I have had the unique opportunity and privilege of becoming part of a renowned legacy practice born from contact lenses and only contact lenses. I joined this practice as an associate optometrist straight out of optometry school in 1983, and I’ve never looked back (until now, that is).
As part of this year’s Contact Lens Issue, I was asked to discuss how contact lenses built the 66-year-old practice known today as Farkas, Kassalow, Resnick & Associates.
What follows are the action steps I believe transformed our two-location contact lens-only practice into the full-service, specialty contact lens and primary care clinic it is today.
Meeting a need
In 1958, our founders, Drs. Paul Farkas and T.W. Kassalow, who met while serving our country, decided to join forces to open a contact lens-only practice because they, in part, recognized an unmet need.
Specifically, during the same period, several patients had undergone intracapsular cataract surgery with resulting aphakia. Given the visual limitations of aphakic spectacle lenses, many were seeking contact lens fitting. Drs. Farkas and Kassalow obliged.
Since the practice’s inception, its goal has been to meet unmet patient needs. This is because doing so enhances a patient’s quality of life, which creates patient loyalty to a practice and, therefore, the opportunity to meet future eye care needs.
Meeting patients’ needs has required staying current on the latest advances in contact lenses, so the ODs could provide them. As examples, when gas permeable materials became available in the early ’70s and early design hybrids and soft toric lenses, among others, made their debut in the 1980s, the practice’s optometrists were sure to offer patients these advances. What’s more, when the 1990s and mid 2000s birthed orthokeratology and improved toric designs, respectively, the practice made these technologies available. The same goes for soft lenses for keratoconus (KCN) modern scleral designs, myopia-control soft lenses, custom soft lenses, improved disposable soft multifocal lenses, and expanded options in soft prosthetic designs.
Marketing externally
One of the practice’s partners, shyer in nature, yet more clinically inclined, covered patient care, while the other, more gregarious and outgoing, “canvassed,” or marketed the nascent practice externally.
Specifically, the canvasser would go out and meet as many potential referral sources as possible. He mostly “cold called” general ophthalmologists and cataract surgeons to educate them about the optometrists’ acumen in fitting contact lenses.
By reaching out to these opthalmologists, Drs. Farkas and Kassalow not only garnered additional referrals, they also laid the groundwork for the comanagement of ocular issues, such as cataracts, not related to contact lenses. This established a setting of mutual trust and benefits to both parties, while fostering open communication and seamless patient care.
As a recent example, ophthalmologists with whom the practice’s optometrists have relationships rely on Farkas, Kassalow, Resnick & Associates to both identify and manage dry eye disease prior to a patient undergoing refractive surgery.
Providing unparalleled service
The practice established a patient-first culture upon its 1959 opening, and that has never wavered. This culture has also created patient loyalty to the practice, as well as inquiries regarding non-contact lens-related services.
A recent example of this patient-first culture: In knowing that early detection of KCN is paramount to timely referral for corneal cross-linking, the practice offers a complimentary “screening” to the children and grandchildren of all its KCN patients. This screening process consists of recording visual acuity with their current correction, obtaining an autorefraction, and performing corneal tomography.
An added benefit to the patient and the practice is that this limited, yet focused, exam also serves as a helpful screening tool for uncomplicated myopia, opening the door for a discussion regarding myopia management.
Incorporating technology
As more specialty lenses became available, the practice invested in related technologies, including a tomographer, topographer with A-scan, anterior segment OCT, and an impression-molding device, among others.
In noting we utilized “cool gadgets,” patients identified us as state-of-the-art practitioners whom they felt could, therefore, address all their vision and ocular health needs. This led to the eventual practice expansion into full primary care commensurate with New York State expansion of practice scope privileges.
Today, the practice houses diagnostics for dry eye disease, age-related macular degeneration, and fixation disparity, among others.
Growing the team
Some 15 years after the practice first opened, the patient population had expanded to “cosmetic” (standard refractive error) fitting and non-contact lens-related ocular issues, which were increasing. As a result, Drs. Farkas and Kassalow started hiring additional optometrists who were not only skilled in contact lens fitting, but also in delivering primary eye care. This was to ensure both their current and new patients continued to receive timely and exemplary care.
Specifically, Paul’s nephew, Dr. Barry Farkas was brought on first, and Dr. Jordan Kassalow (T.W.’s son) and I joined the practice in the early and mid 1980s progressing from associateships to junior partnerships. We acquired full ownership upon Barry’s retirement roughly 15 years ago.
We now team up with our third partner Dr. Kevin Rosin and our associates Dr. Kevin Patrizio and Dr. Melissa Levine, each of us having both shared and distinct responsibilities for practice growth and development.
Expansion
The action steps detailed above fueled the significant expansion of the practice from one that began as an exclusive contact lens practice to a full-service, primary care clinic that now incorporates ocular surface disease management, surgical co-management and yes, even spectacle eyewear, among other services. That said, our devotion to the practice’s legacy as a contact lens practice remains steadfast. After all, it’s what got us here. OM
