An exam is worth far more than its professional fee. The real economic value of an encounter is the exam fee plus whatever optical and contact-lens revenue it pulls through — and that total varies enormously by location, provider, and the patient's insurance. Revenue per exam is the metric that turns "we're busy" into "we're profitable," and it is the number that tells an owner whether a slower, optical-rich location is actually outperforming a high-volume one. This dashboard puts the full economic value of every encounter on one screen.
What this dashboard answers
The Revenue per Encounter page answers the owner's core question: what is an exam worth here, and how does that split between professional fees, optical, and contacts? It shows revenue per exam by location and by provider, and a stacked monthly column of the three revenue components so you can see the mix moving over time. The Revenue Composition page then normalizes the mix into a 100% stacked bar by location, isolates optical revenue per exam by insurance type, and gives a per-location table with exam count, total revenue, revenue per exam, and optical revenue per exam side by side.
The metrics that matter
Revenue per exam and optical revenue per exam are both ratios — dollars over exam count — so they're computed as a sum over a sum rather than an average of per-encounter values, which keeps a few large encounters from distorting the number. The component totals (exam fee, optical, contacts) make the ratio legible: two locations with the same revenue per exam can have completely different mixes, and the mix is where the management decisions live.
Why the data is trapped across the systems
The professional fee and the contact-lens fit live in the EHR/PM — RevolutionEHR, Crystal PM, Eyefinity/OfficeMate, My Vision Express. The optical dollars live in the dispensing and POS side (Edge by GPN). Revenue per exam requires summing both halves against the same count of encounters, which means joining EHR exam records to POS sales by patient and visit. Because that join is manual, most practices know their exam volume and their optical sales separately but have never put them over the same denominator — so the most decision-useful number in the practice is the one nobody reports.
How to read it
Read revenue per exam by location first; the spread is usually wider than owners expect, and it reframes which sites are actually carrying the group. Then read optical revenue per exam — that's the controllable part, the pull-through that capture-rate and dispensing improvements move directly. Optical revenue per exam by insurance type shows how much the payer mix is shaping the number. The sample uses fully synthetic encounter data, so there is no patient or financial information in what you see here.
Metrics it tracks
| Metric | What it means |
|---|---|
| Total Practice Revenue | Exam, optical, and contact-lens dollars across all encounters. |
| Revenue per Exam | Total revenue divided by exam count — the blended value of an encounter (a SUM-over-SUM ratio). |
| Optical Revenue per Exam | Dispensing dollars divided by exam count — isolates the optical pull-through of each exam (SUM over SUM). |
| Exam Fee Revenue | Professional and exam fees only. |
| Optical Revenue | Frames and lenses dollars. |
| Contact Lens Revenue | Annual-supply and per-box contact-lens sales. |
Used by: Owner-optometrists tracking the total value of every encounter
Frequently asked questions
What does revenue per exam tell me that total revenue doesn't?
Total revenue rewards volume; revenue per exam rewards value. It tells you how much economic output each encounter produces, so a slower location with strong optical pull-through can outscore a high-volume one. It's the number that separates being busy from being profitable.
Why split it into exam, optical, and contact-lens revenue?
Because two practices with the same revenue per exam can have completely different mixes, and the mix is what you manage. The split shows whether your value comes from professional fees, from optical capture, or from contact-lens supply — and which lever to pull to grow it.
Can I build this on my own data?
Yes. Export encounter and revenue data from your EHR/PM and your optical POS, and use this as a template — we model it into a Power BI report you open in Power BI Desktop. The sample uses synthetic data so you can see the finished layout first.
Build this report on your own data
Clone this Optometry & optical template — describe it and we’ll generate sample data so you can try it free, or upload your own export. You get a fully modeled, branded Power BI project that opens in Power BI Desktop.
Use this as a template →