Medical Model

Managing Medical Eyecare

Medical Model

Launch a Medical Model Business to Better Serve Patients

This is the first in an ongoing series exploring themedical model as a business opportunity.

By Thomas F.Steiner

Providing your patients with medical eyecare services is a key practice growth driver.

The prevalence of conditions like ocular allergies, chronic eye dry and glaucoma gives you an opportunity to increase services to patients.

More ODs Interested
in Medical Model

Surveys reveal a high level of OD interest in increasing medical eye care services, both as a means of strengthening patientloyalty and increasing revenue.

The Management & Business Academy (MBA), a professional education program sponsored by CIBA VISION and Essilor, surveyed ODs attending its seminars during 2010 to measure the range of services ODs provide and the revenue derived. Median gross revenue of the practices surveyed was $900,000, somewhat higher than the national median.

Four key metrics help define the importance of medical eyecare in optometric practice.

1. Non-refractive professional fee income as apercent of gross revenue.

2. Medical eyecare visits as a percentageof total patient visits.

Medical Eye Care visits comprise a very small percentage of OD office visits.

3. Medical eyecare visits per 1,000 active patients.

4. Pharmaceutical Rxes per 1,000 active patients.

Recognize the Opportunity
You’re Missing

MBA data reveal that in a typical optometric practice in 2010, medical eyecare remained a relatively small part of the overall operation. The median values for the four performance metrics cited above were:

Non-refractive fee income accounted for an average of 12 percentof practice gross revenue. This was equivalent to just 29 percentof total fee revenue ( total includes exam fees). Device sales produced 59 percentof revenue in the average practice.

  • Medical eyecare visits accounted for an average of 19 percentof total patient visits.
  • For each 1,000 active patients, ODs had a median of 68 medical eyecare visits. In other words, no more than 7 percentof active patients obtained medical eyecare services from the typical practice during the year.
  • For each 1,000 active patients, ODs prescribed a median of 56 ophthalmic pharmaceuticals during 2010.
The numbers reveal the opportunity to better serve patients by providing them with medications that will improve their vision.

These metrics show that typical optometric practices have not yet totally embraced the medical model of optometry and that many have substantial potential to increase revenue by offering medical eyecare services to current patients. As will be reported in a subsequent article in this series, there is wide variation in adoption of the medical model across practices, with no more than 20 percentof practices realizing much of the potential today.

 

 

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Thomas F. Steiner has spent 26 years helping eyecare practices succeed, including pioneering the introduction of color contact lenses into optometry. He currently is a consultant withPractice Advancement Associates, a division of Jobson’s Professional Publications Group. To contact him: tom.steiner@cibavision.com

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