Clinical excellence, charging for professional time and understanding the patient are at the heart of compliance, reduced drop outs and retention – delegates at the British Contact Lens Association conference in Birmingham heard last weekend.
A common theme, centred on nurturing a medically-based relationship between patient and practitioner, arose throughout a range of presentations in the commercial and business stream of the conference. US speakers Jack Shaeffer and Kirk Smick presenting in the Global Contact Lens Forum, a partnership with Vision Expo, said following the medical model was the only sustainable way forward for eye care. 'The best way to retain your patient is to know what is happening clinically,' said Shaeffer. The duo said all of the three big drivers of drop out – cost, compliance and convenience could be addressed through strong clinical care. This should combine prescribing the best lenses and solutions and sensibly-funded, regular care to head off problems before they arose. 'The first thing you should do if you are using the medical model is to wear rubber gloves,' said Shaeffer.
Chairing the session, optometrist Anna Sulley shared the findings of a survey which highlighted the need for good record keeping, to understand patients' behaviour, and close follow up in the early days of wear. 'If patients are going to lapse, a large number will be early on. They need a lot of hand holding in those first two months'. Record keeping showed that vision, not comfort, was often the reason for drop outs, often the practitioner just doesn't know why the patient dropped out. If vision is the issue toric or multifocal contact lenses may be the answer. In reality 70 per cent of patients are not offered an alternative choice of lens.
The value of retaining existing patients was also a recurring theme. Consultant and chair of the Sunday session, Ross Grant, said finding a new patient could cost up to 22 times the cost of holding on to an existing one. Pricing was also key, said CLO Andy Pearce. His presentation highlighted the importance of separating professional care from product prices. Achieving this brought the practitioner and the patient closer, built trust and boosted retention, he said. 'Committing the patient to their next exam is critical to improve patient loyalty,' he said to delegates who had already heard that loyalty increases with the number of visits to a practice. Direct debits and payment plans also allow the practice to compete with the internet.
Plymouth practitioner, Peter Noakes, explained the benefits to some of the patient membership programmes available to help turn that into a reality. Securing regular payments from patients smoothed out cashflow and allowed the practice to concentrate on care. Underpinning the cost of professional services allowed the practice to compete with internet prices, he stressed.