INVENTORY
MANAGEMENT
By Cindi Myers
46 MAY/JUNE 2013 | MedEsthetics
THE TREATMENT SUPPLIES and retail products used in medical aesthetic
practices represent the second-largest operational expense, after personnel costs.
Keeping track of these products with an efficient inventory management system can
help your practice save money and maximize profits.
"Inventory control is incredibly important in the aesthetics practice because many
of the products are high-value," says G. Marshall Franklin, Jr., co-founder of Practice
Enhancement Specialists in Atlanta, Georgia (pesconsultants.com). "Items like fillers
and toxins such as Botox are expensive and they can tend to walk away if you don't
keep track of them."
Inventory control not only helps prevent theft of valuable supplies; it also ensures
that you are not tying up resources by overstocking product or missing out on sales by
coming up short on needed supplies. "An oversupply represents a wasted investment,
as tens of thousands of dollars of slower moving inventory may unnecessarily sit on
shelves," says Darrin M. Rosha, general manager and corporate counsel for Crutchfield
Dermatology in Eagan, Minnesota. "Failure to keep an adequate inventory can
prevent the clinic from timely service and sales to its patients. If you're out of
inventory, you're out of business."
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An effective
inventory control
system improves
cash flow and
practice profits.