The light sensitivity and photophobia associated with migraines can be debilitating for many of the patients who walk through our doors. In this episode, we sit down with Derek Johnson from Avulux to discuss the role Avulux's lenses play in alleviating the symptoms of migraines. 

Key Takeaways:

1. Avulux is a light filtration system that filters out specific wavelengths of light that have been shown to amplify the symptoms of migraine headaches including photophobia and light sensitivity.
2. The technology is based on two studies that showed that 480nm and 500 nm light triggers pain and photophobia in patients suffering from a migraine without impact to color perception.
3. More than 47 million individuals in the US suffer from migraine and 1 in 3 women are affected.
4. Migraine sufferers are both well connected and actively driven to find solutions for their symptoms, driving the opportunity this poses for optometric practices.
5. Success in prescribing these technologies to patients begins with connecting their individual experience with the problem to the solution you're prescribing. 

What Derek is reading: 

• Start with Why by Simon Sinek

Practice Advantage Reading List

** Don't miss out on an extra $10 rebate for all commercial VSP Eye Exams this year! Earn up to an additional $55,000 in 2024 AND an additional $60,000 in 2025 just by taking great care of patients. Visit www.pecaaexamrebate.com now!**

In this episode, we sit down with Shelley Paxton, Chief Soul Officer of Soulbattical to discuss an inward look at ourselves as leaders and business owners to make our work, the why behind what we do, more fulfilling. 

Key Takeaways:

1. A "Soulbattical" is a time to take a step back, realign the work you're doing with what matters most to you, and living it out each day in your work. It involves living and leading with greater authenticity, courage, and fulfillment. 
2. Creating a fulfilling work environment means being able to bring our entire selves to work. We want our team members and us to be able to do that.
3. One of Shelley's most powerful reflection questions: What are you pretending not to know?
4. Avoid "Shoulding all over yourself". Living out of your authentic journey allows you to shed the "shoulds", the expectations that drive, challenge, and drain you consistently. Identify 3 that are not productive and take one of them you want to remove today. Reframe and step away from them. 
5. Take an inventory of your work and life and determine what falls into "Soul Fuels" and "Soul Sucks". Seek to maximize the fuels and minimize the sucks as much as possible. 

Shelley's Book: Soulbattical: A Corporate Rebel's Guide to Finding Your Best Life

What Shelley is Reading: 

• Four Thousands Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman

Practice Advantage Reading List

** Don't miss out on an extra $10 rebate for all commercial VSP Eye Exams this year! Earn up to an additional $55,000 in 2024 AND an additional $60,000 in 2025 just by taking great care of patients. Visit www.pecaaexamrebate.com now!**

In this episode, we sit down with Catherine Bornbaum, PhD, MBA, Chief Business Officer at RetiSpec, an AI company that uses fundus photography to detect Alzheimer's disease risk and development. 

Key Takeaways:

1. RetiSpec's technology works with most standard fundus cameras and uses AI to assess and detect the retinal changes associated with amyloid deposition - the biggest risk factor and key diagnostic criteria for Alzheimer's.
2. There are 55 million individuals globally living with dementia and there are at least 6.7 million individuals in the United States 65yo+ with dementia. It is believed these numbers vastly underestimate the number of individuals that have it. It is estimated that 1 out of 9 individuals age 65 and over have Alzheimer's disease.
3. Having the conversation with those that are high risk or have early disease can be a challenge. Leverage the data from the report, lead with empathy, and own your role as part of the team - refer the patient to PCP or neurology for further workup and share more tests will be done to determine.
4. There are two FDA approved medications for Alzheimer's disease and we know prevention is also key: diet, weight control, and exercise.
5. Technologies like these will only advance the role optometrists play in full body health and wellness. Practices wanting to be successful in the future must take advantage of them. 

What Catherine is reading:

• Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making by Tony Fadell 

Practice Advantage Reading List

** Don't miss out on an extra $10 rebate for all commercial VSP Eye Exams this year! Earn up to an additional $55,000 in 2024 AND 2025 just by taking great care of patients. Visit www.pecaaexamrebate.com now!**

In this episode, we're continuing our focus on the Future of Eye Care with frequent Practice Advantage guest, Shelby Wade, PECAA's Marketing Business Advisor to discuss how marketing will evolve in the future and what things we'll need to pay attention to as we communicate with our patients in the future. 

