New This Week
Talk About Lens Options While Patient is in the Exam Chair
Anne-Marie Lahr, OD, clinical instructor in primary care at The Eye Institute at the Pennsylvania College of Optometry, encourages educating patients on lens options while they are in the exam chair. Describe brands of progressive lenses they can choose from, and recommend premium lens materials and treatments. This improves your Rx capture rate and provides patients with a level of care they may not get elsewhere. >>READ MORE>>
Practice Management
Guard Against Malpractice Lawsuits for Medical Eyecare Services
By Pamela Miller, OD, JD
Pro-active steps can protect you from malpractice lawsuits as you provide more medical eyecare services. >>READ MORE>>
Staff Management
Assess Personal Characteristics in Initial Hiring Interview
By Larry Golson, OD
In an initial hiring interview, ask candidates questions that reveal the kind of person you may be adding to your practice’s team. Assess their social skills, temperament and ability to provide your patients with proper care.
>>READ MORE>>
Marketing
Use Multichannel Marketing for Greatest Impact
By Nathan Bonilla-Warford, OD
The attention span of today’s consumer is split between a myriad of media. Using varied channels–online, print and broadcast–is your best bet to reach the greatest number of present and prospective patients. >>READ MORE>>
Less than Half of ODs Provide Services for Low Vision Patients
Some 44.4 percent of the optometrists responding in 2008 about their scope of clinical practice provided some low vision services to their patients, according to the American Optometric Association’s Caring for the Eyes of America report. More than four out of five ODs (86.2 percent) referred low vision patients elsewhere for services, while 35.1 percent also accepted some low vision referrals from other practitioners. Nine of ten (91.5 percent) of the responding ODs managed or co-managed patients with macular degeneration.
Click HERE to read more from Review of Optometric Business professional editors Carole Burns, OD, FCOVD, and Mark Wright, OD, FCOVD, on how to effectively expand the scope of your practice to serve a greater number of patient needs.
ECP Manager Offers Benefit Finder Tool
ECP Manager, LLC, has released the ECP Benefit Finder, a software tool that allows an eyecare practice to simultaneously search all major vision carriers at once, with only one entry of patient information. The tool is designed to offer a faster, more efficient way to find patient benefits and verify eligibility. It is designed for ease-of-use. Your staff would be able to enter a patient’s information once and click the “Find Benefits” button to conduct a search of all major vision carriers. >>READ MORE>>
HHS Proposes Health Care Reform’s Essential Health Benefits Cover Routine Exams and Corrective Lenses
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a bulletin on Dec. 16 outlining proposed policies that will give states more flexibility and freedom to implement the Affordable Care Act, including how pediatric vision care would be provided as one of 10 “essential health benefits.” According to the bulletin, HHS proposes that states should consider having pediatric vision care cover “routine eye examinations with refraction, corrective lenses and contact lenses.” >>READ MORE>>
ROB Poll Results
Greatest Staffing Challenge: Maintaining Productivity and Positive Attitude
Asked about their greatest staffing challenge, 35 percent of ROB readers cited the quest to maintain employee productivity, while another 35 percent said keeping employees upbeat and friendly was their most major challenge. Twenty-two percent said their most difficult staffing challenge was training employees in new tasks to better serve patients. Retaining employees for more than a year was the greatest challenge for 4 percent of readers while another 4 percent said settling disputes between staffers was most challenging.
