Practice Perspectives: Building a Practice Means Building a Team

Jamestown, a small city nestled in rural North Dakota, is home to a thriving optometry practice with a positive culture and great business acumen—Looysen I Care. Small towns may not have the glitz and glamour associated with large cities, but they excel in creating community. Dr. Steve Looysen understands the importance of working together from his prior military service and brings that team-first mentality to his private practice. He also knows that everyone needs allies and one of his greatest is Eyefinity Encompass.™

Dr. Looysen began his optometry career with the U.S. Army, where he served for 40 years. He explains:

“I spent four years in the Army as an optometrist at Fort Riley, Kansas,” he says. “I was with the First Infantry Division for the first two years. The second two years, I oversaw the optometric section in the hospital. I saw a lot of pathology and injuries which really prepared me for private practice after leaving the Army and transitioning into the real world.”

After his military service ended, Dr. Looysen spent several years as a co-owner in another private practice before starting Looysen I Care on August 1, 2011, and has been practicing ever since. He soon discovered one of his biggest challenges wasn’t related to medical care—it was knowing how to run a practice from a business perspective.

“Initially I spent about 30% of my time dealing with personnel issues and day-to-day tasks but I became smart enough to delegate work to a good office manager. That makes a big difference. Now I can spend my time seeing patients instead of managing.”

To build his practice’s culture, Dr. Looysen employs a variety of tactics and teambuilding techniques. His practice creates group and individual goals. Once a month the practice meets to discuss these goals and go over practice metrics. His team has found Encompass to be invaluable tools in running these workflows.

“Our practice manager plugs staff information and stats from Eyefinity^® cloud-based software [Encompass] into our annual and monthly statistical analysis. We use various statistical analyses to monitor our practice performance and we adjust based on those stats.”

Medical care and management are two separate skill sets. Even for professionals gifted at both, it’s still impossible to give 100% of your effort to each. That’s why it’s key for doctors to build a trusted, stable, and talented team around them.

Dr. Looysen feels gratitude towards his team. “I give our staff all the credit in the world for the things they do for us. We wouldn't be able to be as successful as we are if it wasn't for our office manager and our staff.”

It’s not enough to just want to build a good team. You must create the right environment for a team to thrive. This means creating a positive culture inside the practice so that your employees buy into your goals and enjoy their work.

“A fun culture makes a huge difference in not only employee longevity but also to patients. Patients can tell if the atmosphere is positive and upbeat, so great culture creates a great patient experience.”

Going forward, Dr. Looysen is excited to continue working with this great team and his son, Dr. Alex Looysen, who joined as a second doctor four years ago.

“Working with my son has really been a blessing. He's been a godsend to the practice because we were extremely busy before and now are even busier with him joining us. It really fills that major niche.”

To strengthen the bond between his eye care network even more, Dr. Looysen has another son who is a Vitreoretinal specialist in Fargo, North Dakota. Drs. Steve and Alex have enjoyed sending complicated retinal surgical patients to him.

Looysen I Care combines the best in talent, culture, and technology, creating a positive environment in the practice and making their community a better place.

See for yourself how Encompass allows you to devote more time to patients, while helping you expand your practice. Sign up for a demo with one of our Encompass experts!