Optometry’s evolution: steady progress, strong roots

Issue: September 2005

ByJennifer Byrne

Richard S. Kattouf, OD, DOS [photo]
Richard S. Kattouf

In the September 1996 issue of Primary Care Optometry News, three practitioners speculated on the possible shift to a group setting in the future of optometric practice.

The practitioners weighed in with their predictions on comanagement, technology, practice structure and practice focus.

“I believe that within the next 10 to 15 years, the solo practice will be a thing of the past,” said Richard S. Kattouf, OD, DOS, a consultant based in Warren, Ohio.

While this prediction may not have come entirely to fruition, much has changed in the field of optometry during the past decade. In this installment of our 10^th Anniversary Retrospective Series, we re-examine the forecasts made by the doctors in the original article and ask them to make new predictions for optometry’s future.

Growth of group practice

“How clear was that crystal ball in September of 1996?” Dr. Kattouf said in a recent interview with Primary Care Optometry News. “In the 24 years I have been a consultant to the ophthalmic industry, major changes have occurred.”

September 1996: This issue spotlighted managed care and practice development. The original interviews with Drs. Kattouf and Hayes appeared in the lead story.

While the solo practice may not be entirely obsolete, Dr. Kattouf has seen a dramatic shift from solo practice to group practice over the years. “Optometry has shifted to multi-doctor (group) or multi-discipline mode,” he said. “There are several reasons, and the reasons are clear.”

The advent of managed care has been one driving factor in the formation of group practices, Dr. Kattouf said. “Managed care has eroded income, creating a necessity to lower overhead and total cost of operations,” he said. “Group practice helps accomplish these results.”

The expansion of the optometric scope of practice has changed virtually every aspect of optometry, and indeed it has also prompted the shift toward group practice, Dr. Kattouf said. “Medical optometry has expanded, creating a need for ODs to be ‘on-call,’” he said. “Group practices ‘share’ the coverage.”

The increase in optometric specialties has also made it practical to combine these specialties in group practice. “Optometric specialties and maximizing medical care are the financial future of independent optometry,” Dr. Kattouf said. “Multiple doctors bring varied skills and interest to the practice.”

Dr. Kattouf also cited the increased number of female optometrists, noting that group practice allows busy professional women more time with their children. “For parents, owning a practice as a group provides them with more time to attend to their children,” he said.

Market-driven profession

Owner and president of Hayes Consulting in Vicksburg, Miss., Jerry Hayes, OD, was also quoted in the September 1996 issue of PCON. In that article, Dr. Hayes said, “Established practitioners must alter their mode of practice from vision care to primary eye health provider.”

Today, Dr. Hayes acknowledges that optometry has certainly made great strides in that direction since the time of his prediction. “Optometry has gotten much more involved in providing primary eye care and medical eye care,” he said. “The thing that perhaps hasn’t changed as dramatically is the fact that most optometrists still generate about 75% of their income from the optical side of their practices. So, in that sense, the profession has stayed very close to its roots.”

Jerry Hayes, OD [photo]
Jerry Hayes

He said that in the past decade, the shift toward the medical aspects of eye care has been significant. “Clearly, optometry is providing a lot more primary eye care in 2005 than we did in 1995,” he said. “And that is largely a function of laws that expand the scope of practice of optometry.”

Although Dr. Hayes recognizes that the evolution of optometry will most likely continue in this direction, he hopes that the profession will continue to be “market-driven.”

“I’d like to see optometry provide the services and the products that the public wants,” he said. “And I think we need to continue to ask the question, ‘to what degree do we abandon our heritage as the primary providers of optical goods such as eyeglasses and contacts to be involved with medical care?’”

Dr. Hayes said he is not opposed to optometry evolving and having a greater role in medical care, but he also feels the optical roots of the profession are too valuable to just give away. “I am somewhat ‘old-school’ OD, so I think we should hold onto the optical part of the profession while continuing to grow in the medical area,” he said. “The profession is going to change for the better and that is good. We can move into the medical arena to the full degree of our training, whatever that may be in the future.”

For Your Information:

Richard S. Kattouf, OD, DOS, is the founder of Kattouf Consulting in Warren, Ohio. He can be reached at 8133 East Market St., Warren, OH 44484; (330) 856-6113; fax: (330) 856-6437; e-mail: advancedeyecare@hotmail.com.

Jerry Hayes, OD, is president of Hayes Consulting in Vicksburg, Miss. He can be reached at 3530 Manor Dr., Ste. 6, Vicksburg, MS 39180; (828) 787-1800; fax: (800) 501-6858; e-mail: jhayes@hayesconsulting.com.