Nearly three in five established contact lens patients (58.4 percent) who received a complete eye examination (including refraction), required a new contact lens prescription (i.e., change in Rx), according to the American Optometric Association’s 2010 Caring for the Eyes of America survey. More than one-third of these patients (37.7 percent) did not require a new CL prescription (e.g., the previous Rx was adequate), while 3.6 percent did not require any CL prescription at all. Optometrists estimated that, on average, 17.8 percent of the examined contact lens patients took their prescriptions elsewhere to be filled. An estimated 14.6 percent of CL orders were direct-shipped to patients.
OPTOMETRIC ACTION POINT from Mark Wright, OD, FCOVD, and Carole Burns, OD, FCOVD:
Some 17.8 percent of patients took their contact lens prescriptions elsewhere to be filled. We need to stop this hemorrhaging. But how do we do that? Guessing why patients are walking with their prescriptions is not accurate. The only way we can know the key issue in a patient’s decision process is to ask them. Instead of guessing, start with a patient survey of people who are taking their prescriptions elsewhere. Find out exactly why this is happening in your practice. Once you know the real reason, then you can create the strategy and tactics necessary to keep those contact lens prescriptions from walking.
