contact lens management

Derive Solution Profits

A patient solution retention program offers eye health and practice profits.

BY DOUG VILLELLA, O.D.

Although dispensing contact-lens solutions can increase practice profits, many eyecare practitioners focus all their dispensing efforts on contact lenses. There is no shortage of reasons for this. Among the most popular:

► We don't want to inventory solutions. We barely have room for the contact-lens boxes we store.

► How can we compete on price with drug stores and supermarkets?

► We're used to simply handing out "free" starter kits.

I've found that the Patient Direct program, from Sauflon, addresses each of these reasons and offers every practice a unique opportunity to not only provide high-quality solutions to their patients in a convenient manner, but profit from the dispensing of these solutions.

Practice profit

Patient Direct is a patient solution retention program that allows you to glean profitable contact-lens solution sales from Sauflon's One Step hydrogen-peroxide system or Lite Multi-Purpose solutions. Each solution includes a poloxamer wetting agent to enhance comfort.

As for the aforementioned objections, first, Sauflon banks its solutions in their facility, so you don't have to inventory product.

Second, both solutions are only available to eyecare practitioners, and I've found that that patient cost for home delivery is comparable to drug store, supermarket and mass-merchandiser prices for other solution brands.

Finally, Sauflon's starter kits contain customized membership cards that have a specific I.D. number identifying you as the patient's ECP. This ensures that once your patient runs out of his starter-kit solution and purchases a new one, you'll receive the profits.

How it works

To employ Patient Direct in your practice, prescribe a Sauflon solution (One Step peroxide or Lite multi-purpose), and dispense a starter kit. The starter kit contains a four-ounce bottle of one of the aforementioned solutions, a welcome letter, a pre-printed "Patient Direct Membership" card and instructions on how to order a new supply of solutions via the Web site www.sauflon.com/usa/sauflon-patient-direct.asp?cmd=account) toll-free order line (866-910-9935) or through the kit's re-order form. Sauflon then directly ships the solution to your patient and sends an e-mail order confirmation to both the patient and you. You, in turn, receive the profit portion of the order directly from Sauflon on a monthly basis. The average annual profit per patient is $40. If just three patients per day during a five-day work week signed on with Patient Direct, your annual profit the first year alone would be $30,000.

Sauflon Starter Kit Four-ounce bottle of either "One Step" hydrogen-peroxide system or "Lite" multi-purpose solutions. Welcome letter Pre-printed Patient Direct Membership card

I prefer the Sauflon solutions, as I've found they reduce the incidence of red eye, discomfort and infections, especially with the new lens materials. Also, the Patient Direct program often ensures these patients ocular health and comfort long-term, as it instills compliance through its convenience of home delivery. Finally, because the kit comes with a membership card that identifies me as the practitioner, I'm able to create an additional stream of profit for my practice. OM

DR. VILLELLA PRACTICES IN ERIE, PA. HE IS ALSO PRESIDENT OF THE VOLUNTEER OPTOMETRIC SERVICE TO HUMANITY (VOSH) OF PENNSYLVANIA, A NONPROFIT GROUP DEDICATED TO RIDDING AVOIDABLE BLINDNESS IN GUATEMALA BY 2020. E-MAIL HIM AT DOUGV@SURFERIE.NET.