Key Takeaways:

1. Word of Mouth will always play a key aspect of marketing, but we must continue to adapt to new forms of marketing. The basics will still apply: have a great website, have a strong social media presence, be involved in the community, and having an online scheduler are key aspects.
2. Our online presence is critical as all patients will use it at some stage in their patient journey. It's important to pay attention to the rules and regulations that exist around marketing to them digitally. Leverage the tools available through the primary platforms like Google and consider working with an agency or freelance consultant to navigate.
3. Technology will continue to play a role in how we reach people. It's important to be transparent with how we use that technology. While metaverse may or may not come to full fruition, it's important for us to be aware of. Even more tools will be available to us that aren't even in our imagination at the moment.
4. AI will play a role in helping us understand our existing and future patient customers so we can reach them more effectively through our marketing channels. It can help you develop the right content, keywords, budget, and strategy. AI can also help us understand patient sentiment before and inside the practice which will help you reach them even further. Transparency will be key here.
5. Our patients will always want to be known. Leverage the technology, tools, and resources of the future to lean into this.

What Shelby is Reading: 

• The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
• Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez

Practice Advantage Reading List

** Don't miss out on an extra $10 rebate for all commercial VSP Eye Exams this year! Earn up to an additional $55,000 in 2024 just by taking great care of patients. Visit www.pecaaexamrebate.com now!**

In this episode, we're continuing our focus on the Future of Eye Care with Jim McGrann and David Spear, CEO and President and Chief Strategy Officer, respectively, of Advancing Eye Care to discuss the future of equipment technology. 

Key Takeaways:

1. Diagnostic equipment plays two critical roles both today and the future - it provides the clinical insight needed to take great medical care of patients and provides an impactful patient experience through improved efficiency and experience.
2. The advancement of treatment options for ocular conditions will further drive the advancement of diagnostic technology to aid and improve the clinical experience.
3. Technology and equipment won't ultimately replace the intuition and knowledge of the doctor. The future of eye care will provide the doctor the opportunity to be more efficient and effective, especially through the exam flow. 
4. Add all the technology as long as you can plan for and implement it effectively and efficiently. It provides added top line value and is an investment in the value and worth of the business. 
5. The future of technology should enhance the doctor's quality of life and quality of work. 
6. The future of technology should integrate the medical exam and retail experience into one seamless experience with little to no perceptible change. 
7. AI is here to stay. You should be thinking about it when it comes to technology in your practice. 

What Jim is reading:

• The Situation Room by George Stephanopoulos
• Die With Zero by Bill Perkins

Practice Advantage Reading List

** Don't miss out on an extra $10 rebate for all commercial VSP Eye Exams this year! Earn up to an additional $55,000 in 2024 just by taking great care of patients. Visit www.pecaaexamrebate.com now!**

In today's episode of the Future of eye Care Series, we discuss the opportunities within dry eye management with dry eye implementation expert Michelle Schnabel. 

Key Takeaways:

1. The dry eye disease market will grow from $6 Billion to over $7 Billion in the next five years. While many optometrists have expanded dry eye management within their practice, there will be so many more patients to treat from now into the future.
2. Michelle believes there are three different levels of dry eye disease management today in practice. Where does your practice fall?
   1. Full Service Practice - Leverages variety of tools and equipment to both diagnose and actively manage the disease v. just the symptoms. They retain all patients in their practice and create the opportunity to develop referral relationships with others.
   2. Referral - This practice refers primarily based on symptoms. They may manage some of the symptoms but refer for more active treatments.
   3. Shared Care - This practice diagnoses and actively manages dry eye patients but does not have full treatment options and therefore will share the care with other practices in the area that may have additional treatment modalities.
3. Successful implementation of dry eye management in clinic depends on your why. Beginning with the why for adding services, communicating it frequently among the team, and finding ways to measure and track success.

What Michelle is Reading:

• Start With Why by Simon Sinek

Practice Advantage Reading List

** Don't miss out on an extra $10 rebate for all commercial VSP Eye Exams this year! Earn up to an additional $55,000 in 2024 just by taking great care of patients. Visit www.pecaaexamrebate.com now!**

In this episode, we sit down with the CEO of Visibly Brent Rasmussen to discuss the future of eye care and the role remote vision testing could play, especially in private practice. 
 

Key Takeaways:

1. 35% of individuals who take Visibly's online vision test fail the exam - resulting in a recommendation of referral to a provider. From a standpoint of private practice, this type of technology has the potential to drive more patients INTO a practice.
2. Visibly is primarily a visual acuity testing software and provides the ability to refract the patient remotely (available only in Europe currently). Both visual acuity testing and full refraction involve an eye doctor throughout.
3. There is clear patient consumer demand for the ability to do portions of their eye exam remotely. The average consumer that uses Visibly is a 27 year old female with an income of $42,000 a year that feels they may not be able to come in for an exam every year. While this is hard to swallow for most optometrists and private practice owners, this technology could provide the business an opportunity reach this demographic in a unique way. 140 million individuals skipped their annual eye exam last year.
4. For private practice, remote visual acuity testing could be leveraged as a marketing tool to connect your patients more to your practice, as part of an e-commerce strategy, and/or way to shorten the time the patient is in the practice which is tied to increased patient purchasing within the practice.

