CYBERCARE
E-Commerce Exchanges
What are your reasons for not doing business electronically? Here's a look at why you shouldn't hesitate to join the e-commerce revolution.
RICHARD HOM, O.D., F.A.A.O.

A lot of people are talking about electronic commerce (e-commerce) for the optometric profession. But if only a quarter or less of all O.D.s routinely order online, according to an E-Dr. source, that means that many of us are contemplating whether to get involved.

What's keeping some of us from braving the e-commerce waters? I'll discuss some of the common excuses I've heard as well as reasons not to listen to them.

B2B basics

Traditional models of commerce were either written or telephone orders between buyer and seller. The modern model of business-to-business (B2B) commerce uses the World Wide Web and the Internet to communicate between buyer and seller -- quite a step up from the traditional models. B2B e-commerce for the optometrist is the "buy" side of the buy-sell-equation. On the "sell" side of the B2B model are the manufacturers and distributors.

E-commerce sites since 1996 provided optometrists with claims processing abilities and benefit eligibility. But many doctors complained of poor usability and performance. In addition, there didn't seem to be any time savings -- transactions took almost 20 minutes to complete.

Fortunately, continual improvements in Web site function and performance have steadily addressed many of our concerns. Reimbursement payments are timely, and eligibility queries can now occur during off-hours. Still, e-commerce seems problematic for routine ordering of contact lenses, prescription jobs and frames. At this time, a phone order takes less than 5 minutes, while a Web-based order will take up to 12 minutes. However, companies are working to eliminate these issues.

What's in it for us?

Many of us who are considering using e-commerce have difficulty quantifying its value. And, as with anything requiring our effort and resources, we want to be sure that any effort on our part will be worth while. So how will e-commerce benefit us? Let's look at the benefits e-commerce can offer our profession.

• Quality of life. As early adopters gain e-commerce experience, they tend to highlight the intangible rewards more than the tangible. For example, they often rank extra time to spend with the family, peace of mind and a sense of security at the top of the list of benefits.
• Service. We want to know that our offices can run smoothly even if we can't personally watch over every aspect of procedure. And we want to know that our offices can deliver the best service. We measure service by the frequency of back orders and the time it takes to receive orders. E-commerce sites that integrate to back-end computer systems will offer us a high level of order service.
• Security. Those of you who are gradually adopting e-commerce can feel secure that your prescriptions have been ordered even though the manufacturer or distributor is closed. You can also rest assured that transcription errors are minimized and that product availability has been checked to prevent long delivery times.
• Efficiency. As your practice grows, you'll need fewer staffers because you won't need as many assistants to support your revenue level. Because e-commerce is so efficient, practitioners have already realized improved workflow and productivity of staff members. This efficiency translates to higher revenues per employee (a frequent measure of employee productivity) improving with each year of practice.

Although we've addressed many of the common concerns regarding the use of e-commerce, the majority of optometrists are still hesitant to join in, which begs the question: What's holding them back?

Why don't more doctors use e-commerce?

E-commerce leaders E-Dr. and First Insight have an answer to this question. They both say that a doctor's familiarity with the Internet is a key factor in the level of his use.

That said, more than half of all actively practicing O.D.s graduated before the birth of the World Wide Web in 1993. In light of E-Dr.'s and First Insight's answer, we can see why this segment of the O.D. population isn't eagerly using e-commerce.

Fortunately, as these individuals become more comfortable and familiar with e-mail and surfing the Internet, we can expect their acceptance and use of e-commerce to increase. Other hurdles are:

• Web site usability and performance. Today's content-rich Web pages require broadband bandwidth greater than 56k dial-up. Popular forms of broadband access, such as digital subscriber line (DSL), haven't met the threshold costs or the wide geographic availability to prompt more rapid deployment.
• Many of us are sensitive to our ownership of patient and business information. Privacy and security assurances from e-commerce sites still concern doctors because the information isn't at their offices. Advances in security technology may soon eliminate these fears.

Looking ahead

The leading eyecare e-commerce Web sites will be launching new initiatives to enlist us. Some of them will offer an application service provider (ASP) model to allow us to rent, rather than purchase, their practice management software. Other sites will offer improved communication between traditional practice management software and the site's computer systems.

In today's climate, those of us who maximize office productivity and deliver the best customer service won't only survive, we'll flourish.

Dr. Hom has a rich background in e-commerce, back-end enterprise systems and supply chain management. He practiced optometry in a variety of settings and currently practices part-time in San Francisco, exclusively caring for complicated contact lens patients. He now leads all strategy and execution of corporate Application Service Provider (ASP) programs at Silicon Graphics, Inc., in Mountain View, Calif.