June 15, 2016
Based on the most recent census data from studies funded by the National Eye Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, the number of people with visual impairment or blindness in the U.S. is expected to double to more than 8 million by 2050. Additionally, another 16.4 million Americans are expected to have difficulty seeing due to myopia or hyperopia.
Baby Boomers are the second largest demographic in the U.S. population. The leading edge of this group has already hit age 65. The tail-end of this group hits age 65 in 2029. Definitely, this large group of people will impact our practices over the next 20 years. The simple issue of increasing chronic illness that happens as we age means we are going to see more people with cataracts, macular degeneration, hypertensive retinopathy, glaucoma, dry eye syndrome … all of the chronic diseases that contribute to visual problems.
Now is the time to prepare your practice for the increase in the number of people suffering from chronic disease. Make your practice the place to come for any visual problem, but especially, chronic disease that contributes to visual problems.
Here are five steps to implement now:
1) Make sure you are up to date with the latest diagnostic and treatment protocols for all chronic illnesses that contribute to vision problems. Focus your continuing education in these areas. Talk to your colleagues to gain insight on what works and what doesn’t.
2) Use your practice management software to identify how many patients you currently have in your practice in each chronic disease category. Run a search based on diagnosis.
3) Review your practice instrumentation. Do you have the necessary instrumentation to do the best diagnosis, or the best treatment, for each chronic disease category?
4) Do a return on investment calculation for any new instrumentation that could be used in your office to help either diagnose, or treat, eye problems. You’ve already determined how many potential patients you have in each chronic disease category, and with a little effort, you can find out how much a monthly lease, or loan payment, would be for the new instrumentation. From there the ROI calculation is easy. If the ROI is profitable, the decision to purchase is easy.
5) Create practice protocols to handle chronic disease patients to make sure that every patient gets high-quality diagnostic and treatment care. Don’t forget the lens tools you have in your bag to help patients suffering from medically related eye problems (i.e.: anti-glare lenses, UV protective lenses, high-energy visible (HEV) light protective lenses, lenses with polarization).
From this point it is all about refining the process, working out the bugs and marketing. Don’t forget the marketing piece. Your internal and external marketing should highlight your ability to deliver solutions to people with chronic disease contributing to vision problems. People love success stories (make sure to get the HIPAA marketing release form signed). Success stories are powerful. Some of the strongest words that you can say are: “I had a patient just like you yesterday. Here’s what we did with them and it worked, and we are going to do the same thing with you.”
