Benchmarking Survey FAQs
General Information About the Benchmarking Survey
Data Collection
Questions About Data Elements:
Errors with My Data
Reporting Questions
Other Questions?
General Information about the Benchmarking Survey
Q: Why should I participate?
A: Benchmarking is a critical tool to help practices measure efficiency and areas for improvement. The AAO/AAOE benchmarking project will give practices accurate information that will allow comparison to national averages. The baby boomers are beginning to retire which is expected to increase the demand for services in the coming years, and that will mean that practices will need to focus on operating at peak efficiency in order to handle the increased demand. In addition, your participation will help you to monitor the impact of economic conditions across a number of practices. This valuable information will help you to answer questions such as, “Are practices experiencing an overall slump in optical sales?” and “Is there an overall trend stretching the number of days in account receivable?”
Q: Who can participate?
A: At this time, only private medical practices can participate (excludes academic, non-profits, hospitals) – visit www.aao.org/benchmarking for a complete list.
Q: How can I participate?
A: To participate, follow these three easy steps:
- Register your practice – you will be required to submit your Tax ID as a unique identifier (only one set of data is accepted per practice). If you registered for fiscal 2006, 2007 and/or 2008 reporting, you do not need to register again to report fiscal 2009.
- Review definitions, gather data and submit your practice data (definitions are posted online www.aao.org/benchmarking)
You will enter up to 45 data elements from your 2009 fiscal year data. This includes 8 optical data elements (for those who operate an optical dispensary.) We've added new data elements for fiscal 2009 reporting:
• Total clinical non-physician other revenue broken down by skincare products, vitamins, hearing aids and other revenue. Just leave fields blank if you do not provide these services and it will default to zero.
• Total number and cost of management and other staff should now be reported separately.
• Total contact lens revenues should now be reported separately if reported under optical.
• Total contact lens cost of goods should now be reported separated if reported under optical.
- Generate reports: 7 to 10 business days following data submission, your practice data will be anonymously reviewed for consistency. Once your data has been approved, you will receive an e-mail with a link to the reporting page. Please note FY09 Reporting opens in early summer 2010.
Q: Why do you not accept information from academic based clinics?
A: Because academic clinics are so different financially than private clinics, we cannot mix the two types of practices, so academic clinics cannot participate at this time. We are evaluating providing a similar service for academic sites.
Q: Is my data secure?
A: To protect your practice identity only aggregate data will be displayed. Demographic information is never displayed. When using filters, we will only show data where we have 15 or more responses that match the filter criteria. Users will not be able to filter by state, only region and population. Review Academy Terms of Service & Privacy Policy for details.
Q: I forgot my login and/or password. How do I recover it?
A: Use the password recovery feature
Registration
Q: If you only release data when you have 15 or more participating in a specialty, do you recommend using "multi-ophthalmic specialty" as opposed to "cataract/anterior segment..." when we register?
A: You should register in the category that best describes your practice. If you have only general ophthalmologists, you would indicate the “cataract/anterior segment” selection. If you have subspecialty trained doctors, you would choose one of the two “multi-ophthalmic specialty” categories. Those designations are used to put your practice data into the correct category, but on the reporting page you will be able to compare your results with any type of practice for which we have at least 15 entries.
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Data Collection
Q: How long does it take to collect & enter data?
A: We believe it shouldn’t take more than 4 hours to gather the data needed for your submission. Many practices report less than 2 hours to collect data and 15 to 30 minutes to enter data.
Q: What’s the difference between 'Save and Review' vs. 'Save and Continue'?
A: 'Save and Review' allows you to stop where you are and return to the survey at another point (it takes you to the review page where you can exit.) 'Save and Continue' pushes you forward through the survey. Since have so many required fields, 'Save & Contine' allows submitters to stop if they can’t finish in one session.
Q: Has the survey changed since the 2008 fiscal year reporting period?
A: We've added additional fields and benchmarks to the reporting process easier.
Questions About Data Elements
Section 1: Clinical Net Revenue
Q: Our practice consists of a solo physician who sees patients. Is total clinical net revenue the same as the total ophthalmologist clinical net revenue? Is total owner compensation and total ophthalmologist compensation the same?
