Vendors

Perhaps the most important aspect of your office, is what you'll be equipping it with. This is what enables you to see patients. Rightly so, we have decided to invest in high quality equipment and start with one lane.

If I can find these pieces used (or their equivalents).. then I'll get that instead of purchasing new. Grand Total: $97,000

1. Exam Lane: Marco Deluxe Stand, Marco 1280 Encore Exam Chair, Marco G2 Slit Lamp ($10,500)
2. Acuity Panel: 20" iMac ($2900)
3. Autorefractor: Topcon KR-8900 ($10,500)
4. NCT: Reichert AT550. I may decide not to get one, and stick with just GAT. ($2,500 used)
5. Lensmeter: Topcon CL-200 (still considering a manual lensmeter). ($3,000)
6. Retinal Camera: Canon CR-1 ($23,000)
7. Visual Field: Humphrey 750 or Octopus 3 series ($14,000)
8. Edger: National Optronics 7E Edger & tracer. If we decide to purchase one, it will be new. All the older OD's have cautioned me on purchasing a used model. This is a risky tactical move; however, my competition does not offer same day service, and second I also want to keep my cost of goods low, although for a startup you wont be busy enough for this to matter much. ($27,500)
9. EMR: OfficeMate ($2,200) They are running a deferred license fee promotion.
10. Anterior Segment Camera: Canon Point/Shoot camera + adapter + EyeFi card ($900)

Vendor Choices:

1. VSI a good source for used equipment
   
2. Lombart
   
3. Cal Coast
4. Universal Ophthalmic
   
5. There are more, so I will continue to add to the list
   

Blueprints

As promised, here is a rough sketch of our remodeled interior. We had to work within the confines of the existing structure. If you are looking for design ideas, contractors, or planners:

Eyedesigns Ask for Dave Pursel. They have great frame boards. They will design your floorplan and also sell optical cabinetry/furniture. Admittedly, expensive. Somewhere in the neighborhood of $60 square foot.
Magic Designs Speak with Cy Furman!
Fashion Optical Good ideas
Barbara Wright She is a planner/designer. I highly recommend her book, which I managed to read and take notes on while in OD school.

In the end, we ended up going with a local general contractor. We met him during a tradeshow (our annual state optometric convention) and had seen the work/projects he had done for several OD's we knew.

Look at SeeMyPractice for pictures of other doctors offices.