The Smart Choice

Profit strategies and products for the eye care professional

Case Studies

ABB CONCISE Case Studies are real life, in-depth accounts of Eye Care Practitioners who rely on ABB CONCISE profit-strategies to build business. Four times a year, case studies are published in the ABB CONCISE Contact Lens Profit Advisor, the industry's leading source of unbiased expertise for today's eye care professional.

Case Study #1 Q1 2012
The Dawn of New Custom Lens Designs
Case Study #2 Q4 2011
Avoid the Bumps on the Road to Profitability
Case Study #3 Q4 2011 part 2
Business Reviews Provide a Guide to a Smooth Path for Practice Growth
Case Study #4 Q3 2011
More Frequent Connections Improve Your Competitive Edge
Case Study #5 Q3 2011 part 2
New Communications Efforts Take Less Time, Have Greater Impact
Case Study #6 Q2 2011
ABB CONCISE Web Site Enhancements Make It Easier to Manage Your Business
Case Study #7 Q2 2011 part 2
Doctor Lets ABB CONCISE Do the Legwork in Web Site Development

Case Study Archive

Call 1-800-852-8089 to learn more about ABB CONCISE competitive pricing strategies and profit checks for eye care practitioners.

Case Study #1

Definitive™ Lens Provides Breakthrough Precision in Silicone Hydrogel Lens

Specialty contact lens fits for patients with irregular corneas, large amounts of astigmatism or other challenging situations have been the purview of a limited number of fitters. Fewer practitioners today are trained or comfortable in fitting GP lenses, so many practitioners unaccustomed to the challenge have been referring those patients to specialty fitters. Now that ABB CONCISE is able to offer latheable silicone hydrogel lenses that match the precision of a GP lens fit with the comfort and oxygen permeability of the silicone hydrogel material, the whole dynamic could change.

“Up until now, many patients have had the benefits of silicone hydrogel material, with the possible exception of those who really need it the most,” says Timothy O. Koch, COT FCLSA, senior professional services specialist at Contamac US. He’s talking about those patients with irregular corneas or other unusual prescription challenges who have relied on GP contact lenses or custom soft lenses that didn’t offer similar levels of oxygen permeability. Silicone hydrogel soft lenses, until recently, were made with standard parameters and prescriptions, he says, and couldn’t be produced in every prescription.

That changes with the advent of the Definitive™ lens material from Contamac. “It’s the very first silicone hydrogel material that comes in a blank form or button and is latheable by manufacturers approved to do so,” Koch says. In late 2011, ABB CONCISE became one of those manufacturers, and the lens prescriptions can be finalized in the ABB CONCISE lab in California.

“For patients who have been unable to tolerate GP lenses, it’s proving to be a nice alternative,” says Koch. But that’s not the only market. “Many practitioners who have been working with lenses made in the Definitive material are finding it works so well that maybe they could be using it for more of their custom fits.”

The learning curve is low, Koch says, because lab consultants will help practitioners work through the order. “The first pair ordered may be a kind of diagnostic lens.” With a turnaround time of only two or three days, these lenses will open the door to patients with unique prescriptions and those to whom contact lens wear may not have been feasible before.

Definitive lenses can help any patient for whom the practitioner feels that vision could be improved with contact lenses—astigmats, hyperopes, myopes, presbyopes and most especially those with special indications, such as atypical prescriptions and irregular corneas. These patients also can enjoy the benefits of silicone hydrogel, he says.

Koch adds, “There are some patients who struggle with GP lenses, so I think this is going to be a good option for these patients. Practitioners will be able to offer them—and others who haven’t been able to wear contact lenses before—an opportunity to achieve the vision and comfort of all-day contact lens wear,” he says. Lenses produced in the Definitive material typically are packaged as quarterly replacement, daily wear contact lenses. There may be a slight price differential from GP lenses, but Koch believes that wearers will be so satisfied with the increased comfort that it will not be an issue. And the impact on a doctor’s practice can be significant. “Instead of referring these patients to a university or colleague who specializes in challenging contact lens fits, doctors can gain the comfort level they need quickly so that they can keep these patients in their practices,” Koch says. A phone consultation with the lab, which includes a discussion about the prescription and keratometry readings, will often be sufficient to develop a diagnostic lens. Diagnostic sets and topography can be helpful in more complicated cases but isn’t necessary to get started with the process, he adds.