A: Yes, since the owner is the only provider seeing patients, enter same data in total clinical net revenue and total ophthalmologist clinical net revenue. Again, enter the same data in total owner compensation and total ophthalmologist compensation.
Q: We cannot separate ASC and clinic revenues – can we participate?
A: You must be able to separate revenue ASC and clinical revenues in order to participate. Otherwise, it will skew the reported statistics.
Q: Should we report clinical research study revenue?
A: Research should be included in total clinical net revenue if it is performed by the practice and should also be included in total MD clinical compensation. If a doctor does research independent of the practice, and gets paid as an individual, do not include that in the clinical revenue nor in doctor compensation.
Q: Should any amounts collected for legal depositions be reported under Total Clinic Net Revenue?
A: Yes, sincerevenue from legal depositions is generated by clinical resources and is related to care provided by the clinic do report it under total clinical net revenue.
Q: Do you want revenue from operating room services in a hospital?
A: ASC revenue should not to be included in the Total Clinical Net Revenue, but that means to not include ASC facility fees if the practice owns a surgery center. The doctors’ professional fees for performing surgery in a hospital or an ASC should be included in the Clinical Net Revenue figure.
Q: Should we include cataract surgery revenue?
A: Yes – just don’t include surgery center facility fees in your revenue figure, and don’t include surgery center expenses or staff in those categories either.
Q: We have two satellite offices other than our main office....am I to include fee income/expenses as a TOTAL of all 3 locations or will there be a separate area for entry?
A: Yes, include your revenues and expenses for all 3 locations together. We do ask how many offices you have, but all financial and staff data is reported as one single practice. Do not include optical revenues or surgery center facility fee revenues in your Total Clinical Net Revenues figure. We don’t ask you to report your individual doctors separately, but just to separate revenues generated by your MDs and DOs from the revenue generated by your ODs (optometrists.)
Q: I understand excluding drug cost and revenue. But do you want the professional revenue for the injection? (67028) recorded for clinical net revenue?
A: Yes, all professional revenues should be included. We are excluding just the cost and the revenue for the drugs because those figures are essentially pass-through numbers that skew the data if they are included.
Q: Should we include capitation checks in total clinical net revenue?
A: Yes, because those revenues cause expenses in your practice, so you should include all of that income in your Total Clinical Net Revenue.
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Section 1: Operating Expenses
Q: The office pays the physician a monthly equipment rental fee since the physician owned the equipment when the practice was incorporated. How do I report this?
A: If you are still renting the equipment that the physician owns, it is equipment rental and should be included in operating expenses and not in physician compensation. This assumes that this rental payment is not recorded on his W-2 but rather on a 1099 or another form.
Q: For Total Clinic Operating Expenses and Total Clinic Facility Expense, the “Do Not Include” items lists costs for space rented out for other purposes. Our practice has a facility for central administration which includes the surgery scheduling, appointment scheduling and medical records as well accounting, collections, billing and medical transcription. Should this office and its related costs be included in these categories?
A: Yes, space rented out for other purposes” is space rented out to a party not affiliated with the practice. Any rent costs for practice-related activities should be included.
Q: Do benefits paid by the practice (health insurance, life insurance, dental insurance, etc) count in MD/OD compensation or do you calculate in Total Clinic Operating Expenses?
A: Include benefits paid by the practice in clinical operating expenses. If your practice employs optical staff, those expenses should be deducted and recorded under optical operating expenses. In MD compensation, you should only note voluntary salary deductions – 401K, medical savings accounts.
Section 1: Total Encounters for All Providers
Q: One of our docs performs Class 2 & 3 FAA medical exams to pilots. Should that be included as "encounters"?
A: Yes
Q: Should in-office surgeries (not billed with an exam) be included as "encounters"?
A: To be consistent, no. We have many practices that cannot separate which in office surgeries were done with or without an exam, so we only include exams, not surgeries in the “encounters” number.
Q: Should no-charge glasses checks or contact lens re-checks be included as "encounters"?
A: No. Most offices don’t track these, so to be consistent they should not be included in encounters.
Q: Should A-scans and Visual fields (performed separately and not billed with an exam) be included as "encounters"?
A: No, exclude. Many offices always do these on a day when exams are done, so cannot break them out separately.
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Section 1: MD and OD Compensation
Q: Where should leased cars paid by the practice be recorded?
