EHR: Practice Growth Tool
By Milton M. Hom, OD, FAAO
Jason R. Miller, OD, MBA of EyeCare Professionals of Powell, Ohio, discusses how the software for electronic health records allows you to data mine and analyze your practice–and then plan and fine tune your practice operations for growth.
Enhance Dry Eye Treatment to Better Serve Patients
By Jeanmarie Davis, OD
Expanding your treatment of dry eye can help you provide your patients with improved vision, while opening up a new area of growth for your practice.
Hiring and Firing by the Numbers: Calculate Which Employees Are Worth their Weight in Payroll
By Scot Morris, OD
Deciding who to hire and fire should not be a guessing game, or a matter of simply weeding out under-performers. It is in your best interest to take a proactive, finances-based approach to building and maintaining a staff.
Use “Mindshare” to Create Long-Term, Loyal Patients
By Michael Karlsrud
Lock in patients for the long-term by ensuring your practice occupies a greater slice of patient “mindshare”.
ROB Fast Fact
Over 1/3 of Consumers…
More than one-third of consumers said that purchase decisions for frames and lenses are of equal importance, according to Jobson Research’s 2010 Eyewear & Eye Care Consumer Patterns Insight Survey, which can be purchased here. Forty percent said neither frames nor lenses were more important than the other. Some 37 percent of respondents said eyeglasses frames were a more important decision to them; 21 percent said lenses were more important; and 2 percent said they didn’t know which they considered more important.
In Brief
First “Meaningful Users” of OfficeMate/ExamWRITER Receive $18,000
By ROB Editors
After attesting to meaningful use of the certified version of OfficeMate/ExamWRITER v10 electronic health records (EHR), four eyecare professionals have started to receive their first federal stimulus payments of $18,000 each. The group includes optometrists Kim Castleberry, OD, of Plano, Texas; Lorie Lippiatt, OD, of Salem, Ohio; Ryan Wineinger, OD, of Shawnee, Kan.; and ophthalmologist Jeffrey Willig, MD, of Syosset, NY. All were part of a beta-test group helping provide analysis of the certified version of OfficeMate/ExamWRITER, which is set for release this summer.
In Brief
How Well Are You Serving Your Cataract Patients?
Prevent Blindness America has named June Cataract Awareness month. Cataracts are a leading cause of blindness among older adults. More than 20 million Americans age 40 and older have cataracts. More than half of all Americans have cataracts by the time they are 80 years old. The good news is surgery restores sight in more than 95 percent of cases treated. Cataract risk factors include intense heat orlong-term exposure to UV rays from the sun, inflammation in theeye, genetics, long-term steroid use and eye injuries.Click here for a PDF containing information about cataracts.
…Looking ahead: Next month is Prevent Blindness America’s Fireworks Safety Month; and both the American Optometric Association and the American Academy ofOphthalmologyare spotlighting UV awareness.
In Brief
Essilor App Now Available on the App Store
Essilor of America, Inc., announced the availability of the Essilor App on the App Store. The Essilor App allows iPhone and iPod touch users features to learn about lens benefits and locate an eyecare professional (ECP).
Using the new app,ECPsand patients canlearn more aboutthe visual benefits of Varilux, Crizal and Xperio lenses through interactive modules. Patients can also use the ECP locator tool to find a local ECP anywhere in the U.S. “We want to make it as simple as possible to access information about our lens products,” says Carl Bracy, senior vice president of marketing for Essilor of America. “Our new Essilor App is another example of our commitment to help ECPs serve their patients.”
The Essilor App is available for free from the App Store directly from an iPhone or iPod touch or at www.itunes.com/appstore/. For more information, contact iPhoneApp@essilorusa.com.
