New This Week
Make Instrumentation Your Patient Education Tool
Jennifer H. Ong, OD, of Alameda, Calif., finds that taking the time to explain a patient’s medical condition–and why certain tests are performed to detect conditions–results in appreciative patients who are more inclined to make healthier lifestyle decisions.>>READ MORE>>
Finances
Key Financial Metrics: Track–and Improve–for Profitability
By Gerald A. Eisenstatt , OD, MBA
Isolating and tracking key financial metrics allows you to set realistic improvement goals. >>READ MORE>>
Staff Management
Attitude of Gratitude: Show Appreciation to Patients
By Rachael Click, OD
Showing gratitude for your chance to serve patients will generate a positive patient experience. Expressing gratitude can make for better relations with your vendors, too. >>READ MORE>>
Contact Lenses
Specialty Contact Lenses: Turn More Patients into CL Wearers
By David I. Geffen, OD, FAAO
New and improved specialty contact lenses enable success with nearly any patient. Expand your contact lens patient base–and revenue stream. >>READ MORE>>
Optometric Business Innovators: Contact Lens Dispensing
Whether it’s improving the eyecare experience through new technology or adapting to electronic health records, from the exam room to the back-office, here are forward-thinking ODs who embrace new ideas that set their practices apart. They are the focus of our third annual Optometric Business Innovators report, a special collaborative project between Vision Monday and Review of Optometric Business. This month, we share lessons from ODs who are innovative in contact lens dispensing. >>READ MORE>>
2013 was a banner year for Review of Optometric Business, with in-depth articles ranging from marketing and digital strategy to finance, medical eyecare, staff management and beyond. Here is a selection by ROB’s editors of the best from the past year.
Top Videos of 2013
Standout videos in 2013 focus on critical subjects including HIPAA compliance, office design, vision therapy and developing a medical optometric practice. >>READ MORE>>
Notable Articles
Article highlights from 2013 include stories on preparing for Meaningful Use Stage 2, making the connections with other doctors necessary for healthcare reform, planning a successful optometric career and opening a second office, among other topics. >>READ MORE>>
Memorable Blogs
Fascinating blogs from 2013 explore such topics as negative terms ODs use too often, the progress of women in optometry, the ways in which patient interaction with staff breeds loyalty and the art of doctor-patient discourse (hint: avoid over-sharing). >>READ MORE>>
Contributors of Distinction
Key contributors share their expertise in areas as diverse as staff management, doctor-patient legal concerns and practice finances. >>READ MORE>>
Top Reach for Excellence
ROB professional editors Mark Wright, OD, FCOVD, and Carole Burns, OD, FCOVD, offer guidance on challenges such as creating loyal patients, moving patients into daily replacement contact lenses and how best to use point-of-sale materials.
>>READ MORE>>
ROB Fast Fact
What Motivates Patients to Shop for and Purchase Eyewear?
Price, convenience and familiarity with a specific practice or retailer hold significantly more sway in a patient’s eyewear shopping and purchasing decisions than other variables, according to The Vision Council’s 2013 Frame Purchase Motivation Study. For 40 percent of recent frame buyers, “familiarity with a doctor or retailer in the past” leads them to buy eyeglass frames from that location.
Click HERE to read more from Review of Optometric Business professional editors Carole Burns, OD, FCOVD, and Mark Wright, OD, FCOVD, on how to get more sales from existing patients.
In Brief
CooperVision Expands Avaira Toric Range
CooperVision Inc. is launching a -2.25 cylinder power to further broaden the brand’s range and potential wearer base. With this addition, Avaira toric lenses are available in sphere powers of -6.00D to +6.00D in 0.25 steps; -6.50D to -10.00D in 0.50 steps; cylinder powers of -0.75, -1.25, -1.75, and -2.25; and axes from 10 degrees to 180 degrees in 10 degree steps.
>>READ MORE>>
8 Reasons Santa Needs to See an Eye Doctor
This holiday season Essilor spent some time analyzing Santa’s vision and discovered he needs eyecare help! After all, Santa must be able to see clearly as he visits 526,000,000 houses on Christmas Eve. Here’s a list of Santa’s vision needs, that also happen to be many of your patients’ needs. <<READ MORE>>
Challenge –> Solution
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Practice Challenge…
How Can I Dress Up My Office–Cheaply?Patients, like any consumers, want to see what’s new. That’s true of your optical inventory and the services you provide, and it’s true of the very look of your office. Here are three simple—and inexpensive—ways to give your office a new look and feel.
…Practice Solution
- Appealing Office Spaces: Feature Art by Local Artists
- Set Your Office Environment for Your Patients
- Patient Comfort: The Little Stuff Pays Off Big Time
Recent Articles of Note
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Getting There: Planning a Successful Optometric Career
By Robert Schultz -
Be Positive, and Always Thank Your Patient
An Optometric Minute video with Eric M. White, OD -
Capture Rate Booster: Train Staff to Fill Patient Prescriptions
By Stuart J. Thomas, OD, and Ellen Byrum-Goad, LDO
