Practice Management

My Most Valuable Staff Training & Practice-Building Resource

An optometric assistant in Dr. Kageyama’s office works with a patient. Dr. Kageyama says Premier Academy360™ ensures his whole team is well prepared to serve patients and create a thriving practice.

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By David T. Kageyama, OD, FAAO

August 24, 2022

Staff training is a huge challenge for independent practice owners with limited resources. This is problematic, as having a team that can support the delivery of high-quality care and a topnotch patient experience is essential for practice growth and profitability.

Fortunately, I have a resource, Premier Academy360,™ which has greatly enhanced my ability to effectively train staff to serve patients and help me grow my practice.

A Practice Partner that Powers Continuous Learning
Finding the best candidates possible is not an easy task in itself, and training these individuals can be a long and arduous process. Moreover, educating the team is a continuous need that can be difficult and time-consuming.

Premier Academy360 is an invaluable resource that gave us a roadmap and direction in developing new team members and our team as a whole. Participating in the VSP Vision® Premier Program, and having access to Premier Academy360, has been immensely beneficial to all team members, including our doctors.

The program provides practices comprehensive business-building training and education tailored specifically for VSP network doctors and staff. These offerings are designed to provide doctors with practice management tools, enhance the patient experience and save time and money on staff development. This includes the Premier Academy360 Badging Program, which was developed for VSP network practices to highlight commitment to patient care and specialization on the VSP Find a Doctor Directory on vsp.com.

Here are the many ways Premier Academy360 is benefiting my practice.

Access to a Comprehensive Staff Learning Program
Premier Academy360 is a well thought-out, comprehensive program. The presentations are delivered in a complete and systematic manner that leaves our team members more confident, knowledgeable and excited about eyecare and their positions in the practice.

The wide range of topics Premier Academy360 covers includes, but is not limited to, improving patient satisfaction, new innovations and technologies in eyecare, business consulting and leadership.

Tools for Independent Practice Success

Independent practices have more challenges than ever. With competition from online retailers and other sellers increasing, practice owners need every available advantage. The VSP Vision Premier Program provides many much-needed advantages that give independent practices an edge over competitors.

The VSP Vision Premier Program invests in private practices, offering cost-saving benefits and business-building tools, resources and training to empower and support the long-term success of VSP network doctors. Designed with providers in mind, the Premier Program continuously rolls out new resources and benefits focused on enhancing patient flow, profitability and practice support.

In nearly every facet of your practice, whether it’s staff management, marketing, OD recruitment, or beyond, VSP Vision Premier Program can offer you support:

Click HERE to explore the VSP Provider Hub, where you’ll find offers that will help you add more patients to your practice and grow profitability.

Click HERE to access VSP’s many educational resources for your practice’s staff.

Click HERE for resources to help you better market your practice to your community.

Click HERE for help recruiting new ODs for your practice.

Each member has access to their own dashboard, and are not only able to learn at their own pace, but also have the option to review any topic whenever the need arises, as the learning content is available on-demand. The Premier Academy360 platform is user friendly and accessible to all team members. With all the content housed in the cloud, the material is available from any internet-connected device.

Each course completed has a point value that is accumulated towards the Academy360 Training Badge.  Once the practice reaches the necessary point total, the practice will receive the Academy360 Training Badge on the VSP find a Doctor Directory, signifying that its staff has completed additional education on practice management and clinical care of the patient.

Go Deep On Specific Subject Matter
Premier Academy360 enables you and your staff to drill deep into specific subject matter, such as diabetes. As diabetes is the number one cause of blindness in working adults, it is essential to be able to discuss the risks of the disease with our patients. Approximately 90 million people in the U.S. have pre-diabetes and 85 percent of them do not know that they have the condition. Moreover, 20 percent of the population do not even know they have the disease of diabetes itself.

It is not uncommon for us as eyecare practitioners to be the first ones to identify this prevalent disease during a routine eye exam. Diabetes was the seventh highest cause of death prior to the pandemic, and has moved into eighth place only because of COVID-19 (now the third-leading cause of death behind coronary heart disease and cancer).i

A significant bonus to completing the diabetes education section of the Premier Academy360 is that Premier doctors are given the distinguished American Diabetes Association Badge on the VSP Find a Doctor Directory. This badge clearly indicates to patients that the practice’s doctors have a significant interest in educating and managing patients who are at risk for, or living with, diabetes. This badge also communicates to the patient that the doctor fully supports the relationship between the American Diabetes Association and VSP in raising awareness of the disease.

The information in the diabetes section of the Premier Academy360 was assembled by clinical experts in diabetes, the advisory panel of the American Diabetes Association and the clinical advisory panel of Premier Academy360. Also included in the section is a wealth of information to be shared with patients including the facts, data and advice from the National Diabetes Prevention Program.ii

Learn to Deliver an Experience that Spurs Return Visits
It is impossible to measure the value of being able to make the patient’s experience a memorable one. Without a doubt, we have encouraged countless return visits by delivering a great experience in our office, thanks to training from Premier Academy360.

From having learned the right words to say to a patient to being able to help the patient select the perfect eyewear, Premier Academy360 has prepared our team to deliver the kind of experience that grows a practice. Our team has learned not only how to create enthusiastic and loyal patients, but ones who will refer friends and family, strengthening our practice for the long-term.

Patient demand and consumer buying are constantly evolving. However, our partnership with VSP has given us the opportunity to benefit from their vast research and knowledge of the constantly changing consumer. Being an ever-evolving company itself, I believe that VSP still is the private practice’s strongest ally. Partnering with VSP has become a win-win situation for all involved.

References
i. https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/pdfs/data/statistics/national-diabetes-statistics-report.pdf
ii. https://nccd.cdc.gov/DDT_DPRP/Registry.aspx

David T. Kageyama, OD, FAAO, is the owner of Elk Grove Optometry in Elk Grove, Calif.

 

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