Q:  What are the advantages of being in partnership with one or more optometrists?

  1. Shared responsibilities – There are numerous responsibilities of running a small optometry business, from accounting, to staff management, to implementing meaningful use.  When you have a partner you can share the workload and thrive in your areas of strength.  In contrast, a solo practitioner must be a “jack of all trades” or at least have some minimal understanding of the responsibility in question to properly delegate it and monitor the delegation.  Staff management can also benefit from numerous coaches.  Most likely employees will not all respond to your coaching and another personality may bring out the best in an employee where you were unable to get results.  These are just a couple of reasons that partnerships are a favorable way to practice.
  2. Higher potential income – It has been documented in AOA literature and the MBA statistics that median incomes are greater in partnerships of 2-5 partners than they are of the solo optometrist.  This is usually accomplished due to the sharing of overhead costs, buying power, and associated staffing costs.
  3. Team – There is nothing more powerful than a team that works together.  There is a synergistic effect when two oxen pull a cart of increasing weight.  Two oxen can pull much more weight than the combined total that each oxen can pull individually.  This effect is possible when a team of doctors are working together with common goals, a great business model, and a common vision.
  4. Clinical accountability – This has been one of my personal favorites as daily I will bounce cases off of one of my colleagues at the office.  One of the disadvantages of solo practice is that there is not another OD down the hall to come take a look at a pathological cornea or suspected retinal tear and given an opinion.  Also, clinical accountability occurs when doctors tend to get lazy and keep fitting the same contact lens they have fit for the past 10 years.  For doctors who have been in practice 15+ years and the status quo is comfortable, a partnership will challenge you to evaluate your clinical decisions against the latest in optometric education with the addition of a new graduate.

Thank you to the private practice club at The Ohio State University for the many questions that you had for myself and Ryan Parker, O.D.  This question was one question, of two hours worth of questions, that the students asked.