15 Apr Best Optometry Business Apps for a Highly Productive Staff
Optometry practices often don’t spend enough time on their own business because they’re too busy with patient care. But patient care isn’t the only concern. Managing your business effectively and efficiently is crucial to the success of your optometry practice.
Finding ways to be more productive, save time, or improve certain processes will enhance your optometry business. One of the easiest ways to make positive changes and achieve your business goals is with advanced technology—like optometry EHR systems and practice management software.
Apps are technology solutions worth considering as well. To help you and your staff become highly productive, we’ve compiled a list of optometry business apps to support your practice.
Optometry Business Apps That Increase Productivity
Productivity is important, but so is protecting your patients’ data. HIPAA compliance should be a top priority anytime you bring new optometry business apps into your practice. If you intend to store, receive, or transmit patient protected health information (PHI) using an app, always verify that the app is HIPAA-compliant first.
Be sure to read our HIPAA Compliance Guide for Eye Care Professionals so you can be more prepared and confident with your technology decisions. Now let’s look at several optometry business apps worth considering.
1. Google Translate, Instant Translator, iTranslate and Microsoft Translator
Need to translate for patients who speak a foreign language? Google Translate™ quickly translates 102 other languages so you can provide prompt service. The best part is that Google Translate is completely free.
Instant Translator translates over 90 languages, offering an instant speech-to-speech translation. iTranslate is yet another option. This app translates websites, text, or voice-to-voice conversations in over 100 languages. And, Microsoft Translator is a cloud-based automatic translation service for text-to-text translation.
2. Slack or Strides
Slack is a team collaboration solution. Use it to help your staff work closely together across multiple offices or locations—or, even in the same office. Strides is another option when it comes to optometry productivity, helping your practice set SMART goals as well as track all of your goals and habits.
3. Skype for Business & join.me
Skype for Business is great for professional online meetings. You can set up or join a meeting and add up to 350 people. With just one click, your team joins the meeting from any device using a personalized meeting URL. Join.me is another online meeting app that allows you to quickly start or join a meeting.
4. DocuSign
Need digital signatures from staff or patients? DocuSign is one of the most popular apps that lets you sign documents electronically, whether it’s a letter, sales contract, financial documents, or legal waivers.
5. Dropbox
Dropbox is one of the most popular document sharing apps around. More than 500 million people are using Dropbox and more than 400 billion pieces of content have been uploaded to the app. With Dropbox, you can instantly share documents, photos, videos, and other files with your staff.
HIPAA Tip: Before you use Dropbox, make sure your plan includes HIPAA compliance and you sign a Business Associate Agreement (BAA). Only certain versions of Dropbox are supported for HIPAA compliance.
6. Google Drive
Google Drive is great for any optometry practice because it allows you to store a large number of files in the cloud. You never have to worry about losing important documents if your computer suddenly crashes. Your files will be safely tucked away in the cloud for you to access from anywhere on any device.
Like moving your EHR system to the cloud, there are many more benefits you’ll experience when you manage documents securely in the cloud.
HIPAA Tip: Do not use the free versions of Google Drive and Google Gmail to store, receive, or transmit electronic PHI (ePHI), they are not a HIPAA compliant solution. Upgrade to Google Workspace (formerly G Suite™), which supports HIPAA compliance. However, you must sign a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) with Google Workspace. Also, Google’s BAA doesn’t pertain to an email sent or received in transit.
7. LinkedIn Recruiter or Proven
LinkedIn Recruiter is a tool that helps companies and recruiters find the best talent on LinkedIn. At an optometry practice, you will be able to contact eligible candidates from a qualified pool. All you need is a personal LinkedIn account to use LinkedIn Recruiter. Then, you’ll have access to LinkedIn’s entire network of candidates—more than 690 million registered members.
Proven is a hiring tool and content hub for small businesses, providing tools that allow users to message, sort, evaluate, and onboard job applicants. Proven helps you find the right candidates in a short amount of time.
8. Basecamp, Monday.com, or Trello
Basecamp is a real-time project management and communication tool that makes long-term scheduling and resource planning easier. This robust communication tool helps optometry staff members stay connected and aligned.
Monday.com is a visual project management tool that enables your staff to manage work, meet deadlines, and effectively communicate. Trello’s boards, cards, and lists offer a colorful interface where your staff can prioritize and organize projects.
9. Spark
If you’re looking for a way to smarten up your inbox, Spark may be the perfect solution. This app sorts your mail into newsletters, notifications, and personal inboxes. You also get features like follow-up reminders, a built-in calendar, smart search, powerful integrations, quick replies, and the option to send an email later.
10. TripIt
TripIt is useful for staff members and optometrists who are traveling, offering a single view of trip information to keep everything organized. TripIt for Teams comes with a central travel dashboard, instant itineraries, and team-wide spending reports so you stay in the loop on what’s being spent and by whom. It’s great for attending industry tradeshows.
11. Evernote, Wunderlist, or Pocket
Evernote is a helpful note-taking app for organizing and storing notes on the go. The app is designed for creating and managing task lists, including the ability to archive tasks. The beauty of this app is that you can sync it across all of your operating systems and devices.
Wunderlist is a task management tool that allows you to create to-do lists and organize them into sections like “Work” and “Groceries.”
Pocket allows you to manage your reading list of articles and blogs, as well as personalize what you see based on interest levels. To stay on top of optometry best practices and trends, Pocket is one of the easiest ways to store fresh, relevant content in one place.
Increase Efficiency with EHR and Practice Management Solutions
Now is the time to increase productivity and improve your optometry practice. These optometry business and marketing apps, added with efficient EHR and practice management solutions like MaximEyes, will help you and your staff stay organized, recruit the best talent, collaborate effortlessly, and streamline processes and communications.
Getting your eye care practice in order is essential for growth. If you’re using outdated processes and technology, you can’t expect to compete in today’s tech-driven world. Find apps and business solutions that work best for your optometry practice and start reaping the benefits that other eye care professionals are already seeing.
Let’s take your eye care practice to the next level. Request a demo today to see how MaximEyes EHR and practice management solutions can help you become more efficient.
This blog is meant as an educational resource and does NOT constitute legal HIPAA advice. Covered entities (eye care providers) are responsible for taking the necessary steps needed to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of protected health information (PHI) and complying with the HIPAA security and privacy rules.