Insights From Our Editors

Progressives: Patients Are Primed for Your Message

April 8, 2015

Patients already have progressive lenses on their mind when they come in to see you, findings from The Vision Council’s 2014 VisionWatch Consumer Lens Technology Study suggest. Some 6,557 current Rx eyeglass users were asked about their knowledge and usage of several different Rx lens technologies and products. Of the nine technologies and products listed, “no line bifocals /PALs” was the technology with the highest awareness levels among current Rx eyeglasses. More than half of the eyeglass wearing adults surveyed (52.2 percent) were aware of progressive lens technology, and another 29.9 percent of current Rx eyeglass wearers are currently using PALs at least some of the time.

First, let’s review the numbers that are reported in the MBA report Best Practices of Spectacle Lenses. Some 20-25 percent of practice revenue comes from the sale of lenses. Another 20-25 percent of practice revenue comes from the sale of frames. According to the MBA data, that means in the average practice about 44 percent of the practice revenue comes from the sale of eyewear frames and lenses.

We also need to know that approximately one person in three takes their prescription from the practice and buys glasses somewhere else. The MBA report calculates that in a practice generating $750,000 in total revenue per year from all sources, $160,000 in prescriptions not filled in the practice walk out the door each year.

Capture those prescriptions walking out the door, and the practice gross revenue would move from $750,000 to $910,000 overnight. That seems to be a number that should get our attention.

The MBA report Best Practices of Spectacle Lenses gives four important insights about the sale of eyewear in our practices:

1) Vision insurance encourages patients to purchase glasses at independent eyecare practices.

2) The primary reason patients in an independent ECP practice did not make a new eyewear purchase is that their prescription did not change.

3) Cost is the second most important reason for delaying an eyewear purchase or buying elsewhere.

4) A bigger reason than cost for a patient to walk out the door with a prescription for new eyewear is that independent ECP’s don’t spend enough time managing their optical or marketing eyewear effectively to patients.

This information should help clarify our work for this week. We need to make sure we have effective and efficient systems in place in the practice to:

1) Make it easy for patients with vision insurance to do business with us.

2) Discuss with patients that there are three things to consider – the doctor’s prescription, new technological advances in lens design and the latest technological advances in lens manufacturing processes. The prescription may be the same, but the newest lens design or the latest lens manufacturing process may give the patient improved vision.

3) Make sure you have systems in place to manage patients’ perception of cost.

4) Improve the management of the optical and the marketing of eyewear.

These four areas are essential to effective practice management, and, therefore, essential to keep in tip-top shape in the practice.

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