BLOG: Is my practice overstaffed? Part 2

In my last blog, I discussed a gross screening ratio you can employ to begin to understand if your staffing costs are too high. In part 2 of this same subject, let’s review another common, very simple ratio that will help you begin to understand if you have too many or too few staff. This second way to evaluate staffing efficiency is to add up the number of support staff full-time equivalents, or FTEs (a technician working 40 hours per week is 1.0 FTE; a clerk working 30 hours per week is 0.75 FTE), and divide this figure into the practice’s annual collections. Normal limits for this ratio are $110,000 to $150,000 in annual collections per FTE in a typical general ophthalmology practice, with many variations depending on your circumstances.