Eyeworld

47 EW FEATURE opportunity and certainly an in- creased demand for these services. This has changed dramatically over the past several years." Vance Thompson, MD, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, said this has been an area of tremendous growth since cataract surgery has become a powerful refractive procedure. "This restores clarity and restores reading range and allows patients the oppor- tunity to have refractive cataract sur- gery and function without glasses," he said. "Because patients' insurance will often pay for the therapeutic side of cataract surgery and patients are able to invest in the elective side of refractive cataract surgery, it can become complicated for patients un- less you have clear forms and your staff is comfortable with explaining what could sound like a complicated offering to patients." As practices are increasing their patient loads, it is difficult to educate patients because there are many options that take time to explain. "Sometimes we just don't have the time to explore optional cost extras like premium lenses," Dr. Hovanesian said. "There are many great surgeons who do a fabulous job for their patients, but they are so geared up for doing high-volume surgery that they don't have the time to communicate about premi- um options with patients. So their adoption rate of those is low, and it's hard to overcome the challenge of being short on time." Mega practices To overcome some of these diffi- culties, some practices are joining together or are joining hospitals to become mega practices. This allows within-practice referrals as well as economic benefits. "There's a strong movement over the last several months to private equity, forming mega practices that have economies of scale and are willing to negotiate contracts that beforehand would be impossible for individual practices to provide," Dr. Donnenfeld said. "They also bring in revenue that allows the practice to grow and de- velop new opportunities that would not have been available previously. I see a strong movement toward practices coming together." Well-educated patients Added to the mix are patients who are better educated and informed than ever before. "This is a good thing, but it's important to be pre- pared," Dr. Thompson said. "There are so many options these days with advancements in technology. It's important to be fully educated yourself. My practice has adapted by focusing even more effort on edu- cating ourselves and our staff along with our referring doctors. We put a lot of effort into educating patients through newsletters, e-mails, webi- nars, and symposia." EW Editors' note: Dr. Hovanesian has financial interests with MDbackline and Veracity. Dr. Thompson has financial interests with Veracity. Dr. Donnenfeld has no financial interests related to his comments. Contact information Donnenfeld: ericdonnenfeld@gmail.com Hovanesian: drhovanesian@harvardeye.com Thompson: vance.thompson@vancethompsonvision.com 800.354.7848 TOLL FREE IN THE USA | +1.859.259.4924 WORLD WIDE | stephensinst.com S9-2070 S9-2060 S9-2065 As we celebrate 40 years of service to the ophthalmic community, we recognize those doctors who have grown along with us. Just like our instruments, our reputation for value, service and reliability has been crafted to last a lifetime. "I have used Stephens ophthalmic instruments since I went into practice—forty years ago. When I need new microsurgical instruments, I look to Stephens first." JOHN E. DOWNING, MD Bowling Green, Kentucky © 2017 Stephens Instruments. All rights reserved. December 2017 • Preparing for changes in ophthalmology

• Blank Page
• Blank Page (1)