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Dispensing contact lenses from stock helps your practice maintain a high service profile
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HOUSTON - Have you considered dispensing contact lenses from in-office stock? Marcus G. Piccolo, OD, in practice here, believes the initial investment may seem large, but you are stocking lenses "you will turn over anyway," he said.
Dr. Piccolo says the key to success is "having a good contact lens representative who is willing to give personal attention to your practice." He believes keeping convenience for the patient uppermost helps his practice maintain a high service profile. Dispensing from stock and direct shipping enables his patients to limit visits to the necessary 6-month checks.
Selecting the best lenses
Dr. Piccolo recommends selecting from the best-performing contact lenses. Then, with all things being equal, look for price breaks with bulk orders or specials. He stocks a few conventional soft contact lenses in the offered parameters with one or two in each power. The bulk of his inventory is in disposable or frequent replacement lenses.
Dr. Piccolo keeps only diagnostic conventional toric lenses and, rather than try to stock frequent replacement torics in all of their different variables, he stocks enough of one brand to dispense one pair from stock and order the remainder. He frequently uses a company's direct shipping benefit, particularly if he finds his stock short in the sphericals.
Dispensing from stock "collapses the amount of chair time and staff time," said Neil Gailmard, OD, FAAO, of Munster, Ind. "We believe it helps in building our practice." Dr. Gailmard said dispensing from stock is something to consider "when the practice is ready to go to a higher level of efficiency. We believe it minimizes the patients' desire to go to mail order," he said.
Dr. Gailmard's practice dispenses a year's supply to each patient, thus requiring a large inventory. The practice stocks all the parameters of two disposable spherical lenses. In the powers from -0.25 to -4 D, the practice stocks deeply - 16 to 24 multipacks - especially in the practice's preferred base curve. In -4 to -9 D and in +0.25 to +6 D, the practice stocks four multipacks each. Additionally, it stocks about four in each parameter in one brand of disposable tinted lenses.
Dr. Gailmard uses few nondisposables these days, but, like Dr. Piccolo, he carries one or two lenses in each parameter of two favorite brands. He also has a dispensing inventory in gas-permeable lenses. He and his staff selected 9.2 as their favorite diameter and ordered a set of one lens in each 0.05-mm step in the 42 to 47 D base curve range and in powers from -.50 to -6 D in .25-D steps in a material they like, manufactured to their own tricurve lens design. Flat packs from dispensed stock lenses go into a drawer. Every other day, a technician calls and orders replacements.
Dr. Gailmard said dispensing from stock "speeds up the practice's cash flow. If you are dispensing immediately, you also get paid immediately," he said. To do this, you must have adequate staff who are well-trained in assisting with lens placement, over-refraction and care regimen training. His practice also keeps toric lenses to dispense from stock.
James C. Lanier, OD, of Wood, Lanier and Bowman, PA, in Jacksonville, Fla., has developed a novel way of marking his inventory of disposables. His office uses a self-sticking, removable, transparent note with a little tab of color on one end. The staff members color-code base curve and brand, then they write the power on each tab. When a box is dispensed, the tab is removed and placed on a reorder sheet. A technician orders lenses every 2 or 3 days.
Dr. Lanier also studies a quarterly usage report from the contact lens company, which indicates how many and which lenses his office used last year during that quarter and what was ordered during the past 6 months. His staff then projects an inventory to cover the practice's needs.
For Your Information:
- Marcus G. Piccolo, OD, is an associate professor at the University of Houston College of Optometry, 4901 Calhoun Rd., Houston, TX 77204-6052; (713) 743-1971; fax: (713) 743-0730. He is president-elect of the Texas Optometric Association.
- James C. Lanier, OD, may be reached at 1500 Riverside Ave., Jacksonville, FL 32204; (904) 356-7101; fax: (904) 356-7947.
- Susan E. Marren, OD, FAAO, is an assistant professor at the Eye Institute, 1201 Spencer, Philadelphia, PA 19141; (215) 276-6160; fax: (215) 276-1329; e-mail: SMarren@aol.com. None of the above has a direct financial interest in the products mentioned in this article, nor is any a paid consultant for any companies mentioned.
- Neil Gailmard, OD, FAAO, may be reached at Gailmard Eye Center, 630 Ridge Rd., Munster, IN 46321; (219) 836-1738; fax: (219) 836-5367. Dr. Gailmard serves on the Professional Advisory Board for Vistakon. He has recently served in this capacity for Ciba and Wesley-Jessen.