Case Study #2

Avoid the Bumps on the Road to Profitability - Bringing Order to the Ordering Process

When Gregory D. Foley, OD, joined Eye Central in2008, the contact lens ordering process had not kept up with the times. Dr. Foley, who spent almost 15 years working in an ophthalmology practice, had no direct management experience but had benefited from watching how a strong management team operated. So he decided he’d apply what he had learned to streamline the contact lens ordering process. The practice has two locations, one on Washington, D.C.’s Capitol Hill and the second in the Virginia suburbs of McLean. Patient charts were stacked up on a counter, and at the end of each day, Dr. Foley or the doctor working that day would call each contact lens vendor. David A. Reed, OD, the original practice owner who continues to work at the practice a few days a week, fit many GP lenses, so calls to GP labs were part of the end-of-day activities, too. “I thought that there has to be an easier way of going about this task,” he recalls. That’s when he met Tina Howell, an ABB CONCISE rep, who has provided invaluable information to help keep his practice competitive.

Red Flag: Contact lens orders were piling up throughout the day, and calls to order lenses were made to each vendor at the end of the day.

Solution: Use ABB CONCISE and the virtual shopping cart.

The practice began ordering through ABB CONCISE, which immediately made the ordering process more manageable. Now a technician can create orders throughout the day and hold them in the virtual shopping cart. The day’s orders are sent just before 4 p.m. with a push of a button. Most of those lenses are delivered the next day, a much faster turnaround compared to the old ordering system.

Shortly after, the practice added a yourlens.com link to its web site so patients can reorder their contact lenses when it’s convenient. It has been an effective way to keep patients from taking their prescriptions elsewhere. “People here are short on time,” says Dr. Foley.Many of his Capitol Hill patients are Congressional employees or lobbyists or are in a hurry to get back to their offices. By showing them a price list that compares the practice price to that charged by competitors—information he updates by using the quarterly Soft Lens Retail Price Monitor—these patients quickly realize that the time they spend ordering contact lenses elsewhere is not worth the small price differential. The Annual Supply Price Comparison worksheet available to download from abbconcise.com shows patients how rebates and annual supply pricing make your practice competitive. And many of those who do shop around find that Dr. Foley’s numbers were right on target and decide that the service of buying through Dr. Foley’s office and having their lenses shipped directly to their home or office is a bigger benefit.

Another administrative bonus of switching the contact lens orders to ABB CONCISE has been the simplicity of having one bill. And as a result of nearly all of the practice’s orders being filled at ABB CONCISE, Howell provides the practice with a regular Business Review that provides valuable quantitative and comparative data. “Each quarter, we can see what lenses are selling in each practice and what the trends are. That helps us analyze whether we are inventorying the right lenses and whether purchasing banks of lenses can help us achieve better pricing,” Dr. Foley says.

In many ways, he says he and his practice partner, David A. Fissel, OD, were lucky. Because they made the switch to ABB CONCISE shortly after purchasing the practice and started right away listening to Howell’s counsel and suggestions, they were able to develop good habits right from the start. By moving from a laborious, manual system of ordering to an efficient and less costly electronic system—enhanced even more by the best practice strategies and other information Howell provides—they’ve been on a strong growth curve.

Case Study #3

Business Reviews Provide a Guide to a Smooth Path for Practice Growth

In making business decisions, Dr. Gregory Foley has come to rely on the Business Review provided by his ABB CONCISE representative Tina Howell. Howell says these reviews represent “part of the value of doing business with ABB CONCISE.” She explains, “I’ve visited new accounts or potential accounts and brought a Business Review. The doctors are amazed to have access to this clear, concise data from every manufacturer in one analysis. They ask me how much extra it costs to
have these done and are flabbergasted that it’s a free service we provide.” Howell makes it a point to show each account how the practice compares to the top 500 ABB CONCISE accounts nationwide. Data from these top accounts is identified on a benchmarking page in the Business Review, and the practice’s data can be compared to those benchmarks. She focuses on a few key issues—the red flags that indicate that a little corrective action could result in increased profitability.

