptAppendix A The Ophthalmic Personality: How to Harness the Strengths and Overcome the Obstacles of Being (or Working for)Some of the Brightest Humans on the Planet With Craig N. Piso, PhDAppendix B Strategic Resource Assessment: How to Find What's Missing From Your PracticeAppendix C Scoring the Quality of Your LifeAppendix D Is Our Practice Going to Be Okay? A (Relatively) SimplePractice Performance and Viability IndexAppendix E Herve Byron's Practice Evaluation: A Patient's ChecklistAppendix F Making Better Practice Management DecisionsAppendix G Leadership Skills Assessment for Lay Managersand ProvidersAppendix H Helping Your Managers Manage:Hallmarks of Superior SupervisionAppendix I How to Find and Reform or Eliminate the WeakestMembers of Your Practice TeamAppendix J Reverse Engineering From Your Personal Financial Plan toYour Practice's Business TacticsAppendix K Making a Smooth Transition From Solo to Group PracticeAppendix L Pinto's Practice Development Doctrine: Five Easy Rules toHelp You Have Fun and Stay Out of Trouble as You GrowAppendix M Getting Things Done: The Art of Prioritization and ImplementationAppendix N Retinal Practice Performance BenchmarksAppendix O Practice Performance BenchmarksAppendix P Pinto's Surgical Assertiveness IndexAppendix Q The Twin Bridges Protocol: A Proposed Methodology toMeasure and Improve Cataract Surgeon SkillsAppendix R Signposts of Surgeon Career and Life Happiness With Craig N. Piso, PhDAppendix S Improving Practice Board MeetingsAppendix T Twenty Rules for Group Practice HarmonyAppendix U Recognizing, Revising Common AdverseOphthalmologist BehaviorsAppendix V Is Eye Care Slowly Industrializing?Appendix W The Benefits of the Physician–AdministratorDyadic Leadership ModelAppendix X Success Factors for Making Mergers WorkAppendix Y Eight Guidelines for Better Practice-Wide CommunicationAppendix Z Assessing the Effectiveness of Your Staff Hiring andManagement PracticesAppendix AA Key Concepts to Enhance Profit GrowthAppendix AB Heads Up: Ten Things Every Owner Should KnowAbout Their PracticeAppendix AC Excess Task Loading: An Overlooked Dimension ofProvider and Practice StressAppendix AD The Biology of Practice BusinessAppendix AE Great Staffing Habits for a Healthy PracticeAppendix AF Seizing Life in Paris, Seizing Life in Your Practice Index