Minding Your Model

Part one of a two-part series on building your best practice

By Brad Williams, OD

Most of us realize the profession of optometry is moving toward the “medical model.” If you haven’t converted your practice to this model yet, you certainly need to consider putting it at the top of your “To Do” list.

That being said, however, here’s my question: “Is it necessary to sacrifice our heritage, the old vision model, as we move toward this new model? Can’t we still practice both models without compromising total patient fulfillment and profitability?

Let’s give this some thought.

TIME TO REMODEL?

For sure there are strong competitive entities such as online optical, big-box stores, and corporate chains, just to name a few, that are taking optical revenues away from us. I understand the reasons why optical revenue is in jeopardy and I also get that the common thinking is we must move to the medical model in order to have a successful, productive practice into the future.

I can’t disagree, but, at the same time, I don’t feel you should be ready to throw the towel in on the vision model…just yet, anyway.

Here’s why: I realize the loss of optical revenue can be replaced by providing more medical care in many practices. But, can’t a practice generate more revenue and bottom-line profit by utilizing both models? If the business side of the practice is managed well, I assure you the answer is a resounding “Yes.”

Granted, some colleagues just prefer the medical model and have phased out the vision one. That’s okay. There are many good things to say about this mode of practice. Without the cost-of-goods-sold expense headaches, no optical employees, less space dedicated to an optical dispensary, no optical inventory to manage, etc., many colleagues are doing quite well in their medical model.

If they want patients to take their prescriptions to a competitor to be fulfilled, that is entirely their choice. Sometimes we can’t control where patients take prescriptions. But I’m from the old school that still believes we need to do everything we can to fulfill both the patient’s eye health and eyewear needs.

PROFITABLE PROSPECTS

Don’t take me wrong, I believe strongly in the medical model and fought hard with colleagues in my state to improve our scope of practice. I’m not going against the grain here; I am just not willing to give up competing for profitable optical dispensary revenue. I don’t trust competitors to fill our patients’ prescriptions. In fact, I can’t think of many good things that could stem from encouraging patients to seek eyewear fulfillment elsewhere.

One of the medical conditions consumers fear most is blindness. Even when they are concerned about some particular eye health condition, they are trusting that you can cure or control it while fulfilling both their medical and vision care needs. Because good vision affects their lifestyle so much, their thoughts often focus on “how well can I see.” Therefore, you can choose to only fulfill their eye health needs or to meet their vision care needs as well. Your call…

That being said, I do realize the old vision model is dying a slow death in many practices, but I’m not willing to give up yet. In this day and age, you have to look at every aspect of how you do business. Building and maintaining a strong relationship with patients is a major competitive advantage. EB

Brad Williams, OD, is the founder of Williams Group, based in Lincoln, NE.

TEN DEADLY SINS

These aren’t new, but they’re true. I call them the 10 Deadly Sins of Dispensing. For your sake, I hope none of them is living in your practice.

1 Inadequate patient data—you fail to determine all of the patient’s specialty eyewear needs.

2 Inadequate eyewear product knowledge—if you don’t know what you should know, then you can’t do what you should do.

3 Big heart—doctor tries to determine what the patient can afford, despite the fact that Marketing 101 tells us that is a big mistake. Besides that, it is our professional responsibility to recommend what the patient needs and let him decide what he can and can’t afford.

4 Doctor doesn’t recommend—eyewear fulfillment has to start with the doctor’s recommendation and a smooth baton pass into the optical dispensary. Nothing new here, but still a major problem.

5 Lack sufficient, in-depth knowledge of characteristics peculiar to even a few major target groups in the geographic area with special eyewear needs specific to each target group—I will explain this in part II of this article.

6 Inadequate optical dispensary inventory—patients want a good selection.

7 Obsolete or out-of-style dispensary inventory.

8 Obsolete or out-of-date optical dispensary. A common problem.

9 Inadequate dispensary support—that is, poor baton pass from doctor to optician.

10 Inadequate dispensary skills—optician(s) not highly trained.