HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE OPTOMETRIC MANAGEMENT SYMPOSIUM ON CONTEMPORARY EYE CARE

Allaying the Fear of Vision Loss in Patients

Educating patients about the steps they can take to maintain good vision for a lifetime will put their minds at ease.

By Tim Fortner

The American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) recently surveyed 1,000 adults about the age-related health problems they feared most. When asked which condition would have the most negative impact on their lives, respondents ranked blindness and severe vision loss at the top of the list, tied with paralysis.¹

By age 50, most patients will have trouble reading small print, seeing at night and in low light conditions. They may have problems with bright sunlight, glare, floaters and dry eye — not to mention high blood pressure and diabetes, both of which contribute to blindness.^2,3 By age 65, half of your patients will have cataracts.⁴ And by age 75, one in three people will develop age-related macular generation (AMD), the leading cause of blindness among the elderly.⁵

So the fear of losing vision is quite real. When you consider how quickly the population of Americans over age 50 is growing, you realize there's an opportunity for practice growth. You can help allay your patients' worst fears by performing regular exams and providing good vision correction, both of which can add to your bottom line. But first, you need to educate patients about what you do and how you provide optimal eye care.

Living longer

In the 20th Century, the average lifespan increased by 30 years.⁶ People born in 1900 could expect to live to age 47, while those born in 2000 can expect to live to 77.5.⁷ Today, about 1 in 4 American adults will live to be 90. For the first time in history, we have six living generations.⁸ Of course, the largest is the baby boomer generation at close to 80 million. The first baby boomers turned 60 in 2006, and one person will turn 60 every seven seconds for the next 18 years. Even the youngest baby boomers are 44 now.⁹ Baby boomers are dealing with varying degrees of presbyopia and other vision issues that are common as people age.

Emphasize regular eye exams

Because of this trend, it will be essential for clinicians to stress the importance of maintaining ocular health and vision to patients, so they'll receive regular eye exams. Patients don't need to see you to buy eyeglasses and contact lenses. They can order them from an optical retailer — often at lower prices. When patients get their vision correction from you, it's because they're already in your office for an eye exam. More exams mean more fees and potentially more dispensing.

An eye exam screens for vision-threatening diseases, such as glaucoma and AMD. When a patient sticks with an optometrist, that doctor can monitor ocular changes over time, and that type of long-term care ultimately may save his patient's sight. What's more, ocular health issues can crop up at any time, so patients should visit your practice regularly instead of waiting until their eyeglasses are broken or no longer help them see well.

Sales turnaround

By helping people maintain healthy vision, eventually you'll see more patients and increase the number of visits per patient.

According to a 2005 report,¹⁰ the number of eye exams increased from 90.8 million to 91.8 million from 2003 to 2004. In the same period, sales of contact lenses increased.¹⁰ Sales of over-the-counter reading eyeglasses grew in double-digits as well as sales of sunglasses under $20.¹⁰

The disturbing part is that the number of eyeglasses sold in this period decreased from 76.1 million to 73.7 million, and so did the price of eyeglasses (lenses and frames both dropped about a dollar).¹⁰ Doctors performed more exams but sold fewer pairs of eyeglasses at lower prices.¹⁰

Those working outside the major eyecare chains didn't fare well in this area. Independent eyecare practitioners perform 66% of exams, but they fill only 43% of prescriptions — a capture rate of 65%. In other words, 60 million exams only yielded 33 million prescriptions.¹⁰

What's more, 80% of patients with eyeglasses have only one pair.¹⁰ When asked why on the AFB survey, patients said they only received one prescription.¹⁰ During their eye exams, over half were never asked about their family vision history, occupation, hobbies, sports or special needs.¹⁰ And doctors kept patients in a repurchase cycle of about 2.7 years for ages 18 to 35 and 2.2 years for ages 36 and older.¹⁰

Clearly, eyeglasses represent an area of potential growth for eyecare practitioners. Depending on an analysis of your practice, you may choose to boost your capture rate for prescriptions, reduce the repurchase cycle or increase the number of eyeglasses you dispense to each patient.

Full tool chest

Today's spectacle lenses offer so many benefits to patients, but first you need to understand each patient's special needs. Most patients aren't asked many of the critical questions regarding their ocular health and vision correction. Family history is key. You also must know how they use their eyes on their jobs, while participating in hobbies, sports and other activities. What can they read? What can't they read? How much time do they spend outdoors? Does bright sunlight bother their eyes? What about glare? And what do they like or dislike about their current eyeglasses?

With this information, you can prescribe the best possible lenses. Of the different types of lenses that eyecare professionals dispense, about 51.5% are single-vision lenses, 28.4% are progressives and 20.1% are bifocals/trifocals.¹⁰ By shifting this balance to more premium lenses, you can increase revenues and fulfill your patients' needs more effectively.

Finally, depending on your patient's lifestyle, you can add coatings to lenses. An antireflective (A/R) coating helps eliminate glare, which is a necessity for patients with outdoor lifestyles. You can even prescribe two pairs of eyeglasses. A primary A/R-coated photochromic pair and a second, polarized pair will cover all the bases. If price is a barrier, patients can add a clip-on to the primary pair. The important goals are to maximize your dispensing when possible and show patients you have exciting options at your disposal.

Good follow-through

Effectively communicating your value as an eyecare practitioner and convincing patients to visit you more often and spend more money go hand in hand. From the time patients enter your office to the time they leave, you and your staff must teach them how to maintain and enhance their ocular health. The wave of older patients is still on the rise. Perhaps by the time the wave peaks, we will have taught the public the importance of working with an optometrist to improve the vision they value so highly.

Mr. Fortner is trade development manager of Transitions Optical, Pinellas Park, Fla. As a frequent lecturer, he addresses the industry's latest challenges and opportunities. Before joining Transitions, Mr. Fortner was chief of ophthalmic services at Southern College of Optometry in Memphis, Tenn.