A: Include the cost of leased autos in doctor compensation.
Q: Our optical is practice owned, do I report the doctor’s share of the optical profits?
A: No, exclude optical compensation from total ophthalmologist clinical compensation and total clinical net revenue. You might need to take the doctors W-2 (which includes their share of the optical profits) and subtracted out an approximation on what their optical shop net revenue was for each doctor.
Q: The practice owner made an interest-free loan to the practice. The practice paid back the loan. Do I record this amount in total ophthalmologist compensation?
A: No, this loan should not be recorded anywhere on the survey. If the practice owner had charged interest, the interest expense should be recorded in operating expenses.
Q: Our setup includes an S corporation for the practice and real estate partnership that owns the ophthalmology related facilities. Should I include the distribution from this partnership in owner compensation?
A: No, please exclude this payment from owner compensation. We don’t want any real estate revenues or profits mixed in with the clinical net revenues.
Q: We had an OD (1099 contract) who left our practice in 09/2008. We were still receiving payments on services performed by him into the first quarter of 2009. According to his contract with us he received no further reimbursement after 90 days. How do I submit his data? Since we didn't reimburse him anything should all 2009 payments be attributed to our MD?
A: Yes, attribute all payments in 2009 to your MD and enter 0 FTE OD’s and no compensation for OD’s for 2008.
Section 2: Staff
Q: I work full time and spend half my time as the practice administrator and half my time in a tech role. How do I account for my time?
A: Since half your time is spent as a tech, you would count yourself as .5 in the Total Number of FTE Non MD/OD Clinical Staff and .5 in the Total Number of FTE Management and Other Staff category. Likewise, you should allocate your salary between the total non MD/DO/OD clinical staff cost and total management and other staff cost categories.
Q: Are doctors included in FTE?
A: No – only lay staff personnel are included in the Total Number of FTE Staff. If you have a doctor who does not see patients, but just manages the practice, then you would include her hours in the FTE Staff figure, but any doctors who treat patients should not be included in that category. We do ask for FTE MD’s and FTE OD’s in another section.
Q: I outsource my billing. Can I still participate?
A: Yes, simply check the box “I outsource billing” and you can skip the billing related questions.
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Section 3: Accounts Receivable
Q: Our accounts receivable aging reports only have a >91 days bucket and not a 91 - 120 day bucket. I decided to divide in half the total we have for >91 between the two buckets. Is there a preferred way to deal with this problem?
A: Yes, please split your oldest bucket among the remaining buckets on the submission screen. We are exploring other ways to handle this situation.
Q: We only have a total AR figure for Clinical and Optical and cannot separate them.
A: Since the A/R for optical is typically fairly small, go ahead and include optical A/R in your total A/R.
Q: On the survey, it asks for Gross Charges for the year. We write down the charges to the allowable at the time of posting and carry our AR at this written down level. Do you want me to report these written down values or estimate both the charges and AR at the gross charge level?
A: Report your actual charges rather than estimating gross charges.
Q: I omitted the revenue & expenses for injectable drugs from clinical revenue as instructed. However, I have no way of knowing how much of my A/R is injectable drugs — so should I leave the charges for injectable drugs in my Total Gross Charges number?
A: Yes, the only way we use the total charges is to calculate days in A/R, so it doesn’t really affect anything else.
Q: My A/R report shows a credit balance "bucket". Should I subtract that amount out of my 0-30 days bucket in order to make the total balance out?
A: Some practice management programs will calculate a correct total, taking into account that credit balance. If yours does that, no adjustment is needed. If your system ignores the credit balance, and just adds up the other buckets for its total, then just subtract the credit balance from your total and submit the buckets as they are, with the adjusted total A/R so that the buckets added together equal the total A/R figure.
Q: Our PM system tracks AR cumulatively. We have written off to bad debt all balances prior to 1/1/2008. When I run the AR reports for end date 12/31/2009, FY 2008 AR is included in that data. Does this meet the requirements for entering AR data for the survey purposes, or do I need to try to calculate AR for services performed only in FY 2009?
A: Enter the amount of your A/R on 12/31/2009 should be entered, even if some of that money was for services performed in 2008. Many practices will still have some A/R from 2008 on their books as of the end of 2009, so your situation is very common.
