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BLOG: Evaluating your product
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The profession of optometry has many modes of practice. We provide clinical care in hospitals, Veterans Administration facilities, medical centers, corporate business locations and traditional private practice locations.
For those in private practice, it is important to look at the practice as a business. As a business, we have a product to offer to the public, and it is time to take a hard look at that product.
From a historic profession, this product was the measurement of the optics of the eye and supply of optical goods to correct optical defects. The word “optometry” actually means to measure the eye. This paradigm shifted dramatically in 1971 when the first diagnostic drug was passed in the state of Rhode Island. This was followed by the first therapeutic drug law in the state of West Virginia in 1976. In the 40 years that followed, optometry has evolved state by state into the primary health care profession that we are today. This was highlighted in 2010 with the passage of the Affordable Care Act, which established optometry services as an essential benefit for health care plans.
Yet in spite of all of the advancement of the profession, for some in the business of optometry, the product has not changed. The measurement of the optics of the eye (refraction) and the supply of optical goods (glasses and contact lenses) is still the featured product. For these optometrists, the threat of new technology and the online supply of both optical measurements and optical goods is a clear and present danger.
I was part of a team that took a hard look at the online alterative for the refraction and supply of optical goods. This should be good news for those optometrists who always tell me how much they “hate vision plans.” Perhaps they won’t be bothering you anymore. To say that the Internet can provide a measurement of the optics of the eye would be, in the broadest sense, correct. To call it an “online refraction” would be a falsehood. To consider it a low-cost alternative would also be incorrect. But that is today. It is important to note that, good, bad or ugly, the service is out there and available in several states.
In the summer of 2013, I wrote a provocative piece called, “Can you be replaced by a kiosk?” My points are just as timely for this new perceived threat as they were then. If you are still providing the traditional optometry product of 40 years ago, your practice is in grave danger. If, however, your product is personalized primary health care, and your patients look to you for medical eye care and the review of systemic medical data points with the measurement of vital signs, you are well positioned for the future.
This issue of the “product” that optometrists offer extends beyond the personal practice level. If we collectively are perceived by the health care system as just providing refractions and optical goods, they will be closely watching the quality and cost of the newer technology-driven supply chains for these basic services. If, however, we are viewed as an underutilized resource for primary health care services, we have nothing to fear from automated refractive testing.
With the Internet and related technology, it is time to take a hard look at your product. One look at the fate of well-established retail operations or your local shopping mall should give you a hint of what happens to traditional thinking.
Are your patients getting an optical experience or a medical experience when they leave your office? If it is not medical, your product needs an update.