Eye Care Optimization in Optometry: Why Now-and How We Can Navigate It Together
In continuing education meetings and association gatherings, we often focus on clinical innovations—diagnostic technologies, new treatments, emerging research. Yet many of us rarely discuss something just as fundamental: how we actually deliver care efficiently as a team.
Most optometrists learned clinical flow by observing senior colleagues, adapting what they could, and refining under pressure. But today, the landscape has changed. The demands placed on independent health-care practitioners—particularly optometrists—have accelerated beyond what traditional workflows were designed to handle.
The Growing Demands on Independent Optometry
Across Canada, independent optometrists are navigating unprecedented pressures:
• Rising operating costs—labour, equipment, rent, technology, and supplies have increased faster than fee guides in many provinces.
• More data to collect, interpret, and explain—OCT, widefield imaging, macular metrics, dry eye diagnostics, myopia management protocols, surgical co-management standards, and more.
• Increasing expectations for patient education—whether on IPL, new IOL technologies, specialty lenses, digital eye strain, or ocular surface treatments.
• Supply–demand imbalances—in many regions, shortages of ODs increase workloads and pressure.
For many clinicians, the result is familiar: working harder just to maintain the same income, with less time, more administrative burden, and a growing sense that the traditional model is being stretched to its limits.
The evidence is clear across health-care professions:
Teams that adopt structured delegation and efficiency systems see improved patient access, reduced clinician burnout, and better financial stability. (American Optometric Association, Canadian College of Family Physicians, ADA research on delegation models.)
This is why many independent ODs are exploring efficiency, delegation, and process optimization as a real and necessary solution. Not easy—but possible.
Our Eye Care Optimization Journey (Shared in the Spirit of Collegial Learning)
About three years ago, we at FYidoctors began exploring this systematically—not as a top-down directive, but as a collaborative effort among our optometrists and practice-support teams.
What we learned may be useful to any independent clinic thinking about increasing efficiency, reducing stress, or elevating team performance.
Step 1: Listening to High-Performing Clinics
We identified clinics—large and small—that consistently operated with strong delegation and smooth clinical flow. We interviewed them, collected best practices, and built a 26-page Eye Care Optimization Playbook.
Step 2: Creating a Peer-Led Review Process
As part of our OD Advisory Committee, we established Clinic and OD Support Sub-Committees and trained a group of clinicians passionate about efficiency to help us develop a standardized clinic review model. The goal was simple: share what’s working, not impose uniformity.
Over 2024–25, we visited over 200 clinics. The result was a dramatically expanded Playbook—more than 100 additional ideas and tools that clinicians contributed.
Step 3: Expanding the Focus to the Entire Patient Pathway
For 2025, we began applying the same optimization lens to the entire 7-step patient journey:
• Contact
• Welcome
• Pre-Testing
• Exam
• Recommendation
• Follow-Up
• Recall
We honed in on three core themes that any clinic—independent or otherwise—can focus on.
1. Leadership & Communication: The Foundation
Every high-performing clinic we visited shared the same trait: consistent, intentional leadership and communication.
• Regular team meetings (“sharpening the saw” time).
• Short daily huddles for immediate adjustments.
• Clear expectations for patient experience.
• Doctors leading by example—kindness, clarity, consistency.
Clinics that commit to this—not perfection, but consistency—report:
• Lower stress
• Stronger accountability
• Smoother flow
• Higher patient satisfaction
Even for those motivated purely by clinical quality or income stability, the conclusion is the same: A well-led, well-trained team makes every optometrist better.
2. Efficiency Through Delegation
Delegation remains one of the most under-used—and highest-impact—tools in clinical practice.
Health-care research consistently shows that teams with structured delegation see improved access, lower burnout, and 15–25% greater provider capacity without sacrificing outcomes (CMA, AAFP, Optometric Management studies).
What Can Be Delegated?
• Case-history prework
• Medications list collection
• Visual acuities
• Lifestyle/visual-needs discussion
• Room setup
• Pre- and post-education on dry eye, myopia management, cataracts, etc.
Smart Scheduling
A schedule can either run the doctor, or the doctor can run the schedule. Top clinics:
• Stagger OD schedules
• Protect full exam capacity
• Minimize “collision points” in pre-testing
• Track no-shows and cancellation patterns
• Build in partial-exam management without sacrificing full exams
Losing even 2–3 full exams per day due to poor scheduling can meaningfully impact annual revenue and patient access.
Process Design Matters
Ergonomic pre-test rooms with minimal patient movement consistently increase flow efficiency.
Pre-Dilation: A Powerful Lever
Several clinics adopt pre-dilation protocols (with clinical guardrails), achieving:
• Less stop-and-start during exams
• Smoother flow
• Reduced total chair time
3. Recommendation = Clinical Care (Not Selling)
A recurring theme we hear from ODs across Canada is discomfort with “selling”—especially regarding glasses or contact lenses.
Yet in every other health profession:
• Dentists diagnose and treat
• Physiotherapists diagnose and treat
• Surgeons diagnose and treat
• Family physicians increasingly diagnose and perform procedures
Optometry is no different. Recommending solutions is part of caring for patients.
Patients rely on their optometrist to:
• Identify needs
• Explain options
• Help them compare choices confidently
And whether they fill that solution with you or elsewhere is their choice, without judgment. Being a strong eye care consultant is not commercial—it’s clinical excellence.
Looking Ahead: Advanced Delegation
We are now developing Eye Care Optimization 3.0 – Advanced Delegation, exploring ways clinics can safely and effectively expand the role of trained team members through:
• Tech-assisted refractions
• Expanded scope for contact lens follow-ups
• Deeper diagnostic support through imaging pathways
• Advanced scripting and patient-education models
We share this not as a selling point, but in the spirit of contributing to a profession-wide conversation about sustainability, work–life balance, and the future of clinical efficiency.
What You Can Do as an Independent OD
Any clinic—regardless of size or affiliation—can benefit by embracing optimization:
• Observe colleagues who excel in efficiency.
• Invite them to share their workflow or visit their clinic.
• Involve your team; invest in their growth.
• Build a communication rhythm—meetings, huddles, reviews.
• Try small changes first; iterate.
• Celebrate wins.
• Keep the process human and collaborative.
Clinics that embrace even modest improvements often report:
• Reduced daily stress
• Shorter workdays
• More patient access
• Higher engagement
• Stronger financial stability
For many ODs, it’s transformative.
The Next 5–10 Years Will Demand Even More of Us
If the last decade added new technologies, new diagnostics, and new treatment conversations… the next decade will almost certainly accelerate that trend.
No single model holds a monopoly on solutions.
But sharing ideas openly, learning from each other, and exploring new ways to deliver care can make all of us stronger—and help sustain independent practice in Canada for generations to come.
If there is ever value in comparing notes, exchanging ideas, or participating in a collaborative optimization review, we would be happy to connect—colleague to colleague.
We are all working toward the same goal: better patient care, healthier practices, and a profession that thrives.
About Us
We are doctor-led and professionally managed; our doctors are majority owners in our business. That means major decisions about patient care, your team members, and your practice are discussed with the right level of support across the organization. We’re proud to be a true collaborative partner. From input on every level of the organization to a real stake in our growth and success, we work better because we work together.
We welcome both you and your practice.
Interested in talking with us? Contact us today!
