Brianna Rhue, O.D., F.A.A.O.

→ GOALS: Dr. Rhue, of West Broward Eyecare Associates, in Tamarac, Fla., says she would like to see her practice “continue to adopt new technologies, like Dr. Contact Lens*, to help stay compliant with the recent FTC ruling and enable patients to easily order glasses and contact lenses from our office.” Among her other business plans for 2021: “We will continue to improve our telemedicine platform and marketing to help grow the telemedicine part of our business,” and “focus on specialty care, like scleral contact lenses and myopia management,” she points out.

→ DESIRED PRODUCTS AND SERVICES FOR 2021: Dr. Rhue says she’d like to see: “Easier online forms that implement directly to our patient’s record,” “websites that are easier to update” and “referral networks for doctor-to-doctor referrals” to help her achieve her goals.

Douglas K. Devries, O.D.

→ GOALS: “I feel that efficiency is the No. 1 goal within our practices,” says Dr. Devries, co-founder of Eye Care Associates of Nevada, in Sparks, Nev., regarding niche services as a growth area. “How do we see patients with the minimum exposure for them and us and at the same time, maximizing the care provided for each experience? I believe that answer lies in efficiency [with] providing patients as many services as you can at the time of their visits, while at the same time maximizing the revenue per visit.”

→ DESIRED PRODUCTS AND SERVICES FOR 2021: To execute this goal, he says many practices will add various “premium” medical procedures, such as meibography, point-of-care testing, diagnostic corneal and tear imaging, thermal expression, IPL and microblepharoexfoliation, to name just a few, that can up the level of patient care.

Charlie Ficco, O.D.

→ GOAL: Dr. Ficco, of Milan Eye Center, in Atlanta, says he hopes to provide staff with better communication services. “Our staff spends a great deal of time on the phone, answering simple questions that patients have, every day,” he explains. Additionally, Dr. Ficco explains that networking is a cornerstone of his practice in a referral center.

→ DESIRED PRODUCTS AND SERVICES FOR 2021: Regarding the former, Dr. Ficco says he “would like to see more patient-friendly tools, such as applications, to allow patients to get more detailed information about questions that they may have.”

Regarding the latter, he says he’s planning to make a lot of phone calls and send a lot of emails to practitioners to let them know he’s still here for them and keep the lines of communication open.

Cecelia Koetting, O.D., F.A.A.O.

→ GOALS: Dr. Koetting, of Virginia Eye Consultants, a multi-location practice in Virginia, says she is looking at decreasing the amount of time for testing at each appointment to decrease time patients spend in office, which may allow for more patients to be on the schedule. She adds, “Expanding hours, or opening on days we used to be closed, may become a necessity to obtain practice growth. This, along with expansion of cash pay procedures for dry eye disease or the like will also help to increase revenue.”

→ DESIRED PRODUCTS AND SERVICES FOR 2021: “I think that in 2021 we will see utilization of online check-in and an increase in patient portal use. Better implementation would be helped by systems that integrate well with our existing EHR platforms,” she offers. “I would also be remiss if I didn’t mention telehealth and how this would likely benefit patient experience in some instances.”

Whitney Hauser, O.D., F.A.A.O.

→ GOALS: Dr. Hauser, of Signal Ophthalmic Consulting, Memphis, and OM’s “Dry Eye” columnist, says data will help optometrists to best serve their patients in 2021: “The best optometric practices keep track of data, but having a truly ‘data-driven’ practice will be more important than ever in 2021,” she explains. “Offices will be more mindful of their patient volume and revenue generated per patient. Identifying trends will be imperative for providing the best services for patients and creating marketing assets without wasting time or money on the wrong initiatives.”

→ DESIRED PRODUCTS AND SERVICES FOR 2021: “There are several new pipeline pharmaceuticals on the horizon to meet the unmet needs of some of our patient base,” she explains. “It will be interesting to see how physicians receive these innovations after drawing back in 2020.”

Andrew Rixon, O.D., F.A.A.O.

→ GOALS: Dr. Rixon, of the Memphis VA Medical Center, says patient care could be improved in 2021 via products and services, such as virtual reality, that allow the doctor to better understand the patient’s experience.

→ DESIRED PRODUCTS AND SERVICES FOR 2021: “From a chronic ocular disease perspective, i.e. AMD and glaucoma, I’d love to see the continued expansion of virtual reality in eye care. Idealistically, this technology would allow the patient to demonstrate for us in the first person how they are affected in their everyday environments,” he explains. “Improved doctor understanding of specifically how disease affects our patients’ perceptions of their environments would help us provide more personalized care. The knowledge we would gain would also allow us to provide more accurate educational materials to improve public health awareness of these conditions.”

Austin Lifferth, O.D.

→ GOALS: Dr. Lifferth, of Grossnickle Eye Center, in Warsaw, Ind., and OM’s “Glaucoma” columnist, says in 2021 his practice will focus on increased education and personalization of his glaucoma patients.

