Dr. Denise Roddy is an independent optometrist who runs Advanced Eye Care (Dr. Denise Roddy & Associates), a full service eye and vision care provider in Tulsa, Oklahoma. After attending a Prima meeting in Dallas in 2012, she was impressed by the level of practice management consulting she saw and joined the group (Prima was later acquired by IDOC).

With the IDOC team serving as a sounding board, Dr. Roddy was able to find the insights and practice management tools needed to incrementally increase her net and gross incomes, leaning on advice and consultation continually over the years. “I have consulted many times with Nathan Hayes (IDOC’s Practice Finance Consultant) for expert financial advice and planning from building a larger clinic to future practice transitions. I wouldn’t have made a significant practice financial move without his expert guidance.”

With more than 25-plus years of experience, Dr. Roddy custom built her stand-alone practice (and building) in 2013, eventually pulling together a dedicated team of associates. With a passion for restoring hope to people who have lost vision due to disease or injury with medically necessary contact lenses, Dr. Roddy is recognized by her peers and ophthalmologists in the Tulsa area as a leading provider for contacts for keratoconus, corneal transplants and eye injuries. Receiving referrals from ODs and OMDs from across the state, her practice cares for patients of all ages with refractive and medical eye care. She was recently awarded the prestigious “Dr. Rodger Kame Award” by the AOA Contact Lens and Cornea Section for leadership and innovation in contact lenses. “She’s an incredibly talented contact lens specialist, which makes her a great advocate for our contact lens partners,” Hayes says.

Through the years, her commitment to her profession is evident in a number ofindustry-wide accolades, including being named the “Oklahoma OD of the Year” in 2012 by the Oklahoma Optometric Association (OAOP) for outstanding service, and the “Legislative OD of the Year” in 2020. Today, she continues to represent her profession on the state and federal level, including serving on the Federal Relations Committee for the American Optometric Association (AOA). As a way to continue to give back to the industry, Dr. Roddy has served on the Northeastern State University Foundation Board of Directors since 2010, including the distinction of being the longest serving chairperson from 2015-2020, and cochair of the largest capital campaign in university history. In addition, Dr. Roddy serves as an externship site for Southern College of Optometry, mentoring students interested in advanced contact lenses.

With a team of consultants on hand to serve as a sounding board, Dr. Roddy was able to find the insights and practice management tools needed to incrementally increase her net and gross incomes, leaning on advice and consultation continually over the years. “I already had a good practice when I joined (Prima/IDOC), but the expert consulting and the ideas I was able to gather through networking with other great practice owners helped me to double the practice gross and net income from the pre-divorce numbers.”

In 2018, Dr. Roddy’s ownership acumen was tested again after she received a breast cancer diagnosis (she has since fully recovered). The situation (a Stage 1 diagnosis) did not deter her, as she decided to push on with a remodel of the practice’s optical and flooring, closing everything down for one week while still providing patient care.
Consulting with the IDOC team to survey how other practices were handling the intensely complicated times and listening to the Zoom webinars from Nathan Hayes on financially weathering this uncertainty, Dr. Roddy pushed on. “We re-opened May 4 with me as a single provider. Our initial protocols included doors locked with only scheduled patients allowed in one at a time. We are keeping several of the changes we’ve implemented.”

The strategy includes all patient forms pushed out ahead of time through IntakeQ(learned from another IDOC colleague, Dr. Kerry KordetGiedd, who runs EolaEyes in Orlando, Florida), masks in the exam rooms and testing rooms, leaving exam room doors open, and having an additional portable table added in each of the exam rooms with our keyboards and instruments. The placement puts doctors and techs about 6 feet away from the exam chairs. “I think the independent ODs today that thrive all belong to great groups like IDOC. Outsourcing IT, billing and activities that don’t require a direct interaction with a patient are all areas they help us improve. IDOC has done a great job of teaching that you and your staff cannot be all things to all people. You have toset your own standards and cultures, not the insurers, vision care plans or even the patients.”