Buying an Optometry Practice With Commercial Property in Alberta

1. Define the lawful buyer and transaction

Map the proposed optometrist, professional corporation, shareholders, practice-permit holders, operating and management entities, leaseholder and property owner. Separate shares, professional-practice assets, optical inventory, receivables, equipment, records, leasehold and real estate.

ACO maintains a professional-corporation permit process and Alberta reserves the Professional Corporation naming element for identified professions including optometry. Have ACO, legal and tax advisors confirm the exact buyer, ownership, permit and closing structure before the commercial agreement is treated as executable.

• Qualified buyer
• Professional corporation
• Shares or assets
• Patient records
• Optical inventory and equipment
• Lease or real estate

2. Verify practitioners, permits and practice standing

Obtain current ACO registration and practice-permit evidence for each optometrist, the professional-corporation permit, approved corporate name, conditions, restrictions, insurance, complaints or discipline evidence appropriate for disclosure, and proposed buyer filings.

The seller's professional-corporation permit and optometrist practice permits are current-status evidence, not buyer approval or assets that transfer with shares, equipment, goodwill or the premises. Build regulator confirmation and buyer readiness into the condition and closing schedule.

3. Rebuild professional and optical revenue

Export examinations, insured services, diagnostic testing, treatment, contact-lens work, eyewear, lenses, frames, accessories and other activity by provider, location, payer, service, invoice, adjustment, refund and period. Reconcile practice-management and point-of-sale reports to benefit statements, merchant receipts, deposits, taxes and the general ledger.

Gross billings and product sales are not collections, gross profit or normalized earnings. Separate performed, billed, adjusted, denied, refunded, uncollected and collected amounts and identify revenue that depends on departing professionals, lab terms, discounts or one-time programs.

4. Test patients, appointments and provider concentration

Define active patient, recall, examination, appointment, new-patient, referral, prescription and retention measures with reproducible logic. Analyze provider, payer, age, geography and service concentration using aggregate or de-identified evidence first.

Patients, recalls, prescriptions and historical visits are not owned demand or guaranteed future production. Do not turn a database count into transferable goodwill without testing consent, custodianship, practitioner continuity, competition, appointment behaviour and privacy limits.

5. Rebuild earnings and working capital

Reconcile clinical supplies, frames, lenses, contact lenses, optical-lab costs, payroll, associates, occupancy, merchant fees, software, equipment service, insurance, advertising and owner compensation. Separate documented adjustments from buyer forecasts.

Test receivables, remakes, warranties, deposits, gift cards, prepaid services, pending benefit claims, inventory obligations, payables and capital needs. A percentage of revenue or patient count does not replace a qualified business valuation or property appraisal.

6. Control patient-record diligence

Map record custodians, patient systems, diagnostic images, prescriptions, consents, access roles, audit logs, backups, retention, correction, transfer and post-closing responsibility. ACO identifies optometrists as custodians under Alberta's Health Information Act.

ACO guidance states that only an Alberta-licensed optometrist or ophthalmologist may become successor custodian. Records are not unrestricted sale or marketing assets; obtain privacy and professional advice before identifiable disclosure, export, migration or system access.

7. Count optical inventory without assuming value

Create dated schedules for frames, lenses, contact lenses, accessories, clinical supplies, samples, consignment, discontinued items, remakes, warranty obligations and deposits. Capture quantity, SKU, age, cost, vendor rights, condition, saleability and proposed closing treatment.

A shelf or system count is not transferable, current or recoverable inventory value. Separate owned, consigned, obsolete, damaged, patient-specific, sample and returnable items and have accounting and tax advisors define the closing count and valuation method.

8. Audit equipment, lasers and service capacity

Register examination, refraction, slit-lamp, tonometry, visual-field, retinal imaging, OCT, corneal, contact-lens, low-vision, minor-procedure, sterilization, lab, IT and optical equipment by serial number, owner, financing, service, calibration, software and included status.

ACO standards link service scope to appropriate equipment. Alberta identifies ACO as an authorized registration agency for Class 3B and 4 lasers in optometrist facilities; a seller certificate or installed device does not prove buyer registration, transferability, useful life or capacity.

9. Verify the clinic, infection control and municipal use

Compare rooms, patient and clean/soiled flows, hand hygiene, reprocessing, storage, optical dispensing, accessibility, privacy, lighting, power, networking and waste to the proposed services and ACO's current standards and infection-control policy.

Confirm the address-specific health-service use, retail or optical-sales component, business approval, permits, occupant load and signs. Calgary and Edmonton definitions provide a starting point, but prior operation or a listing label is not approval for the buyer's layout and combined clinical-retail model.

10. Test lease and real-property rights

Review permitted use, optical retail and product sales, exclusivity, assignment, change of control, guarantees, options, signage, hours, accessibility, patient privacy, alterations, equipment, lasers, plumbing, electrical, data, HVAC and restoration. Identify landlord-owned improvements.

For owned property, investigate title, municipal approvals, condition, environmental matters, condominium constraints, taxes and capital needs separately. A specialized fit-out can support the practice without being transferable or equal to property value.

11. Gate closing and operating readiness

Tie ACO registration and professional-corporation confirmation, record custodianship, privacy, financing, inventory count, equipment title, laser registration where applicable, municipal and landlord matters, insurance, staff, WCB, systems and possession to objective evidence and deadlines.

Possession of the clinic, records, inventory or equipment does not authorize optometry practice or patient access. Commercially does not certify professional permits, records, billings, patients, inventory, equipment, facility standards, lease rights or property suitability; this guide is educational, not professional advice.