Insights From Our Editors

Why Do Your Patients Stop Wearing Contact Lenses?

February 18, 2015

It might be time for a conversation with patients about contact lens comfort, findings from Jobson Optical Research’s 2014 Contact Lens Insight Survey suggest. More than eight out of10 (82.4 percent) respondents who do not currently wear contact lenses, but have worn them in the past, stopped wearing contact lenses more than three years ago. Discomfort (37.3 percent) was the most frequently stated reason that people stopped wearing their contacts.

Click HERE to purchase Jobson Optical Research’s 2014 Contact Lens Insight Survey.

There are seven areas of your contact lens practice that need to be carefully managed. It’s easy to get busy and miss one or two of these areas. When that happens, your practice suffers. This week let’s focus on Best Practices in Contact Lenses.
Click HERE to download the Best Practices of Contact Lens Management document for reference.
The seven areas of your contact lens practice that need to be actively managed are listed below. Pick the one area that will make the most improvement in your contact lens practice. Focus your efforts on this area until it is fixed.
1) Product mix
2) Pricing/profit margin
3) Transaction process
4) In-office inventory
5) Annual exams/recall
6) Annual supply sales
7) Contact lens recommendations to eyeglasses-only wearers

If you are not sure where to start, fill out the Best Practices chart at the end of this article. This will help you discover the areas in your contact lens practice that need attention.
After you’ve chosen the most important area of your contact lens practice to address, convene a staff meeting to focus on process improvement. Following the suggestions in the Best Practices of Contact Lens Management, your agenda for that meeting should be:
1) Review of practice contact lens metrics
2) Discussion and consensus on practice quantitative goals for contact lens metrics
3) Examination of current office processes: what works, what is deficient
4) Review Best Practices; reach consensus on process changes
5) Assign responsibility for next steps
6) Identify the monitoring mechanism to track progress
7) Review progress monthly for three months; reach consensus on any further process changes to be implemented

After successful implementation, then select the next management area. Keep repeating this process until your practice is an example of Best Practices.

Here are the 45 best practices found in Best Practices of Contact Lens Management. If you are not actively following any of these, then make today the day you improve your contact lens practice by implementing these best practices.

Are each one of these Best Practices for Contact Lens Management
implemented and working well in your practice?

PRODUCT MIX

YES

NO

Analyze your current sales mix.

Within each product segment identify the brands that offer the highest performance.

Recommend daily and monthly replacement lenses to patients.

Based on your findings at the conclusion of a contact lens exam, make a benefit-oriented recommendation about the product likely to offer the best performance to each patient.

Recommend refitting existing wearers in new technology lenses.

Encourage all two-week and monthly HEMA lens wearers to upgrade to silicone hydrogel lenses.

Recommend soft torics to astigmats with low astigmatism.

Recommend soft multifocals to presbyopic patients as the first option.

Call all new fits a week after dispensing to determine their satisfaction with their new lenses.

Track lens usage quarterly by segment.

Announce new lens technologies to suitable candidates in mailings or e-mails.

PRICING/PROFIT MARGIN

YES

NO

Establish a gross profit margin goal for total soft lenses and margin goals for major segments.

Calculate retail prices necessary to achieve gross profit margin goals.

Discount per box retail price for annual supply quantity purchases.

Quote annual supply pricing, including manufacturer rebates, when responding to telephone inquiries about contact lens prices.

Monitor gross margins quarterly.

Appoint a staff member to monitor wholesale price changes and to re-calculate retail pricing for brands increasing wholesale prices.

TRANSACTION PROCESS

YES

NO

Carry in-office inventory of frequently prescribed clear spheres.

Encourage annual supply purchases.

Consolidate purchases with a single contact lens distributor.

Order lenses online at the end of each working day.

Assign a staff member with responsibility for soft lens ordering, receipt and storage, inventory management and invoice reconciliation.

Ship lenses to patients’ homes and offices.

Enable patients to re-order lenses on the practice web site.

IN-OFFICE INVENTORY

YES

NO

Stock in-office inventory of two clear spherical lenses of choice.

Stock only frequently prescribed powers, and stock different quantities of different powers to correspond with a normal distribution of prescriptions.

Replenish inventory weekly.

Assign a staff member to monitor inventory weekly, and make lens returns monthly or more frequently.

Take advantage of manufacturer offers on inventory quantities.

Use a storage system that makes it easy to locate lens parameters and assess inventory holes.

ANNUAL EXAMS/RECALL

YES

NO

Pre-appoint contact lens patients for eye exams 12 months after the current exam.

ANNUAL SUPPLY SALES

YES

NO

Visually present an annual supply package to each soft lens patient, dramatizing the savings from manufacturer rebates and your discount.

Provide a 5-10 percent discount when annual supply quantities are purchased.

Reinforce importance of compliance with the recommended replacement schedule, offering a medical rationale.

CONTACT LENS RECOMMENDATIONS TO EYEGLASSES-ONLY WEARERS

YES

NO

Encourage all eyeglasses wearers about to enter high school to try contact lenses.

Ask every patient wearing eyeglasses only: “Are there times when you would rather not wear glasses?”

Elicit interest in contact lenses on medical history and lifestyle questionnaires.

Present end benefits, not technical lens features.

Preface each recommendation with the words “I recommend.”

Offer to apply daily disposable trial lenses on eyeglass patients as they select frames.

Provide each new contact lens patient with detailed instructions on proper lens care.

For long-term contact lens wearers, reiterate proper care instructions following each contact lens exam.

Prescribe a lens care system with a medical rationale.

Warn patients about the risks of solution brand switching.

Put a basket of free contact lens cases at the front desk or check-out counter and encourage contact lens patients to take one and replace their case tonight.

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