ODs must increase convenience, efficiency, quality

DENVER – “We need to find a way to make the experience convenient for our patients,” Stephen Cohen, OD, said here at Optometry’s Meeting during a roundtable discussion sponsored by CooperVision.

Cohen was one of 10 participating optometrists who were honored in the 2018 CooperVision Best Practices program, which recognizes those who deliver care in a visionary and innovative way.

Michele Andrews, OD, senior director of professional and academic affairs, North America, CooperVision, moderated the discussion, which covered patient expectations, meeting those expectations and competition.

Cohen said a paradigm shift has occurred in the profession regarding patient expectations.

“It used to be about human touch,” he said. “How many encounters you can have with your patient. Now patients feel they’re losing out on price, but they’re not; they’re losing out on convenience.”

“Patients also want efficiency,” Shawna Kuntz, OD, said. “They want to be in and out, but they still want quality. They’re asking more of us.”

Carmen Castellano, OD, said patients are also taking control of their own health care, “learning a lot more before they ever come into our offices, and it’s become more important for us to be able to provide information and care above what they’re looking for.”

To meet these increasing patient expectations, Bradley Owens, OD, said he and his partner, Bridgitte Shen Lee, OD, establish emotional touch points so patients want to come back. They have also enabled patients to order contact lenses at night, from their phone.

“Someone can order from 1-800-CONTACTS as easily as they can order from Vision Optique [his practice] now,” Owens said.

Cohen said he provides his cell phone number to patients and asks them to call him with a problem instead of going to the emergency room.

“I infrequently get calls,” he said. “But there is the opportunity for them to send me pictures, and I don’t have to go into the office. If you’re happy with your optometrist, you’re not paying as much attention to the barrage of marketing out there.”

Jonathan Micetich, OD, said he and his partner routinely visit the doctors in the area and explain what they do, showing them clinical images.

“Once they see me remove a piece of metal [from an eye], they don’t want to do that in their office anymore,” he said.

Christopher Smiley, OD, said he works to differentiate his practice.

“The more different I am than them, the less I have to worry about the competition,” he said. “A lot of us are differentiating with specialty care.”

Carrie Alfieri, OD, said she focuses on the patient experience, lending umbrellas, providing dog bones.

“I’m constantly having other doctors come into my practice to see what I do,” she said.

The panelists agreed that optometry school may not be the best setting for learning practice management.

“I did have practice management classes, but I wasn’t in the mindset to learn practice management,” Roxanna Potter, OD, said. “I focused on ocular disease, etc. Mentoring is good.”

“I spent time in an ophthalmology practice and paid attention to how they do things,” Micetich said. “They have no trouble charging a lot of money for things.”

Smiley said: “I graduated with $100,000 negative net worth, and the day I got licensed I became the owner of a two-location practice. Time commitment was the key to being successful. I spent just as much time working on my career as I did prepping for boards.”

“Sign up with a business consultant and get business ownership 101 from them,” Jeff Ward, OD, said.

The participants also stressed the importance of involvement outside the practice, in the community, politically, with industry and lecturing.

They also spoke about hiring and staff training.

“If I was giving a new optometrist advice, I’d say you can’t spend enough time on training your staff on customer service,” Ward said. “It’s cool to focus on convenience, but we can’t lose sight of the fact that we’re selling us. People won’t want to buy anywhere else if we are giving them an amazing experience.”

“I hire for attitude and train for skill,” Alfieri said.

Cohen agreed. “You can train skills, but you can’t train personality,” he said.

“One of the most effective tools is saying thank you,” he continued. “I do it at the end of every day. With bonuses and spiffs, that becomes motivation for what they do. I want them to want to do a better job without that. Empowerment is a great way to do it.” – by Nancy Hemphill, ELS, FAAO

Disclosures: Andrews is employed by CooperVision. All roundtable participants were named a Best Practice by CooperVision.