Section 4: Optical
Q: We outsource the optical. Can we enter data in the optical section?
A: Please check the “I outsource optical” box. Do not report your optical data as the cost and revenue structure for outsourced optical operations is incongruent with those practices that operate their own optical dispensaries. You can still submit the rest of the information on your practice.
Q: How do I interpret the benchmarks?
A: Once your data has been approved select the Interpreting Your Benchmarks at the top of the page on the reporting screen.
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Errors with My Data
Q: I received an e-mail that my data does not appear to be correct. However, I rechecked my data and it appears to be correct. What should I do?
A: Resubmit your data and send an e-mail to benchmarking@aao.org explaining your data. Without the explanation, we cannot consider your justification and will re-flag your data as requiring corrections.
Q: I submitted my data, and it was approved. However, I now realize I made a mistake. What should I do?
A: Once your data has been approved it cannot be changed. Please check your data carefully before submitting as this is not a simple fix to make.
The most common mistakes made so far include:
- Clinic operating expenses plus MD and OD compensation should equal or be close to the clinic net revenue. Often, practices have submitted clinic net revenue that is much higher or much lower than the sum of their expenses plus their doctors’ compensation.
- For staff numbers and costs, we ask for total staff and also staff in the front desk, clinical,billing and management and other staff categories. The sum of the staff numbers or costs for those four areas should equal the total staff reported. See Section 2: Staff (above) for additional details.
- We ask for clinic operating expenses and then we ask for facility expenses and staff costs separately. Some submitters have assumed that we didn’t want them to include facility and staff costs in the total operating expenses, but that is incorrect. Total clinic operating expenses should include all expenses including facility and staff costs. The only expenses not included in clinic operating expenses are doctors’ compensation. Optical figures are also not included because they are reported in a separate section. ASC figures are not to be included anywhere in the survey.
- The total of the figures in the A/R buckets (i.e. current, 30 days, 60 days, etc.) should equal the total reported A/R.
- The sum of the MD clinical net revenue plus the OD clinical net revenue (if any) should equal the total clinical net revenue. Also, the sum of the patient encounters for the MDs plus the ODs should equal the total patient encounters for the practice.
- The compensation for the owners of the practice should also be included with the compensation of the practice’s MDs and/or the ODs. In other words, the MD and OD compensation should also include owner compensation, depending on whether the owner(s) are MDs or ODs.
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Reporting Questions
Q: We submitted our data, but why can’t I access the reporting tools?
A: Allow 7 to 10 business days for your data to be reviewed. If you receive an e-mail indicating some of your data needs to be rechecked and resubmitted, please correct the indicated information. After the re-submission, the data will be checked again and assuming the issue has been corrected, data will be approved and you will be notified and can proceed to the reporting tools. Please note: FY09 Reporting opens in early summer 2010. The reporting tools are currently open only to practices that submitted 'approved' data for FY06, FY07 and/or FY08.
If you cannot find any problems with your data, you must send an e-mail to benchmarking@aao.org explaining your data and then you will simply need to resubmit your data for review. We only ask you to correct information that is clearly incorrect. For example, one submission indicated that the practice had over 1,000 opticians employed – clearly a typo. However, if left uncorrected that mistake would render the entire database inaccurate.
Q: How soon can I access the benchmarking report?
A: Once your data has been anonymously reviewed, and assuming no obvious errors have been identified, you will receive an approval email with a link to the reporting tool. You can also access the report tool from the benchmarking web page once a minimum of 15 entries have been reviewed and approved. Keep in mind, the report will change as the database is populated with more practice data. Please note: FY09 Reporting opens in early summer 2010.
Q: Can multi-subspecialty practices also receive a break down for the sub-specialties? Also, how can you compare to offices with multiple locations?
A: On the reporting page, you will be able to compare your individual subspecialties with practices which practice only those subspecialties, but keep in mind that those comparisons won’t be truly “apples to apples.” We don’t ask multi-subspecialty practices to provide data for each of their individual subspecialties, so we cannot provide that comparison. You will also be able to compare yourself to other practices with the same number of offices, as long as the number you want to compare has at least 15 submissions.
Q: How should I interpret these benchmarks?
A: Download the Interpreting Benchmarks document located on the top of the page on the reporting screen.
Other Questions?
E-mail benchmarking@aao.org
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