New This Week
Plan Now to Meet Meaningful Use Requirements in 2014
Scott A. Jens, OD, FAAO, founder of RevolutionEHR and a practitioner at Isthmus Eye Care in Madison, Wis., advises ODs to reach for the next level of meaningful use with electronic health records. This includes collecting e-mails of patients, recording and monitoring vital signs, and noting medications and medical conditions. Dr. Jens also recommends that EHR be viewed as more than a reimbursement tool; it is a powerful tool in chronic disease management over time.
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Marketing
Effective Recall: Create Urgency and Make Scheduling Convenient
By Justin Bazan, OD
Effective recall requires that you create a sense of urgency–and make scheduling convenient. Contact patients 13 months after their last annual examination to remind them that they are overdue for their check-up. Then provide a link for easy self-scheduling. >>READ MORE>>
Finances
Measure Your Capture Rate to Compute Your Profit Potential
By Eric M. White, OD
Use your practice management system and electronic records to accurately measure eyeglasses capture rate. Then make changes to increase this critical measure of profitability.
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Managed Care
Is Billing Routine or Medical? Explain Your Decision to Your Patients
By Eric Botts, OD
Understanding when to bill medical insurance versus routine billing can make the difference between profitability and potential revenue loss. If you choose to bill medical insurance for services, explain to your patients why. >>READ MORE>>
ADVERTORIAL
Unilens Vision Introduces Disposable C-VUE HydraVUE Multifocal Silicone Hydrogel Lens
Unilens Vision Inc., which develops, licenses, manufactures, distributes and markets specialty contact lenses directly to independent eye care professionals, has launched a new silicone hydrogel disposable C-Vue® HydraVUE™ Multifocal contact lens for monthly replacement. The new product continues to incorporate Unilens’ highly developed, world-class patented Multifocal design technology in a silicone hydrogel material, which offers the benefit of higher oxygen transmissibility for better eye health.
“C-Vue HydraVUE Multifocal contact lenses in silicone hydrogel provide vision correction for presbyopia, an age-related eye condition that causes a person’s ‘near vision’ to deteriorate, typically after reaching the age of 40,” says Kelly McKnight, vice-president of Sales and Marketing at Unilens Vision Inc. “It is C-Vue’s proven, patented rapid transition zone design technology, incorporated within the lens itself, that provides for excellent near, far and everywhere in-between visual outcomes without the need to wear bifocal or reading glasses. The new silicone hydrogel material is characterized by greater oxygen transmissibility for better eye heath and overall comfort.”
>>READ MORE and DOWNLOAD FITTING GUIDE>>
ROB Fast Fact
How Many ECPs Recommend AR Lenses Most of the Time?
Most eyecare professionals, including independent optometrists, along with ophthalmologists and optician-owned practices, most often guide patients to anti-reflective lenses for their eyeglasses, according to The Vision Council’s November 2012 Eye Care Professional Report. Some 75 percent of ECPs recommend AR lenses to at least 81 percent of their patients. Just under 43 percent of ECPs say they recommend that all of their patients purchase AR coated lenses. Less than 2 percent of ECPs say they recommend AR coating to 20 percent or fewer patients. The remaining 21 percent of practices say they recommend AR lenses to between 21 percent and 80 percent of patients. Chains/superstores and large independents are more likely to recommend AR to all patients than small practices with one location. ECPs in the Southeast and Mountain Pacific region were more likely than ECPs in other regions of the US to recommend AR lenses to all of their patients.
Click HERE to read more from Review of Optometric Business professional editors Carole Burns, OD, FCOVD, and Mark Wright, OD, FCOVD, on moving more patients into AR lenses.
In Brief
Free Podcast: ABB CONCISE CEO on Staying Profitable in Optometry
As a guest on the February 6 airing of The Power Hour, industry veteran Angel Alvarez, the CEO of ABB CONCISE, gave his ideas on creative ways ODs can stay profitable and competitive. The recorded podcast has received over 380 downloads across nine countries, including China, South Africa and Malaysia.
>>READ MORE and DOWNLOAD PODCAST>>
OptometryStudents.com Announces Alliance with International Vision Expo
OptometryStudents.com (OS), a division of AOAExcel, (a wholly-owned subsidiary of the American Optometric Association), has announced a new alliance with International Vision Expo East, held March 14-17, 2013, at the Javits Center in New York City.
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