Contact Lenses

Daily Replacement CLs: Improved Compliance

Mike Rothschild, OD


Take charge of your contact lens practice. Be the prescriber and present what is best for the patient—with daily replacement contact lenses. Included here are the steps to dramatically increase your daily replacement contact lens prescribing.

Several years ago, during a cornea lecture at SECO, I made a decision to actively take control of my contact lens practice. The cornea is a complex, sensitive and incredibly important part of the eye, and I wanted to do all I could to take care of my patients’ corneas. I knew that the two-week contact lens modality had the worst compliance rate and related eye health complications, so I decided to take steps to move people out of it.

Beginning on that day, our new rule: All first-time contact lens wearers and all children would wear only daily replacement contact lenses. We re-visit this policy every six to 12 months to see if we should make a change. But we have stuck with it for years. Not all of our contact lens patients wear daily replacement lenses yet, but we are moving in the right direction. Here is how I improve compliance and practice profitability, as well, by moving patients into daily replacement contact lenses:

Dr. Rothschild’s Contact Lens Practice

Vs.

Optometric Professional Benchmarks

Dr. Rothschild

Daily replacement: 38 percent

Two-week replacement: 3 percent

One-month replacement: 59 percent

Conventional: 0 percent

MBA Best Practices of Contact Lens Management 2012

Daily replacement: 16.4 percent

Two-week replacement: 39.4 percent

One-month replacement: 38.8 percent

Conventional: 1.4 percent

Develop a “BluePrint” for Moving Patients Into Daily Replacement

The biggest help in moving patients into daily replacement contact lenses has been our participation in my consultancy, LeadershipOD’s, BluePrint program which enables practices to match strategy with their approach to business. The push to move patients into daily replacement contact lenses is part of a larger, cohesive contact lens practice strategy. The BluePrint program showed us that our practice is “Relationship- Based.” That means that we will succeed in moving patients into daily replacement lenses only if we win patients over with our belief in and enthusiasm for the daily replacement modality. A “Performance-Based” practice may focus more on explaining the quality of daily replacement contact lenses to patients. We focus on explaining to them why we, personally, like them best and believe that they are the best way to go. I do that in the exam room and my contact lens technicians reinforce that message.

[Click HERE to download our contact lens process and see how it facilitates patients moving from other modalities into daily replacement lenses.]

Don’t Offer Options

I do not have discussions with patients about contact lens options. I say, “We are going to fit you in a contact lens that I feel is the safest way to wear contacts.” Then we give them the details about our procedures and costs. I feel obligated to move patients who are wearing two-week contact lenses out of that modality. I never tell a patient that it is OK to wear their contacts longer than the approved wearing schedule for that particular lens. I think that is a dangerous practice. I tell them that we need to change them to a contact lens that they can consistently replace on time. These patients are recommended daily replacement or one month replacement lenses depending on their unique situation.

Address Cost Concerns

After rebates and discounts, an annual supply of two-week contact lenses costs our patients about $239. One-month replacement contact lenses total $165, and daily replacement contact lenses are $380 to the patient.

I explain to patients that it does cost a little more for daily replacement, but that the increased costs are offset a little by not needing to buy solutions. I have found that the increased cost is a way bigger deal to doctors than it is to patients. About one out of 20 patients complain about the increased cost. Why would I withhold what I think is a better lens from the 19 willing to pay for the extra benefit to avoid conflict with the one?

I do mini-studies in my office all the time. I might ask 10 patients if they would be willing to pay more for contact lenses that they could throw away every day. If over half say yes, I really have no choice but to recommend daily replacement contact lenses to everyone who is a candidate. It is healthier for the patient, the patient wants it enough to pay more for it, they are way more compliant and my profitability is better. I am not willing to let all that go for one controversy out of 20.

Be the First to Tell Patients About Daily Replacement

A story: In a real estate purchase, I wound up with some new computers that were much smaller than the ones I had bought from my computer guy. I asked if the smaller ones were slower or had less memory. He said no, they are about the same. I asked why he had never told me about the smaller ones, and he replied that he didn’t know I was interested in the new technology. He is not my computer guy anymore. If your patient hears about daily replacement contact lenses from one of my patients, I bet I will steal your patient. And that is a shame–for you.

Keys to Moving Patients Into Daily Replacement

Insist on it. Stick to your plan to move patients into daily replacement. When we made a decision to move patients to daily replacement lenses, we put the plan in place and stuck to it, even after we struggled with it. If we change our methods, we look at the big picture first, then tweak the plan.

Say It. As doctor, I mention it every time I see a patient who is a candidate, even if they said “no” last year.

Be clear on price. We don’t get into big conversations about the price of the lenses. We inform and answer objections. If they want another, less expensive option, we comply when it is OK.

Related ROB Articles

Solve Problems and Meet Lifestyle Needs with Daily Replacement CLs

Eliminate Two-Week CL Prescriptions: Boost Compliance, Decrease Dropouts

Auto-Reminders Improve Patient Compliance

Mike Rothschild, OD, is founder and president of West Georgia Eye Care in Carrollton, Ga., and founder of LeadershipOD.com. To contact him: mrothschild@LeadershipOD.com.

To Top
Subscribe Today for Free...
And join more than 35,000 optometric colleagues who have made Review of Optometric Business their daily business advisor.