Insights From Our Editors

Do Americans Trust You With Their Eyecare?

Oct. 21, 2015

Optometrists need to continue educating the public about their expertise and services, the results of The Vision Council’s VisionWatch 2015 Think About Your Eyes Awareness Study suggest. Some 51.1 percent of adults, who claim to know the difference between ECP types, say they most trust ophthalmologists with their vision care, compared to 32.6 percent who say they most trust optometrists with their vision care. Some 5.3 percent say they most trust opticians with their vision care, while 11 percent say they are not sure who they trust, and have no preference.

The general public does not understand the difference between the three Os. But before we get too critical, is it a fair observation to say that many of our colleagues may not understand the difference either, or perhaps, a better way to phrase it is to say that many of our colleagues do not practice in a way that clearly shows a difference.

Medical eyecare has been the focus for optometrists since Medicare began reimbursing optometrists for diagnosing and treating medical eye conditions. From that milestone forward, there has been a strong emphasis in optometry on the medical management of patients. It’s a reasonable question to ask if this emphasis on medical management is contributing to a decrease in emphasis on functional improvement of patients’ lives at home, school, work and play?

The medical management of eye conditions is important. It is helpful to think of this as the starting point. The patient needs a healthy functioning visual system as a starting place to build on, but then the strength of the optometric education is in maximizing visual performance through non-surgical methods. The use of lenses and therapy techniques to do far more than just help someone to see clearly–to help patients maximize their performance at home, school, work and play–is a difference between ophthalmology and optometry that is significant.

So, here’s the question: If a patient has an eye exam with an optometrist, and then with an ophthalmologist, would they be able to tell the difference? If the exams are the same, is that a good thing or a bad thing? The argument can be made–and it is a fair argument–that third-party reimbursement is based on delivery and documentation of “standardized” exams. Third-party reimbursement has driven the medical exam and the optometric exam toward similarity.

Take this week to rethink the content and presentation of the patient visit in your office. Is your final product for your examination to mimic the medical examination, or is your final product to handle the medical, but emphasize the functional? If it’s the latter, then the next question is how do you educate your patient base about how you are doing far more than just the medical?

These three questions will help focus your efforts.
Note: Avoid words like “best,” and instead, describe what you are helping patients achieve in terms patients understand.

1) What signage can you use within your office to emphasize the final product you deliver?
2) What words can you use in your case presentation to differentiate your exam and final product?
3) What words do you want your staff to use?

To put this in marketing terms, if you are perceived by patients as the same as the doctor down the street, then why should a patient choose you over the practice down the street? The take home point is to differentiate yourself from other doctors, and make sure your patients know the difference.

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.