By ROB Editors 
Doctors who participate in the “Think About Your Eyes” consumer eye health awareness campaign report a 6 percent increase in patient visits. Here is how to take part–and build revenues.
Kirk Smick, OD, FAAO, finds the TAYE eye health public awareness campaign helpful to patients–and to his practice.
You can expand your practice by letting patients know that your practice is the place to visit not only for new eyeglasses or a new supply of contact lenses, but also to check on their eye and overall health. TheThink About Your Eyes (TAYE) advertising campaign, sponsored by the Foundation for Eye Health Awareness, with support from Essilor, VSP, Transitions and Luxottica, allows ODs to reach consumers in seven major metros. These metros include
New York, Chicago, Houston, Cincinnati, Denver, Los Angeles and Atlanta. The message: Whether or not you need vision correction, you need an annual eye examination.
Since TAYE was launched earlier this year, eyecare practitioners who participate in the campaign are seeing a 6 percent increase in comprehensive eye exams, as a result. In addition, the number of exams conducted on consumers who have not had an eye exam in three years or more is up 36 percent.
On average, the campaign is generating 100 new exams per year for each participating eyecare practice, the foundation estimates. (According to MBA Key Metrics: Assessing Optometric Practice Performance, sponsored by Alconand Essilor, a comprehensive eye exam generates a median of $306 spent at a practice, which, in the case of doctors participating in TAYE, computes to a potential annual gain of $30,600 per practice.) In the course of the comprehensive eye exams generated by the campaign, 300,000 people were diagnosed with potential eye or other major diseases and referred to a specialist for further diagnosis and treatment. Also, in the campaign test markets, Rxes written for contact lenses are up 21 percent.
Kirk Smick, OD, FAAO, of Clayton Eye Center in Morrow and Griffin, Ga., is participating in the TAYE campaign. He shares with ROB how it is working to grow his practice
Education + Doctor Locator = More Visits by Motivated Patients
Dr. Smick has gained at least seven new patients from being featured on the TAYE web site’s doctor locator. Doctors who partner with TAYE have their name and location of their practice stored on the TAYE web site so that when consumers input their geographic location, their practice information comes up. This results in consumers who are interested in their eye health easily finding TAYE-affiliated doctors. Dr. Smick has noticed that these patients often are more open to learning about the products and services his practice offers. “Because they went onto the web to do their own research, they’re usually the kind of people who are more knowledgeable, which is a blessing to us,” Dr. Smick says. “If we talk to them about Transitions, anti-reflective coating or their grandmother having macular degeneration, they understand better than people who are not as savvy.”
Eye Health Awareness as Conversation Starter
How ODs Can Participate in “Think About Your Eyes”
To get started, go to www.thinkaboutyoureyes.com and fill out the OD information form. If you are a customer of Essilor, Luxottica or VSP, you are entitled to a listing. Starting in January 2012, all doctors will be asked to sign a pledge, featuring the numbered points below, to be listed. TAYE is in discussion with the American Optometric Association about an annual charge – approximately $10 per month – that listed doctors will be charged to cover maintenance for the web site.
In addition to getting listed in the doctor locator, here is what the Foundation for Eye Health Awareness suggests ECPs do to support the campaign and maximize their benefit from it:
1. Ensure that you or your staff discusses the health and wellness factors of the eye exam with every patient.
2. Confirm that each patient knows when to return for their next eye exam and why. Tell them your office will help them remember when it is time for the next eye exam.
3. Discuss with each patient what eye exam schedule is appropriate for family members.
4. Ask each of your vendors and suppliers to support the Foundation for Eye Health Awareness with a financial contribution that is proportional to their size, and by pledging to reinforce the messages of the foundation, including the TAYE campaign.
5. Support other professionals and the companies that support the foundation by prescribing or recommending their products and services when those products and services meet the needs of your patients. Such actions are consistent with your professional oath and responsibilities.
6. Display TAYE consumer education materials and signs at your offices.
7. Make sure that your location information on the TAYE web site eye doctor locator is accurate and kept current.
In the Atlanta area, where patients see TAYE billboards, hear the messages on the radio and see TV spots about TAYE, it is not unusual to get questions about the ads in the office. The curiosity of patients has been sparked, Dr. Smick says: “Several patients have mentioned seeing the ads and want to know more about it.” In addition to explaining to patients the purpose of the ads, doctors have the opportunity to broach the subject of eye health. As they explain the need for this kind of public awareness campaign, they can work into the conversation the importance of an annual examination–whether or not you need to update your eyeglasses or contact lenses prescription.
Link Eye Health to Testing
For example, taking a cue from the information on the TAYE web site, doctors can point out that many eye diseases are symptomless. Comprehensive annual examinations allow doctors to pick up vision-impairing diseases that would otherwise take patients by surprise. Doctors can bridge that information on common, symptomless eye diseases to the testing they give to each patient during comprehensive examinations, explaining how they are checking for everything from macular degeneration to glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy.
Kick Start Your Own Eye Health Marketing
The information on the TAYE web site can be used to supplement the information you already have on your web site. If you do not have one already, you can create a new eye health section with primers on common eye diseases, along with a link to the TAYE site and a mention that you are a TAYE-affiliated doctor. In addition to providing patients with the education they need, your connection to a widely publicized public health campaign may win you greater credibility with potential patients–giving the impression that you are known to the eye health community, have been vetted and approved as a source of care. Dr. Smick is thinking about including a link on his practice’s web site to the TAYE web site.
Dr. Smick recommends that doctors familiarize themselves with the TAYE web site and eye health advertising campaign. He believes it is important to be aware of the messages your patients are exposed to about their eyes. “First and foremost,” he says, “get listed on the site and read all the information to become knowledgeable about what your patients are hearing, so if they ask questions about it, you will know how to respond.”
Resources
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