The Importance of Contact Lens Patients to Your Practice
By Robert A. Davis, OD
Robert A. Davis, OD, of The Eye Center in Pembroke Pines, Fla., explains why contact lens patients are valuable to your practice: more frequent visits, loyalty, more referrals, and the potential for multiple eyewear purchases.
Wake-Up Call: Enhance Patient Services to Effectively Compete with Online Optical Sales
By Scot Morris, OD
What’s the best antidote to online optical shopping: Make shopping in your optical a convenient, rewarding experience, and give patients services they won’t find online.
How to Coordinate Medical and Vision Plan Billing
By Tamara Kuhlmann, OD, FAAO, MS
Training staff to code accurately for insurance reimbursement is critical to a practice’s success with medical eyecare services.
Analyze Your Finances to Determine When to Add an Associate
By Jerry Hayes, OD
By analyzing your net profits and potential for growth, you can reliably determine if this is the right time to take on an associate OD.
ROB Fast Fact
Far Fewer Knowledgeable of Vision Plan Compared to Medical Plan
Some 65 percent of U.S. adults consider themselves “highly and somewhat knowledgeable” about their vision plan, according to Jobson Optical Research’s 2010 Consumer Perceptions of Managed Vision Care, which included 5,152 respondents. By contrast, 81 percent say they are highly and somewhat knowledgeable about their medical plan.
In Brief
The iPad is Transforming Retail
Apple’s iPad is transforming shopping behavior, eMarketer reports: “The iPad’s portability, tactile screen and vivid graphics foster a casual and exploratory shopping experience that leads to product discovery, impulse buying and shared purchasing.” What’s more, eMarketer points out, is the use of iPads by retailers, which often equip sales associates with the devices to aid customers with in-store purchasing decisions. According to a January 2011 eMarketer survey, 41 percent of U.S. adults are interested in using the iPad to improve their shopping experience.
*Graph property of eMarketer.
