Practice Metrics

How Many Higher-Income Patients Own Multiple Pairs of Eyeglasses Compared to Others?

The higher your income rises, the more likely it is for patients to invest in multiple pairs of prescription eyewear, according to the September 2012 VisionWatch Member Benefit Report from The Vision Council. Some 26.5 percent of those with annual household incomes up to $60,000 have two pairs of prescription eyeglasses while 30.9 percent with incomes $60,000 and over have more than one pair. While 3.6 percent of those with incomes up to $60,000 own three pairs of prescription eyewear, 5.9 percent of those with incomes $60,000 and higher own three pairs. Some 0.9 percent of those with incomes up to $60,000 own four pairs while 1.4 percent of those with incomes $60,000 and over own four pairs of prescription eyeglasses.

Do you believe that every patient should have outdoor polarized sunwear with back surface AR? Do you believe that every patient wearing prescription eyeglasses should have a minimum of two pairs of eyeglasses: an indoor pair and an outdoor pair? If so, what kind of job are we doing? The national numbers say that less than 20 percent of all people have two pairs of eyeglasses. That says we are not doing a very good job of achieving what we believe.

To help us find solutions, answer the following questions.

1. In the examination room, is the doctor prescribing or only suggesting multiple pairs?
2. Has every staff member been trained to propose to every patient the value of multiple pairs?
3. Does the physical office support multiple pairs through the use of media messages, posters and screen savers?
4. When a patient enters the optical, is there an organized flow designed to increase multiple pair acceptance such as …
a. First, describe your office return and replacement policy to help patients feel secure about any purchase made.
b. Then, show patients the difference between polarized lenses and lenses that just darken.
c. Then, select any other lifestyle lenses such as computer eyeglasses.
d. Then, select dress eyeglasses.
e. Last, discuss what the insurance covers.
5. Have you made it easy for patients to pay by using systems such as CareCredit or PayPal?

Your action plan today should be to review the five questions above and fix any deficiencies. Put the systems in place today to help your patients improve their quality of life at home, school, work and play through prescription of multiple pairs.

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