Modality: “We look at the mix of contact lens orders, paying specific attention to single-use lenses, toric lenses, multifocal lenses, two-week spheres and monthly spheres. These numbers give us an idea of where there are opportunities to grow the practice with the newer products on the market, which also have a higher profit margin,” Howell says.

Red Flag: Placing less than 73 percent of soft contact lens, GP lens and ophthalmic lens orders online is not optimal.

Solution: Use one distributor to consolidate as many orders as possible. Calling or faxing orders adds to the transaction cost.

Order placement: Next, Howell examines how the practice places its orders for ophthalmic lenses, soft contact lenses and GP contact lenses. “The benchmark for the top 500 practices is around 73 percent of orders online,” says Howell, although she encourages her accounts to reach for 85 percent of orders placed online. “The cost of transactions is high. So even though online orders and arranging for direct shipment to patients may take a few minutes now, that information will be in the ABB CONCISE system and updating or reordering will result in time saved each year from now on,” she says.

Order shipment: The top ABB CONCISE accounts average about 28.5 percent of soft contact lens orders shipped directly to the patient’s home or office. “If your average is lower than that, it’s time to have a conversation about patient retention and saving money on the transaction cost,” Howell says.

Return percentage: A practice’s return percentage should not top 5 percent of total purchases, she says. “If returns are higher, maybe it’s related to the fact that a technician is calling the orders in instead of placing them online. Calling in orders leaves more room for errors,” she says. Even though ABB CONCISE credits accounts for returns, “your money is tied up while you’re waiting for that credit.” Having a high return percentage could mean that patients are not coming back into the office to pick up their lenses. This could be a red flag to consider shipping more orders directly to the patient, obtaining credit card payment upfront for orders and utilizing yourlens.com.

Top 10 products: Howell shows every account a breakdown of its top 10 soft contact lens products. “We want to make sure that they’re using more of the newer products, such as silicone hydrogel lenses, single-use lenses and specialty lenses. These newer lenses often have the best rebates, too,” she says. She’ll help analyze the costs and figure out ways the practice can save through bulk or bank purchases. Finally, she takes notes during each Business Review, so that during her next visit to that office, she and the doctor can talk about strategies or practices that have had an impact. She often brings a Business Review from the same period a year earlier to the practice with her so she and the doctor can analyze the trends. “The Business Review provides me with the numbers so I can help give the practice principles a snapshot of what their practice is doing. With that data, we can identify opportunities to increase efficiency and save money. It’s a road map,” she says.

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Case Study #4

More Frequent Connections Improve Your Competitive Edge

To create patient loyalty, seeing patients just once a year is not enough. Two ABB CONCISE members show how their more frequent contact with patients results in better connections.

Use Yourlens.com for More than Ordering - Program includes email function for updates

Most ABB CONCISE members know that yourlens.com is an easy way to promote the fact that you offer online sales of contact lenses. But it does much more than that. Laura Hans, the office manager at Hubbell Eye Clinic, uses it regularly to email all of the practice’s patients, updating them about specials or promotions the office is holding.

She adds information for every patient into the yourlens.com system— whether those patients have a contact lens order or not. “I just leave the contact lens order portion blank for those who don’t have one,” she says. And then when she has an offer to announce, she can send an email to the 2,400 names in there currently, with a push of a button. “I know when it hits because we start receiving calls right away,” she says. In fact, the response is so immediate, she’s learned that she needs to alert the front desk staff members moments before she sends the email so that they are prepared for a surge in calls.

