Choosing the right lab is a crucial step for delivering quality care and ensuring business success. In episode 2 of Best practices, Steve Alexander spoke with Adam Cherry, president of Cherry Optical Lab, about what the most successful eye care practices prioritize when selecting a lab partner.

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Tradition Meets Innovation

Cherry Optical Lab in Green Bay, Wisconsin, thrives on blending traditional values with modern technology. Adam Cherry emphasizes a people-first approach: prioritizing both customers and employees, while maintaining high product standards and fostering strong relationships. “If being customer-centric is just a tagline,” he notes, “its true colors will reveal themselves over time.” At the core of his philosophy is the belief that a lab should align with a practice’s values, simply fitting into the workflow is not enough.

Define What Matters

It is crucial that practices clarify their expectations and have a system for measuring them prior to choosing a lab. According to Cherry, setting the right expectations involves several key steps:

Document key priorities

Identify must-haves like product quality, accuracy, and customer service. Each practice’s definitions and expectations will vary. It’s important to not simply create a list of key priorities, but to make clear exactly what the implications of success and failure are in the context of your practice. Failure to document these expectations will inherently lead to you some of your must-have expectations being met or exceeded, while some of the less obvious ones slip into mediocrity or worse.

Set performance standards

Adopt a system of expected standards that fits your business needs, anything from acceptable turnaround times to error thresholds. Once that system is in place, communicate those standards to your optical lab partner and collaborate to evaluate whether or not those standards are being met. It’s good practice to set those expectations in a SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, timely) fashion, to eliminate the guesswork in evaluating performance.

Balance cost and value

Ensure lab pricing supports competitive retail pricing without sacrificing quality. Cherry touched upon the interesting point that, in most cases, private pay labs generally have shorter turnaround times and can make your practice more profitable. Nonetheless, practices owe it to themselves to not only find that balance internally, but to understand patient expectations and what their direct competitors can offer.

Assess support

Evaluate the accessibility and responsiveness of the lab’s reps and customer service. Revisiting the first step above, it’s important to ask yourself if your rep has the capacity to accommodate your practice’s unique set of expectations well; fine simply isn’t good enough.

Understand Vision Plan Constraints

Vision plans often tie practices to specific labs or products which in practice can limit options and affect patient care outcomes. Restrictions like these can undermine a practice’s values and Adam Cherry encourages owners to scrutinize these relationships carefully.

Consider Philosophical Fit

Beyond logistics, the importance of cultural alignment can not be overlooked. The right lab should feel like a partner, invested in your success, not just processing orders.

Continuous Evaluation

Lab selection is not an event, it’s a process. Practices should regularly assess their lab relationships, and maintain open channels of communication thereby ensuring they continue to meet evolving business goals and ongoing standards of care. Cherry’s insights provide a clear framework for making thoughtful, value-driven lab choices; helping optical practices deliver better care and grow stronger businesses.