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BLOG: Repositioning to the core of ophthalmology, part 1
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Since the early 1980s, when vision correction surgery first arose as a commercially viable subspecialty in America, surgeons have flirted with the alluring option of focusing all or nearly all of their career attentions on RK, PRK, LASIK and derivative procedures. In the last 30 years, we’ve had a chance to see numerous volume upturns and downturns as these procedures have fallen in and out of favor with the buying public and as consumer discretionary dollars have waxed and waned with the general economic climate.
As happens at the end of every boom cycle I’ve experienced, some refractive surgeons are always left stranded up on the beach when the tide goes out. It’s to these high-and-dry doctors that I would like to address the balance of this three-part blog set, along with any others who feel they have become a bit more LASIK-leaning than is healthy.
In practices that have overweighted refractive surgery, we see the following:
- Geriatric and general marketing budgets have been emptied out to pay for LASIK promotion; each year, the cost-per-LASIK-lead keeps rising, but the conversion rate from consultation to surgery decreases.
- Recall systems have fallen flat because staff and doctors got in the habit of thinking of patients as a short-term surgical fee “pop” rather than a slow, long-term annuity “drip.”
- The purchase of expensive refractive surgery capital equipment has created high fixed overhead and tied up capital and borrowing power that might be crucial to make it through these long-lasting LASIK doldrums (or be able to profitably serve a future lower-reimbursing patient base).
- Fortunes have been spent furnishing lavish “keeping up with the Dr. Joneses” clinical facilities; such facilities may be necessary for younger elective surgery patients but can leave senior patients a little overwhelmed and thinking, “So this is why my doctor needs a $75 refraction fee.”
- Local competitors have taken advantage of your LASIK practice’s niche focus to develop stronger ties not only with the senior public, but with important referral sources. It could take years in some cases for you to catch up because they have positioned you in the minds of referring doctors as “that LASIK guy.”
In the next installment, we talk about how to reverse course.
John B. Pinto is president of J. Pinto & Associates Inc., an ophthalmic practice management consulting firm established in 1979. John is the country’s most-published author on ophthalmology management topics. He is the author of John Pinto’s Little Green Book of Ophthalmology, Turnaround: 21 Weeks to Ophthalmic Practice Survival and Permanent Improvement, Cashflow: The Practical Art of Earning More From Your Ophthalmology Practice, The Efficient Ophthalmologist, The Women of Ophthalmology, Legal Issues in Ophthalmology, Ophthalmic Leadership: A Practical Guide for Physicians, Administrators and Teams and a new book, Simple: The Inner Game of Ophthalmic Practice Success. He can be reached at pintoinc@aol.com; website: www.pintoinc.com.