Using yourlens.com is just one of the newer approaches she and Gerard H. Hubbell, OD, employ to communicate with patients. The practice has a web site, Facebook and Twitter accounts, and practice staff mails out birthday cards to patients, too. “But I like using yourlens.com best. When I send an email through that, it goes directly to our patient email database. I’m reaching the patients who come here already.”

It’s important not to overuse the system, avoiding a potential backlash of patients who say they’re getting too many communications from the office. In past year, she has sent out a promotion for the endof- the-year holidays, focusing on patients using their flex-spending benefits before they run out; and for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, offering special gifts or discounts for shoppers. She anticipates sending a back-to-school reminder and maybe a summer sunwear offer, as well.

Hans has worked in her family’s businesses, none of which are related to eye care, for years and knows the importance of continuous marketing. The point is that current patients have a chance to think about Hubbell Eye Clinic in between their annual visits. Asking patients to take and post their new-eyewear photos on the Facebook page helps generate interest with existing patients—and their social networks.

The key to making this strategy work is to capture patients’ email addresses while they’re in the office. That’s where the yourlens.com system comes in so handy, she says. “We promote it in the contact lens room, actually keying the patients’ information into the system while they’re sitting there. Often, we’ll hear the ding on their cell phone when the text comes in confirming they’re registered.” Patients are impressed by that efficiency.

For patients who don’t wear contact lenses, Hans or another staff member will ask for the email address so that the patient can stay apprised of special offers or important information. “It’s mandatory to ask for the patient’s email. If a patient refuses to provide it, we’ll note that in the record.”

Using yourlens.com, Hans can send out general announcements. Since the messages are going to contact lens wearers and eyeglasses wearers, the offer needs to be of general interest. “A contact lens wearer may be interested in sunwear, or he or she might have a spouse or child who wants to take advantage of the offer. You never know whom he or she will be sitting down with for lunch, but if that’s when the message comes in, that companion might be interested, too.”

In addition, yourlens.com helps her keep in touch with her contact lens patients. The system automatically sends a reminder the month before the contact lens prescription expiration. Those patients who come in have their files updated, and the staff knows which patients require a follow-up call after contact lens prescriptions have expired.

Hubbell Eye Clinic has a high rate of annual supply sales of contact lenses. Some practices that aim for that might feel there’s no reason to offer online contact lens reorders. But Hans says those practices are missing one of the biggest benefits of the yourlens.com system. “Our high rate of annual supply sales means we’re not seeing a lot of people going online to order. But they’re still in our database, and now we have a new way of reaching them.”

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Case Study #5

New Communications Efforts Take Less Time, Have Greater Impact

A funny thing happened when Robert Orsillo, OD, of Tallahassee, Fla., started switching from mailing reminders for appointments to blasting them out via email or text: the results were better, and it required less effort. Dr. Orsillo is working toward a stronger Internet presence that lets him reach out to his patients more often and costs him less money. The multipronged approach includes using ABB CONCISE’s yourlens.com for online ordering of contact lenses, Facebook, routinely updating his practice web site, monitoring Yelp! and other consumer review sites and contracting with a service to send email notices and newsletters to patients.

Here are some of the ways Dr. Orsillo stays in more continuous contact with his patients.

Reminder notices: He has outsourced appointment reminders to Demandforce, a vendor that sends emails or texts several days before a patient’s recall appointment, then again confirms the day before the appointment. Patients can also select to be reminded by text about an hour before the appointment—helpful to those who intend to come but may have lost track of time or become distracted. Patients can even request appointment slots online from his web site or Facebook page or via email.

Emailed newsletters: Demandforce also sends Dr. Orsillo’s newsletters via email. “We started to feel that mailed newsletters just didn’t have impact with so much junk mail coming to people’s homes,” he says. “We hope that they’ll see something in the e-newsletter that they’ll be interested in.”

Post survey results: After every visit, patients receive an email with about 10 survey questions. Dr. Orsillo asks for permission to post particularly complimentary responses on the practice Facebook page.

