Building blocks of a refractive surgery practice: marketing, staff education

Issue: January 1998

Dr. Jackson said that in his experience with high-volume practices, mass marketing is not always the best method to generate a patient base.

"But, historically, in ophthalmologic practices, that was the way you promoted refractive surgery. Only a small percentage of patients respond to that, usually on the order of one-half percent to 1%. If you spend a lot of money and you're really good and lucky, you will get more than your share of patients from that 1%. But to be on the radio and in the newspaper is really expensive. Unless you're running a surgery center, your return on that is going to be insufficient.

"I do think patient education seminars and doing some target mailings - sending out a letter or a postcard to 5,000 patients - can be done relatively inexpensively," he continued. "And then have a seminar. That's a way of getting your message out. You just want to be very careful, because you can spend a lot of money on mass marketing in a very short amount of time with little or no return if you don't track it carefully."

Dr. Kennedy also stands by the idea of public seminars and hosts one in his community on a bi-monthly basis.

"Typically, about 40 people come to every session to learn more about radial keratotomy, PRK and other laser vision correction procedures," Dr. Kennedy said. "The take-home message here is these people are looking for information about this new technology. Apparently they are not receiving this information from their own eye care provider.

"The last number I heard regarding mass marketing came from a major company that was involved in a huge push to advertise," he continued. "They estimated they spent $8,000 per procedure. In other words, they spent $8,000 for a procedure that only generated $2,000 in revenue. So that kind of marketing just hasn't worked. Patients are waiting for my expression of confidence with this new technology. If I demonstrate this confidence, it will be me that they will seek advice from and not some external source such as a friend or external marketing effort. I've had new patients come to me and literally say that because their former optometrist didn't bring laser vision correction up, they thought he didn't believe in it. The lesson? Perception is reality. Don't lose patients. If your patients are going from your office to mine, it isn't that I'm any better it's just that I'm willing to talk about it."

Large centers offer resources

Dr. Jackson said that between the national companies and individual surgeons and regional centers, a private practitioner can find a comanaging partner that has a philosophy that he or she will be comfortable with. He added that practitioners should fully investigate every potential partner.

"You want to stay away from people using lasers not approved by the Food and Drug Administration," Dr. Jackson advised. "You want to ask what the training of surgeons has been, what their individual results have been and, most importantly, what happens when you have complications. Everybody has complications. If they say they don't, they're lying - or they haven't done any cases. That's where a national company has a benefit.

"You want to partner with someone who can cover all forms of complications from overcorrections to irregular astigmatism," he said. "You need to have access to centers outside the United States to acquire the full range of procedures."

Be in synch with partner

"It's very easy to anticipate that you'll have much greater success earlier than most practices have in actuality," Dr. Taylor cautioned. "That's not to say that you can't grow a successful refractive practice, but it takes a much longer period of time than most practitioners and marketers predict. So you have to do the basics. You have to have the appropriate brochures, educational materials and videos. You have to train your staff internally so they all know what we're talking about - so they're putting out the same message. And part of how you get to that level should come from the practitioners you're working with and the associated laser centers. You shouldn't have to develop that all on your own."

For Your Information:

Jimmy Jackson, MS, OD, FAAO, is center director of TLC Rocky Mountain Laser Center, 55 Madison St., Suite 635, Denver, CO 80206; (303) 329-9141; fax: (303) 780-9767.

Dennis Kennedy, OD, is director of Vision Associates of Westland, Michigan, 38979 Cherry Hill Road, Westland, MI 48186; (313) 326-2160; fax: (313) 326-9678. Dr. Kennedy has no direct financial interest in any of the products mentioned in this article, nor is he a paid consultant for any company mentioned.

Kenneth P. Taylor, OD, is director, Technology and Product Development, at Arthur D. Little Inc., Acorn Park, Cambridge, MA 02140-2390; (617) 498-5000; fax: (617) 498-7250.