In-house Lens Edging or Outsourcing

Despite the piles of facts and figures in favor of an in-house lens edging lab, many Optometrists outsource lens edging. When we look at the pros and cons of in-house edging we immediately realize that not every practice could sustain an in-house lab. This question, when discussed with colleagues often turns into a debate. Those in favor of outsourcing emphasize, to accommodate an in-house lab you need a practice with large space, a sound isolated room, a dedicated optician or staff member, more than 30 pairs of glasses per day or many affiliated practices, and a large inventory of lenses. Those in favor of in-house lens edging emphasize you don’t need a practice with large space and soundproof room, optometrists performed lens-edging for a while after starting their practice, even small numbers of pairs of glasses justify the price of the equipment, two to four pairs of spherical up to three diopters and cylindrical up to two diopters are more than enough to begin with.

With the advancement of technology and new advanced equipment available to satisfy and support every practice needs, accommodating an in-house lens edging lab or outsourcing lens edging is now a matter of pure management and finance decision. When it comes to management and financial decision-making this can be a question of success or failure and a question of sustaining business activity or exiting. The key factors that an optometrist should examine when deciding to operate in-house edging or outsource lens edging from a managerial and financial standpoint include:

Cost-Effectiveness: Things that need to be compared are labor cost (training a new staff member, hiring an optician, or the optometrist dedicating time to operate the lab) and overhead costs (renting extra space, leasing equipment, installing circuit breakers,…)

Improved focus on other activities; perhaps the practice core competencies are in mounting eyeglasses, but what if the practice’s core competencies are in specialty contact lenses. Where should you focus?

Better distribution of the most important resources like staff and Time; the optometrist should be able to compare which way increases flexibility and enables greater frames mounting capacity as the practice patient base increases. Flexibility is being able to adapt as demand changes.

Efficiency; Optometrists should assess which way provides fast delivery, more frames mounted in less time, and access to larger lenses inventory.

Depending on your Optometry practice, when deciding on in-house lens edging or outsourcing, think about optimizing those key factors.