Monitor referral sites: It’s important to look at Yelp! and other online recommendation sites. “We’ve had a few negative comments, but I think it’s important to know when we’re not meeting our patients’ expectations.” He is able to respond to the negative review. “I respond positively by first thanking the patient for taking the time to inform me of his or her complaint,
saying that we will seriously work towards fixing the problem and encouraging the patient to return. Our hope is that most of these posters will return to the site to update their comments more positively and or give us another chance.”

Update patients: Dr. Orsillo uses Facebook to announce seminars on orthokeratology, for example. It’s an effective way of boosting interest to an event.

Explain yourlens.com: Even contact lens patients who order a year’s supply of contact lenses are entered into the yourlens.com system. Dr. Orsillo tells them that if they’re out of town or on vacation and lose a lens, they don’t have to panic. Dr. Orsillo’s forays into social media have helped him grow his five-year-old practice. He’s been in the area for nearly 20 years, but he opened Orsillo Vision Care and Optical in March 2007. “I’m having more contact with my patients, but it takes no more of my effort,” he says. He’s also reconnecting to patients who were in his database but no longer active.

Virtual Inventory

Along with Dr. Robert Orsillo’s virtual communication strategy, he has also implemented a virtual inventory. “I don’t inventory contact lenses. I mail every order directly to the patient,” he says. ABB CONCISE makes that possible. While larger orders are shipped at no charge, Dr. Orsillo incorporates the shipping and handling charges by implementing tier pricing for one- or two-box orders. This helps illustrate the added value of buying an annual supply. “Patients don’t like to stop by to pick up an order of contact lenses. Plus, it saves the staff time. Often, the staff cannot reach the patient and have to leave a message, which patients say they did not receive, or similar complications arise,” he says. With ABB CONCISE direct-to-patient shipping, the process is simplified for the patient—and his staff. “It is a win- win for everybody.”

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Case Study #6

ABB CONCISE Web Site Enhancements Make It Easier to Manage Your Business

One portal helps ABB CONCISE customers with ordering, resources, education and live help

In an effort to make the online experience more productive and user-friendly, ABB CONCISE launched its redesigned business-to-business web site, abbconcise.com. In addition to all the features the customers are accustomed to using with the earlier web site, the following key enhancements are now available:

Chat live with a customer service representative
Utilize the replenishment ordering system for easy stock revenue inventory ordering of your soft contact lens or ophthalmic lens orders
Watch previously recorded Practice Partnership GP Webinars online
Stay up-to-date with relevant and current information in the New Alerts and News section
Search the new and enhanced Parameter Guide
Store your patient information for easy access and ordering
A Find A Doctor feature will help drive more patients to ABB CONCISE customers.

Parameter Guide
The new, enhanced Parameter Guide offers ABB CONCISE customers the ability to search actual prescription parameters effectively to find the right product for their patients’ needs. This will significantly increase the ease of ABB CONCISE customers’ process to get their patients in the right lenses that fit their prescription. No more calls or wondering if a lens comes in a certain base curve, diameter or power—all the information is available in an intuitive, online tool.

Improved Patient Directory
The online functionality for orders sent directly to a patient’s home or office was enhanced to allow an efficient use of the secure patient directory. ABB CONCISE accounts can store their patient information on a secured patient directory that will allow them to process patient reorders, updates and access to their patient information easily. The patient directory managed on abbconcise.com is also the same patient registration system for yourlens.com. That means that patient data is stored in one easy-to-use place that ABB CONCISE customers can access for both online portals.

Find A Doctor
“The most exciting, newest feature will be Find A Doctor,” Executive Vice President, Lynda Baker, says. The main page will feature new consumer links such as good contact lens practices, consumer buying tips and a link to yourlens.com. “When consumers find our web site and peruse the consumer-related links, they will use the Find A Doctor feature to locate an ABB CONCISE account in their area. That will drive more patients to our doctors’ offices.”

