The ideas for the articles in this, Optometric Management’s “Practice Opportunity” issue, came directly from you, our readers. In July and August of this year, we surveyed readers asking them to identify their top practice challenges in areas such as staffing, medical eye care, technology, refractive conditions, the optical, contact lenses, practice investment, and more. Based on the survey’s results, our contributors then addressed opportunities in each of 13 different practice areas.  

HERE ARE SOME OF THE SURVEY’S FINDINGS:

• Regarding demographics, most respondents (68%) reported they practice in a single-location practice. Solo practitioners make up 48% of respondents, 21% are partners in a group private practice, and 12% are employees in private practices.
• Respondents reported their top challenges in staffing were a shortage of qualified applicants (57%), staff training issues (39%), and a shortage of staff due to employees retiring/resigning their positions in the practice (37%).
• Of those respondents who reported they provide medical eye care, 95% said they treat dry eye disease (DED). Incidentally, two of the biggest challenges when providing DED care were patient reluctance to pay out-of-pocket costs for treatment (43%) and patient compliance with treatment regimens (37%), according to respondents.
• Patient reluctance to pay out-of-pocket costs was also a challenge when providing patients with glasses for refractive correction. About half (52%) of respondents reported optical capture rates of 41% to 60%; 25% of respondents reported capture rates of 61% to 80%; and 9% reported capture rates of more than 80%.
• Patient compliance was an issue with regard to glaucoma care, as the number-one challenge reported was patient adherence to treatment and/or follow-up visits (47%).
• Online competition was the biggest challenge respondents reported in the areas of contact lenses (63%) and optical (60%).
• Respondents said they plan to purchase the following related clinical technology in the coming year: DED (44%), retina (22%), refraction (21%), contact lens (21%), and optical (20%).

While limited space precludes us from addressing all the challenges identified in the survey, each article contains four additional questions, accompanied by links to recent OM articles that offer solutions for these questions.

As always, if you have a challenge not covered in this issue, or if you have discovered a unique opportunity or solution to a practice challenge, we invite you to share it with us at james.thomas@broadcastmed.com. OM