How technology and a wife’s business acumen and loving support empowered the creation of PracticePal and solved a bottleneck and loss of optical revenue that has plagued this industry for too long.
By Nathan McClain, O.D.
Co-Founder, PracticePal
It all started with a dream to work in healthcare and own a business, and optometry was the perfect fit. I graduated from Indiana University’s Optometry School in 2007 and began my professional career in my hometown of Bedford, Indiana.
Removing bottlenecks and increasing revenue with technology and automation brings back the joy of practice ownership.
The next year of my life was probably one of the most challenging. I acquired the practice, got married, bought a house, my wife became pregnant, the economy tanked. I was $450,000 in debt. My wife, Brittany, made it clear that this wasn’t what she had envisioned when she married a doctor. Fortunately, Brittany’s business degree played a crucial role in getting us to where we are today.
Over the next 12 years, I leveraged the power of technology, automation, and Brittany’s affinity for business to extend the practice by 13,000 sq ft, expand our team to include three doctors and over 10 dedicated staff members to generate over $3 million a year.
PracticePal automates the time-consuming task of verifying insurance eligibility and benefits and empowers opticians with a real-time copay calculator which eliminates miscalculations to maximize optical revenue.
No longer in the trenches, I continued work on the bottlenecks affecting my staff and practice revenue. Brittany and I knew that technology would again be the answer and envisioned a solution to be the ultimate best friend to our staff.
In September 2022, we exhibited PracticePal at VisionExpo West where it gained significant momentum and I met Matt Prados, the founder and CEO of Review Wave, the premier patient engagement software solution and a consistent honoree on the Inc. 5000 list. I hadn’t considered selling however, when we created PracticePal, Brittany and I didn’t want to develop just another platform for doctors. We saw it as a powerful solution that would integrate seamlessly with other technologies. Review Wave’s best-in-class software for review generation, online scheduling, two-way texting, and reactivation campaigns made it a perfect home for PracticePal. Now more than 5k+ practice owners agree and are thriving with Review Wave and PracticePal solutions.
More time for what matters: PracticePal creators Dr. Nathan McClain and Brittany McClain with sons Max and Eli.
For those who lack a clear vision for your practice, it’s time to obtain one. Embrace your true potential and take ownership of your path to success!