What Brent is reading:

• Leading with the Heart by Mike Krzyzewski

Practice Advantage Reading List

** Don't miss out on an extra $10 rebate for all commercial VSP Eye Exams this year! Earn up to an additional $55,000 in 2024 just by taking great care of patients. Visit www.pecaaexamrebate.com now!**

In this episode, we sit down with the founder of Digital Optometrics to discuss tele-optometry and the role of a patient-in, doctor-out model, today and as part of the future of care.
 

Key Takeaways:

1. Digital Optometrics was born out of both a patient demand for access, especially in rural areas/ healthcare deserts and solve the gap in provider demand.
2. DO has performed over 1.8 million remote eye exams and currently performing 2500 pre day on the system.
3. Today’s patient consumer wants convenience of care access independent of when the doctor is in the office. 9 out 10 times, patients will choose convenience over waiting to see their trusted doctor.
4. DO has a current NPS of 85/100 and is reflective of all populations that leverage the service
5. Private practices interested in leveraging tele-optometry could provide exam services outside normal business hours, choose to be the doctor to provide care or leverage DO’s doctors as desired, consider hiring doctors from out of state, expand their existing space, or open practices/ locations in other locations without having to immediately have an onsite doctor to care for patients.

What Howard is reading:

• Start With Why by Simon Sinek

Practice Advantage Reading List

** Don't miss out on an extra $10 rebate for all commercial VSP Eye Exams this year! Earn up to an additional $55,000 in 2024 just by taking great care of patients. Visit www.pecaaexamrebate.com now!**

In this episode of the Future of Eye Care series, we sit down with PECAA's Kathy Long to discuss strategies for success in implementation. The future of eye care will bring all sorts of new technologies, new services, and significant change to how we take care of patients. Implementing these changes successfully is key. 

Key Takeaways:

1. Kathy's Four Steps to Implementation
   1. Identify the need for change and what needs changed
   2. Prepare everyone for the change
   3. Implement the change
   4. Track results for that change
2. Bringing your team onboard from the very beginning is critical. Clearly explain what will be changing, the why behind the change, and get their input and feedback on how to be successful. Ask their opinions up front.
3. Before pushing Go, it's important to detail out all the steps necessary to be successful with the implementation. You cannot be too detailed as it will minimize surprises that pop up and throw you off course.
4. Tracking and managing the plan after beginning execution is just as important as pulling the trigger. Make sure you set aside time for track the new change, ask your team for their feedback and what they've noticed - good or bad, and have key data points (KPIs) that will tell you whether or not you're being successful.

What Kathy is reading:

• Lifescripts: What to Say to Get What You Want Out of Life's Toughest Situations by Stephen Pollan and Mark Levine

** Don't miss out on an extra $10 rebate for all commercial VSP Eye Exams this year! Earn up to an additional $55,000 in 2024 just by taking great care of patients. Visit www.pecaaexamrebate.com now!**

In this first episode of the Future of Eye Care series, we sit down with the head of VSP's Global Innovation Center, Ruth Yomtoubian to discuss the future of eye care and how innovation happens.

Key Takeaways:

1. Innovation isn't just about disruption and the future. True innovation respects the past, understands the presents, and seeks to solve the problems of the future.
2. Two key trends Ruth is following outside of eyecare that likely will impact eye care:
   1. Hybrid care - the best of in person and virtual in a single experience (e.g. Forward Care, Carbon Health, Eden)
   2. Future of Benefits (e.g. upskilling, maternal care, leisure/ travel benefits, mental health)
3. Innovation often starts with solving a single problem for a small group that leads to noticeable impacts for larger populations. Don't overlook small opportunities to innovate and create large wins within your business.
4. Spatial computing will also impact eye care and the patient consumer's awareness of the importance of eye and vision care.
5. Innovation is truly about setting yourself up for the future. Generative AI is a technology that will dramatically impact health care and eye care. In many ways, small businesses have the opportunity to leverage these easier than larger corporations. Considerations for generative AI include data readiness and "human in the loop" operation. 
6. Five innovation questions to ask yourself:
   1. Can you create value in an ambiguous environment?
   2. Do you go beyond challenging the status quo?
   3. Do you get in the trenches? 
   4. Do you truly believe that ideas come from anywhere?
   5. Do you know yourself?

What Ruth is Reading:

• Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity by Peter Attia MD
• Move Fast and Fix Things by Anne Morriss, Frances Frei

Additional Resources:

• VSP Global Innovation Center LinkedIn Page
• VSP Global Innovation Center page
• Future of Benefits report
• Future of Generative AI in Healthcare report
• Futurist Reports page
• Emerging Tech Accessibility Guide
• Hybrid Care Insights Reel
• SXSW 2024 Official Panel: Future Eye: 10 Vision Trends That Will Transform Healthcare