Selling an Optometry Practice With Commercial Property in Alberta

1. Map the seller and regulated structure

Identify every optometrist, professional corporation, shareholder, permit holder, trade name, operating and management entity, record custodian, leaseholder, employer and property owner. Document related-party rent, shared staff and services.

Define shares, professional assets, receivables, optical inventory, equipment, goodwill, leasehold and real estate with legal and tax advisors. Qualify the buyer against ACO's current professional-corporation, practitioner and record-custodianship requirements.

• Permit holders
• Professional corporation
• Financial evidence
• Patients and records
• Inventory and equipment
• Lease or property

2. Prepare the ACO evidence record

Index current registrations, practice permits, professional-corporation permit, approved name, insurance, conditions, standards, practice-review or deficiency records appropriate for disclosure, and regulator correspondence. State source dates and unresolved items.

Market seller status as diligence evidence—not a buyer entitlement. Do not say a professional-corporation permit, individual practice permit, record custodianship, competency or service scope transfers automatically.

3. Build reconciled operating results

Export examinations, insured services, diagnostic work, treatment, contact-lens services, eyewear, lenses, frames and accessories by provider, payer, service and period. Reconcile billings, adjustments, collections, merchant receipts, deposits, tax and ledger records.

Gross professional billings and retail sales are not collections or earnings. Separate historical results, documented adjustments, estimates and forecasts and disclose associate, lab, product-mix, payer and location dependencies.

4. Present patient activity without selling patients

Define active patient, recall, examination, appointment, new-patient, referral, prescription and retention metrics and preserve the report logic. Use aggregate or de-identified information at early stages.

Patients, records, recalls, prescriptions, reviews and prior visits are not owned demand. Do not market a record count as guaranteed transferable production or treat consent and successor-custodian requirements as a closing formality.

5. Control health-information disclosure

Prepare the record systems, custodian, privacy, consent, information-manager agreements, access, audit, backup, retention and transition plan. Identify how patients retain access and continuity if an optometrist leaves or the practice closes.

ACO guidance limits successor custodianship to an Alberta-licensed optometrist or ophthalmologist. An NDA does not authorize unrestricted buyer access to patient identity, health, prescription, payment, employee or security records.

6. Prepare optical inventory evidence

Separate owned, consigned, sample, current, discontinued, damaged, patient-specific, returnable and warranty-linked frames, lenses, contact lenses, accessories and supplies. Define the physical-count, cutoff and closing process.

A system quantity, retail price or replacement cost is not proof of transferable inventory value. Disclose vendor ownership, return rights, remakes, warranties, deposits, expiry or obsolescence and use a documented valuation method.

7. Register equipment and liabilities

Build a serial-numbered register for diagnostic, imaging, refraction, contact-lens, low-vision, procedure, sterilization, lab, dispensing, IT and laser equipment. Include owner, financing, registration, condition, service, software, licences and included status.

Use contracts, invoices and Personal Property Registry evidence interpreted by counsel. Equipment in the clinic can be leased, financed, vendor-owned, obsolete, unsupported or excluded.

8. Assemble premises and infection-control records

Provide approved plans, permits, accessibility, patient flow, hand-hygiene and reprocessing arrangements, storage, optical area, equipment, electrical/data, HVAC, waste and the applicable 2026 ACO infection-control and laser-registration evidence.

Disclose deficiencies and planned work. Existing operation, a previous practice review or equipment certificate does not prove buyer approval or that a changed layout and service mix meet current requirements.

9. Prepare lease and property evidence

For a lease, provide all amendments, options, guarantees, consents, health-service and retail use, signs, hours, exclusivity, alterations, equipment and restoration terms with reconciled occupancy costs.

For owned real estate, provide title, municipal, building, condominium, environmental, tax and capital records separately. Do not imply assignment, option exercise or property value without supporting evidence.

10. Qualify and sequence the buyer

Require a buyer plan for ACO and corporate permits, professional leadership, financing, working capital, successor record custodianship, inventory, equipment, applicable lasers, municipal and landlord matters, staffing and operating readiness.

Tie public claims to dated evidence and build objective closing conditions. Do not promise a closing, patient migration or reopening date dependent on unconfirmed regulator, landlord, lender, professional, lab or supplier action.

11. Close within professional boundaries

Have legal, tax, accounting, privacy and optometry advisors address structure, allocations, receivables, staff, WCB, records, inventory, equipment and adjustments. Preserve separate legal-closing and professional-readiness gates.

Commercially does not certify permit holders, record custodians, billings, patients, inventory, equipment, facility standards, lease rights or property approval, and this guide is not a valuation or professional opinion.