Practice Metrics

How Many Adults Use Vision Correction?

You may have inroads to make among 18-to-44-year-olds, according to The Vision Council VisionWatch 2012 Optical Retailer Report & Directory. While 70.1 million people ages 55 and over use some form of vision correction, some 43.4 million people ages 18-34 use vision correction. Among those 35-44, 27.7 million people use vision correction, and, among those 45-54, 38.3 million use some form of vision correction.

The number one reason you should be in electronic medical records is the ability to data mine your practice. With the touch of a button you should know exactly the makeup of your practice demographics.

The demographics you need to think about are shown in the chart below.

DEMOGRAPHIC

BORN BETWEEN

Baby Boomers

1946 and 1955

Generation Jones

1954 and 1965

Gen X

1961 and 1981

Gen Y

1980 and 1985

Millennials (also called Echo Boomers)

1982 and 2001

2000 and 2013

Can you answer the following questions about your practice?

Question #1: What percentage of patients do you have in each group?
Question #2: What are your key demographic population(s)?
Question #3: How have you made your practice attractive to your key demographic population(s)?
To answer Q #2 for the average practice, the key demographics populations are the Baby Boomers and the Millennials. The Baby Boomers are the largest demographic with the Millennials being the next largest.
To answer Q #3, you need to answer the question, what do the Baby Boomers want? The Baby Boomers what to be treated as individuals. They want personalized treatment. So you need to give them individualized, personalized treatment. Sometimes this is called High Touch.
The Baby Boomers are amazed by technology. Growing up, they watched black and white TV become high definition flat screens. They watched a man walk on the moon. They watched air travel move from propeller flight for a few to jet flight for everyone. Baby Boomers want a High Tech examination.
What do the Millennials want? Well, just look at their life. Technology drives their existence. To separate a Millennial from the ability to be connected via the net is to remove basic sustinence from their life. So a High Tech exam is what a Millennial wants.
As the Baby Boomers move through your practice over the next 20 years, they are going to reshape your practice. As they age, the Baby Boomers are going to have increasing amounts of chronic disease. As the Baby Boomers age and move through your practice, you will be dealing with more and more diabetes, hypertension, cataracts, and age related macular degeneration.
But, don’t forget those Millennials. As they move through your practice over time, they will reshape your practice over the next 80 years.
If you offer a High Tech, High Touch practice experience to your patients, you will capture both the Baby Boomers and the Millennials. So your job is to make your practice the place in town that these patients want to come for care. (If you don’t, then someone else will.)
Be proactive rather than reactive.

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