→ DESIRED PRODUCTS AND SERVICES FOR 2021: To accomplish this, Dr. Lifferth said his practice will be creating a “glaucomatician” position. “This role would be comparable to how a primary care provider may bring a newly diagnosed diabetic patient back to talk with their dietician more about how to control their chronic (and many times relatively asymptomatic) condition through better understanding, healthy food options, etc.,” he says. “This service would ideally go beyond my chairside education with the patient and provide a separate, specific, unharried time for the patients to discuss any questions that they may have regarding their diagnosis and their associated treatment options.”

Aaron McNulty, O.D., F.A.A.O

→ GOALS: “In 2021, we plan to continue the trend of fewer appointments and more personalized attention to each patient,” offers Dr. McNulty, of Louisville Eye Center, in Louisville, Ky.

→ DESIRED PRODUCTS AND SERVICES FOR 2021: “I would like to see a fully integrated and seamless process for patient checkin and checkout. This would ideally be patient-driven on a mobile device. We would direct them to a portal where they enter demographic/insurance data, sign financial and privacy forms, complete their medical history and input credit card information for payment. Even in a post-COVID world, this would create efficiency both for the office and for the patient.”

Amanda Nanasy, O.D.

→ GOALS: “[The year] 2021 for us will be focused on continuing to utilize our staff to the fullest without exceeding social distancing guidelines,” describes Dr. Nanasy, director of the Florida Institute of Sports Vision at The Eye Center, Pembroke Pines, Fla. “The big question for us: How many doctor hours do we have to spread around? Whether it’s through telemedicine or other services, we will need a plan that allows us alternate ways to keep our entire team on board.”

→ DESIRED PRODUCTS AND SERVICES FOR 2021: “While there have already been some services/products launched that we aren’t utilizing yet, I know that the ability to capture sales online is critical. I would love to be able to compete with the online retailers of frames and lenses while still giving the patient our important service aspect,” she notes.

Kristin S. O’Brien, O.D.

→ GOALS: Telehealth is top-of-mind for Dr. O’Brien, of Vision Source Studio 20/20, in Charlotte, N.C., and OM’s “New O.D.” columnist. Specifically, telehealth and “telescribing” are two areas she says she’s looking to grow. Additionally, Dr. O’Brien points out that she is investigating opportunities for staff to work from home for tasks such as billing, recalls, reconciliation, etc.

→ DESIRED PRODUCTS AND SERVICES FOR 2021: Dr. O’Brien says she hopes to see more remote options from the industry: “Telehealth is also the answer for improved access for qualified visits while maintaining the patient experience,” she explains. “A quality e-commerce site through our practice website would be very convenient for patients looking for a virtual option while maintaining quality eyewear and, at the same time, grow the practice,” she says.

Justin Bazan, O.D.

→ GOALS: “We anticipate running lean until we have a handle on COVID,” says Dr. Bazan, of Park Slope Eye, New York. “We have really done well scaling down, and we are seeing a net that is only a few percentage points lower than last year.”

→ THAT SAID: “We are providing patients with an exclusive experience; they are often the only patient in the office.”

→ DESIRED PRODUCTS AND SERVICES FOR 2021: “I’m looking forward to more devices that I can remote control,” he offers. “A slit lamp is at the top of my list.”

Ian Benjamin Gaddie, O.D., F.A.A.O.

→ GOALS: “We are standardizing hours of operation for all docs and associated clinics; no Saturday clinics; more marketing to established patients,” explains Dr. Gaddie, of Gaddie Eye Centers, a multi-location practice in Kentucky.

→ DESIRED PRODUCTS AND SERVICES FOR 2021: “Any technology that allows us to see or consult with patients more virtually,” he says.

Jack Schaeffer, O.D., F.A.A.O

→ GOAL: An increase in premium services was also among those items that Jack Schaeffer, O.D., consultant at MyEyeDr., says he’s looking for practices to achieve in 2021. Additional goals for 2021 include: increase average revenue per patient encounter, input staff training to handle the new life in a doctor’s office and focus marketing on existing patients.

→ DESIRED PRODUCTS AND SERVICES FOR 2021: Dr. Schaeffer says he anticipates product and service growth in 2021 to support the growth in premium services in the areas of aesthetics, myopia management and dry eye, to name a few.

Elizabeth A. Steele, O.D., F.A.A.O.

→ GOALS: Dr. Steele, of the University of Alabama School of Optometry, says she anticipates looking to grow “areas that might ‘stick’ after COVID.” For example, telemedicine, blended/hybrid visits and appointment-only visits in the optical.

→ DESIRED PRODUCTS AND SERVICES FOR 2021: She says she hopes to see more technologies and services that would make remote/online care more accessible for patients and with improved confidence and accuracy for doctors.