If You’re Drowning in Staffing Issues, Listen to This

About this episode

Dr. Steve Vargo and Ankit Patel discuss staffing challenges in optometry practices and the importance of scalability through remote teams and AI.

In this episode, Dr. Steve Vargo is joined by repeat guest Ankit Patel—AI and remote staffing expert and founder of My Business Care Team—for a practical conversation about one word that matters more than ever right now: scalability. Steve and Ankit unpack why so many optometry practices feel stuck in a staffing trap—constant turnover, missed calls, overwhelmed teams, and owners carrying far more operational weight than they should. And they connect the dots to a hidden consequence most doctors don’t think about until it’s too late: if your practice is still “key-person dependent,” it becomes harder to scale… and less attractive to buy. You’ll hear how Ankit has built a hybrid model using remote teams and AI to strip away administrative noise—phones, confirmations, insurance verification, recalls—so in-office staff can focus on the patient experience. They explore what changes when remote staffing is done right: fewer distractions, higher capture rates, stronger patient flow, improved profitability, and a business that feels less like a job and more like an asset. This isn’t a conversation about outsourcing to save a few dollars. It’s about building a modern practice that can…

People in this episode

Host: Dr. Steve Vargo

Guest: Ankit Patel

Topics covered

• staffing issues
• scalability
• optometry practices
• remote teams
• AI in business
• patient experience

Keywords

• staffing
• optometry
• scalability
• remote staffing
• AI
• patient experience
• business growth

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: My Business Care Team

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