Speaker: New technology may be threat to patient access, retention

ATLANTA – New technology, along with providing a myriad of benefits to practices, is generating threats to patient access in the form of online companies who have the capacity to underbid independent practitioners and distribute targeted online marketing, a speaker here at SECO said.

"Our patients live in a complex world where they’re being constantly and consistently marketed to by online companies emerging amidst the development of new technologies that remove or limit the role of eye care practitioners," Justin Bazan, OD, said during a lecture.

Justin Bazan

For example, these online companies have greater advertising muscle than independent practitioners and, therefore, have access to a wider range of advertising portals, such as Facebook and YouTube, which target their ads specifically to each individual user, Bazan said.

This in itself is not a threat, but patients often will try to refill their expiring prescription without a proper eye exam from their ECP, to avoid the cost of the exam, he said.

"And they’re succeeding," Bazan said.

This is due to a critical oversight in the Fairness to Contact Lens Consumer Act (FCLCA), he said.

"FCLCA is a passive verification system. If a doctor fails to respond with verification of the prescription submitted by the patient trying to get contact lenses from an online lens company within 8 business hours, the company is allowed to give the patient the benefit of the doubt and ship without verification," Bazan told SECO attendees.

"So all the patient needs to do is keep entering a different doctor on the online order form until they get to one who fails to respond," he said. "Everything’s deregulated once we start talking about the Internet, especially if the online company is based internationally. A company based in Canada, for example, doesn’t need to verify at all. And patients will figure this out."

To combat this trend, Bazan said, practitioners need to respond to verifications and contact the patient directly each time they do so, politely educating them on how you can provide those lenses and asking them to support your practice.

"Be proactive," he said. "Sell lenses online yourself. Send out an email reminder when a patient’s prescription is expiring. Build loyalty."

Image courtesy of RobbsPhotos.com.