Hear In Private Practice

Aug. 01, 2011

Closed Captioning; Not just for TVs

Hearing Health & Technology Matters
What type of information do we share with our patients (or clients) about hearing in public places.  We have touched on looping, but how much “in the know” are we about Closed Captioning?  Yes, most all TVs have this option, but more theaters and play houses are offering this option for the Hard of Hearing.  This is a link for
Jul. 25, 2011

Options for Hiring the Right Person: Guest Blog

Hearing Health & Technology Matters
Hello! For this week, I have my first Guest Blogger! George Mathis has been in the industry for many years and we have had a great working relationship for 16 of those. When I moved to Arizona in 1995 I was in his territory with the manufacturer he worked with. I was also only a few years out of Graduate
Jul. 18, 2011

The Joy of a Good Attitude

Hearing Health & Technology Matters
I was at my Woman’s Networking group retreat this past weekend. We were discussing balance in our lives. It was a great exercise to examine what brings me joy and how much time I spend on these activities. There are things about my career that give me joy, but especially my family. So my focus was how to make the
Jul. 13, 2011

The V’s of Satisfaction

Hearing Health & Technology Matters
Do you track your patient encounters? How do you measure success? If we look at the latest research from the Better Hearing Institute patients are more satisfied with fewer visits with a structured follow up that includes verification and validation. There was an article by Sergei Kochkin ( http://www.betterhearing.org/pdfs/M8_Verification_Validation_Study.pdf) in The Hearing Review recently to support this. In our offices
Jul. 06, 2011

Have you done your W9 for Your 1099?

Hearing Health & Technology Matters
In the past in the US we have had to report companies we have paid a significant amount to to the IRS.  This year most all of the vendors, maintenance, local, etc will need to be reported to the IRS for as little as $600.  When I posed the question to my accountant, here was her answer. “The W-9 is
Jun. 29, 2011

What Keeps Me Up at Night

Hearing Health & Technology Matters
When I decided to go out on my own, my main concern was, “how can I manage maternity leave?” I had the choice of buying an office from my boss, or going along with the sale of her practices. It is funny to me now, but this was a huge thought to me. Well, my oldest is 10 and 1/2
Jun. 23, 2011

The Beauty of a Smart Phone

Hearing Health & Technology Matters
I recently received this email from one of my audiologists: “Hi All, I shared this with a patient today and thought I should send it to everyone as well. One of my cochlear implant patients uses an app called “ClearCaptions” to caption his phone calls on his iPhone. The app is also available on Android Market so it’s not only
Jun. 15, 2011

Be Flexible to Make Your Future Strong

Hearing Health & Technology Matters
There is a book by Jim Collins: “How the Mighty Fall” published in 2009. Amazon has a 4 star rating from 109 reviews. What makes this book interesting to me is he looks at how really good companies become complacent and loose their edge. He points out 5 stages of decline, depending on where a company detects the decline it
Jun. 09, 2011

Wireless: The New Frontier?

Hearing Health & Technology Matters
Most of us are using hearing devices that have wireless capabilities, yes?  Well, of course we are because it is built right in the aids now.  But what about the accessories?  Do you utilize the rooms you have to demonstrate?  I happen to have a “Technology” Room in my office, pictured here.  I changed the name from ALD to Technology
Jun. 01, 2011

Ways to Brand Your Business With Evolving Targets

Hearing Health & Technology Matters
Ed Roach wrote 12 Steps to Building A Brand Arsenal. In his blog he gives good basic tools to help your business. From simply jazzing up your business cards to consistency across the board in the message you want to get across to your target audience. We have several target audiences; the Silents, or as Tom Brokaw stated, The Greatest