Kevin Dickman, ABB CONCISE e-commerce solutions supervisor, says, “We at ABB CONCISE are trying to level the playing field so independent practitioners can compete with online retailers.” ABB CONCISE’s goal is to help accounts receive greater visibility on the web. “We don’t want you losing your patients, and we will continue investing in enhancements to ensure that you don’t. If you aren’t ordering online, now is the time to start!”

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Case Study #7

Doctor Lets ABB CONCISE Do the Legwork in Web Site Development

Florence Bejian, OD, of Chelmsford, Mass., admits that she’s fairly conservative when it comes to technology. That’s why she and her longtime ABB CONCISE rep Gary Misiaszek have become such a good team. “Gary tells me where the market is going and what trends to follow,” Dr. Bejian says. “He’s very knowledgeable about high quality services and products.” While Misiaszek has offered many helpful suggestions, the most powerful of them all came about five years ago. He approached Dr. Bejian with the idea of online contact lens ordering. She didn’t have a web site, but he encouraged her to work with ABB CONCISE to design one that she could link to yourlens.com, where patients could order their contact lenses. Though hesitant at first, Dr. Bejian quickly came around to the idea. She was trying to build her contact lens patient base, and she found that with a simple web site in place, the concept was working. “Having a web site is nice for your patients, and it’s the best thing I’ve ever done for my practice.”

She started with ABB CONCISE’s free web services but became so intrigued by the success that she hired a designer to help customize her web site even further. She can offer patients information about herself and the practice, directions and forms to fill out, but most importantly, there’s an online portal for them to purchase contact lenses from her practice. “It’s convenient for patients, and it increases our patient retention as we compete with other online retailers. You know patients are out there comparing prices, so send them an email and tell them that they can buy their lenses online from you,” Dr. Bejian says.

Dr. Bejian has approximately 700 patients registered for yourlens.com, and having a web site with online ordering functionalities benefits patients and the practice in many ways.

FOR HER PATIENTS
Price discount. Dr. Bejian advertises on banners in her practice that if patients order their contact lenses online through her site, they will receive a 10 percent discount. Buying by the box and in-office prices are slightly higher to encourage patients to buy an annual supply online, she says.

Quick, free shipping to wherever they want. Patients comment to Dr. Bejian about how quickly they receive their order. “They appreciate the free shipping when they purchase an annual supply,” she says.

Consideration for cost. For patients who don’t want to pay for or charge the annual supply costs, Dr. Bejian appreciates that yourlens.com offers autoship options, where her patients can have their credit card automatically charged at intervals throughout the year to receive a new shipment of contact lenses, while still receiving the online ordering discount.

Convenience for students. Her practice is near the University of Massachusetts, so online ordering is great for students in the area. It also helps area high school students who go away to college but can still order their lenses from her and have them shipped to wherever they are.

Secure ordering. Her patients feel safe entering their credit card information on the secure site.

FOR HER PRACTICE
Easy patient registration. After an exam, the staff creates a new account or updates the existing account with contact lens and prescription information. New patients will have an email with instructions on logging in waiting for them at home. Dr. Bejian registers all patients, even if they aren’t interested at the time. “Somewhere down the road, they may think twice,” she says. “With that email including a password, they still have the opportunity to order from us.”

Redistributed staff time. Dr. Bejian’s staff no longer has to deal with the ins and outs of traditional ordering: placing the order, completing paperwork, opening boxes, calling patients, dispensing and collecting payments. “That’s a lot of time and money right there,” she says.

Built-in promotion of annual supplies and exams. When patients log in to their yourlens.com account, the order is preset for an annual supply of contact lenses. It’s the best deal, and patients have to change the selection if they choose to purchase fewer boxes. Also, based on the prescription expiration date, patients cannot place an order if a year has passed since their last exam, and patients are prompted to schedule an exam. “They come back in and we change the expiration date, update the Rx and they are on their way for another year,” Dr.Bejian says. “We haven’t experienced any problems, and it’s turnkey. It pretty much works on its own.”

Want to know more about ABB CONCISE products, services and profit-building strategies? Call 1-800-852-8089 to speak to one or our expert optical lens consultants about ways to grow your practice.

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